The beauty of flesh hooks...

alexpierce during his solo pull

The first weekend in May sol and I attended the "Hook / Energy Pull Workshop" presented by our Melbourne based friend Bella447 and organized by Satet and alexpierce.

Flesh suspension and hook / energy pulls have long held my interest, both in and out of the scene. As a part of the art museum world I was fascinated by Stelarc, an Australian artist who has performed extensively in Japan, Europe and the USA. Stelarc utilized suspension in his performances during the 1970s and 1980s:

STELARC
No title (no. 7 sitting swaying event for rock suspension):
from photo documentation of "Suspension Events". (1976)
see full image accreditation at end of post

I was intrigued as a curator by how the artist “explore[d] the physical and psychological parameters of the body”, utilizing pain, technology and medical procedures within his art. Here are the his memories regarding the image above:

"Sitting / Swaying event for rock suspension (Tamura Gallery, Tokyo - 11 May, 1980). Encircled by 18 granite rocks, which counterbalanced its weight, the body was suspended in a sitting position. Each rock weighed between 3.5 - 4.2 kgms, one rock for each insertion point. The rocks were first suspended from eye-bolts in the ceiling, then connected to the body sitting on the floor. The rocks were then lowered, lifting the body into space. During the suspension time of approximately 17 minutes, the body swayed, gently swinging all the rocks in different direction"

Pain was an important component of what he was experiencing with the suspensions, and I found it very interesting to see how he constantly challenged his audience. Mark Fernandez writes of these performances:

"Stelarc was naked, his skin from shoulders to near his kneecaps, had hooks inserted with wires that ran through mounted pulleys that tugged and stretched his skin as he was raised up. A hook pulling the flesh is an action illustrating form-stimulus interacting with the body ... The hook acting as the stimulus penetrates skin and breaks the spatial dimensions that would normally constitute it as form..."

This next photo was taken in Canberra in 1982, near where we lived:

STELARC
Prepared Tree Suspension: Event for Obsolete
Body, No.6 (1982). Foothills of Black Mountain, Canberra.
Photograph taken by Norman Ainsworth.
see full image accreditation at end of post

These images still hold enormous power for me. In the 1980s and 90s (as I explored my own kinkiness) I wondered if there was a BDSM component to his work, but Stelarc makes his motivation clear in the quote below:

"Although the suspensions deal with the physical difficulty of the body strung up they have neither religious intent (transcending the body) nor the yearning for shamanistic empowering. They are realised with neither the intention of initiation rites nor the S&M exploration of pain and pleasure.

"What can be admitted though is that a painful experience does collapse the convenient distinction between the mind and body. ... To be suspended is to be between states. To be neither one nor the other. To be in suspense is neither being able to participate in the present nor to anticipate the outcome…"

Stelarc's comment about the suspensions having "neither religious intent (transcending the body) nor the yearning for shamanistic empowering" is also important. These rituals and ceremonies provided him a springboard in terms of technique, nothing more:

"when I first came across the notion of piercing the skin, I thought, if you could suspend the body using techniques like these, then you would have a minimum of support, you'd have just the insertion and single cable ... A lot of primal rituals have to do with suspending the body,but ... For me there was no religious context, no shamanistic yearnings, no yogic conditioning that had to do with these performances. In fact, they occurred in the same kind of stream of consciousness. In mean, I don't take any anaesthetics, I don't chant or get into altered states.."

Stelarc was to travel a long way beyond these early works (in part via the use of medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems and the Internet) in his exploration of alternate, intimate, and involuntary interfaces with the body.

Meanwhile, as a young cultural anthropologist I was traveling in the opposite direction, back to Stellarc's original cultural history sources, which allowed me to pursue my own research interests in ritual ordeals, in particular ceremonies like the Thaipusam Festival in Asia (which I saw for myself one year) and the North American Indian Sun Dance:

When researching these ceremonies and rituals I would find myself drawn to descriptions of how the piercings traditionally were undertaken. For example, this description from the Sun Dance:

"After an hour of dancing and singing around the cottonwood tree, a dancer lays down on his back. The medicine man cuts two slits in the skin of his chest above each nipple. He then pulls up the skin, opening the wounds wide enough to slip a peg through each pair of slits. He wraps a rawhide thong around the exposed ends of the pegs and ties on a single rope, much like the Y-shaped tow line of a water skier, the top of the Y tied to the tree.

"The dancer rises and resumes dancing and blowing on his whistle. He dances backwards until the rope is taut, his skin stretching against the tug of the rope. Other dancers encourage him in a fury of dancing, whooping and whistling. Finally, by leaning back, dancing and screeching on his whistle, he rips the pegs from his flesh. Soon another dancer takes his turn..."

Powerful stuff. I was on a different path (academia!) back then, but I certainly recognized the connections made by Raven Kaldera when I encountered his writings much later on my own BDSM journey:

"Primitive cultures have used physical and emotional and sexual ordeals in order to achieve altered states a lot more often than we modern westerners would like to admit. We can utilize some of their techniques, but their contexts are often opaque to us, as we weren't raised in their tribal culture. We need to create our own set of ordeal rituals that resound with our experiences and yet do not partake of the negative materialism in our society. Indeed, they should ideally be an antidote to it.

"We can see a beginning of this yearning for physical ordeal rituals in the wave of modern primitivism sweeping the country, with its attendant practices of piercing, tattooing, and other temporary and permanent body modification. The fact that teens flock to it in droves speaks not only of the enduring problem of peer pressure, but of the driving need for rites of passage that feel real, that feel as if one has actually survived something worth doing..."

He's right about that "wave of modern primitivism sweeping the country". Except it's worldwide in Western countries, now. And they are always seeking something more "edgy", something more dangerous. Thus, the current interest in the scene in flesh / hook suspension. Interestingly people are now looking for links between modern suspension and traditional rituals like the Lakota Sun Dance, the Thaipusam Festival, Catholic flagellatory orders, etc. When interviewed about this, Allen Falkner (one of the best known and most influential suspension artist - he runs suspension.org) replied:

"modern suspension has very little to do with traditional ritual suspension. Modern suspension initially rose primarily from body modification or artistic expression. In the beginning, any ties we had to historical suspension were indirect through people like Fakir Musafar who was directly influenced by the Mandan Indians. These days people do look for ties to other culture’s suspension history, but it’s generally more about determining how and why we suspend"

If suspension is something you'd like to explore, you'll find lots of practitioners and presenters via the References and Online Resources List at the end of this post. Because people, this is one of those topics you absolutely do not fuck around with, without a real time teacher who really knows their stuff. Bella447, our teacher, is extremely well qualified. She was not only a professional piercer, she also runs the Hooked Up events in Melbourne. She was to be assisted by her boy Paulus, and alexpierce, another professional piercer and partner to Satet, in who's dungeon the workshop was taking place.

The first thing Bella447 made clear in her Hook Energy Workshop was that flesh / hook suspension was not on today's agenda. We were there for something equally powerful. We were going to encounter hooks in flesh, definitely ... but we were going to learn about, and partake in, the ritual of pulling, not suspension.

Pulling is a form of flesh hook play where the participant(s) use their own strength and weight to put pressure on the hooks. suspension.org says:

"The experience of pulling is slightly different in that the body's entire weight is not supported by hooks in skin. The sensation of the skin being stretched and pulled to its maximum may be similar and the sensation of endurance and surrender may be similar but they are definitely not the same. In addition, unlike a suspension where the person reaches a state of complete surrender, the puller is in complete control of their physical position and level of pain"

Bella447 writes on Fetlife's Hooked Up #6 event page:

"A Pull involves having one or two hooks placed in the chest or back, that are then used - via cord - to "pull" against another person or an inanimate object such as a pole".

One of the best online definitions I've found of a Hook Pull is Londonfaerie's:

"The Hook-Pull is a beautiful, exhilarating experience inspired by traditional rites and ceremonies held around the world. Participants receive piercings in their chest and/or back ... Each person works individually to begin with, testing and expanding their body's limits as they pull on their hooks. Then gradually people connect and groups form, allowing this powerful energy to grow as it is shared."

As Bella447 notes on Fetlife's Hooked Up #6 event page, "The largest Pull setup we had involved about 50 people all pulling off each other :) Now that generated a lot of energy!"

So when did this type of play first appear in the BDSM world?

"Hook/energy pulls were introduced in the United States in 1987 through the work and exploration of Fakir Musafar. Fakir is credited with organizing the first ball dance and energy pulls in our Western Culture in community group rituals beginning in 1998. These types of events then migrated via the body modification and BDSM communities..."

I know for some readers this post is probably difficult to read. You may be asking yourself why on earth would anyone do either hook suspension or a hook / energy pull? They are different things but to respond to the first, here's suspension.org again:

"There are many different reasons to suspend, from pure adrenaline or endorphin rush, to conquering ones fears, to trying to reach a new level spiritual consciousness and everything in between.

"In general, people suspend to attain some sort of "experience". Some people are seeking the opportunity to discover a deeper sense of themselves and to challenge pre-determined belief systems which may not be true. Some are seeking a right of passage or a spiritual encounter to let go of the fear of not being whole or complete inside their body. Others are looking for control over their body, or seek to prove to themselves that they are more than their bodies, or are not their bodies at all. Others simply seek to explore the unknown"

As to hook / energy pulls, Mistress Matisse (who attended one of Fakir's rituals) found:

"The "why" of an energy pull is harder to express briefly. You can say it's a pathway to higher consciousness, because it induces an ecstatic trance state. For me, it was also a question of pushing past self-imposed limits. I don't like hearing, "You couldn't do that," particularly when the voice is coming from inside my own head.

"I'm not a heavy masochist, and I'm not terribly spiritual. So I knew this was going to be--pardon the expression--a stretch for me. But two years ago Max and I first saw one of Fakir's piercing rituals, and the pierced dancers were clearly on a trip of such joy and power that tears ran down our faces just watching it. Right then I turned to Max and said, "We have to do this."

It was now nearly time for us to do it as well. We'd explored suspending sol with rope with AugustusSeizeHer and MzGawjusRedhead a few years back. We were not quite up to flesh suspensions .... yet ... but hook / energy pulls? Absolutely.

Bella447 made her preparations carefully:


You can see the hooks, and also behind them two piercing blades / needles ready for use. Bella explained how these were used together. Here's some relevant info from suspension.org's FAQ page:

"Hooks can be sharpened to a point and forced through the skin, although this is unnecessarily painful and traumatic. The most common and practical means of insertion is to first make the hole with a standard piercing needle and follow that through with the hook. Needle and hook are usually in the same size, but that is entirely optional..."

Bella447 then showed alexpierce how to insert the hook and piercing blade combination in the experienced back of her boy:

Pulling is typically done with between one, two, or four hooks per person. Bella447 explained the reasons why she prefers using two. Suspension.org notes:

"if someone is pulling with hooks in their back, the placement would resemble that of a suicide suspension. The hooks must be placed in a direction so that the hook will not come out during the pulling. Normally this is done with either a locking hook, or with hook placed horizontally, or with hook pierced in an upward direction (ie. the point end of the hook comes out the top hole; the hook is inserted from bottom to top)"

After this, attendees were welcome to have hooks placed, or learn to place them in their partners. Sol received his after about half a dozen others. We left him until towards the end because he'd been feeling a bit woozy watching the hooks be placed, and we were not sure for a while whether he'd be fine. Suspension.org responds in regards to "How do I know if I'm ready to try this?":

"Unfortunately, this is the most difficult question to answer. Only you know if you are ready. Suspension readiness is much more of mental state than physical. As with any form of body modification, one must make the decision based on personal experience and research. At the same time, no amount of research or even watching suspensions in person can really prepare you for the feeling of suspension (but it sure helps).

"Take a long hard look at the experiences of others -- especially the "failures" and negative experiences. Ask yourself why it is worth it to you to face these outcomes and whether or not simply trying would satisfy you. If you can seriously say that it is worth it to simply try then wait and think about it more. A good test of whether anything in life is something you really want and are ready for is if you can stand to wait to have it. Infatuation fades but a serious commitment will withstand the wait and only strengthen your resolve.

"Ultimately, "you'll know when it's the right time," but don't be surprised if you still find yourself overwhelmed with fear. This fear will disappear if you accept it and let it pass through you -- resist it and your suspension will not be a pleasant one as you will not be open to the experience beyond your resistance"

Pulling is perhaps not as scary as suspension, but you still go through having those hooks placed.

However having watched the attendees' positive responses, and not watched the actual hooks being placed, and having given his blood sugar a sugar fix with Coke and a biscuit, sol felt ready to try. First his back was Betadine-ed, and then Bella drew on the dots required for his hooks:


As alexpierce holds sol's skin, Bella readies the blade / hook combination:


A fraction of a second later, it's through the skin:


And the hook positioned:


Here it is:


Sol later said that when the hook went in:

"it hurts like hell ... it hurts exactly the way you'd expect a 3mm needle going through your back would hurt. But they make sure you take a big breath and do it on the exhale, which helps ... you can't keep the pain in, it's difficult to describe but when you exhale you release the pain"

Time for the second one: second hook ... want to stop?

"no ... it's only pain"

And the moment sol said this I flashed back to a comment by Alastair Craig in regard to Stellarc's suspensions:

"Surprisingly - or perhaps not at all - he used no medicinal or meditative techniques to numb the pain. “I wanted to do it alert, aware of the consequences. Pain is just a warning system.” He remains remarkably undamaged from all this. The barbs, he says, were just “puncture marks” .."

"Just puncture marks"? "Only pain"? Hmmm ... I reckon Stelarc is more of a masochist than he admits *grin*. With both alexpierce and Bella holding sol's skin flap, the blade and hook are positioned for the second hook:


And it's through:


All done, in seconds:


After the second hook sol felt "totally flooded with endorphins, kind of dreamy and in space", a space that Mistress Matisse would recognize from her own hook placings:

"I had that slightly detached-from-reality feeling that one gets after being slammed with a big hit of intense sensation".

It's amazing to think how strong the skin is ... you only need two more of these hooks to suspend. Have a look at this photo of slavetrev1's suspension, which you can also read about on Fet here.

While sol was having his hooks placed, other attendees were discovering the delights of pulling. The pulling experience is different to suspension in that:

"The experience of pulling is slightly different in that the body's entire weight is not supported by hooks in skin. The sensation of the skin being stretched and pulled to its maximum may be similar and the sensation of endurance and surrender may be similar but they are definitely not the same. In addition, unlike a suspension where the person reaches a state of complete surrender, the puller is in complete control of their physical position and level of pain"

I wanted to share two different pulls with you, that sol and I saw that afternoon and evening. First was a three way pull between alexpierce, Satet and their lovely sub carlamichelle, but I don't have permission to show those photos. Here's a bit of info about what the photos would have revealed:

"In circular (star) pulling, five, six, or more people pulling at once is certainly possible. Usually, a large group of people perform a pulling by having each member of the pull connected to one central point or ring. With great attention paid to the dynamics of the rigging, it would be advised to form a circle with a central steel circular frame. This is the center point where all the ropes would originate from leading out to everyone in the circle (the ropes form a star). This position allows for any number of people to participate.."

In this case there were only three participants, but it was still extremely powerful to watch, as the ropes tightened and everyone's expressions turned inward ... although their interaction was very clear via those taut ropes and the stretched skin on their backs.

The second pull I want to share was a solo pull that occurred later that evening at the play party. Remember that suspension.org quote earlier re suspension vs pulling, that "unlike a suspension where the person reaches a state of complete surrender, the puller is in complete control of their physical position and level of pain"? I understood the truth of this after watching alexpierce pull while attached to the wall of the dungeon.

We watched as he closed his eyes and slowly centered himself:


As time passed and he became more comfortable with his position, he moved his feet back towards the wall, so that eventually his body was on a steep slant:


Watching Alex made me recall suspension.org's comments regarding the experience of suspension:

"The act of suspension is not about pain, but more the rush that comes the body processing the sensations. When you hang, both adrenaline and endorphins are produced causing the body to enter a euphoric state not unlike being high"

Towards the end of the scene Satet joined him ... although I took the photo I don't have public reproduction rights for that one so you'll need to go to Fet to see the last amazing photo here. Everyone who saw this scene was highly affected by it.

How does it feel? Alex later wrote on Fet "Such an awesome experience. Looking forward to more. ... an amazing headspace, I was bouncing around for hours" while Mistress Marry wrote of her pulling experiences:

"Those experiences are carved in My psyche as positive, pushing the limits, energy immersion, spiritual and intense.

"For Me, this particular hook pull was a catalyst for some badly needed introspection into why I was in some destructive relationships and that ending those relationships was what I needed to do. My feet never left the ground but I held My own weight and got back in touch with My warrior woman. She's been missing in action lately and I am on a quest to find her again.

"Even though there was a room full of people, I was alone with My own energy, My own quest and My own spiritual place. My friends held onto the rope and Me but let Me control how much I pulled, for how long, how much weight I put on the hooks and stretched My skin and when I ready to be done. When I was done, I was a tender noodle emotionally and needed more after care than I've ever needed before. I was a puddle for quite a few days"

Bella then began the process of removing everyone's hooks. Sol's wounds looked quite red at the time we removed them, and we wondered if he may have been allergic to something used on the day. But a day later a photo confirms everything was healing nicely:


I remember Mistress Marry blogging that after her own experience: "We were very different people on the way home" and it did feel like that. We brought sol's hooks home in the pink ziplock bag they were zipped into the moment they were removed from him:


Like Mistress Marry "Each time I look at My beautiful 12 gauge hooks, I relive the experience". We certainly do the same.

We look forward to further explorations...


REFERENCES AND ONLINE RESOURCES:

PRESENTERS / SUSPENSION GROUPS:
If you are in Australia and would like to invite Bella to present on this topic, please contact her through her Fetlife profile.

You can find info on Bella's "Hooked up" events here.

In the US I'd recommend attending Fakir's Spirit + Flesh Ecstatic Shamanism Workshop Rituals, which will also be at Thunder In The Mountains this year:

Fakir and Cleo Dubois are honored to bring the Spirit+Flesh workshop and energy hook pull ritual to Thunder 2011. Based on time-proven body rites of Hindu, Sufi and Native American culture this four hour event will offer a unique opportunity to focus and expand your consciousness for personal insights, transformation and healing. Circle casting, energy sensing exercises and flogging will help you get into ritual space and prepare you for hook piercing and the energy pull that follows -- solo, partnered or in a group with live drumming to propel your experience. Fakir, Elwood, Ms Cynthia, Minax and Yossie will be your piercers. Take this workshop/ritual and fly in shared ecstatic space. For more information on similar Spirit+Flesh events go to:

Look for other groups and presenters on Suspension.org's Groups page and Events page. Fetlife's Hook Suspension and Pulling group is also great for event listings / groups.

CONTEMPORARY RESOURCES:
Allen Falkner - Interviews
BME - Suspensions
BME - Pulling
Fakir's website - About Fakir
slavetrev1 - Realizing my BDSM dream
Suspension.org - FAQ
Wiki - Body Piercing
Wiki - Suspension Bondage
Raven Kaldera - The Ordeal Path
Mistress Marry - Vancouver Spirit and Flesh Hook Pull
Mistress Marry - Update: Random Thoughts on Hook
Mistress Matisse - Hooked: The Report 1
Mistress Matisee - Hooked: The Report 2

HISTORICAL / ART REFERENCES:
Mikkel Aaland - A Guest at an Oglala Sun Dance
Alastair Craig Stelarc suspension tech ai
D M Dooling - On the Lakota Sundance
Extended Body - Interview with Stelarc
Mark Fernandez - The Body Without Memory: An Interview with Stelarc
NeMe: Suspended Bodies - Uncertain, Anxious and Obsolete by Stelarc
Wiki - Stelarc
Wiki - Sun Dance
Wiki - Thaipusam

VIDEOS:
BME - Ritual Suspensions
You'll find lots if you type "flesh suspension" into YouTube

FORUMS:
Hook Life

Fetlife groups:

• Hook Suspension and Pulling
• Flesh Hooks
  

Various forum threads:

• hook suspension and energy pulls
  
• energy pull
  
• Winter Hook Pull Ritual
  

Thank you:

Satet and alexpierce
for their amazing hospitality, unreal food and
a magical weekend

Bella447 and Paulus
for their knowledge and friendship :)

Photos:

Ms160
(permission acquired from everyone in workshop photos)

Wicapaĥlokapi (pierced) Sun Dancers 1977
Image credit: The Lodge of Šung'manitu-Išna

STELARC
No title (no. 7 sitting swaying event for rock suspension):
from photo documentation of "Suspension Events". (1976)
Photography, Photograph, gelatin silver photograph on cardboard
printed image 41.0 h x 60.7 w cm
sheet 50.8 h x 70.6 w cm
Purchased 1981
Accession No: NGA 81.300
Courtesy the artist, Stelarc and Sherman Galleries, Sydney

STELARC
Prepared Tree Suspension: Event for Obsolete
Body, No.6 (1982). Foothills of Black Mountain, Canberra.
Photograph taken by Norman Ainsworth. Available at:
http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/