Tat Thoughts III

My chest now...

Previously I made entries about Tat Thoughts, and Tat Thoughts II. A comment on why I choose totems as ink symbols. Tats and ink to me, mean that you are trying to express what you feel and are on the inside, in your spirit, with the people on the outside. All 10 tats that I have are an expression of something in my spirit, with people that happen to ask about why I got them, and why "that" symbol.

Rooster Head Ink

I mentioned in Tat Thoughts why I got the Rooster tat. That is my Chinese astrology sign, since I was born in 1969 (click HERE for more info on the Rooster). It describes me as a personality perfectly! The design was based on a drawing by Elektra Q-Tion, and then supported heavily by Christy at Blue Flame with the needle. Christy is an amazing tattoo artist, she agreed to come in on her day off because she loved the symbolism. I love her attention to detail, and embracing all of my ideas. Her attention to detail appeals to my sense of being a perfectionist, and her love of roosters and winged symbols is par none (if you play golf, you know what I am saying). I was honored that she was willing to come to work on me and to spend several hours tattooing me because of the symbol that I wanted.

American Goldfinch Ink

I followed it up a few months later by getting the American Goldfinch (also known as the Yellow Finch) because it is yet another of my animal totems. While in the process of getting an idea for my next animal totem, I did copy and paste a lot of info from the web. If any of this is your writing, let me know and I'll give you credit or delete it, depending on what you tell me to do.

When a Yellow Finch is spotted it is a sign that enthusiastic times are head with days full of bright, high energy. Finches fly, typically bobbing and weaving through the air. Watching a Finches free-form flight can fill you with a sense of freedom and happiness.

Native America Indians called the Finch the "bird of happiness." They thought the bright yellow color of this bird was a gift from the gods and would bring bright joy and freedom into their lives. They also thought the song of the Finch was the sound that announced the upcoming bounty of the spring season.

If a person has been concealing his or her creativity from the world, Finch may be the sign to start making their value more vocal and available to the public. The Finch song can lighten your heart and lead you on a bouncy path of creativity.

Finches are also sociable creatures, so a Finch Totem could be a signal to get more involved with social activities.

Black and yellow are the colors of the archangel Auriel. These colors in meditation and ritual are used to invoke that aspect of this being that oversees the activity of nature spirits--the fairies, elves, and devas.

The presence of goldfinches usually indicates an awakening to the activities of those beings that are normally relegated to the realm of fiction. Goldfinch can help you deepen your perceptions so that you can begin to see and experience the activities of the nature spirits yourself. This deepening of perceptions is reflected in the black cap--awakening to that which is normally hidden from view.

Goldfinches are usually permanent residents, and in those areas where they are found, you can also find the fairies and the elves. Goldfinches like border areas and young brush growth found at edges and borders. Edges and borders are intersections where there are natural doorways to that other realm of life.

Even their nesting habits reflects this link to the border areas, the 'Tween Places.' They build their nests in a fork or on an outer branch high in a tree. It is usually made of thistledown. Thistle has a long association with nature spirits and the healing aspects of animals. Blessed thistle was once used to invoke the god Pan. Thistle has been a symbol of endurance. It is through endurance and persistence that we can open to the Realm of Faerie once more. Goldfinches are birds that can help us connect with those nature spirits that can show us how to heal animals--wild and domestic.

Goldfinches are rarely silent. This in itself is a reminder that Nature is speaking to us constantly and that we should learn to listen and communicate with it from all levels. It reflects that the nature spirits are around us at all times.

In winter, the male loses its black cap, and the bright yellow turns to an olive yellow. This also reflects the connection of goldfinch to the world of the nature spirits. In the winter, they withdraw, working more within the earth, rather than in the outward expressions which are more evident in the spring and summer. It does not mean they are not there, but rather that they may not be as easily perceived.

The goldfinch also has an undulating (an up and down movement) flight pattern. This rhythm and pattern can be used in visualization to help loosen the subtle energies of the arua and facilitate leaving the body. The wave pattern also reflects the ability of a goldfinch to lead us to the inner and to the outer realms, from the human to the Faerie, from the physical to the spiritual.

Understanding the value of change, Ability to resolve family conflicts in a healthy manner, Creating balance in dealing with different peoples, Understanding the power of voice.

Tat Thoughts II

Last Friday I laid on a massage table/bed, being inked with an American Goldfinch (yeah, it is another of my animal totems).

I made the first 2 and 1/2 hours without too much fuss, but Christy at Blue Flame Tattoo managed to tap into the last of my nerves in the last 30 minutes, so I was pretty vocal. But, it was all good... and I survived my tenth tat. The red tones on the body of the goldfinch are blood, and they are clearing up each time I wash with Ivory...

She is also going to redo my dragonfly tats on my calves... but that is down the road...

I posted this, only to share it. For other info, please refer to my other blog entry, Tat Thoughts...

Signs of a Hippie

Image via Wikipedia

There are a lot of things that come to mind about what a "hippie" actually is. I believe there is a spirit of being a hippie in all of us. How others "define" you depends on how deep you impact them. Most people only have their understanding based on what they've "heard." I'm expressing what MY experience and perspectives are.

I was born a month before the first Woodstock in 1969. Which means that I was raised by  people that lived in the key defining age of being a hippie. I just want to define that I was alive when the term "hippie" became expressed. This is about opening your mind to another person's perspective.

Being a child in the early 70s impacted me so deeply that even to this day, I can't ignore the signs of what I learned then about the hippie life. The parties that my Mom had on the weekends still haunt me to this day. No, I don't dress with the clothing that was popular then, but I have had very long hair, have pierced parts, don't wear dye ties but want to be comfortable. But it is a little above and beyond that, as a "lifestyle" that we all accept in our opinions.

A "hippie" is defined as (according to Dictionary.com) as:

hip·pie

a person, especially of the late 1960s, who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness, often expressed externally in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and of beads, headbands, used garments, etc.

Times and people change, this isn't a CURRENTLY definition. Drop the part about what they wear, but they still espouse the parts about institutions, values, spontaneity, love, and consciousness.Which is where I am. I guess I'm a spiritual hippie.

How I live now, daily and spiritually, that espouses it:
☮ I still separate the colors of the glass bottles that I take to the recycle center
☮ I use a "Can Crusher" on all of the pop cans I collect, so I can save them to take to the scrap yard
☮ I use a mulch blade on my mower to replenish the soil 
☮ I compost my kitchen scraps to reduce what I put in the garbage
☮ I use canvas bags (that I bring) at stores when I purchase things, bag the items myself to cut down on wasting trees and oil for the bags that they provide
☮ I use CFL instead of incandescent bulbs to cut down on the energy needed to light them, saving coal
☮ I express my spontaneity each and every chance I can. It might get me in trouble, but I express it
☮ I am in love and am very tactile
☮ I consciously approach everything in life by determining the outcome of my actions

Peace out...

Artful Decorations

I am single and live in an apartment but am no longer a teenager, so I no longer use heavy metal band posters to adorn my walls. I am also blessed in life to have a very close friend that is an art & graphic designer. Her site is REM Designs (yeah, click on it, I triple dog dare you). She has a lot of prints available, does commissions, writes her own blog, and is an awesome, amazing person... just drop her an email or message, and she'll work with you to get you what your soul and eyes desire. Her prints are available in various sizes, and she has a LOT more on her site. The most striking series is her drawing of the zodiac signs. I use her art for Cancer as my avatar icon on Facebook.

I've used the following images from her website as prints to be the inspiration, color, decorations, and art in my apartment.

Tat Thoughts

Recently, a friend's father said he thought people with tattoos were from the wrong side of the tracks. That made me want to check some information and think about it myself. Simple web searching at this website [link] shows that:

Thirty-six percent of those ages 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those ages 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo, in 2006...

TATTOO FACTS & STATISTICS

If you are interested in scanning a brief history of tattoos, go to this website [link]. To share just a summary of it, it explains why my friend's father said what he said. But, there is a lot that he doesn't know.

Before the recent explosion of tattoo popularity in Western society, many people assumed that tattoos were reserved for the lower-class and societal outcasts like prostitutes, bikers, and ex-cons. They probably don’t realize that, at the turn of the century, tattoos were actually favored by royalty and the elite. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, tattoos could be found on the likes of Queen Victoria’s grandsons (Prince George and Prince Albert), on Winston Churchill (AND his mother!), on President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and on the members of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.

Rooster Ink

I currently have 9 tats and plan on getting more. The last ink I got was the Rooster head shown to the right. I went with the Rooster because it is my Chinese astrology symbol. It is on my chest.

My other ink include diamonds on my palms, my roller derby number on my forearms, dragonflies on the back of my calves, the Green Lantern logo on my outer right leg, and a tribal shamrock on my arm. That was my first one.

Other plans I have are for a Phoenix and an Eastern dragon as large back pieces, several to cover my legs, and eventually even my entire chest, belly, and have arm sleeves.

I already have another tattoo appointment set up, in about a month by Christy at Blue Flame Tattoo, and it is going to be a male American Goldfinch on the other side of my chest.

All of my tats have symbolic meanings to me, as do most tats that people have gotten. A great resource for discovering more about the "meanings," check out this website The Vanishing Tattoo. Especially the Tattoo Museum link at the bottom of that page. To discover YOUR own symbolic sign, I recommend this website, What's Your Sign.