Spiritual Skin
Sacred Tattoos:
More than Skin Deep
Tania Marie
Published by Tania Marie at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Tania Marie
In Loving Memory and Honor of Nestor
You are the light of my life and I am blessed by the gift of your love. Thank you for teaching me to stay present in my heart and for being the guiding force that has helped keep me on my path. You are a true example of self-less service from the heart and have been the fuel to my own heart’s fire. Through you, I have learned how to do out of love, what at times I may have feared in responsibility. I dedicate this book to the eternal bond we share that mirrors our committed heart service on this Earth and beyond. I have etched that love reminder into my own “Spiritual Skin” in honor of our connection and to symbolically channel that expansive compassion through everything I create and share.
You are with me every moment of eternity.
“It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin.”
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Spiritual Skin
Ironic contradiction or interesting paradox?
Skin is usually associated with the “physical” and the “outer,” hence relating to something more tangible, superficial (lying on the surface), with boundaries and of the five senses.
Spiritual is usually associated with the “nonphysical” and the “inner” or “unseen,” hence relating to something intangible, having depth, is unlimitedly expansive and beyond the five senses.
Our skin however is part of the whole that is our divinity reflected in human form. Our bodies are sacred temples, physically manifested by integration with spiritual essence.
One is not separate from the other, despite the duality of their nature. The very reason they exist is to integrate wholeness and realize the partnership they share, one channeled through the other.
The physical becomes sacred.
The spiritual becomes tangible.
And together they exist simultaneously in harmony.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Tattoos and the New Earth Energy
Chapter 2: Spiritual Tattoos: The New Energy Wave
Chapter 4: To Tattoo or not to Tattoo? That is the Question
Chapter 5: Making the Body a Temple for Service
Chapter 6: Dilemmas of Religion and Spirituality
Chapter 7: Choosing the Perfect Tattoo for You
Chapter 9: Personal and Impersonal Symbolism
Chapter 10: Digging Deeper into Collective Symbolism
Chapter 11: Retracing the Origins of Tattoos
Chapter 13: Present Day Resurgence
Chapter 14: Shifting Perspective: A Revealing Interview
Chapter 16: Exposed: Revealing My Own “Spiritual Skin”
Chapter 17: From Client to Designer
Final Words: The Answer Without Lies Within
Chapter 1
Tattoos and the New Earth Energy
“A tattoo is an affirmation: that this body is yours to have and to enjoy while you’re here. Nobody else can control what you do with it.”
Don Ed Hardy
The reasons people decide to get tattoos are as varied as the people themselves; there’s no end to the Crayola colors of expressions and symbolism. Many are rediscovering the deeper spiritual connection and meaning behind this sacred art.
Today, not only do people get tattoos for their aesthetic beauty as a work of art and as tribute to something or someone, but they increasingly look to tattoos as a means of spiritual expression. This use is evident not only in the numbers of people with spiritual tattoos, but in the design options offered in tattoo parlors, tattoo books and websites, which now even include a spiritual category.
Tattoos have become yet another means by which people can get in touch with their spiritual essence and their beliefs, aid and support spiritual awakening, provide energetic opening and enhance their lives in ways that can be life changing. Many are also rediscovering the therapeutic/healing quality of tattoos.
For those interested in the “New Earth” energy we are moving into with our ascension evolvement, this is a way of embracing the “old” with the “new” and integrating both. Seen in this light, tattoos are powerful tools that have the ability to help access the needed compassion and open hearts that will alter our vibrations to a new level.
These “new” energy tattoos – conscious, potent, symbolically rich, spiritually focused – are one of many ways you can create access doorways and portals on many levels. By wearing these tattoos, you embrace an energetic intent that alters your personal experience in deeply profound ways. You may also transform and affect, in their own way, anyone who views your tattoos.
One thread of the web affects the whole web. So when we restructure our beliefs and change our vibrations, it trickles out in vibrations across the web and is transmitted to everyone. This is detectable in vibratory sensations, just as the spider who weaves an actual web would detect any slight change that may affect the web’s vibration.
To understand what I mean by “New Earth” energy, I’d like to first explain a little about the direction I believe we are headed. It is an accepted belief by many spiritualists that the Earth is continuing with her own evolutionary ascension process in this universe, and humans are here helping this to occur. Humanity can support the process by aligning its vibration to that of the Earth’s light frequency. Until recently, the only way to achieve this change has been to raise the frequency of light of subtle bodies, which include our mental, emotional and lower spiritual body.
Now we have many tools and vehicles which those who choose to align in this way can use. Spiritual tattoos of portal-opening, symbolic significance are one of many options that support this vibrational shift on personal and collective levels, helping to tune into and access these energies.
Fear-based patterns of ego and mind make people unable to clear the dense energies in their subtle bodies, hence preventing ascension, as their light will not increase sufficiently. On the other hand, those who live from their heart, with compassion, experience cleansing of the dense energies in their subtle bodies and allow for ascension to take place. Those who choose the latter raise their light frequency and are adopting the “new blueprint” of the “New Earth” fifth dimensional energy.
Many believe that those who embrace this process will experience harmony and instant manifestation from thought and time known as the eternal moment where all is simultaneously empowered in the now. The “New Earth” energy will allow its practitioners to step into the loving flow of divine order where manifestation magic is possible.
Tattoos, or better yet, the energetic frequency of their essence, can therefore be a tool to align yourself with this divine, healing and opening flow. They can act as reminders, as well as portals, to keep us on track and to focus our energy into alignment. They also help to transcend judgments and stereotypes that the collective has acquired over time and must release completely in order to ascend to the new frequency of energy we are evolving into.
Visual images and symbols can be more potent in teaching and shifting people’s perspectives than words. I have seen this work in my own tattoo experience. It is really an amazing thing!
Part of evolution involves personal and collective healing on every level, including physical, which is connected to our other subtle bodies. As we’ve seen, tattoos can have therapeutic healing qualities. As technology advances, new uses for tattoos are being found which help to provide additional therapeutic benefits. For example, tattoos may soon help diabetics track their blood sugar.
Researchers are creating an “ink” of nanoparticles suspended in a saline solution that can be injected under the skin like a tattoo. The “tattoo” would last for a specified length of time, probably six months, before being refreshed. To get glucose readings, the patient would wear a monitor that shines near-infrared light on the tattoo and detects the resulting fluorescence. One advantage of this type of sensor is that, unlike some fluorescent molecules, carbon nanotubes aren’t destroyed by light exposure. As a result, the sensor can give continuous readings.
These new breakthroughs aid the process of energetic restructuring that helps move us into embracing and embodying the “New Earth” energy. Indeed, tattooing has come far and is finding its way into our lives at a whole new level of experience that integrates knowledge and innovative technology with spiritual evolvement. It is an exciting time to be alive!
Chapter 2
Spiritual Tattoos: The New Energy Wave
Tee Rogers, a successful, Australian businesswoman in the technology industry, who turned her energies towards raising awareness, wrote an article about what she believes the “Little Known 5 Spiritual Reasons for Getting a Tattoo” are. In her article she shares that people get tattooed as a result of spiritual growth, to use as divine protection, for totem and animal symbolism, to commemorate something or as tribal identity.
The first reason, spiritual growth, is common among individuals that go through a spiritual awakening that is profoundly meaningful in some way. This may include examples such as tattooing an “Om” symbol after receiving teaching from a Buddhist master, an image of the wind blowing for a lung cancer survivor, or a design with spiritual connotation as result of surviving a natural disaster.
The second reason, for divine protection, is characterized by symbolisms such as a tattoo of St. Christopher for taxi drivers wanting to prevent road accidents or the ever-popular protective eye within the hand or triangle that has Mediterranean origins. Cruci-fixes, sacred hearts, St. Michael and various gods or goddesses of Eastern religions are several other very common and popular images that hold protective symbolism as well.
To portray a totem or animal symbol of significance is the third spiritual reason people get tattoos, according to Tee. There are those that consider tattoos to be an expression of their soul or reincarnated self and so they choose images that reflect this. This includes many popular images like faeries, birds, butterflies, angels, tigers, wolves and various other animals or mythical beings such as dragons and unicorns that resonate with the individual’s faith.
The fourth reason, as a commemoration of something or someone significant, designates tattoos as honorary symbols to remember a cherished family member or pet that has passed away. These are usually personalized and can either be a design that bears close resemblance to the departed or a symbol that triggers the memory of the loved one to the physical present.
And last, Tee shares that the fifth reason for spiritual tattoos is to designate tribal identity. This type of tattoo dates back to ancient times and holds the intention of marking an individual as part of a tribe or group. These tattoos act as warning to others outside the group or tribe and identify your association. Examples of this might be an iron cross to identify a Goth individual, the Serenity Prayer for an Alcoholics Anonymous member, a Harley Davidson logo associating a biker, a crucifix for a Christian, or an anchor for a Navy member.
Tattoos are a “tangible” means of displaying an array of things at great energetic depth, including one’s beliefs and faith. Regardless whether it is being addressed, an unspoken, natural process has been unfolding before our very eyes and onto our skins. Tattoos are one wave of an ocean of more empowering present experi-ence and ultimately can help us to embrace where we are headed spiritually.
Chapter 3
Personal Portals: Sacred Tattoo Vortexes to Rock Your World
“A man without tattoos is invisible to the Gods.”
Iban Proverb
“Energy portals,” “energy vor-texes” or “etheric portals” are regions of space with high vibrational frequencies said to be characterized by five dimensions. Here, third dimen-sional physical earth merges with this fifth dimensional etheric earth, creating a magical, other-worldly place. Energy portals exist at Himalayas; Sedona, AZ; Mt. Shasta, CA; Taos, NM; Mt. Kailas, Hawaii; Lake Titicaca; England’s Glastonbury Tor and Egypt’s Great Pyramid. Also, in some cases artists create portal paintings that draw in energy by means of potent symbolism that creates doorways into other dimensions.
The dictionary defines “portal” as a grand and imposing entrance. Hence, an energy portal is an opening to a higher frequency or dimension created by a merging of the manifest and unmanifest.
Tattoos are a way of creating and accessing your own personal portals determined by the symbolism of the images you choose, their placement and energetic intent. They allow you to use your body’s canvas as an artistic portal to help open, heal, support, enhance, empower and create greater flow to anything you intend. They function in many ways and can be therapeutic, act talismanic, spiritual, or sexually stimulating.
“With the Haidas, however, every mark has its meaning.”
James Swan
Africans for example have tattoo and scarification traditions in which tattoos function for purposes besides mere beauty. The tattoos and scars themselves are portals and are actually fed and honored to keep them spiritually potent. These tattoos are treated with ancient medicinal concoctions and through herbs and incantations, the markings are thought to awaken and come into energetic function.
Sacred tattoos emanate their essence and can greatly affect the experience of both viewer and wearer. Not only can tattoos provide their wearers access to greater depths of being and their soul’s essence, but they can also greatly help to energetically transform those who view the tattoos by affecting them on energetic levels. The tattoos become a piece of art on a canvas of skin, conveying their unique healing messages.
“A tattoo is a true poetic creation, and is always more than meets the eye. As a tattoo is grounded on living skin, so its essence emotes a poignancy unique to the mortal human condition.”
V. Vale and Andrea Juno
A growing body of literature supports the idea that portals can transport spiritual practitioners into altered states of consciousness.
American psychologist Charles Tart believed that through the study of altered states of consciousness, the apparent gulf between science and spirituality could be bridged.
“We cannot ignore data that is not physical,” Tart wrote.
After several years of research, Tart came to believe that there are several universal techniques used by varying figures, which can access alternate realities through portals. These include use of the senses, mandalas, voice and musical instruments, body movements and decoration, physical pain and olfactory and tactile stimuli.
Of significance to those interested in tattoos is the fact that visual symbols can act as portals accessing altered states of awareness. As commentator Nevill Drury has noted, “visual symbols may be employed to expand sensory awareness. Here a key point is that the inner, meditative experience of an image or symbol can be as ‘real’ to the individual as the perception of a more tangible object in the physical world.” This confirms that tattoos can serve as portals to transport their wearer to altered states.
Different forms of spiritual healing or more extreme situations directly affect tactile portals (points of contact or penetration on the outer surface of the body that create altered and spiritual renewal experiences).
This leads to another area of significance for tattoos as portals – their use in the ceremonial infliction of pain. For example, ritual flagellation in some branches of medieval Christianity was believed to enhance devotional connection with the suffering Christ. Modern day tattooing, body piercing, bondage, sensory deprivation, fetishes and body rituals are believed by some to serve as portals to altered states of consciousness and designed to “transform the body” to allow one to experience a “greater reality.” Workshops led by people such as Fakir (California-based, modern day primitive, shaman, master piercer and body modifier) are held to facilitate this and said to induce transformational experiences, to be physically freeing and similar to near-death experiences.
Thus, there is significant support for the idea that tattooing can help one access altered dimensional states and experiences of energetic portal opening for healing and spiritual renewal. Body art can greatly affect your daily experience, whether through intentional meditational practice or simply the awareness of its symbolism.
The specific images and symbols you choose in a tattoo can help enhance specific things in your life, strengthen energy that is operating at less than its potential, open points that feel blocked, enhance and create potency to specific chakras, convey healing energy to specific regions, reveal your essence to others, heal
karmic energy, connect with past lives, and tap into your subconscious and latent gifts. All of this can be done through the ancient art of tattooing, a means of rewriting your soul’s history, empowering your experience through “spiritual skin,” and creating an auric resonance to the energy of your choosing.
The significance of tattoos lies in the beliefs and intents we place upon them. And when imbued with our experience, our beliefs and intents yield deeper potency that can support personal empowerment.
When you allow your tattoos to empower you in this fashion, you are not only tapping into specific energies personal to you, but you are also tapping into the Collective Consciousness energy as you embrace and apply universal symbolism.
Images and art are universal means of communicating where words fall short, and they convey much more than language allows. They unite people beyond the color of their skin and what others see as their outside reflection. Tattoos, while controversial to some, are like fine art, transcending all boundaries and holding individualistic beauty and meaning relative to each person.
It’s no wonder so many feel drawn to this personal art form of expression and that it has been carried on throughout the ages. With tattoos, we can definitely say that a picture speaks a thousand words.
Chapter 4
To Tattoo or not to Tattoo?
That is the Question
“Reason #7 For Not Getting a Tattoo: People will know you are running your own life, instead of listening to them!”
Sailor Jerry Collins
Whether or not tattooing is “right” or “wrong” is a question that plagues many. No one except you can answer this, although there are many who hold very strong opinions on the topic.
Answering this question requires evaluating collective beliefs that you indoctrinated into your experience. Quiet yourself and listen and feel for what answers come up. How do you feel when the answers come forth?
You can even do a meditation and ask different parts of yourself the same question and pay attention to the subtle differences that present themselves in each part’s answer. Ask your Essence and separately, ask your Ego. As the core of who you are, your Essence (authentic self), will likely have a much different answer from your Ego (the more enculturated self). Unless, they happen to be aligned, in which case I’d say you have your answer. But if they have different answers for you, then there is something there to further explore and process. Most likely the discrepancy will have to do with your authentic, natural self, feeling conflicted and at war with an unauthentic, conditioned part of you that is fear based.
Where do the answers stem from? Are they your true beliefs? Or are they acquired and enculturated beliefs that you’ve learned to accept blindly? If you never stop to ask why, you simply accept, then chances are you are operating on someone else’s beliefs or a system of collective beliefs. Simply recognizing this fact can be empowering.
We’ve come a long way from the days of dictation and blind following. As part of a collective, we accepted certain ways in order to evolve, but now it is time to actually put that evolution to the test. Conscious choices are happy choices. It doesn’t mean you have to change your original belief, but if you have all of the facts and you know why, then your choice becomes conscious and empowering rather than unconscious and blind. If you still choose the same path, you at least do so consciously, but you are no longer ignorant of the whys behind how you live your life.
The human brain is “…the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe.”
Isaac Asimov
Before we delve into the belief side some more, let’s look at another aspect to this that may also affect your decision making process. The idea that:
Your body is a temple.
Let’s start by defining a temple. According to several online dictionaries, some definitions include:
“a place of worship”
“a place devoted to a special purpose”
“a dwelling place of God or a divinity”
Given these definitions, it is reasonable to say that your body IS your temple. It definitely fits all of these definitions and deserves your respect and devotion as a divine dwelling place for your soul’s essence. Your body is to be valued and nurtured as a sacred, complex vessel that supports your soul to carry out its service here on Earth. Without it, you cannot do the unique and beautiful things you have come here to do. So, you must take care of it and honor it in order for it to be able to work in harmony and balance.
It is important to integrate physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components of life, and not neglect any one aspect. There is a tendency to neglect the physical when moving into spirituality, and to neglect spirituality when focusing on the physical. The key is to integrate both and to live a balanced, all-encompassing, abundant, expansive and fulfilling life with awareness of, and honor for, both parts.
You must decide how to interpret things through your own filter and how to incorporate them in a way that makes sense and feels right to you. The underlying, shared, core-essence of this belief is the “sacred quality” in which we view ourselves and treat ourselves, and how we project that outwardly.
When something is done with conscious awareness of and honor for this core essence, then it will be more likely to manifest in your life.
Your “temple” is a sacred place and to see it as such, transforms the way you walk through life and make daily choices that will reflect the level of honor to that temple.
This involves feeding it healthy nutritious, high vibrational foods and water, giving it proper air and activity, and providing it with sufficient rest. It also means learning to listen to your body’s messages and what it has to teach you, and showing it respect and compassion.
Your body IS your temple so learn to treat it and see it that way. It is important to nurture and care for it in a sacred manner and in all ways that mirror YOU. And as your own personal temple, just as we create sacred sanctuary spaces in sacred edifices like buildings of divinity, so too is it of value to create your physical temple in the mirroring image that reflects your own divinity in a way that is supportive for you.
Adorning your body with sacred symbolism and images can help you to attune yourself to a higher frequency or state of being and to support your own personal process of awareness, healing and sacred honoring. When executed with conscious awareness, tattooing can be a sacred process from start to finish and can act as a form of initiation to yourself and your life’s service. It can also be therapeutic on many levels.