Cherotic Magic Revised - CHAPTER 2 - Chero - Part 1
By Frank Moore, 1990
(SECTION 5)
I started to realize that one of the things that was undermining my work was the English language. There was no word, no name, for the force I was dealing with. This fits the designs of the established powers that are out to isolate and censor us. So my first task was to create a new word. It was eroplay.
Our mind needs labels, words for something to be able to think about the thing clearly. There is such intense physical play, and such a force or energy, and I have labeled it eroplay. But before this, there has not been a word for it. Usually the word sex has been the catch word for people to dump almost everything sensual, romantic, physical, or for showing more skin than usual. Cars are called sexy. Poses that do not show the sex act are called sexual. Wearing certain things, moving certain ways are all called sexual, even when it is not leading to the sexual act – even when there is no intent to have sex.
In magic words have power. To create a word for something is to create the possibility for it to exist in our reality – for it to happen. Even for us who intellectually knew eroplay existed as a separate thing from sex, it was hard before the word eroplay to talk about it clearly, to think about it clearly, and to experiment and play with it without sexual undercurrents and fears creeping in. This was because we had to use words like lusty, sexy and erotic to attempt to talk about it. In our language, all of these words have sexual connotations. In magic, words create. So if you use sexual words for nonsexual playing, the sexual words will set a false sexual confusion. This is why the word eroplay itself is important.
Eroplay is intense physical playing and touching of oneself and others. It is also the happy, playful attitude towards life that comes from such play. Eroplay is not foreplay, even though foreplay is eroplay.
Kids play very physically both with their own bodies and others’ bodies. They get turned-on by this play, turned-on both physically and mentally. This turn-on is not sexual in kids. Studies have shown that babies who are held, touched, and played with are more healthy and alert, weigh more, and have a lower rate of death than babies who are denied this eroplay. Studies also show that old people who live alone, who don’t get physical and emotional contact, are less healthy and die sooner than people of the same age who live with others and get that physical contact.
When we grow into adulthood, eroplay is linked to sex, maybe to assure procreation. But there may be different results when eroplay is connected to the sexual orgasm. This difference may be caused by the mixture of chemicals released in the body during eroplay with other chemicals released in the body during orgasm. Foreplay is eroplay, but eroplay is not foreplay. We may need a certain amount of straight eroplay (not connected to or leading to sex) to be as healthy as possible.
Orgasm may start a patterning process in our brain, which is an intense bonding between people. Free love did not take into account this psycho/physical process.
Foreplay leads to orgasm – eroplay leads to being turned-on in many different ways and in all parts of the body – including, but not limited to, physical arousal. It can be different every time. Skin touching skin seems to be what releases the full impact of eroplay.
Eroplay can be intense. It is like when you rub a puppy on its belly and the puppy goes into a state of rapture, both totally turned-on and relaxed. To use something that is not normally confused with sex, eroplay is the blissed-out, warm, relaxed, turned-on, totally satisfying feeling of a good head rub. The same feeling comes from playing with ears. Eroplay is that intense feeling throughout the entire body.
Sex seems to be connected to mating; whereas the combination of both physical and psychic forces released during and after eroplay seems to be connected more to communication and attracting people to you.
What stops most people from physically eroplaying without connecting it to sex, without sexual undercurrents or expectations, is the inability to see where eroplay ends and sex begins. Foreplay is eroplay, but eroplay is not foreplay. The difference between foreplay and eroplay is one of intent – physically there is no difference. It is the same pleasurable, physical, turned-on feeling.
But there is a difference physically between eroplay and sex. Eroplay is satisfying in itself, in relaxing intensity. There is no build up of pent-up energy in one climactic act. In sex, however, there is a point where foreplay (eroplay) ceases to satisfy and energy gets pent-up and built-up to be released in the sex act. This build up is a clear and broad dividing line between the turn-on of eroplay and sex.
Eroplay starts when the possibility of physical eroplay arises –the possibility of the breaking of the normal rules, social conventions, and morality.
Eroplay is not just physical activity. The possibility of physical eroplay is enough to start releasing whatever chemicals and other forces that physical eroplay will continue to release. Talking and thinking about eroplay will excite, will turn you on, even physically. This seems to be a natural part of eroplay, an innate part.
Eroplay is fun!
Eroplay is innocent and childlike.
Eroplay’s focus is on physical enjoyment and pleasure for its own sake. This is one reason why eroplay is taboo in our society where religion teaches physical pleasure for self is bad.
Eroplay connects you more with your own body and with other people. It decreases isolation and alienation. It increases self-trust and trusting of others. It makes you harder to be controlled. This is another reason why eroplay is taboo.
Because the after-glow of eroplay attracts people to you, you get more opportunities in all aspects of your life. And because eroplay relaxes you and gives you more energy, you are in a better position to use opportunities.
Because eroplay is not focused on goals other than physical enjoyment in many ways, and because it does not lead to a mating life, eroplay would be much harder to use to sell products than sex. This is another reason why eroplay is taboo.
Because of all of this, eroplay leads to a definite lifestyle with all these characteristics. The lifestyle looks strangely like the love generation, but without drugs or free sex.
Eroplay is intense nonlinear physical touching, rubbing, licking, exploring for physical pleasure for its own sake. Eroplay is foreplay which is released from the linear goals of reaching genital orgasm.
When I first wrote about eroplay, I lumped both the physical and psychic play and the energy released by that play as eroplay. But that has made it hard to talk about both the energy and the play as clearly as I have wanted to. I have since started calling this attracting, pleasurable, healing energy of excited calmness “chero”.
In the western culture, chero is known as “sexual energy” or as the “sexual urge”. This is because in this culture, adults usually call chero forth by means of sex and use chero mainly for sex. However, sex is just one way to use chero. Moreover, sex is just one of the ways to call forth chero.
Chero is the life force. It is what attracts. Chero is what attracts other people to you. It is what the shamans used to heal and melt other realities into the normal reality. It is what Tantric Buddhists used to reach the higher spiritual spheres. They used the sex act to arouse chero, which they then used in their spiritual quest. Sex is a cherotic act. But chero is by no means simply a/the sexual energy. There are many ways of calling forth chero, and many ways of letting chero direct or guide you.
One of the oldest ways of calling chero up is what I call “vere”. Vere is what most writers would call the use of pain to attain spiritual ends. But vere is no more pain than eroplay is sex. Vere is physically different than the normal pain, releasing different chemical and psychic reactions in the body. Vere and eroplay are related. Because of the crudeness of the language, it is very difficult to explore these realms.
Each of these ways to chero has its own discipline. We are using the discipline of eroplay.
We are now getting into the technical nature of our work. In magic, masks are important. These masks could be created out of material, or paint, or tattoos, or facial expressions. Magical masks are not meant to be a hiding, a covering up, or a protection. Rather, they are meant to reveal, to liberate, to call forth the deep personality which is usually hidden in normal society. They are vulnerable masks.
In our work, nudity is such a vulnerable mask. In itself, physical nudity does not always mean you are vulnerable. But in the context of this work, it takes you out of the social, polite world. It physically changes you slightly (I will get into these changes later). It signifies the willingness to use every part of yourself in the work ... holding nothing back or in reserve, holding no part too private or sacred not to be used in the work. This is on all levels of your being, from your body to your psyche. Most of my students are now into healing and/or performing. But the work is bigger than these channeling contexts.
Nudity also gives us direct access to the energy channels of the body. In time we will have the access of nudity even with our clothes on. But it will always be easier to arouse chero through eroplay with physical nudity.
In Caves, I talked about some physical health and lifestyle advantages of using eroplay to arouse chero in your body. These advantages are caused by the physical and psychic changes in the body started by aroused chero. Over the years of experimenting, we have often noticed that people’s physical appearance changes, sometimes radically, after they eroplay. Their physical features soften, the way they hold their bodies relaxes, their bodies have a glow very similar to the glow that many pregnant women have. All of these signs are visual, physical signals which attract open people to the chero-enriched person ... and thus attract more opportunities to him. It is also important to point out that these changes are temporary, lasting from a few hours to a few weeks depending on the physical and emotional environment. Continued release of chero is needed to have these changes be longer and longer lasting.
There are other changes that occur during eroplay. By touching, rubbing, rocking, moving, the energy centers of the body are randomly activated, releasing a flood of blood with chemicals that produce the sense of well-being in all parts of the body. This is a warming well-being. This is deepened by the special breathing that is gentle laughing. This is why eroplay is playful and fun at its most healing level. Laughter has its own special healing quality.
Sometimes the release of chero is blocked by confusion and guilt when the person feels the pleasurable, turned-on feeling which he in the past associated with sex. But now he feels it in a nonsexual, nonromantic situation. If he can just let the pleasurable turn-on wash over him without thoughts, it carries him to a new realm of relaxed enjoyment.
Eroplay as a spiritual, healing technique balances chero through all the energy centers throughout the body. This is different than other techniques such as Kundalini Yoga in which the energy which I am calling chero is raised through a very dangerous process from the base of the spine to out the top of the skull. In eroplay, chero is called forth in all parts of the body, creating an energy center out of the whole body.
There is a widely held misconception that the physical and the spiritual planes are in opposition to each other, that to reach the spiritual, you have to avoid the physical. This is overlooking a great number of disciplines that use the physical in various aspects to reach spiritual treasures. The physical is one aspect of the spiritual, the aspect most accessible to us.
As we eroplay, many changes take place. The changes are both physical and psychic. We have already talked about some of the physical changes. One of the physical signs that can occur is the male erection when certain energy centers (and not necessarily the cock) are aroused in certain ways. This male erection has become the most sexual symbol in our culture and perhaps the most taboo. The female erection is not outwardly visible, and hence is usually ignored. But in reality, the “sexual” organs are no more or no less sexual than any of the other energy centers in the body. In eroplay, erection should not be thought of as sexual or as a turn toward sex. This region of the body is just one of the main centers of energy.
The other physical changes caused by the arousal of chero through eroplay are a slight enlarging of the pupils, a slight change in scent from the sweat glands and nipples, the chero blush, and a difference in body tone. All of these are so slight that they usually are only picked up on the subliminal level. The changes in one body can be transferred to the bodies of others through these subliminal sensory signals. This is one reason why physical nudity is important in this work. It gives these signals a more direct channel to affect others.
But to understand better what is happening when chero is aroused by eroplay, it should be remembered that the physical is only one aspect of what we are. Around our physical body there is a force field made up of thoughts, emotions, and other psychic material. This field is usually a fraction of an inch out from the body, but we have the ability to broadcast this psychic force outward.
When we release chero through eroplay, we focus this force and with the willingness to be unlimited, we radiate this force outward, creating a rapport into which others can be drawn. This rapport has physical, mental, and psychic qualities.
In my performances, this rapport, in the form of an altered reality or a spell, is created by arousing chero between two people by rubbing bodies, by rocking together, moving together, making noises. These two generating people are sometimes isolated in a tent or a box. But the rapport generated physically and psychically by these two leaks out of the enclosed space, putting those on the outside into an altered state. The deeper the chero rapport is between the two, the more complete the outer reality will be.
At first, the generating chero rapport may feel uncomfortable, forced, and/or strange to the apprentice. This is because we are using things that in the western culture are usually contained only in sexual and/or romantic contexts. The apprentice should not be thrown by this forced, uncomfortable feeling. It is the breaking of old patterns. It is one of the first stages of this work.
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