3 to be exact. I'd like more. People ask about my back tat from time to time. I'll explain that before the post is done.
Right Arm
Left Arm
The Back Tat (description below)
The Back Tat - This one is a self designed tattoo with much meaning for me. I think in circular patterns and as you can see, the main portion of it is round to signify that. It comes in the form of a dream catcher. That is for many reasons, but primarily I hope it serves to ward off the bad dreams. I have very vivid nightmares at times. I always have. I also view the world of our dreams as a real and true place inside the universe and I tend to think of it as something in which the keys to life can be found if one looks at them correctly. Many answers can be found in our dreams and I believe what we dream can impact our daily lives for good or bad. The sub conscious is a powerful thing, to say the least. Inside the Dream Catcher you will notice it been divided into the Yin and Yang. In Chinese culture, Yin and Yang represent the two opposite principles in nature. Yin characterizes the feminine or negative nature of things and yang stands for the masculine or positive side. Yin and yang are in pairs, such as the moon and the sun, female and male, dark and bright, cold and hot, passive and active, etc. But yin and yang are not static or just two separated things. The nature of yinyang lies in interchange and interplay of the two components. The alternation of day and night is such an example. Yin and yang are opposite in nature, but they are part of nature, they rely on each other, and they can't exist without each other. The balance of yin and yang is important. If yin is stronger, yang will be weaker, and vice versa. Yin and yang can interchange under certain conditions so they are usually not yin and yang alone. In other words, yin can contain certain part of yang and yang can have some component of yin. It is believed that yinyang exists in everything. Yin and yang are not opposing forces (dualities), but complementary forces, unseen (hidden, feminine) and seen (manifest, masculine), that interact to form a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects as light could not be understood if darkness didn't exist, and shadow cannot exist without light. Either of these aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object depending on the criterion of the observation. The concept of yin and yang is often symbolized by various forms of the Taijitu symbol, for which it is probably best known in western cultures. There is the Western perception that yin and yang correspond to evil and good. However, in Daoist metaphysics, good/bad distinctions and other dichotomous moral judgments are perceptual and not real, and yin-yang is an indivisible whole. I had the inside of the yinyang done in the colors of fire and ice to symbolize my ever changing moods and demeanors and the states of my passions and heart. In place of the normal dots you will find bear claws, that represent my spirit animal. Bears have been in my dreams since I was a small child, and at first they scared me, and came during the worst of my nightmares. I wrongly attributed the bears to be a driving force behind the nightmares until I learned better. I've know different now. At the top you'll notice open flames burning at the top of the circle which tell the tale of how I am on a near constant basis, burning the different circles within my life. A think of curse and woe, and of regularity for me. Sometimes I do it to myself and other times people help me with that. Under it all you find a double headed spear. This is a physical representation of my hiking nick-name, Single-2-Spears. Given me by my buddies at a campsite one night as I told tales of the bears within my dreams and my feelings for them. Over all this tattoo has a native American theme as I've always thought highly of the way most tribes have viewed Mother Earth and the things pertaing to life and a communing with nature. The natural world is where I feel most at ease and is the reason I love to be among the wilderness and the mountains.
Thanks for reading. Be well Live happy Die trying, Rob
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