JG Leathers, who presented the Electrical Play seminar, is fascinating individual. To begin with, he’s recognized worldwide as an authority in human pony play, training, and harness construction. His work may be seen in many places, notably Equus Eroticus Magazine, and the House of Gord website, and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to watch him transform one lovely volunteer into a ponygirl later in the weekend.
JG’s interests in pony harness construction have fused with his interests in various forms of erotic electrical stimulation, and culminated in his development of “The Creature”, which was featured at last years Lupercalia. Although the Creature wasn’t on display this year (he jokes that to bring ALL of his hardware would require not a suitcase, but a boxcar), he did bring an assortment of it’s components to display. These included large leather and rubber spring loaded breast cups, with built in solenoid vacuum valves and electrical contacts for connection to TENS units, and an uncomfortably large looking butt plug, hand shaped from a solid block of rubber, also fitted with multiple electrodes. If I had to describe JG’s imagination in few words, I would call him the H.R. Giger of BDSM – such is the visceral impact of some of his creations. Compare these pictures and original design sketches of the Creature with Giger’s art and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean…
The seminar he gave on this occasion was an introductory level one. He included a great deal of basic information on the various types of electrical play, with an emphasis on safety, but also touched on many advanced topics, entertaining us with stories of his own personal experiences. It was a well planned and presented session which benefited both those new to electrical play, and those of us who already had some degree of familiarity with the subject.
The morning’s second set of seminars were “Violet Wand Branding and More” by Don, “Psychological Landmines in the BDSM Experience” by Guy Baldwin, and “Making the Change” by Chris Maze - a talk on transitioning from a submissive to a Dominant role. Once again, the choice was a difficult one, as I really wanted to hear Guy Baldwin’s presentation, but my interest in all things electrical won out, and I opted for the Violet Wand Branding demonstration.
Speaker Notes Don's Violet Wand notes violet_wand.pdf
Don started out with some background information on violet wands, including a history of these fascinating devices. Determining that nearly everyone present already had some familiarity with them, with the help of a pre-arranged volunteer he demonstrated various tools and techniques. The most interesting portion of the demonstration was, of course, the use of a violet want to create a brand. Before, during and after the demonstration, there was much discussion of safety concerns and aftercare, and specifically, how these factors can influence the permanency of the resulting brand, and how much a brand might, or might not be expected to fade away in time, which can vary greatly from individual to individual.
Following the morning seminar sessions there was long lunch break built into the schedule. With several restaurants to choose from, the crowd dispersed in all directions. Even here the careful planning of the event’s organizers was evident: the hotel restaurant, pre-warned of our numbers, was all ready for us with an impressive buffet.
After indulging in an orgy of fine dining (when in Rome, do as the Romans do…), we returned to the conference center, and found several of the meeting rooms reconfigured into one large space. We all settled into our chairs and listened as one of the Lupercalia organizers introduced Guy Baldwin, and his two part presentation, “Scene Dynamics”. It’s difficult to do him justice by simply describing his seminar, as so much of it has to do not with his exact words, but with his very presence, and the aura of authority that surrounds him. As he finished his walk to the front of the room, the applause died down, and a respectful silence fell over the crowd. He spend some time introducing himself to us, sharing personal stories from his many years in the Scene, then he asked us to “prepare our minds for learning” in a unique yet appropriate manner. In the same way that the faithful are called to worship by the tolling of bells, or perhaps by the chanting of monks, we emptied our minds of extraneous thoughts as we concentrated on the sound of his Australian stock whip, as he spun it overhead in the otherwise silent room.
After his introductory remarks, he deconstructed a typical “scene”, and explored in detail the processes involved on both sides of the interaction. He explained that in its simplest form, a scene is an interactive loop, where the bottom first provides a “cue”, which is in effect an “invitation for stimulation”. The Top responds by providing that stimulation, which the bottom then “assimilates”. After a “recovery” phase, the length of which may vary, the bottom will provide another “cue” which must be read by the Top. This sounds quite simple at first - but he went on to examine the multitude of factors that can influence, and interfere with our perceptions, and cause a scene to go wrong – or at least not as “right” as it may have.
In the second part of his seminar, Mr. Baldwin and his slave did a complete scene – not just a demonstration. We were all strictly admonished beforehand to remain absolutely still and silent during the scene, which began with the use of the simplest “toy” imaginable: a half hide of soft black garment leather. He moved about his slave using the leather with the grace of a Spanish dancer, or perhaps a bullfighter, and the well worn square of leather became whatever tool he required: a slapper, a whip, a fan to cool his slaves back… After the warmup, he progressed to the stock whip, a tool with which he is amazingly proficient and accurate. As he and his slave came out of their aftercare phase, he explained the significance that the square of leather has for him. Its first incarnation was given to him by his mentor, with the words: “When you know all of the ways this leather can be used, THEN you will be a Master…”
After the seminars we returned to the vendors area for the meet the speakers reception, where Guy Baldwin was signing copies of two of his books: “SlaveCraft” and “The Ties That Bind”. (Both of which I’ll be posting book reviews on eventually…) Although there was a short lineup waiting, he made a point of spending a few minutes with each person or couple, “connecting” with them for a time, and discussing their impressions of the afternoon’s events. When I thanked him for sharing the scene with us, he pointed out that the scene would not have been possible without all of us – that we were all participants in their scene, and the scene was what it was because of our presence. As we left the conference area, I still pondered the many ways in which his statement could be true…
Saturday evening we attended the Northern Chaps “Black Ice” party, their annual year-end event and awards presentation, which they plan to coincide with Lupercalia. It was also held at Woody’s, which it turned out could actually hold more people than it had the previous night! It was obvious that all were enjoying themselves, and though we left early, I later heard that many people stayed and partied on well into the morning hours.
Sunday morning a brunch was held at “Boots/The Garage”, a local Gay bar and restaurant, located only a few blocks from our hotel. The buffet contained every variety of breakfast food you could possibly imagine, all of which was available in great quantities, and perfectly prepared. Coffee service was provided by “bottoms up” (a local support group for slaves, bottoms and submissives), who donned their Roman togas and tunics for the occasion, and served up the java in a manner that would have pleased the most demanding of Rome’s senators. (Did the Romans have coffee?)
Later Sunday afternoon, the Lupercalia party was held, a Roman-themed party and buffet, featuring a slave auction, and some rather clever competitions. Roman centurions patrolled the party, and Caesar himself presided over the ceremonies. Unfortunately, due to a nasty head cold which had been taking its toll of me all weekend, we missed all but the end of the party, arriving during the presentation of the awards. Still, we were able to admire the detail that many had put into their costumes, and we spoke with a few people there, who had nothing but good things to say about the afternoons festivities.
Sunday evening the weekend concluded with a play party. Tickets were sold separately from Lupercalia admission, and respecting the wishes of the facility owners, party goers were asked not to reveal the location. We were also reminded not to discuss the event, or anything that occurred there, with people who were not in attendance. (The EOS takes their members right to privacy quite seriously.) I can tell you however, that all seemed to have a great time. The organizers made excellent use of the space available in laying out the dungeon areas - there were plenty of play spaces available, and several DM’s were on duty at all times, who made sure that everyone got a chance to play. One especially nice touch was a huge buffet table loaded with fresh fruit and cheese platters. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend!
Next year we’ll be purchasing our tickets even earlier for Lupercalia MMIV. We won’t be missing it!
News
Lupercalia 2003
Sponsors and Vendors
Our new website is a work in progress, please come back to view new links, pages and information as they are added
Please support the sponsors and vendors of Lupercalia. They are as follows:
Alberta Kink
Dark Side Creation
Other Contacts
Acsexx 2 Arousal (780.676.3449) Infinity Leatherworks (780.432.7646) Joe Wheeler, Whipmaker (425.640.2307)
Land of Mists Creations (landofmists@hotmail.com)
Masters of Steel (cranewayne@hotmail.com)
Warlock Wicked Wares (warlock1@telusplanet.com)
by Craig W
Dominant/submissive Society of Manitoba
I first heard of Lupercalia, a three-day annual BDSM event produced by the Edmonton O Society (EOS), a few years ago, and have (with a trace of longing and jealously) followed the accounts of the last few years festivities. Then, in October of 2002, I saw the announcement that Lupercalia MMIII would be held on the weekend of February 14th to 16th, 2003. Reading that attendance was limited to 125, we quickly made our vacation plans, and I purchased tickets nearly five months in advance. It was fortunate for us that I did, as this increasingly popular event was completely sold out only a few weeks later.
We arrived in Edmonton Thursday evening, allowing ourselves plenty of time to get settled in. Accommodations were provided by the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel, a top notch conference facility right in the heart of Edmonton’s downtown business district. The hotel sits above the City Centre shopping mall, and is connected by a “pedway” system to many other downtown buildings, allowing access to several fine restaurants and a large number of shops without venturing outside.
The event officially began Friday evening, with a “Meet and Greet” held at Woody’s, a local Gay/Leather bar, just a short drive from the hotel. It was a fun time, and the atmosphere and service there were both great. The poor bar staff were overwhelmed by our sheer numbers, but they made a superb effort to keep everyone happy, which was appreciated by all. We hadn’t been there long at all before a couple of EOS members had noted us as newcomers and came over to introduce themselves. Throughout the weekend, they were was nice enough to introduce us to numerous other EOS members and organizers, and regularly checked in on us to see how our weekend was going. I’m sure that ours isn’t the only case where EOS members went out of their way to make their guests feel welcome, and this is just one of the many good memories we took home with us!
Saturday Morning we were up bright and early, and headed down to the hotels conference center. One of the rooms was set up as a vendor display area, where nearly a dozen companies and individuals were displaying and selling their wares. In the center were the silent auction tables, filled with donated items, including jewelry, liquid latex, floggers, a single tail whip, and even an industrial looking steel and leather heavy-duty restraint system.
Refilling our coffee cups, we looked over the seminar schedule and lamented that we could be in only one place at a time. There were six seminars presented that morning, arranged in two time slots with three seminars running in each. The first set of three were “Erotic Electrical Play and Punishment” with JG Leathers, “Needle Play” presented by Dom Canada, and “Safe Sane and Consensual… the eleventh commandment or a slogan?”, a dialog about scene language, facilitated by Erik Roeder. We’ve had some exposure to needle play already, and reasoned that we’ve already been fortunate enough to hear Mr. Roeder speak on another occasion, so we headed off in search of the Electrical Play seminar.
Congratulations to Sir Canada Toyworks, selected People's Choice Vender at Lupercalia MMIII
