Embodied Sensual Ritual Gems | Grounding Statements

Originally published on Patreon, 2 / 14 / 2020
In this post, I hope to explain a bit more about my journey with Embodied Sensual Rituals work and to share some of the grounding statements / affirmations that can hold us in this work. Hope you enjoy! Join the community at patreon.com/jadetperry

What is ESRS.png

I started experimenting with The Embodied Rituals project after a time of personal crisis and transformation. 

Prior to its inception, I was reading a lot of material around sexual repression in the Black church, womanist texts, and Black feminist texts. I fell in love with the power of theory when I read bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress in graduate school. It shook my bones with deep seeing and knowing when she wrote,

“I came to theory because I was hurting - the pain within me was so intense that I could not go on living. I came to theory desperate, wanting to comprehend - to grasp what was happening around and within me. Most importantly, I wanted to make the hurt go away…”

So once I allowed myself to have a sexual life, I was voracious in my appetite for the theory that would somehow make it feel all-right. It felt like maybe one day the right string of words would unlock something in me. Perhaps it would take away the fear of everything that was assigned to a Black church girl who was having premarital sex. 

We all start somewhere and that’s where I started.

So, I read.
And I read, and read.
I had conversations with friends, colleagues, e-cousins, and internet friends.
I carefully plotted out where each idea transitioned into the other.

This worked for a while to quiet the false inner voices of patriarchy-disguised-as-spirituality. I remembered the words of Audre Lorde in “Uses of the Erotic.” I remembered the conversations around purity culture and the #Blackchurchsex project. I found solidarity and deeper understanding by digging into texts from prominent Black feminist scholars & womanist theologians.

And I still felt a bit… disembodied.

I had a lot of sex in those times. It was passionate and exploratory. It made me feel more deeply into the physical places that I

Of course, this was not because the work of any of these forces fell short. In retrospect, I understand that it was because I had no idea how to take it from a space of information to a space of practice. Or from practice to a space of healing & deeper embodiment. Trying to tease out that liminal space was the ground level of The Embodied Sensual Rituals Project.  

So, I spent time with my body: bathing, dancing, sleeping, masturbating, taking (partially) nude pictures, stroking it, oiling it, holding it. I felt a new sensual self emerging - a space within that felt like a unique expression of the ways I was inhabiting my body. I learned about sex magick: using the power of your orgasm to create new possibilities. I shared whatever I could in smaller snippets, distilled bits of work across social media platforms. 

After a few sustained years of getting to know my own sexual self, I wanted to find ways to express that self. I wanted to let folks know that somehow, by the grace of God / the Divine and Black women, I’d stumbled into a place where I could finally see myself outside of what Christian, religious patriarchy put onto my body. I moved from an upbringing that taught me that my sexuality and sensuality was not my own and into the joy of erotic liberation.

Today, I want to share with you a few of the grounding truths that I’ve discovered in this process. In ESRS gatherings, we unpack each one through discussion & play. For now, I hope that these affirmations will hold you and let you know that wherever you are in your journey, it is possible to be fully embodied and that we do this in community with each other!

ESRS Gems & Grounding Statements

  • We believe that honoring our erotic, sensual, sexual selves is crucial to the well-being of Black women & Queer & Trans People of Color (QTPOC) and is supported by the Divine

  • We are image-bearers of the Divine. We are not apart from the Universe. We are a part of its expression.   

  • We believe in the body as a sacred text. We hone into our body realities in compassionate ways so that we can understand the intelligence nested within us.
    “A theory in the flesh means one where the physical realities of our lives — our skin color, the land or concrete we grew up on, our sexual longings — all fuse to create a politic born of necessity.”― Cherríe L. Moraga, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color

  • We “make the magic EASY” - JTP

  • We trust the processes of de(con)struction, reclamation, and rebirth 

  • We find refuge in the slow magic of unraveling and savoring

  • We use the tools of intellect, creativity, intuition, & syncretic spirituality toward healing

  • We cultivate our own erotic fire & compassionately explore our sensual & sexual selves (may have many manifestations or expressions)

  • We communicate our needs & desires clearly when sharing erotic energy with others. 

  • We believe that there is liberation through play & pleasure.

  • Embracing the liberatory power of the erotic is intergenerational work. When we share our stories, we deepen our understanding of the erotic. 

  • Wherever we are in the journey, we are not alone!

  • We use the tools of intellect, creativity, intuition, & syncretic spirituality toward healing

  • Wherever we are in the journey, we are not alone!

Talk back to me! Which of these grounding statements are resonating with you most? Which one(s) are you excited to further explore?!

Jade Perry