Vintage image courtesy of Nick and Morphia

I am in love with Violet. No – not Mistress Violet of the Dominas Realm, who helped teach me during my training, who I think is fabulous but rather in a catching up for sushi train and gossip way (or if you are a slave, for a sound whipping). No I am speaking of my new love for Violet Wands. You see, once you play with Violet, you’re an an instant devotee. The crackling buzz of electromagnetism. The spooky flickering streams of purple, as if in a science-fiction horror film. And then there’s the charming history that goes along with Violet Wands.

I turn to the voice of authority, curator of the Powerhouse Museum, Erika Dicker, who writes on her “favourite object in the collection” (her words, not mine!):

“Electromassage devices, also called violet ray machines, or violet wands, were used by doctors from the 1880s to treat ‘hysteria’ in women. They were used to massage female patients to orgasm as treatment. General practitioners welcomed the invention as manual massage was fatiguing and slow. Before the invention of electricity, vibrators were run by water and steam. When portable vibrators powered by line electricity became available at the turn of the century they quickly became dominant medical massage technology. But the appearance of vibrators in erotic films in the 1920s eroded the instrument’s social camouflage.”

Source: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/blog/index.php/2009/04/meet-the-curator-erika-dicker/

In other words, like much of the history of “personal massage machines” (and to this we could add the contemporary Hitachi wand), the dominant use of these Violet Ray machines became sexual stimulation. They gave a painful pleasure, which could be varied with different attachments, intensified or reduced with the flick of a switch. And its eerie violet glow a kind of visual manifestation of the supernatural potential of the erotic.

The violet wands came with a set of different attachments, which were generally labelled with different parts of the body for use, a comb for the hair and back of head and neck, a neck and throad electrode,  an ear electrode, and an anal electrode amongst others.  One of the most popular pieces of the sets was the mushroom electrode, which could be used very generally on almost any part of the body and put to erotic use for pleasure, whereas the pointier pieces tended to push the pain response more strongly including most particularly the nose electrode which is in contemporary sets called the razor attachment.

There was much medical quackery attached to the use of Violet ray machines. They were marketed as a cure or aid to such medical conditions as Neuritis, skin conditions, rheumatism, “correcting female complaints” (with a specific vaginal electrode was marketed in some brands of machines), prostatic trouble, asthma, boils, brain fog, gonnorhea, gout, hayfever, impotence, to name but a few. (For those seriously interested in the historic claims for the device, there is an internet site with an an historic Violet Rays machine manual here.)

Ironically, there may be some genuine medical substance to the use of Violet wands on the scalp to stimulate the cells.

However in a BDSM context, the Violet wand is useful on several levels in relation to the psychological and physical play of Domination and pain. Firstly, the purity of fear that a Mistress (or Master) can generate from a crackling, purple-glowing antique electrical device, particularly when slave is completely restrained such as to a bondage platform. And then there is the apparent potential of pleasure and pain, to be experimented on with this device, and the different sensations of various applications, and their use on different parts of the body, to agony or ecstasy.

For all these reasons, as a collector and a Mistress, I simply had to add one of these machines to my collection. So to that end, I have happily found a lovely little kit housed in a small black suitcase, which closely resembles my clarinet case! (Ironically, without even going into “what happened at band camp” jokes). Thus the machine is suitably portable and discreet for my travels, but has all the vital and most-used attachments. And best of all, its class. An art deco 1930s German Radiostat violet ray in original condition, with its purple and blue felt lining referencing the hues of the electrodes in use, all of which are intact. I even love the font, and as all my close friends and slaves know, I am very font-fussy! It has two controls, for both buzz and power. Of course it has also been all checked-over and had its capacitor and cables replaced, and its interior re-insulated, by Nick and Morphia, to make it as safe as possible for use. (I may be a little sadistic, but I’m not crazy!)

So now I am in bliss, and will definitely be spending all of my week playing with Violet. If you want to play dear slave, she’s coming too.

Lady Louella’s beautiful art deco German violet wand. Sigh!