The girl with the drawn-on tattoo.

[davywavy]

Back when I lived in Manchester, I briefly went out with a girl who I'd originally got talking to because of the big, swirly tattoo she had around the back of her neck. It was the first time I'd seen one of those black, spirally tribal tattoos which got so popular amongst clubbers in the late 1990s, and fat McDonalds-people a few years later, and so I made some comment on it. As I was quite young and impressionable I probably said it was cool, or somesuch witless statement.
"Oh, it's not real", she told me. "It's a transfer. I'll wash it off in the morning."
I leaned in to take a look and sure enough, it was just a stick-on which in low nightclub lighting looked entirely real. Still, it gave me an excuse to lean in so I took advantage. However, I remember thinking at the time what a good idea pretend tattos were over the real thing; I think I've mentioned a punk girl I sortof knew who had ripped fishnets tattoed onto her legs and how I thought it was pretty neat for all of thirty seconds until I realised just how much she'd probably be regretting it by 2010: so right about now I expect she's looking at her legs and realising she'll never wear anything but trousers to the office.

It's pretty much that reason I've never got a tattoo. Like anyone who has ever been young, extremely stupid and above all drunk I have at times thought them a good idea, but the permanancy has always put me off. To indelibly mark yourself - even if it's with a 'timeless' design like those Celtic arm rings which will say "My 18th birthday was in 1994" for the rest of your life - always struck me as something I would inevitably regret because everything changes.

But that's my opinion. Some of you lot have tattoos, some don't. It's Friday, you aren't doing any work. Tell me your reasons.

Comments

[rssefuirosu.livejournal.com]

Okiedoke. The short version: All my tattoos mean something particular which I don't want to forget, or believe will help me generally, or as a mark of loyalty which I decided to make permanent.

The long version:

1) My first tattoo was a stylised Star of Earendil (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/s/starofearendil.html), an important symbol from Tolkien's tales to the Numenoreans and later Dunedain (see: Aragorn) which is the mark of the house that followed Earendil (Elrond's banner which hides Arwen at the Coronation in RotK). I took this in an SPQR kind of way to stamp on the values I choose to aspire to, alongside the fact I wear the ring of Barahir on my left index finger. It's a pretty good looking tattoo of a star with a sword at the long point, so I'm not going to stop being happy with it any time soon.

2) My second tattoo was a huge project which took two years to fully complete. My other main ring, a 13th C Knight's Templar copy, is also very important to me. I had it placed on my other arm as a band, which was then filled with all sorts of occult symbols, alchemical markings, angelic sigils and suchlike, to act like magical kevlar. Your mileage may vary as to whether you care to believe in such things, but think along the lines of Constantine's tattoos and you'll be somewhat there. Seeing as I work as a professional exorcist, this block of tattoos has saved me a fair bit of trouble on more than a few occasions.

3) I have had my personal sigil (see my profile page, on the business card) burned into my neck, again for magical reasons.

4) I have had the four stoic virtues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism#Stoic_ethics_and_virtues) tattooed in a band around tattoo #1, in greek, to remind me of my favourite philosophy and the fact that it has carried me through some interesting times. I use these four words as a mantra during meditation.

5) I have a small rosebud tattooed on my ring finger, this was done just after my handfasting to my wife, who also has the same image but reversed. The rose is important in Gnosticism, mystic Christianity and Thelema, and a small growing thing is significant in Druidry, so it fits both of our belief systems.


There will probably be more, certainly ones regarding my kid(s) but not in the Wayne born 21-3-98 kind of way. Possibly a small copy of Habbakuk 1:5 in hebrew somewhere for Nathanael.

:)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Dude, you're crackers, but I love you dearly.

[rssefuirosu.livejournal.com]

I freely admit this :D The important part is to own it.

[(Anonymous)]

I love the term 'handfasting'. Sounds like partaking in a period of abstinence from cracking off....

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

The last Christmas card my mother sent me before she died had a picture of a fox on it. On the back of the card she wrote 'I love you - Mummy'. I think that is the last time she wrote that.

I had the fox tattood on my shoulder. I had that done ten years ago. I haven't regretted it yet.

I also have the advantage of having been both a self harmer, and having had an unfortunate medical condition which led to my having (at one point) 13 simultaneous ulcerations on my legs. This means I have a lot of scars anyway - self harm scars on my arms from my angsty teens, and a lot of weird little white circular scars on my legs from that rather painful time in my life. I figured when I got the tattoo done that one more scar wouldn't make much of a difference and at least this one was one which I'd chosen and not a sign of crazy or illness.

I haven't had another tattoo, mostly as I've not found anything which has quite the same weight of meaning, and I suspect I never will.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I'll be at Borough market for about 10:30 tomorrow. I still dont' have a number for you so drop me a line.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I think you do. I think you just last texted me at a point when my phone was going through one of its extended periods of out of charge.

Anyway, in bad news, my stupid labyrtinthitis is acting up and I can't stand up properly and am hideously giddy which means I can't really leave the house. Very very sorry! Hopefully see you next time.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

To a certain extent its about having something that says 'my 18th birthday was in 1994' - a tattoo's permanence is part of its appeal, putting a design on your body which is intrinsically linked to an event, time or mental state.

The danger of essentially giving yourself a permanent shell-suit is really only there if you pick something out of a book 'cause I fancy a tattoo'. Anything personally designed or chosen with reason retains its link to the thing you are recording.

I also tend to see the body as a blank canvas and enjoy the artistic value of tattooing. Unfortunately I discovered my pain threshold is embarrasingly low and so only have the one.

If you want to get all psychomological, tattooing and scarification has a long running tradition of being used to mark an event (usually a rite of passage) in a person's life. From Maori tattoo designs to native american sundancers, application of purposely inflicted, permanent damage to the body serves as a mark that some kind of important tribal thing has taken place. In western culture this may be a more individual thing of course, with a tatto representing 'I have the legal freedom to do this now', 'my first serious girlfriend just broke my heart' or even 'I have made the decision to change my body for the rest of my life' with the tattoo being a rite in and of itself.

Of course in some cultures 'I went on a beach holiday, drank till I through up and slept with something I don't remember' may be considered a rite of passage worthy of note in itself.

Looking deeper you could start to analyse the power of changing the skin - a barrier between without and within and the application of the semiotics of canvas as ground to the physical body, but that might take a while.

I had mine done because I'd been thinking about it for years and had the opportunity not to keep putting it off. It has meaning for me in terms of symbology (application of balance), personal achievement (it was bloody painful), design (I am permanently marked with something I designed) and is a permanent reminder of the time I spent at uni.

It also appears to be a boon with the ladies.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Of course in some cultures 'I went on a beach holiday, drank till I through up and slept with something I don't remember'

And also a good method of getting something rather more permanent than a tattoo.

[song-of-copper.livejournal.com]

I have no tattoos, and I'm pretty sure I won't be getting one. It's not only that I don't want a permanent mark on my body, or that I am not sure whether I'll still like it in a few years. It's more that I don't want to advertise my inner life in a physical way. I want that to stay *invisible* - unreachable to anyone unless I tell them about it. A tattoo invites enquiry (unless it's covered, I guess). I wouldn't want a 'meaningless' tattoo (for decoration or fashion or larks); if I got one it would be incredibly personal; but that stuff stays in my head, not on my body.

Also, I like the thought that there is nothing physically stopping me being several different 'versions' of myself. Not sure how best to explain that but to be pinned down to one mode of self-expression or one set of experiences feels odd to me. Moment to moment, I'm not defined by *everything that's ever happened to me* nor by *this or that rite of passage*. It's... complicated?? (Or possibly slightly pretentious; who knows. ;-P)

Also also, tattoos are sometimes about uniqueness and sometimes about belonging. I don't want to belong and I'm already as unique as I'll ever be, so why underline the point (or indeed put squiggles round it!)?

That said, a well-designed tattoo is a thing of beauty, and I love to hear of people's thought processes around designing and living with them.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Good heavens, you're posting again! I naturally assumed we'd lost you to the pleasures of the marital bed.

[song-of-copper.livejournal.com]

What can I say...?

(a) One must come up for air occasionally.

(b) Multitasking?

(c) :-D

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks for that mental image. Remind me not to tease you again.

[song-of-copper.livejournal.com]

Worry not, I shall revert to 'demure' mode forthwith! >_<

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Why would you have to pay anyone? There's a queue of people who'd do it for free!

Tattoos

[annacara.livejournal.com]

My Tattoos are for religous reasons.

The Pentacle for Protection and the Arwyn (for many reasons.)

They are part of my spiritual path, so they make perfect sense as to why I had them done.

Cheers

T

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I've always quite liked the idea of getting the northern hemisphere starscape done, one constellation at a time, in a nice rich sepia with stylised tiny eight-pointed stars, all over my back.

There are two problems with this:

1) the accuracy will be subject to weight gain or loss.

2) my back is quite hairy, and judging by my dad is only going to get hairier as I grow older.

No-one wants a hairy starscape.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

it would like like the skies in an HP Lovecraft story.

"Above, amongst the stars, the terrible, febrile tendrils of Tchoch-Natlakh reached down with inhuman purpose to cover their earth in their keratinous embrace. Professor Carter gazed in horror at the damning results of his own failure.
'Oh, bollocks', he said."