QUOTE(EnergyAnalyst @ Jan 7 2015, 09:51 AM)
What is the purpose of self piercing and mutilation during the trance of a temple medium?
Another good question.
Self-mutilation is usually performed only for very specific purposes.
The first purpose is empowerment. Certain ritual items used for self-mutilation correspond to certain deities. Pic #1 shows an example - a set of nine spikes, corresponding to nine Hell soldiers known as the Nine Yin Warriors/九阴军.
When a medium wishes to imbue himself with the power of the Nine Yin Warriors for the purpose of conducting a ritual, he will pierce his body with the spikes (see pic #2).
The second purpose for self-mutilation is to shed divinely imbued blood. When a medium is in trance, the divine essence of the gods they are channelling courses through their bodies, and by extension their bodily fluids, too, such as blood, sweat, tears and so on. Self-mortification is done for the purpose of drawing the energised blood, which can then be used as a magic ingredient to activate ritual items and prepare talismans with; it can also act as a repellent against demonic creatures or other evil beings. The objects used to self-mutilate are special ritual weapons such as axes, swords, spiked balls and so on.
Pic #3 shows a medium mutilating his tongue to draw blood. He is channelling a Hell deity (Elder Brother) and the weapon he is using is a special abacus with a blade fixed onto the top frame - Hell deities use abacuses to calculate people's sins and merits, plus their estimated lifespans.
Pic #4 shows a ritual fan that has been energised/activated by being daubed with drops of blood.