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
Wow! Interesting read. I only nodded off twice. Just kidding :)
Even though I've always loved the yin yang, I never knew much about it so it was cool to read about it. Not so much the part where the yin (feminine) equals negativity, but I understand the balance of it and all things.
I'm looking at getting a little owl tattoo soon since it's my spirit animal.
Your tattoos definitely tell a story. Thank you for telling it :)
I tend to be a very literal person because I was taught to see things for what they are, but it's hard to keep that narrow way of thinking when it comes to the infinite thinking of the mind. For example, when one goes outside and sees a simple tree they just see a tree standing there with its roots planted firmly in the ground. When I see a tree I see an enormous amount of life existing in something that is 99% dead. That tree has seen a countless number of lives pass all around it and helps maintain that life by providing precious oxygen. The roots stretch out as far as they can to soak up the life reserved underneath it. The plentiful leaves above give us comfort on hot, sunny days and gives us a place to rest out back when we have a book we want to get lost it. That "dead" tree shares a life with us because within our own DNA is a hint of the roots of every tree that has lived, including that one that we stand in front of.
The beauty about the human mind is we can make our own definitions in life as we go. The definitions we once learned give way to the new definitions we develop as we go through life experiencing, instead of just accepting as we are taught.
Perception is everything it truly is. It can make something ordinary and easily passed over by the common person suddenly take on a life of its own and radiating with beauty as it's appreciated on a higher level.
Thinking in that manner is the only way to go about life in my opinion. So many of us are taught at an early age not to think outside the box and just accept the knowledge we're presented with for what it is, but our minds will always crave more. It's constantly hungry for intricate ways of constructing and deconstructing thoughts, weaving complex routes to get from point A to point B, C, and D and inventing new shapes of the pieces to a puzzle that will never really get finished.
That I knew :) The oak will always be my favorite tree just because of those strong and massive roots.
Thanks for sharing this part of yourself here. The tattoos are amazing designs with thoughtful meanings. I hope they bring you joy, strength, balance. Your respect for the planet is apparent in all that you do.
