Does your tattoo have "meaning"?

Funny you should mention a small black dot. That was actually my first tattoo when I was about 8 or 9.

Messing around in school and some other kid stabbed me in the hand with a graphite pencil. Six decades later I still have a small black dot on my hand, in effect my first tat.

 

most of my tattoos have a significant meaning.

my koi probably has the most- koi has 2 meanings in japan 1. it means good fortune because they are usually depicted swimming upstream, and when they reach the top of their journey, they become dragons. 2. there are 2 words for love in japanese, ai and koi- they say ai gives and koi takes. my friend, and main tattoo artist, told me that to put a tattoo on your back is to put it behind you. soo, the meaning of my koi-- i put selfish love behind me.


my scorpion is simply to show my sign (scorpio)


my chopsticks are me being a part of the SDC.


my money cat is good fortune, and i love nikes!


those are about all that i have a significant meaning for. so far.

 

ive got 2 of those on my arm. my old shop teacher who was like 40-50 years old has one in the middle of his forehead from when he was 6.

anyway, i have 2 tats i know i want to get. my first one are my wings, a full back piece from my shoulders down to my butt. nothing too fancy, just a pretty pair of angel wings in memory of my dad and everyone i know who has passed and will pass away. my second one is based off a necklace, its of a girl looking into a mirror and seeing a skeleton and it says "all things change and we with them". i fell in love with it on sight, i have changed and still am so its perfect for me. that one i want on my hip area. ^_^

exactly one year until i can get my wings, im already excited.

 

Dumb Question, but what is SDC? Great tats though!!

 

Sushi Death Crew.

 

haha god i love the chopstick one, thats so badass and funny!

 

that SDC one is sweet!!

I got my first tattoo yesterday. I've been drawing different birds for about a year now and I found the perfect one last week. it's a fantail about two inches high and about and inch wide on my shoulder. I guess it's meaningful- in the sense that it's something out of my head... and my name is that of a bird... not the same bird but I feel some affiliation to birds.

Also, it's like a momento from this time. Having just finished school and about to begin... the rest of life! ha, and it was my real only act of teenage rebellion- my parents didn't know I was getting it- but, in the true spirit of my parents... they didn't care. Kinda bummed really.
There's me story

 

i have both meaningful and "spur of the moment" tattoos.

i got one which stands for time & travel, one memorial tattoo, one which represents my childhood, and another (the tree of life), which was completely spur-of-the-moment but also very meaningful.

no regrets!

 

I did my first three tattoos on myself when I was in my early teens. I was using a needle and india ink. They're all real small and I put them in the same area. I add one every few years or months, just whenever I feel like putting another one on my leg. Lemme see,...there's the card suiits(heart,diamonds,clubs, spade) which means "take risks." there's a flame which memorializes my first year as a pothead, there's an apple which means "stay healthy" it reminds me to eat right, there's a '9' which reminds me of the crazy lessons i learned while living on the street and all the hobos I met.

i made a tattoo gun and wrote the word "LOVE" in big bold letters above my right knee. it means love! but when i do a tattoo i learn about myself. most people can't take that kind of pain, but the pain is what makes the tattoo so fucking cool.

on my back I have a really colorful squid crushing a skull in his tentacles. theres a picture in my albums. i thought it up and bet a friend I would get it. it is just soo fucking sweet, there nothing more fucking scary than a highly intelligent creature that'll tear you up with a razor sharp beak and drag you down to the deep dark depths of the ocean.

 

I got "love" tattooed on my hip bone because I figured it basically sums up everything in the most simple way. All you need is love.

 

I am getting a think spiral thing on my upper rib in early Jan. It doesn't have a fancy meaning, I just enjoy the look of that design in general.

 

my only tattoo means I was almost as drunk and my friend that did tattooing

 

All of mine have meanings attached to them, I don't see the point in a tattoo if it means nothing.

 

Absolutely... I've got Paul McCartney's signature on my shoulder after the line in Hey Jude "the movement you need is on your shoulder". He is my inspiration, therefore, my movement. I got John Lennon tattooed over my heart on my birthday, because this year i turned 30, and he's been sadly gone for 30 years as well this year.

 

My birthday tat:

 

In October 2009 I added a memorial tat to my partner Jim with entwined male/female glyphs from a pendant of my design, expressing my bisexuality that I was wearing when we met in 1973 and he asked me if I was political.



It is on the same arm with the Butterfly of Rob and Brenda which I also designed.
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showpost.php?p=4547187&postcount=10


That same day on the other arm with the Peace Symbol I put the Aum glyph. Sorta got the symbols of influences in my life that were not of my design on the same arm. My sense of order.

 

My latest tattoo is a spiral on my elbow- yes my elbow! My friend did it for me the night I finished a 10 day vipassana retreat-

It is a place a Maori warrior has it to show they can take pain, i didnt know this until I was in NZ and mentioned it to a friend.
To me it says im working on transcending pain, I doubt id have been able to handle it had I learnt not to deal with pain on the retreat its one of the things that comes up from sitting still so long!

My other tat is on the back of my neck a flaming sun with an om, a awen, an ankh and pentagram in the 4 directionz in the centre is a symbol that appeared on my forehead when I was attuned with Reki 13 years ago, i use that symbol to blow into people when I do shamanic crystal healing.
I was in Arizona at the time and it was given as a gift from a friend who I had been in a teaching role with, she wanted to give me a present, at the time I wouldn't accept her to pay for it, then when it came to pay the tattooist my card wouldnt work, either they worked it out between them or the universe made it happen!

Im excited to know if i wil ever have another done and what will be the situation that inspires me-

I like the idea of having arrowheads at the corners of my eyes on my temples, this signifies the sight of all worlds to me, not sure i wil ever have it done and how that tattoo would ever come about.
I have also thought if I was ever silly enuff to bond my life with a soul connection id like a tattoo ring-

Love reading the stories about you tattoo's its magikal getting marked on your body-

 

I have 4 tattoos.

a peace sign on my right inner forearm with the words: Better than a thousand useless words is one single word that brings peace. Circling it.

I also have the number 12 on my left shoulder blade. Which was my grandfathers baseball number. He was a greatly respected man in his community and a very inspiring person to me.

Then the batman symbol on my left outer forearm. That ones just for fun, I've like batman ever since I was a kid. I get a lot of compliments on it. :O

The then line: All You Need is Love running down my right tricep. John Lennon is one of my idols. I grew up listening to the Beatles. And in my teens I really started understanding the deeper meanings in their songs. I also like the line from I am the walrus: I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. So im thinking about getting that somewhere.

plus I wanna get a portrait of john, a question mark somewhere, and the hands from creation of adam.

 

i agree!

 

I will have to post pics later but all of mine have meaning

A rose on my left sholder for my oldest daughter (middle name rose) the rose comes down to a celtic love knot in the middle of my back and on my right hip i have a lilly for my midget (her name is lilly) and that comes up to the love knot.

A clover on the back of my neck for my brother, who has now decided our clovers do not count as brother sister tattoos and we have to get something bigger and cooler LOL.

The logo to my tattoo place on my left wrist, a lot of people dont understand but I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my tattoo place, i adore the guys, the smell makes me over joyed, i cant think of one thing I dont like about it.

Hugs & Snake bites on my right wrist (i cant even explain that one in a way that would make any sence to anyone) with bleeding snake bites under it and a croba head above it (she will warp around my whole arm one of these days)

I think my Hugs & Snake bites is the most confusing. I have had people ask what snake bites are and get mad when I say snake bites like when a snake bites you and then point out the bites I have under it. I think they think it has some magic meaning.

My snake is the coolest looking tattoo, she is a realstic black and grey style

My back means the most to me but its not done. It will be a full back piece over time im just not sure how to do it yet, its for my girls and i dont want to lose that part of it you know.