For Ordealists, one of the big discussion topics centers around knowing when.  When did you know that Ordeal was for you?  When did you decide to mix kink with spiritual practices?  When did you do this for the first time?  One of the things that has always come naturally to me is answering not just the when, but the why that attaches to it.

Why I started in Ordeal is more about where my path was going (and what it’s start was) then anything one person/deity/spirit said or did to and for me.

I grew up Catholic (that’s a common enough start for many pagans, isn’t it?) with a strong cultural tie to the Church.  However, I also grew up with a lot of superstitions and beliefs that weren’t taught at Sunday school or from the pulpit.  A lot of my early childhood memories are of sitting with my mom and staring at the angels and saints and the Crucified Christ and the statues of Mary and ‘talking’ to them.  It was one of those things that one shares in the enthusiasm of youth, yet, my mom always made sure to hush me about it.  The less I said, the better in her book.  That attitude forced a lot of my ‘incidences’ to be spoken to no one.  I spent years cultivating an understanding and a spirituality that connected me to Saints that had strong experiences with the Holy Spirit.  Teresa of Avila and her physical experience of the Holy Spirit was a strong motivator for me and still is.

It is this moment; sublime and humble together.

In her own words, ‘I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying.’ – The Life of Teresa of Jesus, autobiography

My early encounters with angels, saints, Mary, and Christ Crucified were solidified when I turned 13 and experienced the pain of crucifixion in my own body.  The agony of a crown of thorns, lashes to my body, the piercing of nails, and a spear into my lung at such a young age, marked me as a stigmatist, but left no discernible physical symptoms.  It is the one quiet secret that I have kept for a long time; that I belong to this small group of people, and yet have no desire to speak of the experience, for mine is nothing compared to others.  For I am made nothing when the pain and agony of Ordeal happen.

When Ordeal happens, I simply cease being for me, and AM for something outside of me; stronger, larger, more powerful but infinitesimally present.  These quiet stillnesses that come over me, that are distinctly not me, that is why I’m willing to do Ordeal, to use it (wisely and conscientiously), and to enjoy the process.  That is my first step in my own start towards Ordeal.