When I was younger I used to dream a lot. Some dreams I knew were just dreams. They meant nothing more than maybe I shouldn’t have read that book or watched that movie. Then there were those dreams that I dreaded the most, the ones that I knew would come true, the ones I had no control over, the ones I prayed to stop happening, but didn’t.
On one night as a child I had such a dream, the kind of dreams that disturbed me and followed me around. The kind that had me waiting and watching. In this dream I saw demons walking around town in their natural form. They were distorted and horrible to look at. As I watched them I wondered how this could be. At first people weren’t accepting of them. But the longer I watched the more I saw how accepting people were becoming. This led to more demons multiplying. This left me wondering why no one was afraid of them.
I saw a demon and man walk down the street together talking to each other. It was as the demons belonged there. I continued to watch until I saw those demons begin to act out. They took possession of people and did horrible things to them. People became afraid again as the demons chased them. It was a frightening thing to see, especially as a child.
As a child I couldn’t understand how normal people could ever allow demons to walk around in their natural, ugly form and be all right with it. This dream followed me through my adult life until I came across an article on the internet. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. When I saw this, immediately my dream came back to me. Old movies started flooding my memory and I realized just how wrong I had been about my dream.
You see, I had rationalized the dream to mean something metaphorically. It wasn’t literal. It was spiritual only. But I was wrong.
A Generation Seduced
When I became a mother I started noticing a trend in the Disney movies. Mothers either died or were already dead and the step mom was always evil. Then there were the movies that told little and big girls it was okay to love the beast. After all, the beast needs love too. He’s just misunderstood. Movie after movie, music video after music video, we are loaded with images telling us it’s okay the way demons look. It’s okay to accept them as they are. Hollywood was seducing us and our children into believing it was okay to love demons.
Through years of making vampires sexy, werewolves strong, witches seductive, warlocks powerful and monsters misunderstood, we now have a generation of people who want to be these types of people. They don’t want to be afraid anymore or weak. They don’t want to be bullied. They want to be in control and powerful. They want to be who they feel they are really. So they started changing the way they looked little by little until they became satisfied with how they see themselves. We’re not talking about making a nose smaller or a few tattoos. We’re talking about combining extreme tattoos, piercings, body mutilations and implants to modify the way they look. Those who practiced this have brought the movement of body modification to a whole new level in my opinion.
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or phenotype.[1] It is often done for aesthetics, sexual enhancement, rites of passage, religious beliefs, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, for shock value, and as self-expression, among other reasons.1
Maria Cristerna, the Vampire Lady
Maria Cristerna used to be a lawyer who was physically abused by her husband. Now she is a video jockey who has been given the name “The Vampire Lady” because of how she looks. She also speaks to domestic abused women.
“The 35-year-old who grew up in a deeply religious family is covered head-to-toe in tattoos, had dental work so she appears to have fangs and has even had titanium horns inserted into her head. People used to walk on the other side of the road when they saw her coming.“2
Like my dream, people used to be afraid of her, but not anymore. She is a celebrity in her own right. People want to know her story and understand why she changed the way she looked. Maybe you do too. Here’s a little of her story.
Church of Body Modification
People have been modifying their bodies throughout history, from piercings to tattoos to plastic surgery. What makes this so different? I believe the Church of Body Modification answers this question. Their mission is to “is to educate, inspire, and to help lead our members along a path of spiritual body modification. As members of the Church of Body Modification, we aim to practice our body modification rituals with purpose, to unify our mind, body, and soul, and to connect with our higher power.”
“The Church of Body Modification represents a collection of members practicing ancient and modern body modification rites. We believe these rites are essential to our spirituality. Practicing body modification and engaging in body manipulation rituals strengthen the bond between mind, body, and soul. By doing so, we ensure that we live as spiritually complete and healthy individuals.”
Just like the mission states above when you hear these people reasoning for changing their looks most of them say they want to look on the outside how they feel on the inside. They want their body, mind and spirit to be in agreement.
Body Modification is a Worldwide Event
The website Body Modification Ezine has more than 3 million photos of people who’ve undergone these various types of body modification.3 This is worldwide, not just in the United States. I must note that not all people who modify their bodies look like vampires, wolves, demons or even Satan. Some of them look like super heroes, Barbie dolls and cartoon characters.
The bottom line is these people want to be someone else. They want to be noticed, feel strong, be feared, be loved, not feel afraid and a host of other emotions. What is clear is that they don’t want to be who they were born to be.
Demons Walking the Earth
Am I wrong again to assume this is what my dream meant? What do you think? Do you think body modification is just an art form? Would you be nervous if you saw someone walking down the street looking like a monster? How about a Barbie doll? Would your opinion change based on what they look like – doll or demon?
Read More about Body Modification
Church of Body Modification – http://uscobm.com/
Pits of Hell on the Rise – People are Morphing into “Literal Demons” and Proud of It! A New World Order of Its Own Kind (Horrifying Pictures and Videos – http://beforeitsnews.com/prophecy/2014/02/pits-of-hell-on-the-rise-people-are-morphing-into-literal-demons-and-proud-of-it-a-new-world-order-of-its-own-kind-horrifying-pictures-and-videos-2458902.html
13 Most Extreme Body Modification – http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/13-most-extreme-body-modifications/
Notes
1 [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_modification#cite_note-Thompson_2010-1 ]
3 [http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/health/youn-body-modification/ ]