Radical Ecstasy [Paperback]

Dossie Easton (Author), Janet W. Hardy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2004

Leather, tantra and spirit combine in this revolutionary sex book, which partners BDSM and sacred-sex practices. For millennia, seekers have used physical and emotional extremes to achieve transcendence and exaltation. Today, many BDSM and leather practitioners are discovering the potential of SM practice to reach personal, interpersonal and spiritual goals. With trademark frankness and humor, these popular BDSM/sexuality authors share techniques using tantric breathing, visualization and movement with BDSM to create states of transcendence during solo and partnered sexual and practice. The authors also document their own journeys into the realm transcendent kink: one author journeys Eastern and pagan spiritual paths while the other struggles to accept bliss. They share their triumphs, too: when conceptual frameworks cease to matter and bodies and spirits combine in radical ecstasy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Greenery Press (CA) (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189015962X
• ISBN-13: 978-1890159627
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Whole New World!, April 24, 2005

By 

Rosanna Tufts "Sophia HeartSinger" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radical Ecstasy (Paperback)

If you're looking for a how-to book of tying up your partner, techniques for using tools, what parts of the body are safe to strike, etc., you'll have to look elsewhere in other books that cover these subjects. If, on the other hand, you want to know why on Earth would anybody want to do this in the first place, you've hit the jackpot in "Radical Ecstasy."

If you think BDSM is all about cruelty, Dossie and Janet will convince you otherwise. They are incredibly articulate about psychological processes that are nearly impossible to describe. Come along with players on their journeys to the darkest, scariest parts of their minds and watch them emerge cleansed, whole, free, and (most importantly of all) LOVED by their play partners. Their role-plays may well be more effective than hypnosis or years of therapy on a shrink's couch. The authors feel their words do not do the experiences justice, but truly they are too modest.

I had the good fortune to meet Dossie and Janet at a Polyamory convention, having already read their classic "The Ethical Slut" which is far-and-away the best and most practical book about the dynamics of Polyamory. They are cool ladies who would be mistaken for ordinary vanilla if you didn't know otherwise. "Radical Ecstasy" is every bit as revelatory as "The Ethical Slut," opening up a whole new world for me.

At one point in reading it, I collapsed in cathartic laughter that made tears stream down my face, when I suddenly realized that I had always been fascinated with bondage games, even as early as age 8. My obsession with "Perils of Pauline" scenes became a source of enormous ridicule from my schoolmates, so embarrasing I never dared breathe a word of it to anyone for more than 30 years. At long last, Dossie and Janet proved that there was nothing wrong with me after all! I was merely trying to act out a logical resolution to the school-bully problem. My first-ever night at a BDSM club saw me tied to a St. Andrew's Cross while wearing the most demure, innocent, Victorian-vintage lace dress imaginable. Eventually, I might finally get to act out a resistance/takedown/rescue scene where I get chased all over the dungeon . . .

THANK YOU, Dossie and Janet, for sharing your amazing love with the world.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take a Journey Inside Your Mind, October 12, 2004

By 

Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radical Ecstasy (Paperback)

This book takes a look at "altered states," BDSM and sacred sex practices and the route that the authors take to get to these "altered states." It is in some ways a journey the two authors made while writing this book to get to the core answer of "what truly is radical ecstasy." And yet the impression I get from reading this book is that what it truly is differs for everyone. Having been exploring alternate forms of spirituality over the past two or three years, quite a bit of what the authors speak of hit home for me. The book also has a number of vignettes of scenes the authors did with one another, their reactions and feelings during and after the scenes, as well as their use of breathing and visualization to reach "spiritual highs."

At times you may find the authors delving into areas that seem a bit hard to follow, but there will also be times reading about areas where you nod your head in acknowledgment. This is not a book for the "novice player," but rather for those who've been exploring consensual power exchange play for at least a little while and are looking for ideas or thoughts about how to make their scenes more spiritual.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easton & Hardy what a team, September 17, 2008

By 

Kitty "Lady Ace" (Franklin Park, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radical Ecstasy (Paperback)

As with every other bok I have read by them Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy make a fabulous team, this is no exception. Easy and enjoyable to read this book gets into both of their very different mind on the spiritul side of BDSM. lots of personal acounts and break downs of how different experiences moved them. A difficult to explain topic somewhat explained.