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The History and Arts of The Dominatrix Book Review

1/29/2016

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An Elegant Tapestry of Scandalous History 
​and the Women who Lived It...

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Captured in One Decadent Book 

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A Formal Underworld Introduction 
with Mistress Bella 

For most who are well informed, the title Mistress Bella BloodLust makes even the coldest blood burn in a fiery passion that ceases to end for centuries, I am just one of many of these dark, salacious, creatures of the night, for where does one such as I come from in the first place?

We are born into this world of kink and depravity and we find ourselves enamored by those who find potential in us and are eager to watch us grow. This delicious book collaborates eons and centuries of articles, secret stories whispered to men and women in the backroom bars late at night in Old Bohemia to provide a historical sequence and coded index of the entire history, arts and immortal legend that one evokes into this physical realm when one takes on the scarlet name of Dominatrix, Domme, Domina or as I prefer to be titled, Mistress.

Where one would usually spend a life time trying to track down these intimate details of so many wonderfully talented purveyors of pleasure seemed to have in abundance to the ripe history, and solid future that still entails many in this world behind the dark velvet curtain. For those searching for an archivists dream in a single novel this book is ripe and waiting for you to pluck it down from the forbidden fruit tree and add it to your eternal collection. 

Anne O Nomis has done what every single one of us ladies of the night wished we had the time for, if so many unruly slaves weren't in need of a firm and disciplined hand, perhaps we'd have gotten to such a journey first. *smiles* Instead of spending a lifetime searching for that exact article or book that referred to the 17th century in Rococo France, instead find it here along with so many other endless personal interviews and historical art plates that one would never lay their eyes upon until now, for they were hidden from society, in the underground archives of world famous collectors and private libraries with rare access for only the bold and curious to find. An entire adventure into the world we hold so dear lies within the gold leafed pages of this illustrious work. Don't believe me? Purchase a copy of the book yourself here: [Click Here]

Toujours Sanglante,
Mistress Bella BloodLust
​The Red Queen of The Scarlet Gardens 

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The History & Arts Of The Dominatrix
by Anne O Nomis 

Below is the reviewed details of the book itself written by the mysterious author, I feel she captures in detail what is entailed within this wonderful and treasured book in my erotic collection, perhaps she can further persuade you into this delicious world of BDSM and the history and arts of the dominatrix. 
​"The History & Arts of the Dominatrix is the first book of its kind, documenting the Dominatrix's history and practices as 'arts'.  Positively reviewed by industry magazines, Dominatrices themselves, and library review journals, the book has been referred to as the 'Dominatrix's bible'.  

Its elusive author Anne O Nomis (a word-play on anonymous) has a Masters degree in Comparative Art and Archaeology from UCL (University College London). She spent four years researching the underground history of the Dominatrix, drawing from sources in the British Library's Rare Books collection of 18th and 19th Century 'forbidden books', museum artwork, newspapers, vintage sources and prints, which are illustrated in full-colour within this historic volume.  

Nomis traces the ancient roots of the Dominatrix to sacred rituals to Goddesses of sexuality. A hymn to the Goddess Inanna of Mesopotamia features rituals of gender transformation, punishment, pain and ecstasy, recorded in clay cunneiform tablets. The authorship of the hymns is linked to the high en-priestess Enheduanna, regarded by many as the first recorded author in history. The hymns are seen in context against artworks of the Goddess in power poses, her body language akin to those which modern-day Dominatrices adopt.

Into the English history record, the secular profession appears in books from the 17th Century, with flagellation prints of the Dominatrix in role of 'Whipstress' and 'School-Mistress'. The ladies providing birch discipline were interlinked with royalty, nobility, parliamentarians and secret societies. By the 19th Century, London held 20 sumptuously appointed discipline houses, run by 'Governess' Dominatrices, one of whom invented a special machine for whipping, known as the Berkley Horse.

In the 20th Century, the book presents rare vintage snapshots of mid-20th Century ladies of the 'bizarre underground' in time, space and place, from London, New York, The Hague and The Herbertstrasse.   
Lastly, Nomis examines the contemporary occupation of the modern-day Dominatrix, and contributes a theory of their 'Seven Realm Arts' characterizing their practices in a framework beyond the catch-all term of BDSM.  
Since being published, 'The History & Arts of the Dominatrix' has become the 'curriculum book' for Mistress training around the world, including the world's oldest BDSM training chateau, La Domaine Esemar, near New York.

Illustrated with artwork and 86+ images from the British Museum, Iraq Museum, Penn Museum, Oriental Institute of Chicago, Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge University, Villa of Mysteries Pompeii, British Library Rare Books, Library of Congress Washington DC, National Portrait Gallery, Yale Center for British Art, Kinsey Institute, with vintage images by artist John Willie from Bélier Press, vintage Dominatrices from DDI Magazine, Atom Age and private collection, contemporary artwork by Natasha Gornik, Kate Peters, Phil Miller, Nuit' d'Or and Lucina Nathanael.

SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER: Design inspired by the Victorian 'forbidden book', with gold foil and quarter-bound, accentuating the art of book fetish. Limited edition of 2,000 copies only, each individually numbered.

Also available as an e-book / kindle, however without the beautiful design format of the hardcopy due to limitations of software associated with e-books.
5 star reviews, and editorial reviews by DDI Magazine, Massad Magazine, Leatherati, Library Journal and more."
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Chapter I: The Ancient Dominatrix Goddess 
​and her Priestess Initiates 

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As a historian I've always been immersed in the search of ancient and arcane cultures, customs and ritual traditions when it came to sexuality and spiritual orders, we have so often in our current contemporary neglect, forgotten where this ideology of consensual nonconsent came from in the first place, a midst Pagan Rome, Greece and many other tribal cultures worldwide that catered to harems, bathhouses and the like, we often lose our roots and history as Domina's never quite remember that holidays such as Saternalia in Rome were featured to display the brutal and wanted exchange of typical slaves being owners of their slave masters for one night a year.

​This transformed an entire culture and region in our Old World into consensual slavery, it wasn't forced upon those except for the rare cases in lower classes that it was, but for most this type of life was sought out, just as many pursued medicine, logic and reason in the halls of the old senate, these sacred, scarlet priestesses initiated many sacred women into religious bath houses to cater to the needs, wants, desires and perversity that warriors craved after or before a brutal war, these women provided a way to heal through pleasure when the world around these men crumbled with each new reigning king. So often we have lost our roots in this dark leather and latex clad community but the divine path of those who still practice this form of domination lives on, usually in the tropical and Mediterranean cities that these societies ruled over eons ago, perhaps their passionate cries of pleasure and pain can still be heard in the halls of nettle adorned bath houses where men begged for more lashings until they could beg no more.

​Where so many authors overlook this invaluable piece of insight that I love to personally indulge others in when social conversations of this nature arise, Anne O Nomis took the much needed time to research a world that I personally have researched since my early teens. I applaud her immense project and hard work to have found such rich history in this part of the dominatrix's background. 

Chapter II: The Female Flaggelant Governesses in the
Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries

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For so many Mistresses in this world, we often resonate here in the classic Victorian setting of when kink really took it's foothold in proper society. You see when things become too proper, well they turn to boring and eventually that repression of one's primal carnality finds ways to explore such games of pain, pleasure and mind fuckery and for many ladies in this era, being known as a Mistress wasn't something that was passed around publicly, from coded business cards to even the most elaborate ways of finding these women by word of mouth through clever ads placed in the local paper, it wasn't easy to be one of these ladies who were considered blasphemous to the traditions of propriety in their time, if anything they became quite the scandal and were isolated to various regions of England and France that were well known for such games, for many of us we find idealized versions of these women's stories in film, fashion, music and even television series however the very real rise to power and ultimately greater fall was never really researched by many modern courtesans of the new age. For this and many more skilled interviews found from this ear and shared in art form as well as old newspaper print this chapter really resonates with me and inspires me to watch where I place my heels before walking so that I can continue to do so for centuries to come. Anne O Nomis does a wonderful job tabulating all of these fine, ornate and detailed records into a chronological and whimsical history of those who were most well known for being Governesses with firm disciplined hands. 

Chapter III: The Bizarre Underground Ladies of the
Twentieth-Century Underground

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For most Modern Lifestylers and Kink Experimenters the Modern Contemporary Scene provides a rich tapestry of fetishes, rituals and games a midst an endless array of subs, slaves and switches who desire to transforms, transmute and transcend to the next level of release in a menagarie and bazaar of  activities that for many of those who specialize in a particular passion from a certain era to be overwhelmed with the constant scene of fusion in the form of performance art shows, cabaret clubs and the like, but for many who specialize this can be a sadness that haunts us as so many who are new to the scene forget where our scene came from in the first place, leaving many to question and wonder without grasping a thing before being devoured in the clique's, drama and overall circus that this world entails.

​For me often times its those who have devoted their life and even lively hood to perfecting an artform that is nearly extinct, to the rigid and structured Old Guard roots that were bestowed upon me lovingly with diligence, pleasure and pain over years to help me grow, transform and ascend to the role of the red queen that I have ascended to this very day. Without those brutal years on my knees and with my head in many books that were instructed for reading by my former Mistress I'd never have an ounce of substance or decadent tradition to add to this world, I'd just be like many others are now without terminology, expression just a sense of experimenting and also traumatizing one's self because those who ache for protocol and precedence rarely take the time to make themselves known anymore.

Anne O Nomis does a brilliant job at finding those rare and beautiful creatures of the night who thrive on passing on this rich history and tradition through the most refined in formal training, it is these women that carry the torch, wax candles and whip for our very future in Domination. 

Chapter IV: The Contemporary Occupation and
Arts of The Dominatrix 

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For many who are in touch and contact with a Contemporary Dominatrix in an Occupational Setting, most are in the position of submissive or slave, leaving those bewildered by making a consultation appointment, booking one and ensuring the new client brings a gift for tribute that they never really take or value the time beyond the passion of their own whims to find out how one got into this branch of sexuality and the experiences in life that brought them thus far to a most profound adventure to indulge in. For many the most relatively normal walks of life provide the much needed calling to one's soul to find something more exciting in life to pursue, for others the path was a dark start that they've transcended and evolved into as a part of healing, self-empowerment and finding themselves. 

The very personal touches with private dungeons and boudoirs photographed with those wonderful interviews by very real and legitimate Mistresses some of which I've been in personal contact with for years as friends and sisters in dominance to depict a much more authentic view of our world from behind the curtain, where all the toys, evil plans and mind games unfold to create a sanctuary of escape for slave and Mistress alike. Anne O Nomis does a fantastic job of sewing these two parts of this elaborate tapestry of a book together leaving the reader intoxicated with the organization and effortless transition from one story to another and from one different perspective to one entirely refreshing. This exploration alone took years as somebody that's taken the time to network cordially with such busy creatures I can assure you they're not easy to get to open up, especially for a project as revealing as this. A wonderful real world look into the life and work of the modern dominatrix is found within the pages of this chapter with plenty of fleshed out details to go around. 

Chapter V: The Seven Realm Arts 

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So many wander into this world to find a skill they already have in their arsenal in the most basic of ways to be transformed into a beyond words experience for both slave and Mistress to enjoy. There are so few books that adequately depict the refined steps, and elegant time it takes to turn such basic mind games and functional rituals into a masterpiece of senses, a world of sensuality, angst, pleasure and pain and to utilize the process at the right time, with the right touch and proper amount of infliction to turn any shy individual into the most expressive vocalist, filling the room with sounds of pleasure, followed by pain, ending in surrender.

Anne O Nomis captures vividly how many mistresses have found the same classic arts to practice before opening their iron gates to wanting admirers, this isn't your typical "how-to" manual that so many of us have grown tired of reading over the years due to their monotonous tone that dribbles on like stereo instructions. Give us the rich tradition and powerful women that these games hearken back too and allow us current Goddesses to find the decadence between knowledge and history to placate it on the supple asses of those unruly beings that require additional whippings this session. A wonderfully romantic depiction that kept this mistresses heart swooning while reading seeing that somebody finally wrote the rhythmic cadence into words for the entire world to devour. 

Afterword: Ascent from The Underworld 

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After daydreaming for only two days and wandering into a world of history, art and secrets so many I already knew and kept privately hidden in  my very own archives to many new salacious ones that added such a rich ecstasy to an already ravishing read. By far one of the most well researched, lovingly adorned projects bathed in gold leaf, wonderous little nuances of kink hidden in images and between the thick pages of this detailed work, to leave me as a Mistress as satisfied reading this as I am after finishing a well planned session with an adoring client. Do yourself a naughty little favor this Valentine's Day and capture a copy of this beloved literary archive that Mistress Bella has fallen head over patent leather heels for. I assure you this will fast and rest assuredly become your new favorite in your carnal book collection. I've already found myself using it as a reference for specific insight when sharing with those curious about knowing what it feels like to wield the whip for pleasure and pain combined. 

Thank you to the wonderful author Anne O Nomis as this brilliant book wouldn't have come into existence without a lifetime of your hard work and dedication to an art and history that has needed to surface for far too many centuries. 

Eternally,
Mistress Bella BloodLust 
The Red Queen of The Scarlet Gardens 

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