The reason why I don’t have any tattoos is because I had more than my share in previous lives. My past life regression work revealed that in at least two prior experiences, I was a warrior, one whose skin was decorated with ceremonial designs and symbols. The markings, I discovered, represented a rite of passage and levels of tribal leadership and contribution.
Over the centuries, body art has grown into various demographics, stretching from musicians to ministers. Some choose to get tattoos to be hip or rebellious (“I got mine to piss off my dad,” a teenager recently told me), yet, there are also deep, personal reasons why folks opt for ink. Among those at the top of the list: honoring other people, ranging from family members, friends, heroes to an occasional Beyonce. Other top reasons why bodies become creative canvases include celebrating a milestone (wedding, cancer-free, graduation, etc.), and remembering a location (birthplace, honeymoon, etc.).
From what I’ve heard, however, the most popular reason as to why people are drawn to drawings is spirituality. In such instances, phrases, quotes, symbols or pictures are styled onto bodies to motivate, inspire, encourage and to connect those with their purest beings – beings not defined by or littered with exterior influences. Spiritually, the tattoos express their unique relationships with the Universe. Perhaps, part of their self enlightenment journeys.
On a side note: yesterday, a friend (unaware that I was blogging about this topic today) posted on Facebook that she’d had a strange dream in which she gave me a full back tattoo! Could this literally be a Back to the Future moment for me?
Love and light,
Tony
Tony,
You are soo right with the spirituality angle on tattoos. Thanks for the post.
And I can totally see you with a full back tattoo. I’m thinking an eagle is the way to go.
Travis
Hey!! I knew you’d get the connection! And, let me think about the eagle! (now, I’m humming Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle”)
Tony,
Lately I have had a strange fascination with the tattoos of the “Siberian Ice Princess.” Something about the fact that she is thought to have only been 25 when she died and yet had all of these captivating images tattooed on her body is just very compelling to me.
http://siberiantimes.com/culture/others/features/siberian-princess-reveals-her-2500-year-old-tattoos/
This quote particularly resonates.
‘We can say that most likely there was – and is – one place on the body for everyone to start putting the tattoos on, and it was a left shoulder. I can assume so because all the mummies we found with just one tattoo had it on their left shoulders.
‘And nowadays this is the same place where people try to put the tattoos on, thousands of years on.”
Not sure how this relates to your post or our mutual friend’s dream. But it must be part of our collective consciousness somehow.
Hey Angie! Wow! Thanks for sharing. Very interesting about the left shoulder! And, I agree; it’s part of our collective consciousness for sure!