Whee!  i just got back from a week's vacation at the Black Leather Wings
gathering of the leatherfaeries.  Lots of bodmods in evidence.  Got my
head shaved, participated in the Ball Dance, got two new permanent
piercings and watched Fakir and Raelyn perform a whole bunch more
(including an apadravya).

The Ball Dance of the Peacock Lord was quite an experience.  This is a
ceremony dedicated to the Hindu Lord Morigon.  It is celebrated annually
(including at the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand, which i've
written about earlier).  There were about 20 or so dancers, and about 10
piercers and drummers.  After ritually cleansing the participants and
the site, we had a number of balls sewn onto our bodies, each with a
little bell so we could jingle when we walked.  i was wearing three on
each arm, ten on my back, and one from my penis for a total of 17 (i
hate round numbers).  Most people wore between 10 and 25 balls.  Some of
us, including me, then got both cheeks pierced with a foot longlance
that looked rather like a meat skewer.  It was surprisingly painless.
The correct placement of the lance, as demonstrated by Fakir, was
through a hollow indentation between two sets of muscles just about an
inch back from the corner of the mouth.  Once set, the lance is quite
stable.  i can now believe the stories i've heard about people hanging
heavy objects (bicycles, etc.) from the ends of these lances.  Fakir
said that they just passed a law limiting the length of the lances to
four feet, as passersby were gitting accidentally poked with the eight
foot variety.

One person also got his tongue pierced; this was done vertically and
forced the tongue to protrude from the mouth during the entire
ceremony.

We then passed in procession to the site where the dance took place.
The dance lasted about an hour, and the whole ceremony began at 10 AM
and lasted until just before sunset.  i took several photographs,
including a few of me in full leatherfaerie attire with piercings.  If
they turn out, and if someone is willing, we could get them turned into
JPEGS.  i don't have a scanner, however.

On Saturday we had a permanent piercing ritual.  Raelyn repierced my
hafadas, which are coming along nicely, and i got to watch Fakir perform
pierce after pierce after pierce.  He's very smooth.  The highlights
were watching a friend perform his own dydoe piercings, and watching
Fakir perform an apadravya.  Then i had the privilege of giving him a
massage.

My new hafadas are lower than the old ones, on the bottom of my scrotal
sac instead of high up on either side of my penis.  The rings are
oriented parallel to my penis, and the effect is like little landing
gear on my genitals.  i'm taking no chances with these, having laid in a
goodly supply of gauze bandages and sterile pads.  For the next few days
i'm going to be wearing a gauze jockstrap underneath my underwear.

--
boy brent                       | "Greatness is often misunderstood.
bca...@teleport.com (gay stuff) | Just look at Christ."
bca...@atlas.com                |     -- General William. T. Sherman