Triangle Voodoo

At A Glance Author Prajna Contact Prajna@bme.anon Artist Curt Warren Studio Koi Piercing Studio Location Salt Lake City, Utah

When I was little I had a very un-P.C. voodoo board game complete with cauldron, plastic human bones and, the highlight, voodoo dolls and plastic needles. I was strangely drawn to sticking the needles through the doll bodies. A few years later I pierced my earlobes with my mother's quilting pins. In highschool I saw a woman in a movie with a pierced nose. I was enchanted by the delicate beauty of the adornment as well as the peculiarity and pain of being impaled by a piece of metal. Not realizing I could have it done professionally, I pierced my own nostrils with silver earring posts (I would recommend using something sharper). It seemed perfectly natural. It was instinctual. It was aesthetically fulfilling. It felt fundamental; primeval.

I eventually had my navel and tongue pierced, but the focus of my story is my most recent and favorite piercing, my triangle.

After months of research (hundreds of entries on rec.arts.bodyarts, BME, strangers on the street, friends, and so forth) and waiting for my preferred piercer, Curt Warren of Koi in Salt Lake City, Utah, to return from abroad, I found myself pacing in the waiting area. I had been saving all of my anxiety and apprehension about getting pierced for the last possible minute and was barraging myself with all the reasons I thought I shouldn't go through with it. But then I was up on the table (an attractive sparkly silver medical table, no less), my friend and designated hand-holder at my side and Curt cleansing and appraising my nether region. I am skipping over several details such as the lengthy lecture on aftercare and the enjoyable smalltalk.

Curt used two stripped Q-tips and a Sharpie marker to locate and mark the proper location for piercing. It took about 20 minutes, but then I had to pee and ruined all of his good work. He seemed to take it patiently in stride and started over, during which time it appeared my clitoral shaft had moved, mysteriously. I think the tediousness of this process gave me the time and headspace to relax completely. I did not wish to "zone out." I wanted to be fully aware and present yet calm.

It then became apparent that he was finished with the placement and he began arranging the supplies on the nearby tray. He opened the autoclaved needle package without letting me see the needle itself, which was a very good thing indeed. Then he reached for the forceps (clamp?). I started feeling very intense and chaotic although I think my body was relaxed. He secured the tissue with the forceps, which I did not find painful, and told me to take seven deep breaths, which I thought was humorous because I knew he wasn't going to wait seven breaths. And I was right. After the second breath I felt the most incredibly painful and exquisite sensation I have memory of feeling. I remember squeezing my thigh with my left hand and my friend's hand with my right and making a little guttural noise and an inhale which felt like breathing some kind of beautiful metal which isn't metal at all but very cold water. Then I relaxed again, involuntarily, and everything seemed to align itself. In body. In mind. I felt completely calm and centered. Curt then put in the jewelry (10 ga, 5/8", I think) which was much less intense than the piercing itself.

Then they were asking me questions. Something about a penlight, which totally baffled me, but no matter. All I could do was lie there in the stirrups, grinning. It was fortunate that I was not driving.

It has been only a few days. It doesn't hurt unless something rubs against it the wrong way, which is semi-frequent, unfortunately, but I can feel it healing. I am cleaning it with warm saline twice a day and will do sea salt soaks twice a week. It looks absolutely beautiful. It feels good. I had my very first clitoral orgasm a couple nights ago, and I wasn't even getting any direct stimulation. And I feel I have reclaimed my body from certain painful past experiences which have been causing me grievous psychic and emotional discomfort for years.

Curt is a skilled, intuitive piercer and, incidentally, the proprietor of Koi. He was the perfect midwife.

My advice to anyone considering this piercing, or any other genital piercing, or any piercing in general, is to educate yourself about the piercing as much as possible (rec.arts.bodyarts, BME, etc...) and to choose the piercings which sing to you. Be brave and take care of yourself. Eat well, get plenty of rest, stay away from sugar and cigarettes. And get a hand mirror so you can admire it without having to do acrobatics.