Transformation, Ink

So...my tattoo.

Due to its location, it's usually hidden from view, but it's rather extensive. I hadn't planned it to be. It's grown over the years, for various reasons.

It started out as a simple crescent moon on the back of my left shoulder. My first word was "moon," and the Moon is a symbol of the Divine Feminine, so it's special to me. There were only two problems:

I picked the design off the wall.

And I got it done with a boyfriend.

Anyone with any tattoo experience whatsoever will tell you that these are both very bad ideas. The first issue came to light almost immediately — the coloring came out differently than I had expected. This is undeniably a rookie mistake. Because, as you know, the background on the wall is white, and skin is, you know, not. Even the whitest white girls like me don't have pure white skin, and the bright yellow I had been drawn to on the wall now looked more of an orangey-pink. Color me an unsatisfied customer.

Issue #2: The boyfriend. Aren't they always an issue? Even I knew enough to never EVER tattoo someone's name on your body, but I hadn't counted on the negative associations my artwork still conjured up after the boyfriend and I miserably and viciously broke up. One night, in a particularly volcanic fury, I decided to cover over the tormenting reminder with another tattoo. Unfortunately, what I decided to cover it up with was a rather hideous tribal sun ('cause it was BLACK! That'll show him the depths of my hatred! [Not that he ever even saw it...]). The pieces of the original that still showed through were inked over in peacock blue; however, my inept artist fucked this up royally, and I now looked like a pen had exploded on my back. Fantastic.

Lesson #3: Never get a tattoo on the spur of the moment. Especially in a judgement-impaired fit of retribution.

So, after living with this monstrosity for a few years, I finally came into some cash and decided to fix it somehow. My original plan was to have it removed and start over, putting something else in it's place. See, I still wanted a tattoo in that spot, just not an awful amateur piece of crap that still brought up bad memories of the ex-boyfriend. This plan was quickly nixed when the new artist I spoke to explained that because of the size and the dark color, laser surgery wasn't guaranteed to remove it completely. He elaborated that it would take at least more than one session to even attempt it, which would be a major expense and most likely leave a substantial scar. Dang. What he suggested instead was to just incorporate it into a bigger piece so it would be less noticeable.

This appealed to me.

Shortly thereafter, I was doodling during my accounting class when I happened upon a really cool idea for a design. I brought the actual page ripped from my notebook, with my homework assignment written on the back, to the artist with whom I had previously spoken, and asked him what he thought.

After a few seconds of thoughtful studying, he nodded and said, "I can do something with this."

And so it began.

I've added different shades of blue and green to the tribal, to make it Earth-colored. I've replicated that design on the back of my right shoulder, in shades of red and yellow, for the Sun. Between them at the base of my neck is a blue and silver moon. Beneath all three is a row of red and orange flames. Below that there is mirror image scrollwork in purple, yellow and green, resembling wings. And at the base of my spine are two emerald green eyes.

My moon. The Pagan trinity. The duality of fire and flame of creativity. The Gemini element of Air; the ability of flight. The gift of vision; the Emerald birthstone of May; the Gemini sign of the Twins. A powerful Phoenix rising from the ashes of my mistakes. Plus the tiger lily and ankh on my right arm, for the Chinese zodiac Year of the Tiger and the Egyptian heiroglyph for eternal life. My version of spirituality written on my body.

And it looks really pretty. :)