Death Guild / Thunderdome - scarydome!

[Ugly Dougly]

I think it was at a pre-playa party in Soma Gallery, was it "Hell no, Hell yes"? a man did a suspension and a cutting in the back room.

[Burner till death]

cutting?

[theCryptofishist]

from context, I'd guess ceremonial bloodletting.

And yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, think of european doctors before the age of scientific medicine and what did they do? Why were they called Leeches? It's amazing what people will do for an endophin high. Including jogging.

[mdmf007]

I saw some suspension this year. I also noticed the look of well, for lack of a better word to describe it Bliss? I hear its from all of the endorphins. I here its real draining like someone mentioned as well.

How long can a person suspend without dmage? or before the high wears off?

[NeonBunny]

[quote="mdmf007"]I saw some suspension this year. I also noticed the look of well, for lack of a better word to describe it Bliss? I hear its from all of the endorphins. I here its real draining like someone mentioned as well.

How long can a person suspend without dmage? or before the high wears off?[/quote]


This is a tradition that goes way back. Among some cultures that have done suspension, is a tradition by some native american tribes, where the warriors/youth would suspend from a tree for one week, as a right of passage to becoming a man. During their time, they would often hallucinate, and sometimes even "meet god" while suspending. All while learning how to cope with patience and pain, some things that are necessary when being a warrior.

This practice kinda died out for a long time. In the 1970's and 80's, there was one white man who was interested in the Shamanistic ways of Native Americans. He met with and learned many of the forgotten tribal ways, such as suspension. He's also a teacher, and started a school in San Francisco to teach others of the practices of Suspension, Piercing, Modern Primatives, and so on.

His name is the Fakir Musafar.

http://www.fakir.org/aboutfakir/index.html

[theCryptofishist]

Where does Wodin fit into all this?

[Ugly Dougly]

Where does Wodin fit into all this?

He was the original swinger.

[ishtar]

suspension is a high-intensity spiritual endeavor for people for whom pain is a way of interacting with divinity and transcending the boundaries between worlds. it is savage by nature, and ilicits powerful reaction from those unfamiliar with the practice. however, a central tenet of burning man is that anything goes, and one of the absolute miracles of the playa is that people can engage in their own practices in an open environment providing they are attending to their own safety and wellness (which, believe it or not, is possible with suspensions). this is one of the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT aspects of burning man culture, which absolutely must be preserved. it is the only place in our fucked up country that we are absolutely free to let any kind of freak flag fly, and may even be rewarded for it.
we are all deviant in the eyes of the world at large and one of the ways repression of freedom is ensured is by encouraging the pattern of passing judgment on what is not understood and then decreeing what should be done with/about/to it. if we do not seek to understand before we pass judgment (which is only relevant to our own value systems) how much are we perpetuating our own struggle?

[Ugly Dougly]

Inspired from the Sun Dance of the Plains Indians, I believe.

[theCryptofishist]

That's certainly an origin, but my guess is that they weren;='t the only persons to discover endorphin highs.