Review: Carnal Alchemy, by Crystal Dawn and Stephen Flowers (2)

Carnal Alchemy, by Crystal Dawn and Stephen Flowers
Runa-Raven Press, 1885972040, 86 pp. (incl. appendix, glossary, safety notes, resources, bibliographies, & advertisements), 1995, 2001

This book is an intriguing read, particularly if you’re into sex magic and BDSM. It’s well written, informative (in a general way), and offers some ideas of how to incorporate BDSM into sex magic. The authors also offer a lot of theory in this book, explaining what carnal alchemy is and even offer a bit of practical advice in terms of how to play safe in BDSM and how to work sex magic through the dominant-submissive paradigm. I particularly like the list of recommended readings, which give readers some more reading they can do.

Also the explanations of the tools and various techniques will prove useful and illuminating, for anyone into BDSM. I also like that the authors stress the importance of having some experience with BDSM and being both a submissive and dominant.

However, while I did like this book a lot, I would’ve liked to have seen more focus on the physiological/psychological aspects of BDSM and how those aspects could be applied to carnal alchemy. Given that alchemy is a transformation, I would like to know how the authors factored in physiological changes and how those changes could be purposely used by either the dominant or submissive. The same applies to the psychological aspects.

Related:

1. Review: Real Alchemy, by Robert Allen Bartlett
2. Review: Techniques of High Magic, by Francis King and Stephen Skinner