I promised the publishers that I would plug Magic hard, so I could become a bit of a bore about this. I have thought about writing a bonus short story about some of the characters as an oblique way of pushing it.

Until then here is a short article about spanking and its use in magic as practiced for real by those who believe.

Ancient Pagan rites included spanking and flagellation in many fertility ceremonies. These stem from an earlier belief that is derived from ancient magical practices.

There are many theories about this. One is that it was derived from sacrifice and that the endurance of pain (and perhaps the minor bloodletting caused by severe birching) was needed to enact certain spells. Another is that the bottom is the fundamental part of the body and that as a woman’s bottom is bigger, thrashing females was more potent.

The theory I like best is that in ancient times many cults existed that required the blood sacrifice of a virgin female to appease the gods or invoke some great power or spell. Since this was a big ask of a father or husband it is thought that over time this was mitigated into ceremonially birching unmarried women.

One version is that once a year all the unmated girls of childbearing age were gathered at the centre of the village and bent naked over a coping stone so that there bare bottoms were presented to good advantage. Then they were whipped on the bottom a certain number of times that corresponded with an arcane calculation.

Some accounts suggest that the girls themselves had to gather up the rods and others that the women themselves competed to take the most strokes as it was deemed lucky.

Whatever the truth, throughout history, spanking and whipping rituals are to be found from Ireland to the Urals and even beyond. Some of which survive today, especially within Slavic communities.