Reflections of ASS(fest 2023)

Gratitude, reflections, and ASSES! (yes, asses!)

Wow.

We went deep.

Maybe we should have called it an urban retreat or an immersion or something? Every ASSFest will look and feel different.

This one was so beautiful, and we are feeling so grateful.

I hope it felt strong to everyone that while all of you is welcome here, you are under no compulsion to bring or show us every part. Do the work from a place of safety. Honour thyself. Follow your desire and find your boundary.

Having that guiding principle makes it all the more beautiful when people DO show themselves, their vulnerabilities, their process. We did some deep work this weekend.

We hope our participants are feeling good - or rather, we hope everyone is feeling what they need to and able to access any support they need. Please feel free to contact us (either ASS or any individual facilitators you feel drawn to) if you have any questions or would like to go deeper! Whether you came for a moment or the full journey, we hope you got something from ASS.

And we hope everyone got something out of this space - a glimmer, a moment, an opening…

Beyond grateful to our facilitators - Mistress Tokyo (Mindful Consent), Amber Ella-Vatrix (The Erotic Edge), Ami Karlsson, Sai Jaiden Lillith / Eve X (Sacred Primal Arts) and von Riga (Soul Rope Studio). Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion, and thank you for all the work you’ve done in the lead up and over this weekend. It was AMAZING and we can’t wait to do it all over again in Melbourne!

Please follow our educators on ALL their social media to keep this conversation alive in the community, lest Big Brother disappear us.

Big thanks also to our support team, our invisible helpers and supporters, our amazing admin helper Carina and the community for welcoming this project so warmly into the world!

This was a collective effort, and we built this container and framework together. Everyone contributed what and how they could, and we are in gratitude for everything that was offered. We were all at varying degrees of capacity during the experience, and as founders we did take the lead on various aspects of the weekend, but we tried to run this in as non-hierarchical a format as possible. As practitioners we’re all from different spaces coming together in the one container; s.x workers, p.rnographers, sacred s.xuality workers, academics, students of psychology, esoteric practitioners, dancers, body workers - we have a variety of backgrounds and career paths that have led us here, we have different internal belief systems, and we all have differences in how we approach the Work. We’re not perfect and we’re not homogenous. No one is without baggage or scars, but that's what gives us our unique viewpoints, motivations and approaches in what we do.

But we ARE here with the one vision; of creating a safe, inclusive & non-judgemental container to explore ethical pathways to physical / heart space / erotic embodiment and peak experiences, of being open to the unseen and letting that move through us if we choose to, of BEING EXCELLENT TO ONE ANOTHER, of doing The Work.

There can be a sense of tightness around creating these spaces - a fear contraction.. *What if nobody comes!* We felt the weight of responsibility of holding space for people to move through these deep processes. Over the course of the weekend, whilst we got tired, we also felt increasingly grounded, calm AND energised. We all held each other. There was a sense of lightness emergent, as we all shed layers and sloughed off the dead skin. We all journeyed together, whether as witnesses, participants or facilitators. We're all there together, doing the Work in our own ways.

We sold the perfect number of tickets. We didn’t ‘meet capacity’ but at the same time we did… it was perfect for space and group dynamics, whilst also ensuring our facilitators were paid well for their labour. This is important to us because erotic labour is historically undervalued, and we want to make the change we want to see in the world.

The festival may be done but we’re going to be around - we’re committed to holding space in Sydney physically as well as online. Please keep an eye on these spaces and subscribe to our Substack to stay informed of our gatherings!

Thank you all, once again, for being part of this. We are in deep gratitude and appreciation for you all, your support, and joining us in our vision of holding this space for everyone.

Until next time,

With all the love and butts,

Australian School of Sexuality (ASS)