What is Fetishamanism?

A fetishaman is someone who uses the energy of his/her fetish as a catalyst or conduit - a "gateway" - to altered states of consciousness as a means to exploring the full depth and breadth of reality.

According to anthropologist Dr. Michael Harner, widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on shamanism, traditional shamanism has roots that go back 30-40,000 years to the very dawn of humanity.  It is often described as the “oldest religion” although it may not actually be a religion in the modern sense of the term. When stripped of it’s more localized cultural baggage, what is left is a “technology” for attaining alternate states of consciousness or “ASC’s”. These include chanting, drumming, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, use of hallucinogenic or entheogenic drugs and gases, sweat lodges, fasting, dancing, lucid dream inducement, hypnotic trances, meditation, orgasm stimulation/denial and many other esoteric techniques which induce an ASC, usually by orchestrating subtle changes in neurochemistry and physiology. Harner refers to this stripped down version as “core shamanism”.

Mircea Eliade, another well-known expert on shamanism, refers to it as a “technology of ecstasy”, which he defines as a “slipping out of ordinary reality”.

"Slipping out" of ordinary reality is probably one of the most significant ways to explore who you really are and to expand your understanding of the universe. This quest to transcend yourself is a function of mysticism that is hard wired into your being and is one of the primary characteristics of humanity that separates us from all other animals.

It is all about waking up to who you really are. Most people are asleep in this respect. You are special... Something has stirred you to the quest!

It’s important to note that while many shaman use their abilities to promote healing in some way, this aspect is not specific to all cultures. Many shaman are not healers, such as Casteneda’s Don Juan Matus. Healing is not integral to the definition of shamanism.

If you integrate fetishism into shamanism you get a technology of alternate consciousness that is driven by the energy of sexuality. It is similar to neo-tantra in some ways.  It becomes a technology of alternate consciousness that includes a very strong motivational force pushing you to practice it. For example, if you develop a practice of meditating in total Rubber Enclosure, the thought of putting on your catsuit to go meditate at 3:00a.m. will suck you out of bed and onto your meditation cushion at an ungodly time when little else will. It motivates you to meditate! What other driving force will get you out of bed at the hour of the morning?

Fetishamanism is the practice of core shamanism utilizing a fetish as a catalyst and the primary focusing principle .  You might say that Fetishamanism is modern shamanism with fetish added as it’s cultural baggage.
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Carpe Rubber Diem!

Carpe Rubber Diem! -- Seize the Rubber Day!

No, this does not mean wearing rubber all the time nor even being in total enclosure. Nor is it really (only) about sex…

It’s meaning is much, much deeper than that. It can be a creative expression of your soul. It can be the “art” of your life.

Your fetish is a gift. Celebrate it!

One way to do this is by wearing rubber mindfully and with a sense of purpose and devotion to yourself. Let it add new levels of richness, passion and depth to your life well beyond the sexual side of it. Make it “sacred” in your mind. Ritualize it. Wear your rubber as a “symbolic action with style” which speaks to your mind and heart but does not need to make sense in a literal context. Cultivate a sensitivity to symbolism and metaphors. Use your rubber rituals to provoke your imagination and creativity in the mundane acts of everyday life.  In a life animated by rituals there are no insignificant things. Think of your garments as a “shrine” to your inner being.  Try doing simple rubber acts every day, solely and deliberately, for the purpose of doing those acts as an end in themselves. They do not need to be grandiose or lengthy or involved. Doing them with regularity is much more important.  Focus your attention on the “now” of the rubber on your body. Practice rubber mindfulness. Keep in mind that rituals are symbolic acts. Wear rubber for the sake of wearing rubber.

(Note that a “ritual” is an act or symbolic gesture deliberately intended to mark an event as special or sacred. It need not be logically connected to nature of the event itself. Shaking hands when you meet someone is a classic example of a ritual to symbolically mark the occasion as being special. It can be totally spontaneous, unrehearsed, unscripted and it need not be repeated. It is the intent of the ritual that matters. It is very different from a “habit” which is mindless repetition of a mundane act. A “habit” lacks the deliberate intent of a ritual.)

This does NOT mean that you have to wear several layers of rubber for hours and hours, totally enclosed, etc.  Certainly, these more demanding, intense activities can be rituals, but there are also many, many much simpler, much less demanding rituals as well. For example, you might keep a box of disposable latex gloves in your car and create a daily ritual of deliberately wearing a rubber glove only on your left hand during your commute to work.  This simple act, done regularly and with a sense of purpose and ritual symbolism, becomes an act of devotion. It is a way to “seize the rubber day” and express your life more creatively as an “art”, which makes it more worth living.

Research the concept of “mindfulness”. This is a very simple meditative technique that anyone can do virtually any time, any where and for very short bursts of time — even just a few seconds at a time.. It can be readily adapted to your rubber rituals and will add significant depth to them and, ultimately, richness to your life.

Be an explorer of your soul — a pioneer. Look for possible pathways to spirituality through your fetish. Think of yourself as a kind of “Priest/ess” of your own temple. Seek value, virtue and substance well beyond mere sexuality in your fetish. Use your fetish energy to create a personal culture to improve the quality of your life and, perhaps, enhancing it’s spirituality whilst not disturbing or conflicting with your real “religion”. Think of it more like an “art of living” concept much like Yoga or meditation.

For whatever reason, your fetish is part of you — it runs deeply within you. It’s a fundamental part of your identity.  Do something positive with it! Make it a creative expression of your soul.

Make your fetish your “art”! Celebrate rubber!

Seize the Rubber Day! Carpe Rubber Diem!


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Fetish as a Transcendental Practice

A Transcendental Practice is a quest for growth; a lifelong “project” to continually rise above yourself, to try to become all that you can be, to personally evolve yourself or, in the words of Abraham Maslow, to “self-actualize” yourself. Questing for the expansion of perception and understanding (transcendence) is hard-wired into humans, is the foundation of happiness and is what separates us from all other animals. You are happiest when you are growing. When you stop growing you start dying

The act of deliberately and methodically trying to transcend your current level of consciousness is a spiritual practice.

The key nuance here is “quest”. It is an action, not a situation or environment.  It’s something you actively and purposefully do. You become a seeker. You never really arrive at our destination – it is an ongoing and never-ending trek. It’s like climbing a mountain but never quite reaching the top. It’s the climbing that counts!

The logic goes this way: You are already a Rubberist. This is not something you can or want to change. Being a Rubberist is a significant part of your identity and drives much of what you do in your life. It’s not going to go away. So, you may as well not only celebrate it as who you are but also try to do something positive and constructive with it in pursuit of happiness.

Don’t be confused by the difference between “pleasure” and “happiness”. Pleasure is always sensual in nature and is always short-lived. When the pleasurable moment is done, that is the end of it.  Happiness, in contrast, is more of a general attitude of contentment over time. It is much more abstract and long-lived than sensual pleasures. Happiness is the primary measure of the quality of your life. Happiness is what we all want in our lives.

Happiness is directly derived from personal expansion or transcendence. This is the secret of life: you are happiest when you are growing, when you are trying to transcend yourself. “Happiness is activity in pursuit of excellence”. (Aristotle)

To obtain real happiness (beyond mere pleasure) from your fetish you need to transform it into a skill of some kind — something that you can grow with for the rest of your life! This is the essence of a “practice” and what can transform your fetish from the pleasures of feel-good sex that is forgotten shortly after orgasm to something which much more significantly contributes to long-term happiness and contentment in your life. You make the leap from fetish-as-pleasure to the much deeper fetish-as-happiness.  Seek out ways to practice your fetish deeper, stronger, more pleasurably and as a source of continual personal growth.

So, what can you do with a fetish that has been foisted on you since birth to transform it into a gateway to personal growth and, thereby, as a path to happiness?  Here are a few possible skills that you could develop from it:

• You can learn how to celebrate it by creating a rubber-filled lifestyle as a form of personal art.
• You can learn advanced techniques to “do it” better, longer, deeper and more pleasurably.
• You can learn how to use your fetish as a “gateway” to other levels of consciousness.
• You can teach others how to develop their own transcendental practices.
• You can use the energy of your fetish to drive other paths to personal growth.
• etc., ad infinitum!

What ideas do you have for transforming your rubber fetish into a transcendent practice??

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Suggested Reading:

• Flow – the Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihalyhi Csikszentmihalyhi
• Happiness: A History by Darrin M. McMahon  ISBN:0871138867
• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
• Transcendental Sensuality by Padget, D
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Latexistentialism

It’s the “existential question” that philosophers and poets have been asking for centuries… “Does my life have any meaning?”

The answer to this is generally something like “You make your own meaning”.  In other words, your life can be given meaning depending upon what you do with it.

Most people regard fetish as a form of “entertainment”.  It’s “good sex” but after the act is over and done with, it becomes, at best, a fond memory rather  

than having any real meaning.  Yes, it may have enhanced an act of love and there may be a tiny bit of meaning in that, but mostly, it’s merely titillation followed by satisfaction and dismissal.  It’s like television or sports — we are caught up in the action and the story, our emotions are moved and played with but when it is all over, we change the channel and look for some new source of entertainment. Our lives are not affected by it in any long range sort of way. 

For something to have real meaning, it must affect our lives in some way — we must grow from it somehow. For something to have meaning, it must lead to some sort of self-actualization.

One does not “grow” from “conventional fetish”.  There is no forward movement, no upward climb toward the peak of the mountain.  No skills are developed or improved. It does not evolve us toward who we can be. One does not become a “better” Rubberist by doing “conventional fetish”.  One does not take any steps toward being all that he can be… One does not evolve toward self-actualization.

If you are reading this, you are probably a Rubberist.  Like it or not, life has somehow dealt you the “fetish” card.  It’s part of you. There’s not much you can do about it. You might find life easier to take and even enjoy if you accept your fetish.

However, as fetish is intrinsically intertwined with your sexuality, it is a very powerful force. Some say that sex, the propagation of the species, is the single strongest force affecting the behavior of any living creature.  Sex is magic. It affects all of us in just about everything we do. In our younger years when our hormones are strong, physical sex is the driving force of our lives.

So, here’s my proposal.  You’ve got this rubber fetish running a good part of your life. It’s a strong force and it’s not going to go away. Mostly what you have done with it in the past is enhance your sex life.  But in and of itself, it provides very little meaning to the rest of your life.

Why not use the power of your fetish to drive other things which do bring meaning to your life?

Use it as a catalyst, a conduit, or “fuel” to push other aspects of your life which can give it meaning and a sense of purpose.  While there is nothing wrong with sex, you can use your fetish to power new practices in your life.

(Slippery Seal, of the IAR, was the first person I know of to use the term “latexistentialism”. )


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