Rhiannonsmoon reconnecting with those symbols is what makes them so powerful i think... campbells whole idea was how our culture has lost its connection to something potent by losing its connection to myth and ritual. So for me, sometimes spending time looking at my two "journey" tattoos reconnects me, you know? i am happy this brought you something positive i have had people make claims about tattoos being negative and wrong, etc, but that negates thousands of years of the deep importance of both personal symbology and body art as a form of spiritual and cultural expression.

i will tell you that many people fall asleep for back tattoos as there is something sedating that happens... um... i think it has to do with endorphine release and the stimulation of the surface nerves that radiate out across the back... but i forget

yes, madi... my screen name is deeply meaningful to me. Last year i made a brave step at a bad time. i didn't choose the event, it chose me! SOmething in me wanted to tell my T about my childhood sexual abuse... and i did, but he was going on vacation just a few weeks later. He was concerned for me and i was worried/distressed so he lent me a small rhino carving to help me through. i had to give it back but that was ok... he lent it to me even though he was attached to it and was afraid it would get broken or lost. It really meant a lot that he did that.... and i took it everywhere, kept it by my bed so it could watch over me while i slept.

oh yes On2, a sacred space is veyr much a ritual sort of practice... there is something almost meditative in taking the time to create or honour those spaces. And true, almost anything can stand in for this kind of practice... but from what i gather from reading i am of the opinion that attaching significance to specific actions or objects is important to the sense of continuity... meaning, we give them power by creating a specialness about them.

Nah okami... the pain from a tattoo isnt so bad, depends on your own pain tolerance levels and where the tatt is, the size of the needles, etc... but it doesn't hold a candle to the physical pain i live with all the time. And i find it stops hurting so much within a few minutes anyway. i certainly dont seek it for the pain More like i endure the pain because it makes the parts of me i CHOOSE to be become more integrated with the parts of me i was born with.

thanks for joining in this