Nine-Tailed Whip
The Nine-tailed Whip is the primary religious symbol of the Divine Masochist faith. Its central importance is shared across the different Masochist denominations, differing only in presentation in artistic depictions.
The Orthodox Whip is depicted as a Kalassarian nine-tailed whip, whose leather thongs are typically stained in the four colors of the Kalassarian Imperial court, with each thong radiating upward, away from the plaited handle. The outermost pair is stained copper, followed by a pair stained with red, followed by a pair stained with purple, the innermost pair stained black. Then the singular central thong remains unstained leather.
This implement of corporal punishment was chosen as the early movement's symbol because of the well-known story that the Venerable Matron using it as her tool to discipline the Divine Masochist.
The Four Dichotomies
Main article Four Dichotomies
St. Maul of Dearth taught that the Venerable Matron herself came to him in a dream, and taught him about the Masochist's Four Dichotomies of the Whip. Each dichotomy is represented by one of the pairs of the thongs in a Kalassarian nine-tailed whip and describes an opposed pair that describes the different kinds of pain humanity must first perceive in order to understand a matching kind of pleasure.
The Personal Dichotomy, Starvation and Satiety, is represented by the copper-stained thongs.
The Familial Dichotomy, Longing and Love, is represented by the red thongs.
The Communal Dichotomy, Hostility and Hospitality, is represented by the purple thongs.
The Spiritual Dichotomy, Struggle and Salvation, is represented by the black thongs.
They all surround the unstained central thong, which represents an individual immortal soul.