Monday, May 15, 2006

New Tattoo

Had a new tattoo done tonight. Went in with my design on the way home from work to make an appointment and the guy just said to come back at 7, so all a bit instantaneous. I've been thinking about it for a while, though, so not too scary.

My housemate, who is studying photography, came along and took a bunch of pictures, which was a bit strange, but she does that a lot at the moment and you get used to it. The tattooist was a bit weird about it at first but warmed into it and eventually posed and asked for copies.

I had forgotten what a complete and total rush getting a tattoo is. I love it.

Design is based on an I-Ching symbol:
Keeping Still - "With self-restraint comes discernment"

Keeping Still is something I need to do more of ...

It's on my right wrist, so to everyone else it will appear the other way round and become:
The Arousing - "With enlightenment comes awareness"

I like the idea of a tatt with two meanings, a private, inner symbol and a public one.

It's hard to explain without ranting about the I-Ching for far too long, but the symbols reverse. If you've never explored the I-Ching before, I recommend it, it's amazing. The Wilhelm translation is the best and most bookshops will have it.

An incredibly complex binary system.

2 comments:

katehopeeden said...

My next tattoo will be the Triquetra.
The Celtic symbol of three.
Congrats on your tattoo :)
~K

mskp said...

an incredibly complex binary system...and it looks cool.