The Feast of Eros, otherwise known in the modern world as “St. Valentine’s Day”, is generally regarded as a time for lovers to renew their commitment to one another. It is also a time for youngsters to shyly exchange paper hearts and expose secret puppy-love crushes on their classmates of the opposite gender.

To quote Sir Stephen in L’Histoire d’O: “There is a degree of childishness in everything we hold dear to the heart.”

It isn’t a coincidence that the general hedonistic celebrations that take place in the dead middle of February are all shared, in one fashion or another, “religiously” amongst several ecumenical traditions. Early Christians expropriated the Feast of Eros from the Romans (whom themselves “borrowed and improved upon it” from the Greeks), invented a patron Saint for the day (Valentine, allegedly an amalgamation of several early Roman Christians with the popular Latin name ‘Valens’, or “Valor” in English). In the Hebrew mythology, the Feast of Purim falls roughly around the same time period (“Drink and carouse until you do not know the difference between ‘blessed be Mordecai and cursed be Haman!’”). Squished usually somewhere in the middle, of course, is the gigantic party known as Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, which is in reality just an ancient Purim celebration taken to typically debauched extremes.

So, Guys and Dolls, what did you do to celebrate any one of the hedonistic outpourings of lust and love?

 

My beloved lady, up and coming male to female transformation afficiando and artist Mia Mariposa,  and I hosted a couples weekend at our Leather Butterfly Loft in Toronto, Ontario. It is very rare indeed, in these days of instant access to information and sensual gratification, to encounter people with whom you share an immediate connection – and know that you have made good friends for a lifetime.

Beginning Friday the 13th evening (delicious irony!) with a lovingly prepared Chateaubriand dinner, expertly flamed with non-traditional Jack Daniels over a bed of zuccini, asparagas, Parisienne potatoes, whole chili peppers and organically-nurture button mushrooms (and washed down with a delightful Australian Shiraz with the unlikely name of Shingleback), our evening of superstitious wonder and merriment soon evolved into a full-fledged display of modern ecstacy between Mia, myself, and our incredible houseguests for the weekend – the unequalled and amazing Mistress Lynn and her perfect, adoring boy, Slave J. Having spent a harrowed entire day of travelling from their United States home, Mia and I naturally would have completely understood had our lovely houseguests had just wished to sleep after such a fulfilling meal.

But of course, Mistress Lynn being the devoted hedonist that she is, would have none of it. “Up on the rack!” and “Over the bench!” soon became catch-phrases for the entire weekend – and when our quartet was joined Saturday evening by another couple who made the trek from a nearby Toronto-area burgh, there simply was no stopping the incessant and unrelenting “commencement of mutual hostilities” between like-minded adults.

This was a rare weekend, indeed: Our small group ran the gamut of exploration from everything to boot worship, exchanging extended whipping technique and torment, to much more intimate – and very loving – physical interaction. It has been eighteen years since my late Mistress, the incomparable Mistress Papillon (more about her in particular next week: she was a true latex pioneer and worthy of remembrance) left her mortal coil, and it has been nearly that amount of time since I personally have felt so comfortable expressing our “other way to love” in the presence of people with whom we formed an instant, loving and (we believe) ever lasting near-familial relationship.

What started out as a weekend of apprehension and uncertainty ended in tears of joy and warm embraces tinged with sadness at the need to part. The weekend has taken some of the “jaded edge” off this cynical old buzzard, and we are so very proud to have met dedicated SM practitioners who were patient, kind, enthusiastic – and willing to share knowledge and experience about certain things with which Mia and I admittedly had very little experience with.

I can’t wait to fit Mia in a tight leather or latex corset complete with 10 to 12 garters, for instance. I didn’t even know those existed until our Valentine’s Day adventure. We also can’t wait to see our friends again … and that, in these days of inevitable and perpetual disappointment, is something to be cherished, nurtured and developed in the years to come.

How was your Valentine’s Day weekend? Does anyone have a similar tale to share? Did you manage to meet someone over the Valentine’s Day weekend that you are destined to have close for the rest of your natural lives? Inquiring minds want to know …

One last thought, sort of related: Is it just me, or is anyone else mystified why Cupid has been chosen as a symbol for the representation of Valentine’s Day? I mean, when I think about love and romance, truly the last thing I want to think about is a short, fat infant stalking me with a weapon …

Kardynyl SynysTyr

“… Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine! …”  ~ Thomas Hood