I’m going to get one soon, but I’m at somewhat of a loss. I don’t like body art that has no meaning, and this is definitly the wrong place to ask this seeing as how nobody here really knows me that well, but I’m really just looking for general ideas with which to give meaning that I think applies.
Idea’s that I’ve gotten so far is mainly a phoenix, which represents rebirth (I feel that over the past few years my attitude, amongst many other things, has changed for the better, and that a phoenix symbolizes this with it’s meaning of rebirth.)
Another idea is something that symbolizes immortality. I believe in the human spirit, which is something I don’t believe can truley be conquered. That’s really what I’m aiming at, but as of right now I don’t know how to visually express that. Any ideas?
No offense, but it’s kinda stupid to ask other people to pick something that’s meaningful <em>or you</em>. If you want it to be meaningful for youself, then pick something that <em>you</em> think is meaningful; don’t ask someone else. You’ll probably have to live with whatever you decide on for the rest of your life, and you’ll only regret getting the tattoo if you let someone else pick it for you.
Rebirth and the the Human Spirit, hmmm… personally, I’d say take something from myth or religion. I’m not exactly sure what would personify those attributes. The ankh was a good suggestion as a symbol of life. Actually, the Egyptians as a whole were very much into the whole idea of the human spirit; they were very much obsessed with the ideas of the afterlife. Though as far as things symbolising this… I don’t know. Most of the other Western myths don’t have much in the way of those things, at least as far as humans are concerned, I don’ think. The Norse have everybody perish on the day of Ragnarok, save two people that live to repeople the new world that arises thereafter. So “Rebirth” figures prominently (it is the word that Odin whispers in Baldur’s ear), but they’re myths deal more with death and ill fated heroes rather than the human spirit. There’s probably a rune for rebirth and one for immortality, but I would have absolutely no clue what those are. Greeks… well, there they’ve got little in the way of rebirth, unless it be drinking of Lethe and forgetting everything of the previous life. So not much there. Likewise for the Mesopotamians… their great hero Gilgamesh ends his quest for immortality in failure; I think they’re idea of eternity was eating mud until you were forgotten, at which point you ceased to exist. Depressing, to be sure. Really, for any symbolism that signifies eternity I’d look to some eastern religion. I really don’t know those, so there’s little I can suggest. Hinduism, I think, has the idea of a cyclical universe that doesn’t end but repeats, always being born again. I’m not sure, but I think a wheel of fire may have something to do with that. So I guess that’s a suggestion, a wheel of fire. It might symbolize eternity and rebirth. As far as immortality, the only eastern things I can recall that might deal with that is buddhism, with the idea of eventually attainting an immortal status of a sort (though again my understanding of this in near to nothing). Though I don’t know how a buddha would look as a tatoo. Still, I suggest you look into the religious symbols of some eastern religions; they often deal with imortality and rebirth. The best suggestion I would have would be a mixture of a pheonix which you spoke of with a fiery wheel; maybe a flaming pheonix in the center of a wheel of fire (though even the pheonix itself would express both rebirth and immortality; the pheonix is both reborn now and again, and lives forever.) Though I could easily be wrong about the meaning of the fiery wheel (but I’m quite sure its Hindu).
Has anyone else seen the resemblance between the Ankh and the female sign or the sign of venus? Saw a show that pointed that out to me, doh. I had the same idea Kaiser. Any creature in a circle design, was just imagining an eagle or another bird of prey facing front with its wingtips spread out but then meeting at the wingtips in circlish fashion. A scorpion, for the astrological sign of scorpio, often in explanations of that sign come the words death and rebirth.
An Ankh represents the afterlife, amongst other things. The female sign represents a mirror
I think a phoenix might be a good idea.
And I’m getting a dragon soon (hopefully :P), but then again, that wasnt surprising.
EDIT: You might want to take a peek <a href=“http://tattoo.about.com/cs/tatfaq/a/symbols_ancient.htm”>here.</a>
I’m gonna tell you how to run your life. should you get a tattoo? I think its quite clear that you should NOT get a tattoo
and I can sum up my point in this ellegant but very simple bulletted list
1: tattoos are permanent
2: you are a god damn idiot.and i’d like to prove this mathematically if i may. take your current age, now subtract 10 years from it. where you smart back then? of course you werent, you were a god damn idiot. fact of the matter is you’re just a big an idiot today, its just gonna take you 10 more years to realize it. now think if you had drawn a picture on your body 10 years ago, would you be happy with it today? chances are you wouldnt be.
3: charlemagne rules
Dont get me wrong tattoos ARE cool, as long as you avoid the following rookie mistakes, you’ll be just fine.
1:The barbed wire ring: nothing says 1998 quite like a barbed wire ring around your bicep, you look like a defensive lineman, and if you get the tattoo, you’re probably about as smart as one
2: The band logo, ANY band logo. think about it, the only pop star to remain cool for more than 10 years was madonna. and you’re not fooling anybody by getting a tattoo of her.
3: lastly and most importantly are the tribal design and the asian character: no one gets it. and lets be honest, you dont either. somone had to explain it to you, and you have no idea if they were even telling you the truth.
so avoid these simple pitfalls, and getting a tattoo could be a wonderful and rewarding experience… except for the pain.
but I dont think they would be cool on YOU, sorc. but if I cant stop you from getting a tattoo, at least let me offer you a good suggestions for a design. how about this: why not get a tattoo of your favorite character from your favorite online message board?
Well, when you’re a tottering, incontinent 90 year old, make sure the tattoo you got when you were a quasi-rebellious whippersnapper isn’t something that everybody will make fun of you for in the retirement home.
So, get something that you can’t possibly regret, like the name of your current girlfriend/fuck buddy or RPGClassics’ URL or something.
The ankh is a symbol of sexual fertility in most cultures, its meaning has sorta become misunderstood over the years. :noway:
The snake eating its own tale (oudas millenia) is a much better example, and the phoenix is a good idea as well.
Oh and charlemagne, there are no explanations for tribal designs, because they’re designs that have no meaning. It’s like looking at an ink blot, one might see something else that another does not. But I do agree, as far as the barbed wire thing…if you get a wrap-around, make it bigger than a chain.
Sorcerer, I suggest you check around town, find the the most reputable artist there, and go through his/her catalogs, tell them what you’re looking for. If they’ve been in business for at least five or ten years, they’ll know their shit and be able to help you. They’ll usually have ‘under the counter’ designs and lots of books that aren’t laying out under the public eye. You’ll know when you find the right one, I’ve got 8 tats’ worth of experience.
The most important thing is to get your ink done for YOU.
Actually, there are indeed tribals which have meanings. And I was talking about the Ankh in ancient Egypt, the Crux Ansata, which is (according to my knowledge) the oldest culture in which the Ankh appeared. It was the sign of life, or ending of physical death and life afterwards (afterlife), which is why they were presented with gods (Maat for example, who holds it up to the pharaoh, or hathor). In early christianity it was used as a symbol for eternal life.
Afterwards, it became a common esoteric symbol used by many occults/ religious movements which all interpreted and invented their own crap meanings for it The only one which makes sense is the vampiric meaning her, but I digress.
I was generalizing on the tribal thing…if you get a “Tribal Crucifix”, then yeah it’s a crucifix, if you get the ascension symbol, the ocean symbol, or whatever in tribal, then yep its got meaning… Gah, I blow at explaining.
As far as the ankh, I guess it doesn’t get much older than Egypt, so perhaps you’re right.
Estuans interius ira vehementi,
estuans interius ira vehementi,
Cephiros! Cephiros!
Estuans interius ira vehementi, estuans interius ira vehementi,
Cephiros! Cephiros!
Sors immanis, et inanis.
Sors immanis, et inanis.
Estuans interius ira vehementi, estuans interius ira vehementi,
Cephiros! Cephiros!
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias.
I would say that you could probably have a really cool person design you a pheonix pic that has it curled enough that its tail feathers are at its beak… Therefore it’s like death and rebirth as well as infinity and karma and all those other things that people think of when they see the snake biting it’s tail…
There is no Futhark rune specifically for immortality. The closest is probably the rune called Raido (Old Norse) or Rad (Old English), which looks like the letter R and is the rune of communication, journeys and travelling, which usually are for self-healing, but it can refer to the soul after death.
From what has been suggested thus far, the phoenix and/or the ankh seem lovely to me.
