Rope, Identity, and Endless Possibilities - May Newsletter
Hello Beautiful Beings,
I first started tying myself up when I was a kiddo. Wrapping my body up in a tight blanket I felt safe, secure, and comforted. The world was hectic around me, but in this cocoon I knew that nothing could harm me.
Later I found pornography that depicted both beauty and vulnerability. I found myself intrigued. I was definitely a multi-generational kinky person, even though my parents never put anything in my face. With early partners I discovered and explored, often imperfectly and sometimes hurting others and myself because quality resources were not immediately in front of me.
Finding the still-evolving internet, I stumbled onto groups like alt.sex.bondage in the early 90s and into sites like Kikkou.com (long-defunct) that shared early material in the late 90s for folks stateside that got the material and reverse-engineered material like Sniper Magazine. It was imperfect, and styles like neo-Shibari grew out of (often White and male) Americans building their own styles that were not directly informed by Japanese teachers.
Recently I recorded a video of some of my old print-outs and hand-outs from that era... YouTube said no.
But, it seems to have been fine with the video of my rope book collection that I posted on my Patreon a few months back (click to watch):
It has been so wonderful, 30 years since I started doing ropework in the kink communities, seeing the artforms soar. There are now online intensives, in-person venues dedicated just to rope, circus performers who incorporate the crafts, and inspirational players who keep it evolving and growing. Books keep being released, classes are held, private tutorship evolves, and there have evolved so many styles.
Messy rope. Rope as clothing. Beauty-based rope. Furious and feral rope. Aerial styles. Western styles. Kinbaku evolving in an array of Ryu (or schools). Diverse engineering and aesthetics alike.
I think of my own style as Jazz. Learn the basics. Understand the mechanics. Begin to see where and how your music plays. Then? Play with others who want to make music and make it theirs. I wrote about the Music and Dance of Negotiation over on Patreon thinking further on the metaphor.
Beyond rope as bondage, rope has become a love affair for me as a tool for creative expression. A kink toy for sensation and erotic challenge. A way to explore roleplaying. A tool for power dynamics and connection. I'm excited that later this month I'll get to share this side of rope with folks by finding an array of ways to use just one rope for a whole scene.
Thinking of roleplaying, I'm also nervously looking forward to discussing the intersection of roleplaying and mental health. From identity to creativity, these various sides of ourselves can bring up not just complex feelings, but also the various ways we are inside ourselves. I hope you'll join us for this gentle yet potentially challenging deep dive.
Much love,
Lee
Lee's Resources
Please enjoy additional resources for bondage inspiration, joy, and possibility:
Practice with a lightning harness from Midori
Try a different bondage medium with The Art of Chain: A Guide to Steel Restraint by Cecilia T. Winters and Fischer Garrett
Learn from Greydancer's Ropecast
Get in headspace listening to my R&B Bondage Playlist
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
- Max Ehrmann
What you're missing over on Patreon
In the past few weeks, I have had a chance to connect with my Patrons regularly through:
Transmasculine Invisibility (essay)
Tonight’s Beltane Ritual (a Beltane opening ritual)
Ashtray - a Story (essay)
Podcast Appearances
A discussion on consent, culture, spirituality, and safety in sacred kink.
On this weeks show, Lee Harrington shares about rope and not letting one true way folks get you down. Plus, stories their bondage journey.
"This book is not meant for your bookshelf, to gather dust and only be pulled out for titillation value (though feel free to be titillated!). It was designed to play with, engage with, and help you connect with your partner(s). It’s meant to be flipped open and consulted, shoved in your toy bag, and shared with friends."
-Lee Harrington
Upcoming Appearances
I have a number of exciting upcoming classes and events!
Role-Playing or Role-Being: Identity, Exploration, and Mental Health
Roleplaying is a powerful opportunity for evoking emotions and characters from inside us or invoking personas for an evening of fun. For a variety of individuals on mental health adventures, this amazing tool can be used for more than erotic naughtiness or delight or find themselves challenged by the journeys they take.
Individuals dancing with depression exploring roles that let them “fake it ‘til you make it.” People with dissociative identity disorder using an opportunity to have a personality “front” in an agreed upon space. Folks living with anxiety finding safety in pre-set roles where protection roles are at play. These are but a few places where role-playing… or role-being in certain cases… can be used.
In this class we will creatively brainstorm how individuals with an array of mental health challenges and differences can thrive using roles and personas in kink and roleplay contexts, while also acknowledging that things can also go wrong in roleplay because of our past trauma, triggers, and non-disclosed mental health realities. Let’s build understanding, help each other explore, and have partners look at their role in these opportunities for play and beyond.
Simplest Toybag: Creative Uses for One Rope
Ever tire of hauling around tons of toys? Ever consider just grabbing a piece or two of rope, and calling that your toybag? Now you can. From leashes to improvised whips, nooses and garrotes to gags to blindfolds, instant vibrator to genital torture device, rope has so many more possibilities to be used in a scene. Bring one 15-30 foot piece of rope for playing along. It’s time to learn some new tricks for an old friend, your favorite piece of rope!
Camp Crucible
Teaching “Trans Awareness & Playing with Trans* Folks,” “Let's Play with Age Play,” “Crotch Ropes & Butt Bondage,” and “Speed Bondage,” plus assisting in rituals
Delving Into Power: A 3-day exploration of power, desire, identity, dominance, and submission
Open to individuals, pairs, triads, or groups, join us for a connecting, evolving, and transformative experience that is back in Arizona for the first time in a decade.
This three-day intensive will journey through our personal experiences and desires for connected, intentional dominance and submission, as well as our further explorations as erotic adventurers and integrated individuals. We will begin by looking at what rituals can mean within dominance and submission, and setting the intentions for our weekend together. In the morning we will take a personal inventory of where we are starting from, what we long for, and what our inner wisdom holds, before turning our eye to what we want from our systems for connection and communication. After that, we will tap into the possibilities of making D/s an empowering, spiritual, and connectivity tool, not just a way to have a good time (though we like a good time, too). Finally we will split into peer discussion groups to explore our personal challenges and desires in D/s, our experiences and hopes, before coming back together to look at our perfect pictures again and work towards manifesting them.
This intensive is a single, intimate, experience. After we set our intentions, no new attendees will be able to join so that we can create a safe space for individuals to share and listen with intent. Thus, the weekend also becomes unique, tailored and transformed based on the needs of the attendees and presenter. Adventurers in this intensive will be having a weekend experience, diving in together but coming up with tools for their own route through the maze of desire and passion. Come curious and hungry for information and tools, and ready to open up and share your own longings and ideas as well.
Additional upcoming classes include:
June 2, 2026 – Teaching “Clothing Bondage Made Easy: Rip, Wrap, Encase, and Transform” – Wicked Grounds – Online Worldwide
June 5, 2026 – Teaching “Solo Dominance, Submission, and Surrender” – Karada House – Online Worldwide [Europe evening]
June 18, 2026 – Teaching “Pick-up Rites: Doing Magic and Spells By The Seat of Your Pants” free to all Patrons – PassionAndSoul Patreon – Online Worldwide
June 22, 2026 – Teaching “You Don’t Have to Love Yourself… Starting Authentic Self-Relationships” – The ToolShed – Online Worldwide
June 29, 2026 – Teaching an introduction to Power Exchange class – Arizona Power Exchange – Phoenix, AZ
To check out all my further scheduled classes and intensives throughout the year (and more being added regularly), visit my Upcoming Appearances page to learn more. I also have upcoming events in Denver, Maryland, England, and on an array of online platforms and conferences. To enjoy further free material from me, consider joining me on Patreon where I share weekly resources, monthly classes, and more :)
Much love to you all and see you soon!
Yours in Passion and Soul,
Lee Harrington
http://www.PassionAndSoul.com
