What does your tattoo mean to you?

[Melesse]

As the title says. What tattoos do you have, and what do they mean to you? What made you pick that one (or five) design(s) that you wished imprinted on your body for the rest of your life?

I'll start

I currently have one tattoo. It's a stylized, ghostly Kokopelli. I got it for a couple reasons. My wife said I was a sex God, and so is Kokopelli, so it was partially b/c I identified with it, and I felt it marked me (I say that with no arrogance, it was her opinion of me, and no doubt not one shared by every girl I've slept with ). Additionally, for some reason (and this seems irrational to me...) I subscribe to the belief that tattoos could act as totems, and I chose this tattoo, and my future ones with an eye towards something I wanted to be more of. For example, I just asked my wife's sister to look at a Shaman design for me, and see what she could make of it. The design is a Southwestern one meaning healing powers and earth energies.

Additionally, I have an eye on a Labyrinth pattern I like, symbolizing lifes journey. I'm not sure how I feel about that one, because it's less of a totem and more of a...I don't know. Irrational, I know

And of course I have to like the way they look, but duh!

So, what about yours? Or what about the ones your're planning on getting?

Melesse

 

[blue eyed muse]

hmm, heres some of my work and it's meanings.

i have faery wings on my back, which symbolize my freedom to be truly me and my transformation to that point. there is also an intricate celtic heart that is situated in between my wings but not part of them. thats my sweet innocent love tattoo. it has come to mean more clearly the act of always being a certain amount of loving and compassionate and all the feelings associated with love of any kind. that one is more of a landmark in my life than a very meaningful one to me. it made me analyze myself more. it was my first tattoo, before i got the hang of my meaning and purpose in them. i love it but it holds meaning for me in a little different way then most of my other ones do.

i have some leopard print on one of my arms, that represents my sexual side. i also have leopard print on my lower back, i call it my pinup leopard. it celebrates the more primal enjoyable/sensual parts of life, not necessarily just sex, that is a huge factor in the meaning behind the tattoo though.

i have bleeding heart blossoms on my chest-- they are a reminder of the beauty of emotional heart wrenching pain and anguish. it's a part of life and it helps you grow as a person and i feel it has made me a beautiful person, so the beautiful blossoms are very meaningful to me. when i look at it, it helps bring me back to the focus that i want to have which is to be peaceful and accepting of my pain. i think my depression issues have really contributed to this one. it seems so very poetic to have bleeding heart blossoms on my chest.

i also have a rather badly done bettie page. it works out well that she turned out bad because it represents me trying to hard, i tried to look like bettie page, i tried to exude a feeling that just wasn't quite me. it has come to mean that i need to not fight who i am and just be, because you can't force things that just aren't meant to be (most especially on a deeper level).

i have a few more, but i don't feel like going into details about all of them.

 

[EJFan]

It's a stylized, ghostly Kokopelli. I got it for a couple reasons. My wife said I was a sex God, and so is Kokopelli,

i have no tattoos but the thought's crossed my mind once or twice.

is there a sexually-inept god? i could get that one.

 

[Denae]

Mine is a tribal sun that only 2 or 3 people have seen.

It's physical proof that I'm not predictable and that there is more of me beneath the surface. There are other reasons for the tattoo, but they are private.

 

[Spinaroonie]

I got mine when my brother died.

It means I miss my brother.

 

[boston_bbw]

I have 3 and none have anything good related to them. I was in a bad place at the time and saw them more as "scars" on my body then anything else. Sorta pathetic I know.. If they disappeared overnight I would be fine with it.

 

[Melesse]

Amusingly enough, I just realized my Avatar was the design I used for the Kokopelli tat lol.

Melesse

 

[human_male]

Mine mean I had a crushing infatuation on someone at work and I thought this would impress her. What a dick. Turns out I quite like em though.

 

[landcruisergal]

Fav topic..ink..
1st a dragon sourced from a dragonlance illustration. I loved the picture, but being my first went too small and lost too much detail. The dragon stands on mounds of snow, with a moon behind him. Fire and ice..Extremes and conflict.Power and wisdom.
2nd an armband with my then b/f's and my starsign glyphs in a yin/yang disc. Duality again. Masculine/feminine. Sort of my design. He got the same symbol in another band.
3rd A large celtic circle with a double headed dragon down the sides, and wings up to my kidneys. The middle has a disc split into 3.For the triplities. Good/evil/neutral. Maiden/mother/crone. Earth/land/sky. Even father/son/holy ghost.
4th my first design. For the centre of australia. its a double spiral with 4 tails running up my right arm.For the friends I met there, from all over the globe, and now most of us scattered but still friends. Also its where I found my own self and learnt to be happy in my own skin.
5th Jess, the female border collie from "footrot flats" a NZ cartoon. My b/f has the male dog on his thigh, I have her on mine.She marks our first 5 years together. Also she has love hearts to symbolise she's a bitch on heat...like me.
6th. I had my 1st covered by a 'new skool' figure of 8 dragon. The first I picked from a tat studio, because it needed to be big,bright and suitable to cover. He's gripping a flaming heart. I returned to the city I had my first done in to complete the cycle and get closure.He was 8 hours work.
7th. a key on my left calf. My 2nd design. The jewels of the chakra run up the stem, into oroboros- the serpent consuming itself. energy into eternity. The jewels separated by a waved line, shaded black on one side. Duality again.I have changed career and its the key to my future. Also my master's initials are hidden in the segmented key, so its his mark of commitment to my submission to him.
8th.... I plan to cover my 2nd...undecided.
9th....yep I'm addicted.

 

[celtmuse]

Blue Butterfly

I have one tattoo thus far. A small but vivid blue butterfly. It's simple but the meaning lends the complexity. When I was younger (and not too much younger at that), I was abused sexually for an extended period of time by my stepfather, and the butterfly represented my freedom from that situation, and my transformation because of it.

 

[landcruisergal]

I have one tattoo thus far. A small but vivid blue butterfly. It's simple but the meaning lends the complexity. When I was younger (and not too much younger at that), I was abused sexually for an extended period of time by my stepfather, and the butterfly represented my freedom from that situation, and my transformation because of it.

I love butterflies...they also mean travel...not just physical, but can be mentally or emotional.A friend says they signify the movement of the spirit.I could never choose one...there are all so beautiful.
I love ink, but so much more the reason behind them, regardless of their size or design.
They can be so deeply personal and reflective of what is happening in your life at that point in time.

 

[wildfyre]

As the title says. What tattoos do you have, and what do they mean to you? What made you pick that one (or five) design(s) that you wished imprinted on your body for the rest of your life?


I've got one on my ankle. It's the OM on top of a heart. To me it symbolizes my faith in a loving universal creator. It took me over a year to decide on a design since I knew it would be with me for the rest of my life. I'm in the process of picking my next design.

 

[Saucyminx]

I have 4 so far.

I have Hobbes from Calvin & Hobbes tattooed on my upper right thigh. (My little brother has Calvin--symbolizing how we were always there for each other growing up.)

I have a celtic knot on my left ankle. (Family came over from Ireland, not all that long ago.)

I have a sort of celtic design ankle bracelet with my husband's name worked in on the inside of my ankle. (Like a wedding band that I can't forget to wear.)

And i have a cricket on my left shoulder blade (We always called my son Nicholas Cricket when he was little).

My daughter is still picking what she wants me to have tattooed in her honor--i drew the line at Dora the explorer.

 

[Frenum69]

I have just recently had one of mine covered, I used to have a set of paratrooper wings on my shoulder blade. I was a young 19 year old and a group of us were on leave after the course when we decided to have it done. I have no qualms about the tat just the inkwork was VERY bad so I have designed my own one and covered it and I have redone the wings on my upper arm in a better design, It also reminds me of friends that won't be coming home again.

Also have a Geko on my ankle that I had done in Vietnam, very painfull but a stunner. My now wife and I had them together, soppy but cool.

Just realised the last passage could be taken for something its not - I was on a diving holiday in Vietnam not during the war

 

[rcuhljr]

I have Hobbes from Calvin & Hobbes tattooed on my upper right thigh.

I want you now

 

[Saucyminx]

I want you now

thank you

 

[webbo1]

I have one of a skull wearing a beret with crossed rifles behind it

Around it are the words "Son of a Vietnam Vet"

I was (and still am) very proud of my late father and for all those who served in Vietnam

 

[tbon45]

i have the mustang emblim on my left shoulder cause i love mustangs and because me and my dad restored on together. i also have my last name across my shoulders because when my kids and nieces and cousins kids grow up our last name will no longer be alive.

 

[devoted lilgirl]

I have one tattoo that I ahve had since I was 20. It is a yin-yang symbol between my shoulder blades that has flames coming from it. I love the balance that it represents and the flame is passion.... I have often thought maybe I want another tattoo, but I just can't settle on anything that felt as "right" as the first one did.

 

[Bandit58]

I have two - a design from Ghana on my lower back which literally means "life transformation". I got it three months after leaving my husband and embarking on my journey of finding out who and what I was.

The second is a tribal heart, on my left upper arm. I found it on a tattoo flash site and for the life of me I haven't been able to find that site again, but the tat was in a block of several others and it just stood out for me....it meant something special to both me and the man I was seeing at the time. He was going to get a dragon tat and put the heart in it as a background, I don't know if he ever did because we broke up before he could get it.

My next one is going to be a tribal kiwi, to represent my birth country

Link to Pics

 

[Brightdawn]

wow, where to start....

first one I got is a tribal on my ankle with my sisters initials and she has the same one with my initials, we got them when I moved away

Next was an outline of a lotus flower not fully bloomed between my shoulder blades, at that point I wasn't too sure I was all I could be, had a few things to sort out.

Then a fairy on a swing surrounded by a wreath of flowers on my right shoulder symbolizing earth

I have my name (brightdawn) done in celestrial writing on my left breast inside a cluster of stars

At this point I got my lotus flower coloured

Another fairy on my left shoulder sitting on a moon holding a star symbolizing air

and my last one I just got a few weeks ago, it's a gargoyle on my right shoulder blade, it there to watch my back.

and yes I want more....

 

[TBKahuna123]

I'm actually in the process of designing my first tat. I've always thought that if I was going to get a tattoo it would have to have deep meaning for me. This year I've had a couple of amazing landmarks happen in my life and this is how I'm going to commemorate them.

First many people know that I'm a hockey fanatic. 4 years ago I started playing goalie, a real struggle at 30 years old. This year I have finally achieved a level of skill that has put me to the point where I'm proud to be seen playing, where I can stop anyone in my league, and I'm at the top of the food chain.

Secondly, in June my first fantasy book will be published, another long struggle.

To commemorate this I am working with a local artist to create the following tat design. It will include a goal cage, viewed from a high angle and the semicircle of the goal crease. Instead of just blue, the crease will be filled with a yin yang symbol. The Yin Yang has become the symbol that my wife and I use to symbolize our relationship. Coiled around the net will be an oriental dragon with fire coming from his open jaws.

I'm also going to get a match of my wife's new tattoo. It's a Yin Yang with a scorpion and lion(our signs) inside, and our wedding date inscrbed above.

 

[EJFan]

To commemorate this I am working with a local artist to create the following tat design. It will include a goal cage, viewed from a high angle and the semicircle of the goal crease. Instead of just blue, the crease will be filled with a yin yang symbol. The Yin Yang has become the symbol that my wife and I use to symbolize our relationship. Coiled around the net will be an oriental dragon with fire coming from his open jaws.

I'm also going to get a match of my wife's new tattoo. It's a Yin Yang with a scorpion and lion(our signs) inside, and our wedding date inscrbed above.

this sounds really awesome, tbk. when the sketch is done do we get to see it?

 

[TBKahuna123]

this sounds really awesome, tbk. when the sketch is done do we get to see it?

Sure, I suppose.

 

[asian_princess]

i have one on the back of my right shoulder, it says "Above all else, L'amour et La Liberté" in black writing in a red heart outline.

because if nothing else, i don't ever want to forget it.