Pagan Fleshworks PDF Download

Abstract:Body modifications are endemic to Western culture at this time in history. Tattoos, piercings, brandings, and implants are the modifications of choice for many people. The purpose of this work is twofold: to explain why this form of soul expression has captured the imaginations of Western people, and to aid those who seek such modifications in optimizing the experience so that it becomes a potentially transformational event.One theory for explaining the proliferation of fleshworks is that with the demise of the mythology of Christianity in the popular imagination, the shadow elements of the psyche which are normally projected out onto the religious symbols of Christ (as all good) and Satan (as all bad), are now returned to the sender. The conflict generated by the imperative that one carry and integrate one's shadow encourages a sensate, bodily initiation through body modification.Another theory examines body modification as a result of falsifying type. Using Jung's typologies and the work of Katherine Benziger on Passive Adaptive Stress Syndrome, it becomes clear that when people are required to function for most of their waking hours in areas of the brain that are not their natural lead function, they suffer fatigue, depression, and loss of self-esteem. Placement of a fleshwork can be analyzed based on which area of the brain needs to be stimulated in order to perform more efficiently.Some seek body modification for extreme physical sensation. At the climaxing moment of needle insertion, they experience numinosity. The work of Michael Persinger explains how the perception of the numinous is a result of a disturbance in the brain's temporal lobe.Neurological information notwithstanding, most people getting tattooed, pierced, branded, or implanted expect to cross a sensate threshold, and see the event as a rite of passage. To that end, alchemical stages of matter transmutation are discussed, along with the difference between greater or lesser coniunctio experiences.Regardless of the conscious reason that people elect to modify their body, they are activating unconscious structures of the psyche. Tattoo images are archetypal by virtue of their resonance and charge. Piercings on the body activate chakra energy. As long as the bridge between ego and the unconscious remains closed, people will use body modification in a homeopathic attempt to open it.