Author: Miriam Green

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Good morning! I know some of you are following this closely since I first reached out yesterday, and others are just catching up. If this is your first time seeing this, you might want to read yesterday’s post! Since this time yesterday morning, 59 kinksters like you have helped Wicked Grounds raise over $8,500 toward retiring the worst and scariest of our old cafe debt. As you can learn more below this update, this particular creditor is threatening our continued operations (despite our honoring every part of our agreements with them), and we just need to get this one off our back. Contribute to our GoFundMe to retire this debt! As I write this, we have about $3K more to go to get this particular debt retired. Then, we’ll be applying the next $6K or so toward un-fucking several payments that are currently delayed or otherwise screwed up due to this ongoing mess over the last month. Anything we collect beyond that will go toward paying down the overall remaining cafe debt (which is substantial, but not an existential threat). ​Literally anything you can do will help. Have $5 bucks? $500? We’ll put it to work keeping our operations going long into the future. Some people have also been contributing outside the platform, which is just fine and gets the funds in our pocket much sooner. Here’s how you can do that. Book a seat for one of our classes on Forbidden Tickets or Bloom to keep our regular cash flow flowing Send contributions via Zelle to Mir@WickedGrounds.com Send contributions via Venmo to Venmo.com/WickedGroundsI​ Send contributions via PayPal to paypal.me/RBWickedGrounds ​ Once we hit our first goal of $11,681 for this creditor and stretch goal of $17,681 for the great unfucking, I do plan to keep the GoFundMe open and apply anything else straight to paying down the substantial debts we incurred in the last year keeping the cafe open. I appreciate anything and everything that y’all are doing. I went into yesterday morning truly wondering if we’d lose the Grounds over this. I know now — once again — that there’s no way y’all would let that happen. Thank you. With true love and gratitude, Mir ORIGINAL POST IF YOU MISSED IT  I’m Mir and I’m the owner of Wicked Grounds, a leader in adult education around consent, boundaries, relationships and adult play. As you may know, we started out as Wicked Grounds Cafe & Boutique: a physical home for the queer & leather community to gather, rabble-rouse, connect and play. For nearly ten years, the cafe was our home. While the pandemic lockdown had us physically closed for 18 months, we built up our educational programming to become a well known leader nationally and even internationally. Unfortunately, our attempts to reopen the cafe & boutique post pandemic were extremely difficult, and we were unable to operate at a profit from the time COVID resurged in early 2022 until we made the sad decision to close the space in June 2023. During that time, we incurred nearly $80k in total debts just to meet payroll, pay the rent, and keep serving milkshakes. In June 2023, we made the sad decision to move entirely to education and let that beloved community space go. Contribute to our GoFundMe to retire this debt! Over the past six months, we’ve been reinventing ourselves as a force for adult education. We offer 25-30 events per month. And I’ve been working in good faith with most of our creditors to get our old debt paid down and get onto a new footing. Well, except one. I have one creditor who is 1/3 paid off, but is threatening to wreck the whole business over the $11,679 they are still owed. These folks are putting liens against our receivables, causing significant challenges to our cashflow (and making it nearly impossible to get our other commitments met in a timely manner). Everyone else is working with us but . . . these guys? They have got to go. I don’t have that kind of money sitting around. What I have is a drive for community education, a desire to move forward into what we’re becoming, and faith in my community. Contribute to our GoFundMe to retire this debt! Your contributions in any amount will allow us to get this monkey off our back, restore our day to day cash flow, and keep the Grounds strong for the long term. If we are able to collect anything above the $11,679 goal, that will be put toward first paying down educators in our community whose payments have been slowed by this situation, and then toward the remaining cafe debt. It would be lovely to get this retired entirely so that we can move on toward the future. Any amount helps. Your faith in us helps. And thank you. With gratitude, Mir PS: Hate GoFundMe? That’s fine. Here are other ways to be helpful: Book a seat for one of our classes on Forbidden Tickets or Bloom to keep our regular cash flow flowing Send contributions via Zelle to Mir@WickedGrounds.com Send contributions via Venmo to Venmo.com/WickedGroundsI​ Send contributions via PayPal to paypal.me/RBWickedGrounds ​

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Hello Kinksters – If you haven’t already seen it, we have an urgent call out for your support right now, to retire the worst of the old cafe debt so we can get on with building the future. The need is urgent, but community support is a strong force — we are already halfway toward meeting our most urgent need. Read more here, and please contibute if you can. Any amount helps. Because we believe in our huge well of community support, we’re continuing to book new classes and events well into the future. Find our latest full class roster here! We’d love to see more of you this week. Please read on for this week’s events! Memberships keep Wicked Grounds going. Join our Patreon VIP program for excellent benefits, from free and discounted classes to discounts and free shipping on gear all year round! Annual memberships now available! Events Roundup! Thursday, January 18 Is it the sensation? Subspace? Submission? Pain? Yes. In tonight’s guided conversation Bottom, Why!? A Conscious Discussion of Why We Bottoms Do the Things We Dowith Ev Evnen, we’ll explore as bottoms why we are drawn to this side of play. As we dive deeper into our “whys” we’ll find ways to better communicate with our tops and doms, in addition to better understanding ourselves. Both individuals and partner groups and D-types and S-types are welcome to attend. Details & ticketing here. As we delve deeper into kink and forming D/s relationships, our tools for negotiation and consent also deepen and evolve. In KINK 201: Advanced BDSM Negotiations – Relationships & Dynamics, Wicked Grounds owner Miriam Green will explore setting your own must-haves and red flags, negotiating for play partner relationships, building D/s contracts that really work, how to maintain kink relationships over time, and much more. Details & ticketing here. Saturday, January 20 A service submissive can be useful in a variety of ways. Why not travel services? In Checked Baggage: Submissive Travel Services, d20domme will explore how to serve while doing so by train, plane, or automobile and how to make any Airbnb, hotel, or shared space reflect your D/s dynamic. This online class starts at 11am Pacific. Details & ticketing here. In collaboration with Magickal Crossroads . . . Whether you believe in magick, want to believe in magick, or think this is all just a fun metaphor for how the mind works, you are sure to gain new tools and perspectives on BDSM play by attending Sex Magick for Kinksters with Wicked Grounds’ Miriam Green, who has been teaching in the world of magick even longer than in the world of kink! This online class embarks at 2pm Pacific. Details & ticketing here. Heading to the Aura party from AfterDark Events? Keep an eye out for Wicked Grounds! We’ll have a small table of gear available from 8-11pm, and then Mir will put in an hour of house topping from 11pm – midnight! Sunday, January 21 On Sunday at 11am Pacific, John Pendal offers Dungeon Disasters: a workshop about “all the mistakes I’ve made so that you don’t copy them”! No matter how skilled you are as a BDSM player things can and will always go wrong. This class examines both emotional and physical pitfalls of kinky scenes with tips for warning signs you should look out for, ways to avoid a disaster, and coping strategies when the worst situations seem to occur. We also look at some great questions to improve negotiation before a scene, and ideal aftercare for everyone involved. Details & ticketing here. Monday, January 22 Join Miss Mackenzee online at 6pm Pacific for Playing Creatively from the Neck Up. We’re talking cheeks, scalp and hair, ears, tongue, nose and lips! Join this dynamic workshop for a closer look on the delightful ways to focus your attention from the neck up to really toy with your partner. Details & ticketing here. Tuesday, January 23 Tuesday evening at 6pm Pacific, let’s talk about the great (and challenging) things that make a daddy dynamic possible, so you can show up and claim whatever daddy space feels right for you. Join us for Daddy 101 with Sinclair Sexsmith. Details & ticketing here. Wednesday, January 24 In collaboration with Magickal Crossroads. Ugh, some people are just impossible! Whether it’s a sigil to block the ooze of the new guests at the dinner table or a ritual to help you surf the trauma triggers, this time of year usually challenges our feelings of humanity towards the pesky humans. Make some tea, bring your notebook, and take notes on magickal ideas to take to the trenches or the dinner table in Magick for Impossible People with Diana Rajchel. Details & ticketing here. Thursday, January 25 Partnered at a distance? Between partners? Just like rocking it solo? There are a lot of reasons we might want to engage in S/m play on our own! But there are some special considerations for solo and distance play, ranging from safety to creative ideas on what’s most effective in a solo context. Join Miriam Green at 6pm online for Private Joy: Sadomasochism for Solo & Distance Play to expand your toolkit for solo and distance play! Details & ticketing here. Friday, January 26 We don’t have a scheduled class tonight, but if you’re hankering for one check out our digital download for the original 90 minute version of Diving Deep: Discovering & Voicing Kink Desires with Miriam Green. Purchase and download this video class here! Saturday, January 27 In collaboration with Magickal Crossroads. Join Miriam BatAsherah Green online or in person for a special halfday workshop Tarot for Kabbalists, Kabbalah for Tarot Readers. We’ll explore the links between kabbalistic models and the tarot in ways that will help experienced tarot readers better understand kabbalah, and also significantly enhance tarot reading skills. You may join us at our San Francisco offices on online for this one. Details & ticketing here. Ongoing or upcoming events Daily: Sign up for Wicked

Lots of new classes and ways to engage with kink here! Need personal coaching & guidance? You can always reach out for consulting at WickedGroundsAnnex.com The Roundup! Multi-week Intensives 2/17 – 3/30/24: Diving Deep: Discovering & Voicing Your Erotic Desires [a six-week intensive with coaching] (ONLINE SIX WEEKS) Tentative June: Kink Class Incubator Summer 2024 Cohort Tentative October: Diving Deep Fall 2024 Cohort Ongoing Ongoing daily: Wicked Grounds’ Adventures in Daily Kink Journaling (ONLINE – via email) Join at any time! Ongoing monthly: Group Consulting: Daily Practice Accountability Group Join at any time! Private consulting & coaching with Miriam Green. Book Mir’s brain by the hour. Self-Directed Digital Downloads Diving Deep (video class) Kink Self-Discovery Workbook (self-directed template) S/m & the physical side of play 1/21 11am PST: Dungeon Disasters w/ John Pendal (ONLINE – EMEA friendly timings) 1/22 6pm PST: Playing Creatively From the Neck Up w/ Miss Mackenzee (ONLINE) 1/25 6pm PST: Private Joy: Sadomasochism for Solo & Distance Play with Miriam Green (ONLINE) NEW 2/13 7pm PDT: FlogLab with Reika Minxie (SF) NEW 2/14 7pm PDT: Wicked Grounds Present: SpankLab (SF) NEW 2/20 2pm PDT: Caning: From Sensual to Sadistic w/ Miriam Green and impossiblepain (SF) NEW 3/25 6pm PST: Needle Play 101: Easy with Those Pricks w/ Miss Mackenzee (ONLINE) Bondage & Fetish 2/1 7pm PST: Wicked Rope Jam (SF) 2/5 6pm PST: Crotch Ropes & Butt Bondage w/ Lee Harrington (ONLINE) 2/7 7pm PST: SF Rope Bite (SF) NEW 3/6 7pm PST: SF Rope Bite (SF) NEW 3/7 7pm PST: Wicked Rope Jam (SF) Sexy times 2/26 6pm PST: Love What You Do: Oral Pleasure for Cocks w/ Miss Mackenzee (ONLINE) D/s & the mental side of play 1/20 11am PST: Checked Baggage: Submissive Travel Services with d20domme (ONLINE – EMEA Friendly Timings!) 1/23 6pm PST: Daddy 101 w/ Sinclair Sexsmith (ONLINE) 2/10 2pm PST: Catholicism Play w/ Danarama (SF & ONLINE – EMEA FRIENDLY TIMING!) 2/11 11am PST: Nymphobrainiac: Big Brain Sex with d20domme (ONLINE – EMEA FRIENDLY TIMING!) 2/20 6:30pm PST: Improv for Naughty Play with Psychokitty Ryan (SF) NEW 3/7 6pm PST: Petplay Primer with Nyx Lunaea (ONLINE) 3/9 2pm PST: Dollification for New Dolls, Makers & Owners w/ Danarama (SF & ONLINE) NEW: 3/21 6pm PST: CTRL: Online Submission with d20domme (ONLINE) NEW: 4/9 6pm PST: Sir! No, Sir! Saying No In D/s Dynamics with Ev Evnen (ONLINE) Erotic Hypnosis NEW: 2/25 2pm PST: Erotic Hypnosis- Fun Games and Dirty Tricks with HypnoStory and PandaPet (ONLINE – EMEA friendly timings!) NEW: 3/16 2pm PST: This Mind Intentionally Left Blank with HypnoStory & PandaPet (ONLINE – EMEA friendly timings!) NEW: 4/17 6pm PST: Drop “For Me”- Dominance, Submission and Hypnosis with HypnoStory and PandaPet (ONLINE) Polyamory & ethical non-monogamy NEW: 2/17 2pm PST: The POC Polyamorist w/ d20domme (ONLINE – EMEA friendly timings) Self-knowledge, negotiation & consent 1/18 6pm PST: Bottom, Why!? A Conscious Discussion of Why We bottoms Do the Things We Do with Ev Evnen (ONLINE) 1/18 7pm PST: Kink 201: Advanced BDSM Negotiations for Relationships and Dynamics w/ Miriam Green (SF & ONLINE) 1/21 11am PST: Dungeon Disasters w/ John Pendal (ONLINE – EMEA Friendly Timings!) 1/31 6pm PST: Boundaries That Get You Off: How to Pleasure-Focus BDSM Negotiations with Lilith Foxx (ONLINE) 2/1 6pm PST: Kink and Trauma (Pt. 1) with Ev Evnen (ONLINE – Part one of two) 2/3 2:30 PST: Negotiation Improv with Wiley (San Francisco) 2/8 6pm PST: Kink and Trauma (Pt. 2) with Ev Evnen (ONLINE – Part two of two) 2/18 2pm PST: Cellaring: Refining Your Skills as an Older Kinkster with Miriam Green (SF & ONLINE – EMEA Friendly Timings) 2/19 7pm PST: Kink 101: BDSM Negotiation Basics w/ Miriam Green (SF & ONLINE) 2/25 11am PST: Autism & Kink w/ John Pendal (ONLINE. This class tends to sell out – we recommend getting tickets early.) 2/27 6pm PST: Your Year in Kink with Sinclair Sexsmith (ONLINE) 2/29 6pm PST: Disability, Chronic Pain, and BDSM with Nyx Lunaea (ONLINE) NEW: 3/2 2:30pm PST: Negotiation Improv with Wiley (SF) NEW: 3/5 6pm PST: Looking Over the Cliff with Ev Evnen and Lauren DeRusha (ONLINE) NEW: 3/18 6pm PST: Kink 101: BDSM Negotiation Basics w/ Miriam Green (ONLINE) NEW: 3/23 2pm PST: From Gender Dysphoria to Gender Euphoria with Lee Harrington (ONLINE – EMEA friendly timings!) NEW: 3/26 6pm PST: Writing Spicy with Sinclair Sexsmith (ONLINE) NEW: 4/3 6pm PST: Demystifying Asexuality with Nyx Lunaea (ONLINE) Community: Friends, dating, relationships & kink culture! 2/3 Noon PST: Welcome to the SF Bay Area Scene with Miriam Green (San Francisco) 2/3 2:30 PST: Negotiation Improv with Wiley (San Francisco) 2/6 7pm PST: Tips for House Topping with Miriam Green (SF & ONLINE) 2/12 7pm PST: Dating While Kinky with Miriam Green (SF & ONLINE) NEW 3/2 Noon PST: Welcome to the SF Bay Area Scene with Miriam Green (SF) NEW: 4/3 6pm PST: Demystifying Asexuality with Nyx Lunaea (ONLINE) Polyamory & Ethical Non-Monogamy 2/17 2pm PST: The POC Polyamorist w/ d20domme (ONLINE – EMEA Friendly Timings!) NEW: 4/12 6pm PST: MonoPoly: Passing Go with d20domme (ONLINE) Life Stuff, wellness & adulting for kinksters 2/1 6pm PST: Kink and Trauma (Pt. 1) with Ev Evnen (ONLINE – Part one of two) 2/8 6pm PST: Kink and Trauma (Pt. 2) with Ev Evnen (ONLINE – Part two of two) 2/29 6pm PST: Disability, Chronic Pain, and BDSM with Nyx Lunaea (ONLINE) Magick & Occult (with Magickal Crossroads) 1/20 2pm PST: Sex Magick for Kinksters w/ Miriam BatAsherah Green (ONLINE – EMEA Friendly Timings!) 1/24 6pm PST: Magick for Impossible People w/ Diana Rajchel (ONLINE) 1/27 11am PST: Kabbalah for Tarot, Tarot for Kabbalists with Miriam BatAsherah Green (SF & ONLINE – EMEA Friendly Timings!) 2/7 6pm PST: Urban Magick: Community Building in Times of Social Collapse with Diana Rajchel (ONLINE) 2/22 7pm PST: Put a Sigil On It! w/ Miriam BatAsherah Green (SF & ONLINE) NEW 3/13 6pm PST: Tarot for Kinky Folks – Using Cards to Negotiate

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Hello Kinksters – That start of a new year energy is in the air! This and last week’s playshops have had great attendance and enthusiasm, and our cohort of mindfulness practitioners have been meditating and journaling up a storm. It’s kind of like the energy you get at the gym or a yoga studio in January, and it’s a lot of fun to be around! Just like at the gym, sometimes it helps to have a personal coach. My own schedule has opened up a bit in the new year, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to book some time together. I offer half-hour, one-hour and ongoing consults for everything from how to get out of a kink rut to how to launch kink community spaces in your neck of the woods. Whatever your resolutions are (or aren’t!) we hope you’re having a great new year. Read on for this week’s events! Memberships keep Wicked Grounds going. Join our Patreon VIP program for excellent benefits, from free and discounted classes to discounts and free shipping on gear all year round! Annual memberships now available! Events Roundup! Thursday, Jan 11 Electro play has a different toolkit from other types of BDSM play, and that includes particular skills to cultivate as an electro play bottom. Join Carmen Pandiego and Nick -Illuminaughty- at 6pm Pacific online for SubSpice: Bottoming for Electro Play. This class will discuss preparing yourself mentally, physically, and making sure you have the right information to be an empowered bottom. Advance ticketing required – get yours here! Monday, Jan 15 Negotiating is a critical skill for building BDSM scenes, dynamics and relationships that work. But negotiating doesn’t necessarily come naturally — especially for those of us who are just entering the kink scene. Join Miriam Green at 7pm Pacific online for BDSM Negotiation Basics. We’ll cover the basics of negotiation and consent, pre-scene negotiations, how to keep in close communication throughout a scene, and even the neuropsychology of how scenes get tricky (and what to do about it). Details & ticketing here. Tuesday, Jan 16 Sometimes the best way to shake up our nervousness around kink is to literally make a game of is. Playing games is a way to enhance our creativity, our sense of adventure, and our ability to connect and have fun — so why not extend that to Fetish Games? Join us at 6:30 in San Francisco, where Psychokitty Ryan will demonstrate several “naughty” games and inspire your own. There will be multi-person party games, similar to People Ping Pong and the Three Legged Lace, explained and demonstrated as well as some more intimate challenges for those at home players. Class participation is highly encouraged. Details & ticketing here! In collaboration with Magickal Crossroads . . . Kabbalah doesn’t need to be obscure, pedantic, or boring. It can be fun, experiential – and maybe even a little dishy. Anyone can master the basics in only a few hours – and the rest, as they say, is commentary. Join Miriam BatAsherah Green at 7pm Pacific online for All the Kabbalah You Really Need to Know in 72 Minutes or Less. Beginners will quickly become acquainted with the fundamentals of Kabbalah, while more experienced practitioners will gain deeper perspectives into the origins of Kabbalah and its continuing relevance to witches, pagans and magickians. Details & ticketing here. Wednesday, January 17 Looking back at this past year in your kink life can point you toward what you want to change or focus on for this next year. Join Sinclair Sexsmith online at 6pm Pacific for Your Year in Kink for a great structure for doing so! We’ll use our reflections to make some goals, ideas, bucket list, or bingo card for next year. Details & ticketing here. Thursday, January 18 Is it the sensation? Subspace? Submission? Pain? Yes. In tonight’s guided conversation Bottom, Why!? A Conscious Discussion of Why We Bottoms Do the Things We Dowith Ev Evnen, we’ll explore as bottoms why we are drawn to this side of play. As we dive deeper into our “whys” we’ll find ways to better communicate with our tops and doms, in addition to better understanding ourselves. Both individuals and partner groups and D-types and S-types are welcome to attend. Details & ticketing here. As we delve deeper into kink and forming D/s relationships, our tools for negotiation and consent also deepen and evolve. In KINK 201: Advanced BDSM Negotiations – Relationships & Dynamics, Wicked Grounds owner Miriam Green will explore setting your own must-haves and red flags, negotiating for play partner relationships, building D/s contracts that really work, how to maintain kink relationships over time, and much more. Details & ticketing here. Saturday, January 20 A service submissive can be useful in a variety of ways. Why not travel services? In Checked Baggage: Submissive Travel Services, d20domme will explore how to serve while doing so by train, plane, or automobile and how to make any Airbnb, hotel, or shared space reflect your D/s dynamic. This online class starts at 11am Pacific. Details & ticketing here. In collaboration with Magickal Crossroads . . . Whether you believe in magick, want to believe in magick, or think this is all just a fun metaphor for how the mind works, you are sure to gain new tools and perspectives on BDSM play by attending Sex Magick for Kinksters with Wicked Grounds’ Miriam Green, who has been teaching in the world of magick even longer than in the world of kink! This online class embarks at 2pm Pacific. Details & ticketing here. Sunday, January 21 On Sunday at 11am Pacific, John Pendal offers Dungeon Disasters: a workshop about “all the mistakes I’ve made so that you don’t copy them”! No matter how skilled you are as a BDSM player things can and will always go wrong. This class examines both emotional and physical pitfalls of kinky scenes with tips for warning signs you should look out for, ways to avoid

As I write this, I’m sitting at the plant- and crystal-laden registration desk Mukunda Studio — a warm, welcoming, queer yoga space in the Leather and LGBTW Cultural District. Outside, you can hear Folsom Street traffic. Indoors, we’re surrounded by fabrics, wood, plants and shells, huge Quan Yin statues and a bevy of Ganeshas. It’s a usually a quiet haven in the neighborhood, but today sensual R&B is playing in the studio space. We’re hosting our first Erotic Movement class since closing the old Wicked Grounds Annex last June, and I feel truly at home. It’s taken a while, but I am beginning to feel the best of what it means to be Wicked Grounds in community with other local spaces. All the more so because I parked just up the street at the Folsom Street Community Space, where we also hold classes. This afternoon, a crew of friendly leather folk are building a set of new shelves to house the collection of the Center for Sex and Culture — which is also operating as a force in the world long after leaving a space of its own. The garage at Folsom Street is full of table saws, sawdust, sweat and smiles. The industry of building together. The quiet of finding one’s own way to move, in a supportive group. Loud and quiet. Fast and slow. The ways we build relationships and community ebb and flow like that. Some days are busy; some days are quiet. Some days we reach out; some days we nestle inward. Thankfully, we try to build opportunities for both. If this is a time you really want to connect with community, take a small first step now. What is the next class, the next playshop, the next party you want to check out? Our friends at Forbidden Tickets and Bloom offer safe, curated events not just in the Bay Area but all over the world. If this a time you want to turn inward, make time for that. Here’s what I see as the important part: when you want to reach out, reach out. When you want to go in, go in. Honor that natural ebb and flow. It’s when we fight that instinct and get in conflict with ourselves that we get stuck. I’ll close with the Goethe quote that’s on my mind today: “Whatever you do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” This is often paired with a commentary from William Hutchison Murray, Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Wherever you are in your journey right now, Wicked Grounds is here for you. Never hesitate to reach out for help connecting with community, at the speed that’s right for you. Warmly Mir PS: WHOA! Talk about synchronicity! I was just wrapping up a final re-read of this post, and the class started chanting “Slow is sexy!” to affirm the instructor saying that slowness fuels eroticism. Perfect. Truly perfect.

Some of you know that I’ve been teaching in witchy woo-woo, magick and occult topics for even longer than I’ve been teaching in kink — about twenty years as an instructor, and closer to thirty as a public ritualist in my primary traditions. Often in the cooler months — when I’m not as busy with kink events — I pull out some of my magick classes and offer them through the Grounds for those who are also interested in this stuff. (Fun fact: the kink community tends to have both more secularists and more pagan folks than the population at large.) Everyone tends to have a specialty or favorite area, and mine tends to be an eclectic mix of kabbalah and what we used to call chaos magick: so you’ll see a lot of my classes popping up lately on things like kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, and sigils. I have to put that Jewish Studies major in college to use somehow! Like kink, I don’t teach kabbalah because it was an easy first fit. My first reaction — when a friend suggested I start studying thirty years ago — was that I didn’t want to learn a lot of “archetypal, patriarchal bullshit.” Well . . . famous last words. Now, the core work of kabbalah is the stuff I can teach in my sleep. It’s the structure that I used to organize my thoughts, without thinking about it too much. As Zalman Schachter-Shalomi might say, it’s as close to me as breathing in is to breathing out. If you’re called to this kind of work, and think it might be easiest to learn from someone like me, we have several opportunities coming up — including the huge omnibus course that I only offer every 3-5 years. Here are a few classes that might be relevant to your interests: Multi-week January 29th – March 15th: ​All the Kabbalah You Really Need to Know (in 7.2 Hours or Less). ​ This six-week course includes pretty much all of the material that will be covered in our regular classes, so if you take this one there’s no need to take the others below. January 16th 7pm PDT: ​All the Kabbalah You Really Need to Know in 72 Minutes or Less​. My core class. January 20th 2pm PDT: ​Sex Magick for Kinksters​. If you can do kink, you can easily learn how do to magick. January 27th 11am PDT (4.5 hour class): ​Kabbalah for Tarot, Tarot for Kabbalists. ​Bring your deck, and learn a new framework for letting tarot cards tell you their stories. February 22nd 7p PST: ​Put a Sigil On It! ​Learn the most common and practical technique for channeling sex magick energies. If you are also a bit woo — or just curious, or just think this is all a metaphor for how the brain works — I hope to see you in one or more of these classes! Warmly Mir

Hello Kinksters – Happy new year! I hope that this week back to work is gentle, and that all your resolutions are staying resolute! If one of your goals for this year is to go deeper in BDSM & sexuality, we have you covered. Check out our full (and growing) set of classes here. If you’d like to get in a lot of classes, a Wicked Grounds events pass offers substantial discounts over regular per class pricing. This week we launched our monthlong mindfulness & habit building challenge, and several of us have been journaling and sitting ever since, which has been really helpful for me to create a bit more mental space. If you’d like to join us, it’s not too late — we’re allowing late registration through Sunday, and offer a bit of supplemental orientation in our Monday evening session. Sunday will also be the last day to purchase Your (Kink) Year in Review: a 26-page comprehensive look back at the past year, to help you celebrate successes and learn from challenges, preparing for a your best kink year ahead! Read on for this week’s events! Memberships keep Wicked Grounds going. Join our Patreon VIP program for excellent benefits, from free and discounted classes to discounts and free shipping on gear all year round! Annual memberships now available! Events Roundup! Thursday, Jan 4 Join Lee Harrington online at 6pm Pacific for an exploration of D/s in Sir! Yes Sir!: Exploring Protocol in Power Exchange Dynamics. Tickets will be on sale until tonight’s start time of 6pm Pacific/ 9pm Eastern. If you’d like to attend, please take command of the situation and get your tickets here. Need more rope in your life? Join us at 7pm for the Wicked Rope Jam at Folsom Street Community Center. Get your advance tickets here!. We will also have tickets available at the door (and possibly limited rope for sale on site.) Saturday, Jan 6 Want to get the most out of the San Francisco Bay Area Kink Scene? The very best way to get oriented, connect with resources, and find your community is in Wicked Grounds’ Welcome to the SF Kink Scene, offered live once per month on first Saturdays at noon. This class is only offered live, and we’ll be at Trellis in downtown SF (near 5th & Mission). Miriam Green will be teaching this month. Advance ticketing strongly recommended. Get yours here! Sunday, Jan 7 Getting more movement in your new year doesn’t need to feel like so much . . . well, work. Why not explore getting back into and honoring your body in a way where you don’t have to leave so much of yourself at the door? Join Alexandria of Click Your Heels for Erotic Movement at Mukunda Studios in SOMA at 2pm. Space is limited, and we recommend advance ticketing. Get yours here! Monday, Jan 8 Navigating consent in BDSM dynamics is a nuanced conversation, and cannabis use adds an additional layer of complexity. If you consume cannabis, but also want to keep super clear about its role in your kink life, Blunt Talk with Lilith Foxx (6pm Pacific, online) is the class for you. Participants will learn strategies for discussing preferences and consent beforehand, mitigating risks, recognizing how cannabis might affect consent communication, and staying aware of nonverbal cues and intoxication levels. The insights and tools provided will foster healthy, consensual connections in scenarios where cannabis is part of the equation. Advance ticketing required – get yours here! Tuesday, Jan 9 What is the link between BDSM/ kink and leather (the object, and the frame of mind)? Explore this link in our 6pm Pacific online class, What’s Leather Got to Do With It? Leather Identity, Fetish, Sex, and Soul. From tools of pain and pleasure to the wide varieties that wrap around our form and conform to our shape, tonight’s class with Lee Harrington will examine our tough exteriors to find how leather fetish has inspired leather sex, and in turn, leather soul, identity, and spirit. Advance ticketing required – get yours here! Join us in San Francisco tonight for a great hands-on intro to flogging! This month, our new FlogLab instructor Reika Minxie will guest host on our regular SpankLab date to introduce you to her new playshop! This hands-on playshop in San Francisco will be taking over second Tuesdays each month (and we’ll be back with a new day and time for SpankLab starting in February). Whether you’re an experienced flogger who wants to learn more, or brand new to using these tools, you are welcome here! We’ll start at 7pm in SOMA, San Francisco. Details & ticketing here. Wednesday, Jan 10 The sacred is everywhere if we know what to look for! In our class partnership with Magickal Crossroads, we bring you Urban Magick: Sacred Sites in Your City with Diana Rajchel. This online class starts at 6pm Pacific/ 9pm Eastern. Get advance tickets here! Thursday, Jan 11 Electro play has a different toolkit from other types of BDSM play, and that includes particular skills to cultivate as an electro play bottom. Join Carmen Pandiego and Nick -Illuminaughty- at 6pm Pacific online for SubSpice: Bottoming for Electro Play. This class will discuss preparing yourself mentally, physically, and making sure you have the right information to be an empowered bottom. Advance ticketing required – get yours here! Saturday, Jan 13 Dollification is the process of evolving yourself–or someone else–into a “living doll” using consensual modification of mental/behavioral and physical/clothing traits. Learn the secrets of this dynamic fetish in our hybrid workshop Dollification for New Dolls, Makers & Owners with Danarama Saturday, Jan 13th at 2pm Pacific – either online or in person with us in San Francisco! Advance ticketing required – get yours here! Ongoing or upcoming events Daily: Sign up for Wicked Grounds’ Adventures in Daily Kink Journaling to receive prompts on all kink topics with bonus insights from Mir! January 29-March 15, 2024. Miriam BatAsherah Green is offering their “only