h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Recently, I have been trying to design my 4th tattoo.

My first tattoo is a small flaming chalice http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/ on my ankle. I got it to mark the decision to end my marriage and the beginning of a new phase of my life.

The chalice was chosen for several reasons. It is the symbol of the Unitarian-Universalists. "It is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice..." "The flaming chalice, like our faith, stands open to receive new truths that pass the tests of reason, justice, and compassion." http://www.uua.org/chalice.html I received a great gift from the people of the Fellowship in the form of love, compassion, support, friendship and kindness. The chalice marks that, as well.

On the first anniversary of my separation, I got my second tattoo.

I had been trying to come up with a design that I liked and that meant something to me. I had done a lot of searching on the internet. I had a preference for a tribal tattoo, but couldn't find anything that I really liked. I happened to be aimlessly flipping through the pages on the Body modification Magazine site when I flipped past this photo http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A00627/high/tats-wrist.jpg.

The strange thing was that, for quite some time, I had been doodling the very same spirals endlessly in the last few months. It suddenly dawned on me that the spiral was a metaphor for the labyrinth. In a way, the journey I had made through the last year had been labyrinthian. In such a journey, one often travels inwards into the dark towards an epiphany. Once the goal is reached, the conundrum solved, the task completed, one journeys outwards again, into the light. That pretty well defined the last year for me.

To symbolize the labyrinth, I had the spiral that I had been doodling onto my outside of my wrist. (I told my sister I had changed my mind and had "Mom loves me best!" tattooed on my butt, instead. It is a running joke with us. She didn't believe me.)

A year later, at the end of October, I got my third tattoo done.

This one was also a spiral, a little more complicated that the other, and finer. Another doodle I had been fixated on. This one I had planned to have done on my shoulder blade but changed my mind.

For some time I have been fascinated by the Sacred Heart.

"The Heart: The heart is the symbol for true love, charity, understanding, and piety; for happiness and joy as well as sorrow. It is recognized as the key organ of the human body, one that coordinates the intellect with the emotions. The emblem for devotions to the Sacred heart is a flaming heart, surmounted by a Cross and enclosed in the Crown of Thorns. As an attribute, the flaming heart generally suggests religious fervor, the pierced heart contrition and repentance." http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/sacred_heart_of_jesus.htm

"In the Heart of Jesus we can see not only a symbol, but also the compendium of the whole mystery of our redemption" (Pius XII). http://www.dlc.fi/~scjregfi/heart2.html

"The importance of the human heart as a symbol of the mystery of man goes right to the center of the problems of Christology. Thus while the encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" (H.A.) of Pius XII speaks of the physical Heart of Christ as the symbol of His threefold love (divine love, human spiritual love and that of the senses: n.31.)" ibid

The placement of the tattoo over the heart seemed right.

This time, I have decided on a Celtic "Trinity Knot" about the size of a hand-span http://www.celtic-art.net/index2.htm which will go in the centre of my back, between my shoulder blades. I have mulled over the color of this tattoo, and have decided on a red, sort of a brick-colored red.

My mother was born in Scotland and I have a love of all things Scottish. In studying my family genealogy, I have discovered a link that goes far back to the early kings of Ireland and Scotland. In part, my choice of the "trinity knot" was to celebrate my Celtic roots. I also feel that the three-pointed knot represents my three parents -- my mother, my birth-father, and my step-father -- and the intertwining of their lives to create mine.


Here are some really cool websites for all things tattoo.

WARNING! There is some nudity on some of these sites.....

History:
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/
http://www.mariner.org/exhibits/tattoo/

Gang and prison tattoos:
http://russian.4t.com/
http://www.convictsandcops.com/tattoo.htm

Cool:
http://www.darkimages.com/

Celtic:
http://www.sonic.net/phoenix.arabeth/tatHev.html
http://www.tribal-celtic-tattoo.com/

Fabulous color-work:
http://bafaro.com/
http://www.renaissancetattoo.com/portfolios.html
http://www.inklab.com

Not strictly a tattoo site, but the illustrations have possibilities:
http://www.thefaerycrossing.com/index.html
http://www.headbandbrothers.com/headbandbrothers.html