EDGEWALKERS

HISTORY

The hook pull as we practice it within Edgewalkers has been around since the mid 1980s with various names. From Spirit + Flesh in San Francisco facilitated by Fakir Musafar and Cleo Dubois to the Dance of Souls at Southwest Leather Conference in Arizona, the modern hook pull and ball dance ceremony can be traced back to three people: Cleo Dubois, Mark Joplin, and Fakir Musafar.

Cleo and Mark were feeling helpless in the 80s with the AIDS epidemic going on and their friends sick and dying. Mark introduced Cleo to Fakir Musafar, and together they set up two rows of photographs, one row of their friends who were sick and dying, the other row of their friends who had passed on. Fakir facilitated piercing Cleo with weights in her flesh, and Mark drummed. It involved piercings with fishing line run through and then weights attached to those fishing lines - bells, balls, limes, fruit, etc. Cleo danced in front of each of the photos for the day, giving energy and positive healing thoughts to those who were sick, and honouring those who had passed. Sadly, Mark passed away the following year.

The inspiration for this ball dance came from several piercing rituals that have taken place throughout history in various locations. Some key rituals that provided inspiration were the Native American Sundance, the Mandan O-Kee-Pa, and the Hindu Thaipusam and Chidi Mari.

The Sundance is a Native ceremony practiced by many different tribes in North America. There are variations of the Sundance depending on which tribe is performing the ceremony, but common elements involve fasting for several days, prolonged dancing in the sun for many hours each day for several days, and piercing the chest or back and pulling either against a fixed object like a tree or dragging buffalo skulls until the piercings tear free.

The O-Kee-Pa ceremony was specific to the Mandan tribe of North Dakota. This ceremony involved piercing through the chest or back and hanging, often with weight added to the person suspended, until they tore free and fell to the ground.

Chidi Mari is a Hindu ritual dedicated to the female deities in the Hindu pantheon. This ceremony involves being pierced in the back with two large piercings, then strapped to a beam by the piercings, and spun around in circles.

Thaipusam is probably the closest to the modern hook pull. Thaipusam is a festival dedicated to the male deities in the Hindu pantheon that involves bearing kavadi. Kavadi means “to bear weight” and is displayed in various forms, from carrying milk pots to being pierced with hooks or spears.

An important distinction should be made here. Fakir, Mark, and Cleo were drawing from historical rituals in order to create a new ritual. This is the difference between inspiration and appropriation. They were not performing the O-Kee-Pa, kavadi, or Chidi-Mari, but rather, were taking influence from these various rituals to create something new.

Obviously, the above rituals were heavily paraphrased in this text. We would encourage everyone to research these rituals further and get to know the history of where our influences came from. See our reading list for resources we recommend. 

The modern hook pull we perform involves having fairly large hooks pierced into one's chest (and/or back), and pulling on them in a variety of ways. This ritual is done as a group, but the experience is intensely individual.

The placement of the hooks in the hook pull is intended to open your heart chakra, or Anahata. The opening and freeing of this chakra can allow the participant to release negative emotion, absorb healing emotion, let go of guilt, shame, hurt, or anger. It can also be used to feel love, peace, contentment, and warmth. The hooks can literally and spiritually connect the wearer to Nature, to a God, to their loved ones or community, to share in a collective energy beyond what they could generate alone. Connectedness is a vital part of a hook pull, giving the participants the opportunity to feel with others, in a safe place, and can lead to a trance-like, or ecstatic state for some or renewed sense of empowerment, joy or general uplifting of the soul. These sensations or intentions may differ, but the results may be the same.

This is not something anyone can prepare you for - it is very much a rite of passage for all of its participants in whatever way they need it to be. When you are ready, you will know. You will get only the type of energy you give, and will take only if you bring an open mind.

And in the end, what you will take away only you will know. As with many rituals it will most likely be what you need, even if you don't know you need it.