Past Appearances

These are some of Thista’s past appearances at public venues:

January 20-23, 2023 – Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire, Washington, D.C.

  • Poly Compatibility
  • Sanctify Your Kink
  • High Tea With Lilith
  • The Scourge and The Kiss

October 12-21, 2022 – Oz Kink Fest, Melbourne, Australia

  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Having Fun With Needles
  • Blood Painting
  • Tiny and Vicious
  • Needle Play Predicament Bondage
  • Pretty Needles for the Risk Averse

October 7-9, 2022 – Wicked in the West, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

  • Rites of Passage
  • Through the Dark
  • Spirit Dance Hook Pull

August 30 – September 5, 2022 – Dark Odyssey: Summer Camp, Darlington MD

  • Monster Mash
  • Sacred Sluts
  • Spirit Dance Hook Pull

June 21-27, 2022 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlington MD

  • Viking Orgy
  • Hook Pull Ritual
  • Hook Suspension Ritual
  • Ride of the Valkyries

August 31 – September 6, 2021 – Dark Odyssey Summer Camp, Darlington MD

  • Rites of Passage
  • Hook Pull: Reconnect

March 12-15, 2020 – South Plains Leatherfest, Dallas, TX

  • Keynote Address
  • Suffering for Spirit: Empowerment Through Ordeal
  • The Sacred Way of Consent

February 14-17, 2020 – Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire, Baltimore, MD

  • The Ordeal Path: Sacred Suffering Beyond the Scene
  • Tiny and Vicious: How To Be Mean With Little Needles
  • Aphrodite’s Orgy
  • The Light of Laughter

January 24-16, 2020 – AnonM/s, Providence, RI

  • Rituals of Kink

November 29 – December 1, 2019 – Dark Odyssey: Surrender, San Jose, CA

  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Having Fun With Needles
  • Invocation of Lilith
  • The Scourge and the Kiss

November 8-10, 2019 – KinkyCon XIII, Manchester, NH

  • Cathartic Flogging
  • Serene Sadism
  • A Kinkster’s Guide to Western Occultism

October 25-27, 2019 – Kinky Kollege: Homecoming, Chicago, IL

  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal
  • Reaching Through Steel: Connective Needle Play
  • Communicating Risk: Creating Informed Consent

October 11-13, 2019 – Wicked in the West, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

  • Blood and Kharis: A Ritual of Gratitude
  • Sacred Crisis: The Anatomy of Ordeal
  • Suffering for Spirit: The Depths of Ordeal
  • Hook Pull

September 19-22, 2019 – THE Crossroads, Darlington, MD

  • Serene Sadism
  • Sanctify Your Kink
  • A Kinkster’s Guide to Western Occultism
  • Cathartic Flogging

August 27 – September 2, 2019 – Dark Odyssey – Summer Camp, Darlington, MD

  • Sacred Sluts
  • Customized Ordeal Ritual
  • Spirit Dance Hook Pull

August 16-18, 2019 – THE Dungeons + Geekdoms NE, Hartford, CT

  • The Sacred Way of Consent
  • Impact Catharsis: Metaphysics of Sensation
  • Sensual Sadism: Connection Through Pain
  • Poly Compatibility

July 26-27, 2019 – C.O.P.E., OH

  • Sacred Crisis: The Anatomy of Ordeal
  • Sensual Sadism: Connection Through Pain

July 4-7, 2019 – TES Fest, Piscataway, NJ

  • Cathartic Flogging
  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Communicating Risk: Creating Informed Consent

June 18-24, 2019 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlingtion, MD

  • Spirit Dance Hook Pull
  • Party in Valhalla
  • Ordeal of Consequence
  • Impact Catharsis: The Metaphysics of Sensation

June 6-9, 2019 – Twisted Tryst: The Gathering, IN

  • Cathartic Flogging
  • Reaching Through Steel
  • Sacred Crisis: The Anatomy of Ordeal
  • Ordeal Ritual: Inclusion, Belonging, and Tribe

May 1-5, 2019 – THE: Beltane, Darlington, MD

  • How We Think About Sex
  • A Pagan Primer on Sacred Kink
  • Cocksecration
  • Cleansing With Blood and Fire

April 26-28, 2019 – Beat Me In St Louis, St Louis, MO

  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Needle Predicament Bondage
  • Consent for Polyamory
  • Cathartic Flogging

April 12, 2019 – Rituals of Kink for New England Dungeon Society, Waltham, MA

March 15-17, 2019 – Tethered Together, Warwick, RI

  • Queer Enough
  • Stumbling Into Spooky

March 7-10, 2019 – South Plains Leatherfest, Dallas, TX

  • Blood Painting: Needle Play Body Art
  • Sanctify Your Kink

February 15-17, 2019 – NELA’s Winter Fetish Fair Fleamarket, Warwick, RI

  • Communicating Risk: Creating Informed Consent
  • Redefining Virginity for a Sex-Positive World
  • Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality
  • Intimate Energy Dynamics
  • Experience Ordeal (Master Class)

January 18-20, 2019 – Southwest Leather Conference, Phoenix, AZ

  • Sacred Blood
  • Fertile Soil From Broken Stones: The Power of Ordeal

January 4, 2019 – Unity, Londonderry, NH

  • An Introduction to Needle Play

December 1, 2018 – Unity, Londonderry, NH

  • Cathartic Flogging

November 9-11, 2018 – KinkyCon, Manchester, NH

  • Consent for Polyamory
  • Queer Enough
  • Rituals of Kink

September 28-30, 2018 – Dark Moon Rising, Hubbardston, MA

  • How to Choose an Ordeal Facilitator
  • Sacred Blood

September 22, 2018 – Get a Great RACK w/Thista Minai & Dr. Graham, Somerville, MA

  • In this two-part intensive, national presenter Thista Minai and infectious disease specialist, Dr. Camilla Graham, team up to help you stay risk aware in your consensual kink. They’ll give you the latest medical information to keep yourself and your partners protected with your delightful perversions. Come learn which common kink practices help mitigate risk, which ones don’t, what might actually make things worse, and what you can do to keep your risk profile exactly where you want it. Knowledge is sexy so let’s get busy!

September 13-16, 2018 – THE Crossroads, Darlington, MD

  • Sanctify Your Kink
  • The Sacred Way of Consent
  • Rope Magic
  • Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality

August 28 – September 3 – Dark Odyssey: Summer Camp, Darlington, MD

  • A Touch of Woo: Sacred Kink Exploratorium
  • Ritual of Affirmation
  • Stumbling Into Spooky

August 18, 2018 – NELA’s Summer Fetish Fair Fleamarket, Marlborough, MA

  • Community Stickies – Sacred Sexuality in BDSM
  • A Tasting – Materials for Needle Play

July 5-8, 2018 – Summer WoW – Weekend of Wickedness, NY

  • Reaching Through Steel: Connective Needle Play
  • Impact Catharsis: The Metaphysics of Sensation

June 19-25, 2018 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlington, MD

  • Kink Magic
  • Ordeal of Freedom
  • Faerie Ball: Battle of the Courts
  • Sanctify Your Kink

May 2-6, 2018 – THE Beltane, Darlington, MD

  • The Fucking Ocean: A Nonbinary Beltane Ritual
  • A Contemporary Kordax: Hunting for Cocks
  • Rope Magic
  • Impact Catharsis: The Metaphysics of Sensation

April 20-21, 2018 – The Society, Hartford, CT

  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Pretty Needles for the Risk Averse

March 23-25, 2018 – Kansas City Fetish Festival, Kansas City, MO

  • Grounding, Centering, and Shielding for Kinksters
  • Sensual Sadism: Connection Through Pain
  • Rituals of Kink
  • Cathartic Flogging

March 16-18, 2018 – Bound in Boston, Warwick, RI

  • Rituals of Kink

February 16-18, 2018 – NELA’s Winter Fetish Fair Fleamarket, Warwick, RI

  • Cathartic Flogging
  • Speaking From Experience: Advanced Negotiation
  • Ordeal Facilitation (Master Class)
  • Queer Enough
  • BDSM Taster (Flogging Station)

January 26-28, 2018 – Madtown Kinkfest, Madison, WI

  • Reaching Through Steel: Connective Needle Play
  • Needle Predicament Bondage
  • Serene Sadism
  • Queer Enough

November 23-26, 2017 – Brimstone V, Piscataway, NJ

  • Consent for Polyamory
  • Grounding, Centering, and Shielding for Kinksters
  • Rope Magic

November 10-12, 2017 – Kinky Con, Manchester, NH

  • Cathartic Flogging
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal
  • Sacred Crisis: The Anatomy of Ordeal
  • Polyamory Panel (Panel Member)

October 28-29, 2017 – PhEERfest, Cincinnati, OH

  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Blood Painting: The Other Pretty Needles
  • Serene Sadism: How To Be A Nasty Top Without Loosing Your Balance

September 14-17, 2017 – THE Crossroads, Darlington, MD

  • Moving Through Crossroads: Rituals for Finding Your Way – When we come to a crossroads, how do we proceed? Do we choose a path? Do we proceed under the guidance of others? Does fate determine our route? Moving Through Crossroads is a ritual series that explores how we navigate our options when life’s path diverges. Each ritual examines one method of finding our way. Come to one, some, or all.
  • Sanctify Your Kink

September 8-10, 2017 – Dark Moon Rising, Hubbardston, MA

  • The Power of Depression
  • Identity in the Abyss

August 29 – September 4, 2017 – Dark Odyssey: Summer Camp, Darlington, MD

  • Sacred Kink Party: Temptation – Join us for a celebration of temptation and indulgence, inspired by Lilith and her sexy deviance. Enjoy a variety of kinky delights in a casually relaxed sacred space. Have a kink you’re just dying to try? Write it on our Web of Wishes, and maybe you’ll find a willing vict- uh, play partner. Not sure how to join in the fun? Let one of our facilitators tempt you into action with a challenge catered to your personal desires!
  • Sacred Kink Party: Performance – Delight in the sacred, sexy, and sensational at a party inspired by Hathor, goddess of love, beauty, and stripping for daddy. We’ll start our festivities with a kinky concert, enjoying the delicious sounds that our tops can elicit from their bottoms, followed by a variety show full of whatever talents you choose to share! After the performances we’ll open up the floor for dance, play, and other sensual delights.
  • Sacred Kink Party: Protocol – The Lord Chamberlain is commanded by the Queen of Darkness to invite you to a High Protocol Royal Ball, inspired by Haides, King of the Dead. Come enjoy a formal evening of dancing, refreshments, and royal delights. An invitation will be included in your registration packet. You must present your invitation to the Royal Herald in order to be admitted to the ball (extras will be available at Headquarters).

August 19, 2017 – NELA’s Summer Fetish Fair Fleamarket, Marlborough, MA

  • Sounding: Urethral Fun (demo)
  • Community Stickies

August 1-7, 2017 – Renegade’s Rendezvous, WA

  • Serene Sadism: How To Be A Nasty Top Without Loosing Your Balance
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal
  • The Ordeal Path: Sacred Suffering Beyond the Scene
  • Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality

July 27-30, 2017 – SINergy IV, Lansing, MI

  • Sanctify Your Kink
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal

July 9, 2017 – Pretty Mean: Artistically Sadistic Needle Play, NELA sponsored  intensive in Arundel, ME

  • Needle play is a delightfully versatile form of creative kinky fun! Whether you love artistic needle play but crave more intense sensation, adore painful needles but want them to look as good as they feel, or are just setting out on your needle play adventure, this intensive will expand your skill set and introduce you to things you didn’t know were possible. Join nationally renowned educators and needle play experts Wintersong Tashlin and Thista Minai on July 9th to learn how to combine aesthetic design with carefully calibrated “sensation” in new and innovative ways.

June 20-26, 2017 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlington, MD

  • Rites of Becoming: Pleasure, Pain, and Power – Who are you, truly and deeply, at your core? Join us on a journey to the essence of ourselves in Rites of Becoming, a series of three rituals in the Fusion Temple. This year our rites explore sacred experiences of pleasure, pain, and power. Indulge in what delights you, suffer for your spirit, and seek the strength within yourself.
  • Sacred Blood

June 13-18, 2017 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • A Pagan Primer on Sacred Kink
  • Making Friends with Vampires

June 8-11, 2017 – Twisted Tryst South, IN

  • Consent for Polyamory
  • Communicating Risk: Creating Informed Consent
  • Sacred Blood

April 8, 2017 – Sacred Kink: Creation and Integration, NELA sponsored intensive in Providence, RI

  • Join Thista Minai for this kink intensive featuring two back-to-back classes: Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality & Sanctify Your Kink. Are you looking for a way to give your intimate encounters a deeper connection to the sacred? Learn how to bring spirituality into your existing rituals of play and interaction, how to imbue your kinky toys and tools with spiritual energy, and how to embrace those unexpected moments when a scene becomes profound.

March 24-26, 2017 – Bound in Boston, Warwick, RI

  • Spooky Rope

February 17-19, 2017 – NELA’s Winter Fleamarket, Warwick, RI

  • Grounding, Centering, and Shielding for Kinksters
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal
  • Impact Catharsis: The Metaphysics of Sensation
  • Sex, Gods, and Virgins: Redefining Virginity for a Sex-Positive World
  • Spirituality Panel
  • BDSM Taster

January 20, 2017 – Salem, MA

  • Cathartic Flogging for Boston Kink

December 17, 2016 – The Society, Hartford, CT

  • Blood Painting: The Other Pretty Needles for Eastern Mass Invasion

November 18-20, 2016 – Kinky Con, Manchester, NH

  • An Introduction to Needle Play
  • Having Fun With Needles
  • Blood Painting: The Other Pretty Needles

September 15-18, 2016 – THE Crossroads, Darlington, MD

  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal
  • Sanctify Your Kink
  • Keys at the Crossroads – How can our experiences become keys to personal power? How does struggle sharpen our understanding of ourselves? What impact do we have on others as they carve out their own paths? Join us in this ritual to face a unique challenge specifically designed to help launch you towards your personal goals, and explore how a community can support individual experience.

August 11-14, 2016 – Twisted Tryst North, MI

  • Having Fun With Needles
  • Intimate Energy Dynamics
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Overview of Ordeal

July 18-24, 2016 – Sirius Rising, Sherman, NY

  • Coven Craft Without Binary Gender
  • Sex, Gods, and Virgins: Ancient Greek Virginity and You
  • Pagan Pedagogy

June 22-27, 2016 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlington, MD

  • Rites of Becoming: Mind, Body, Spirit – Who are you, truly and deeply, at your core? Join us on a journey to the essence of ourselves in Rites of Becoming, a series of three rituals at Dark Odyssey: Fusion 2016. This year our rites will explore the sacred dimensions of mind, body and spirit. Choose your path, express your flesh, and test your faith on the mystic path of the seeker.
  • Stumbling Into Spooky

June 14-19, 2016 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • Sex, Gods, and Virgins: Ancient Greek “Virginity” and You
  • Coven Craft Without Binary Gender
  • Horse Handling: Supporting the Possessed
  • Negotiating With Deities and Spirits
  • Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality

April 15, 2016 – Basic Needle Play for Boston-Kink, Salem, MA

February 12-14, 2016 – NELA’s Fetish Fair Fleamarket, Warwick, RI

  • Grounding, Centering, and Shielding for Kinksters
  • Cathartic Flogging
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Introduction to Ordeal

November 13-14, 2015 – Kinky Con, Manchester, NH

  • Suffering for Spirit: An Introduction to Ordeal

September 25-27, 2015 – Dark Moon Rising, Hubbardston, MA

  • Negotiating With Deities and Spirits
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Introduction to Ordeal
  • Main Ritual: Unleashing Your Inner Beast

August 14-16, 2015 – Geeky Kink Event New England, Warwick, RI

  • Grounding, Centering, and Shielding for Kinksters
  • Sex, Relationships, and Psychic Vampires

June 24-29, 2015 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlington, MD

  • Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality
  • Sex, Relationships, and Psychic Vampires
  • Suffering for Spirit: An Introduction to Ordeal
  • Rites of Becoming: The Initiatory Experience at Dark Odyssey: Fusion

June 16-21, 2015 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • Pagan Pedagogy
  • The Elemental Tarot Spread
  • Negotiating with Deities and Spirits
  • Intimate Energy Dynamics
  • Creating Space for Sacred Sexuality

September 5-7, 2014 – Dark Moon Rising, Hubbardston, MA

  • Cathartic Flogging
  • Main Ritual: Trial of Endurance for Artemis Orthia

June 2014 – Dark Odyssey: Fusion, Darlington, MD

  • Ordeal Track Co-Facilitator

June 2012 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • Pagan Pedagogy
  • Hellenic Ritual for Artemis Soteira

June 2011 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • Opening Ritual
  • Main Ritual: Philokhoria

June 2009 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • Hellenic Ritual for Artemis Eleutheria

June 2008 – Free Spirit Gathering, Darlington, MD

  • Introduction to Hellenismos