레이무숨
Leymusoom
Leymusoom
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The host of this universe, Heesoo Kwon, visualized her religion, Leymusoom’s godhead figure, as a snake woman or a female snake. Their body is fluid between the shape of a snake and a woman. The materiality of a snake’s body refers Kwon’s ritual of 탈피. 탈피 which has two definitions: 1) a description of an animal’s moulting process of the old exoskeleton, and 2) in relationship to a human, the process of moving forward, or away from a certain routine or habit. The reference to the female body’s figure refers to Kwon’s female ancestors and herself.
There are many critical overtones in the pairing of the woman and the snake as a symbol, including Medusa, 꽃뱀(Kkot baem, meaning gold digger in Korean), and the Devil’s appearance in snake form in the Biblical story of Genesis. Among them, the book of Genesis was the most significant inspiration for Kwon to choose the woman and snake pairing as the symbol of Leymusoom. Genesis describes both the snake and Eve as harmful beings who triggered the expulsion of human beings from the Garden of Eden and the rupture of the closeness between God and his creations (Gen 3:1-20).
Kwon interpreted the message of Genesis to be, “Knowledge is dangerous,” which is the same reaction she received from family and friends in Korea whenever she questioned misogynistic Korean culture or social norms. Whenever she questioned why she should follow standards that she did not want to prescribe to, she received reactions like, “it's just the way society is, why are you tiring yourself out by trying to change the ways things just are”
In western religions like Christianity, and Catholicism, the snake and the women are represented as creatures that bring upon the fall of man; however, in Shamanism, the snake/woman is an exalted creature. In Korean Shamanism, the snake and the woman are symbols of one of the Korean god tribes and 풍이족 is a descendant of the female creator in Korean Creation Mythology, Mago, who is a hybrid snake and woman. Kwon wanted to pull from Korean Shamanistic culture, which is in many ways, completely oppositional to western religions in terms of gendered power structures.
Through this appropriation of the snake woman hybrid symbolism, Kwon wanted to create Leymusoom, a universe free from the patriarchal structures of reality and a space where a continual state of Leymusoom metamorphosis can transpire.
There are many critical overtones in the pairing of the woman and the snake as a symbol, including Medusa, 꽃뱀(Kkot baem, meaning gold digger in Korean), and the Devil’s appearance in snake form in the Biblical story of Genesis. Among them, the book of Genesis was the most significant inspiration for Kwon to choose the woman and snake pairing as the symbol of Leymusoom. Genesis describes both the snake and Eve as harmful beings who triggered the expulsion of human beings from the Garden of Eden and the rupture of the closeness between God and his creations (Gen 3:1-20).
Kwon interpreted the message of Genesis to be, “Knowledge is dangerous,” which is the same reaction she received from family and friends in Korea whenever she questioned misogynistic Korean culture or social norms. Whenever she questioned why she should follow standards that she did not want to prescribe to, she received reactions like, “it's just the way society is, why are you tiring yourself out by trying to change the ways things just are”
In western religions like Christianity, and Catholicism, the snake and the women are represented as creatures that bring upon the fall of man; however, in Shamanism, the snake/woman is an exalted creature. In Korean Shamanism, the snake and the woman are symbols of one of the Korean god tribes and 풍이족 is a descendant of the female creator in Korean Creation Mythology, Mago, who is a hybrid snake and woman. Kwon wanted to pull from Korean Shamanistic culture, which is in many ways, completely oppositional to western religions in terms of gendered power structures.
Through this appropriation of the snake woman hybrid symbolism, Kwon wanted to create Leymusoom, a universe free from the patriarchal structures of reality and a space where a continual state of Leymusoom metamorphosis can transpire.
Leymusoom’s metamorphosis in the Leymusoom mogyogtang
Leymusoom conducting 레이무숨 씻김굿 (Leymusoom Ssitgimgut)
