My Findings on Body Art and Modification

The body modification world is not just full of people trying to look freak and weird. There are people out there who believe body modifications help them spiritually, in an earlier post I wrote about “Stalking Cat” who said his modifications where done to bring him closer to his spiritual animal guide of the tiger. There is even organized religion of people whose body modifications have made them more spiritual.

Church of Body Modification (CoBM) as originally founded in 2000 by Steve Hawthorne who was a groundbreaker in the body mod world. Allegedly the religion as started for people who where modified to rely on if they got fired from there job. The church could then sue for religious discrimination.

As of 2008 the church had been reformed and organized and is now a recognized non profit religion in the United States of America. It is incorporated in Pennsylvania, before it was in Arizona. From what I was able to find out the church practices are ritual of body manipulation to test the limits of the body and spirit of its member. Manipulation events include suspension, hook pulling, fasting, corsetry, fire walking and other things that would test a person’s spirit and body.

Any person who is feels a spiritual connection from their modifications or wants to gain a more spiritual connection through modifications and manipulations can apply for membership.  Any tattoos, piercings, or more serious modifications are what they consider under their definition of being modified. 

Here is the CoBM Mission State as written on their website (link can be found below)


We, the congregation of the Church of Body Modification, will always respect our bodies. We promise to always grow as individuals through body modification and what it can teach us about who we are and what we can do. We vow to share our experiences openly and honestly in order to promote growth in mind, body, and soul. We honor all forms of body modification and those who choose to practice body modification for any reason. We also promise to respect those who do not choose body modification. We support all that join us in our mission and help those seeking us in need of spiritual guidance. We strive to share a positive message with everyone we encounter, in order to act as positive role models for future generations in the body modification community. We always uphold basic codes of ethics and encourage others to do the same. We are a dynamic community, always growing and changing, continually promoting safety, education, and experience in body modification.

Here is the CoBM Statement of Faith as taken from their website (link can be found below)

As followers of this faith, it is our purpose to educate and inspire, to share ideas, and to help each other achieve our dreams. We strive to unify and strengthen our mind, body, and soul so we can overcome any challenges we may encounter. We assert and protect our rights to modify our bodies and to practice our rituals.
We believe our bodies belong only to ourselves and are a whole and integrated entity: mind, body, and soul. We maintain we have the right to alter them for spiritual and other reasons.
Affirmation of our living, breathing, physical beings is paramount to our self-identities and helps us define who we are. The Church of Body Modification promotes affirmation and growth of a more expansive perspective of our physical and spiritual being.


I gathered my information from CoBM’s website and BMEZINE Wiki

Branding is a popular way of marking things, like cattle. Some extreme fraternities even apply brands to their members for initiation purposes. But now they are becoming more and more popular as a voluntary form of decorating ones self.

For anyone that doesn’t know branding is when a hot, or in some rare cases cold, Iron is used to heat a persons skin making a permanent, hopefully raised, scar in some sort of design or shape.

In some gangs and prisons, people will get these instead of the more traditional method of tattooing to initiate a person. Like I said before some extreme fraternities use brands to initiate members. Former President George W. Bush is rumored to have been apart of the Delta fraternity at Yale while they where allegedly branding the backsides of members with the shape of a Delta. Branding was also seen in the movie Jackass II when Bam Margera received a brand a penis on his butt. Also branding was seen in the movie Jarhead as a Marine initiation process. Brandings have also been used to associate slaves with their owners if they where lucky enough to escape but unfortunately be caught.



While the hot iron method is very common now a person can get a brand with a laser in a somewhat surgical process. The cold method is the as the hot iron just intensely frozen cold is pressed onto the skin to make the design.



The pain is so to not be as bad as one would think, it is mostly psychological. The real pain is said to be during the healing process, especially if the body part is touched or moved. The aftercare is quite basic, many people say to just leave it alone. Other people will irritate the brand by using rough brushes or similar things but this can cause uneven rising of the scar. Healing takes 2 to 6 months and during the healing the brand will go back and forth between looking good and gross until fully healed. Some people with tattoo over or around the brand once fully healed to give it a more apparent look.

As with any body art or modification have a brand done by an experienced person, not your fraternity brother while drunk.

Dennis Avner is not the average 50 year old computer programmer living in Nevada. Better known as “Cat man” or as he prefers to called, “Staking Cat,” is one of the most modified people in the world and resembles a tiger.

“Stalking Cat” is his Native American name, Avner being of Huron descent. His modifications are not just for fun. Stalking Cat is transforming himself into a tiger to resemble his totem, a sort of spiritual guide in Huron tradition, the tiger. Avner was told by a chief to follow the ways of the tiger.




Stalking Cat has had large amounts of tattoo work, subdermal and transdermal implants, and surgeries to complete his transformation and is not done yet.


Stalking Cats Modifications
• Extensive tattooing all over body
• His hairline moved
• Transdermal implants on face for removable whiskers
• Extensive dental work to have feline teeth
• Ears modified
o Ears pointed
o Earlobes elongated
• Silicone injections in the lip chin and cheeks to have the cat look facially
• Cleft lip



Stalking Cat also plans on having transdermal implants on his head for removable tiger like ears. He currently wears contact lenses that resemble cat eyes.

Stalking Cat has become a celebrity and has made many television and radio appearances including being featured on Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and interviewed by BBC.