Epitaph

What would you like your epitaph be?

It was a typical night with typical friends drinking a typical amount of wine. Halloween around the corner, and we were swapping stories of friends who had died recently. More specifically, how they had died, and what we considered a "good death" to be.

Of course, one person has to say, "I hope I die while having sex!" Which we all agreed would suck for the partner of the deceased.

You won't be surprised to hear that I decided that I want to die while masturbating.

That way my epitaph can be,

She had a hand in it.

Messages from Seaglass

Once I met a wind swept man
Who constructed his days
and spent his nights in craft,
And the time betweens
Sifting the beaches
For bits of precious sea glass.

Milky white, palest aqua,
Sea green, and cobalt blues,
Burnished browns, occasional reds
And the rarest of violet hues.

These shards of the past
Once raw and jagged
Now polished and refined
He would into make jewelry
Creating a holder,
A reminder of the divine.

Solidly set in silver
Skillfully soldered
Edges worked intaglio-
Stars and moons,
Cut outs to reveal
The treasured inner glow.

How like our hearts...

What was once a whole vessel
To whatever elixir
Ambrosia in the moment
Containing the promise of eternity
Infinity in a bottle
Or so we took for granted.

Suddenly smashed and broken
Tumbled by turmoil
Tossed by tides of grief.
Scoured by remorse
Cleansed of regret
These fragments of relief.

Shrapnel of the soul
Now soft, eroded edges
Worn smooth by patience.
Translucent, transcendent,
A constant reminder:
Time is precious.

Sea glass, see glass
See through the looking glass...
Salt tears and wisdom know-
Sand once melted
Sand now scoured
Even glass will flow.

Milky white, palest aqua
Sea green baubles
Hung on sterling chains
Reminding the throat
Reminding the heart
Cherish each moment that remains.

Folder of Desire

I found this image on a rubber stamp and fell in love with it right away. In my file cabinet, I have "The Folder of Desire" and whenever an image speaks to me, it gets popped in here. It might be years before I actually get it inked, but I really believe in THINKING about what one is about to permanently inscribe on one's body...

Money Meditation

I am a skilled practitioner of the healing arts and an excellent businesswoman. I have many, deeply satisfied repeat clients, who pay me highly, and who spread the kind word to their friends and family who would also benefit from my services. I know that work is love made visible, and I enjoy my chosen path in creating right livelihood for myself and my loved ones.

I am wise with my money. I dedicate part to pay off my debts easily and effortlessly; part for my savings, which I then invest and watch grow; and the remainder I live on in comfort and moderation. I am now in a position to bless money as it goes out to pay my bills and pleasures, knowing it will return threefold.

I live each day feeling wealthy, open-hearted and free. I trust that I will have what I need because I trust the financial wisdom within myself. I trust that money comes into my life to provide what I need. I am responsible with my money, and I am generous with my money. I contribute to all that I want to see flourish in myself, my family, my community, & my charities.

I am now truly at peace with money.
Blessed Be.

Black Mermaid

I've always considered myself a girly-girl, despite dressing as a tomboy when growing up. I had my hair down to my waist, and at one point could actually sit on it.

When I opened my bookstore, I deliberately cut all my hair off to look more dykey, to be a warrior in the streets & lover in the sheets. I had a butch little flat top for years, which was usually dyed some array of colors.

This mermaid is my long hair, cascading down my back, reminding me of my more gentle, feminine form. I actually found the flash in a tattoo magazine, and have seen another women with the same tattoo, only on both of her forearms in mirror images. Very cool.

I closed my store four years ago, and have been growing out my hair, wearing long skirts & dresses, feeling more like the priestess that I am than the need to call forth the warrior within.

Mermaid by Cherie Lovedog, Santa Cruz CA, 1995

Litany of Lovers

Mercury Retrograde
And to calm my chattering mind
I recite a litany of lovers
A rosary of remembrance
Prayers for the lovers gone by

Mercury retrospect
And to calm my chattering heart
I recite a litany of lovers
Beading hopes & beliefs
Prayers for the lovers yet to be

Mercury reviewed
And to calm my chattering soul
I find the repeated pattern
In my litany of lovers
My rosary of remembrance
The common thread throughout
Is the lover in me

Babylon

This was my second tattoo. Sweet kitty Babylon. Babs for short. Killed at two years old. On my back, she is behind me, but always a part of me. I know someone with the same tattoo. That's another story.

Aphrodite

I walk my own path
Alone and strong
And I have Aphrodite
Covering my back

I will not reveal to you
Love still raw and scabbed
I will wait
Until my healing is
Complete

12 hours over five months. Each session more intense than the last, as I would not fully heal between sessions. Layers upon layers, she worked in the colors as I worked out the pain, raw flesh, raw throat, raw to the bone.

Aphrodite (Mucha) on left shoulder by Robin Lovedog, Lovedog Tattoo, Santa Cruz CA 2001

Morning Glory Fairy

Morning glory fairy goes all the way from my ankle to my knee, peaking out the slit in my skirt as I walk up the stairs.

Originally all inked in pale blue, recolored twice, a continuing work in progress. My daughter said she needed friends, so I added the dragonflies & bee later.

Fairy by Robin Lovedog, Santa Cruz CA 1999

Untitled

This morning I awake
To your sleeping face
Next to mine
So strong, so soft
So divine

You opened your eyes
As I caressed you
You really are
My perfect lover
My soul mate

And I thought
As you stretched, and purred
Now if only we were
The same species...

July 2004

Labrys

In the tarot, blades represent the mental realm, and we are familiar with the concept of the double edged sword. The labrys is the double headed battle ax used by the Amazons, not just in war, but to plow the fields. This represents are ability to destroy and to create, specifically using both our right brain & our left brain, to destroy old outdated thought patterns and to create new fresh fields for seed thoughts to grow & flourish.

The two blades also represent the waxing & waning of the moon, the twining rose a blossoming caduceus.

Labrys tattoo by Tatiana of Terra Nova Tattoo, 1990

California poppies

My soul sister, Madame Scorpifly, designed the most beautiful two tattoos that travel up her calves - this is a merging of her designs, going down my back. Easily one of my personal favorites, I love the bud, bloom and decay...

Sun & Moon

When I was a senior in high school, I went to Key West for winter break. We saw the play Talking With: Confessions of Eleven Extraordinary Women written by Jane Martin.

One monologue was about a middle aged woman who led a desperately boring life, until one night after her divorce, she was accosted in a parking lot and her face sliced with a knife. Rather than getting plastic surgery, she realized for the first time people noticed her. The lights come up on stage & you see she is completely tattooed, she then describes the meaning of each one, and how her life was transformed from that moment.

This story struck me deep, and I got my first ink a week later, this sun above my hip bone, which has blurred and faded over time, despite being recolored twice. It was not until recently that I added the moon, who is so crisp in contrast. The moon image is from a label from a cigar box - "Double Happiness Brand Cigars".

I had the honor of performing Talking With on stage for three weeks when I was 23 and living in Northern Idaho (on the Canadian border, no less). The make up artist would paint my body each night, intertwining my tattoos with the ones from the play. So much fun, to become the character I admired.

And boy, do I get noticed. It's pretty rare that I show my tatts in public any more, I just don't really want that much attention (except here on my blog, don't get me wrong.) When I do show my colors, I love feeling a part of the freak show, and seeing who is brave enough to walk up and say just hi. It cracks me up how intimidated people are by my tattoos, when I am the sweetest, nicest, SHYEST person at heart. My body is an illuminated manuscript, and I love to share my stories.

When I see other folks with tattoos, I always take a moment to flash a smile, raise my eyebrows, and simply say, "Nice ink."

Sun by Julie Moon of Dragonmoon Tattoo Studio, Glen Burnie, MD, 1984
Moon by Robin Lovedog, Lovedog Tattoo Studio, Santa Cruz CA, 2003

Catcher Signalling Left Field

Talking out in the parking lot
After the softball game
I wanted to ask you
Everything

There is a light
In your deep brown eyes
That keeps me thinking
Wondering
What sparks your fire

I know nothing about you
Except I like your car
And how every time I see you
My hips rotate
In your direction

Will you step up to bat?
Will you have follow through?
Or is it three strikes
And you’re out

And when you’re there in the field
I wonder
What else could you catch
And far could you throw

Meet me at home plate
There’s a lot I’d like to know...

Passion Vine

Today

Robin fills in
Fiery phoenix hummingbird
And today
The pain is over
I’m just a littler bit sore...
Here comes the itchy part
The irritating part
Before my skin reveals
Fresh healing...



Passion vine around left breast by Robin Lovedog, Santa Cruz, 2004

Double Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds represent
unfettered joy,
embracing what makes you happy,
counting your blessing,
and opening to pleasure...

 

Double Happiness

Couple of folks have asked the stories behind my tattoos, so inspired by Trinity I decided to post bloggettes on each, then you can vote on your favorites. I started getting inked at 18, average one a year, and now have 27 totaling about 60 hours of work from nine different artists.

Not my first, but if I only had one tattoo - it would be this one, Double Happiness. Tattooed in red above my heart, it is a symbol of hope and wholeness.

I do not believe in Plato’s concept that our soul’s are split apart at birth, and we search the earth for other other half - usually we think the better half.

I am a whole person. You are a whole person. Together, we are double happiness - sharing our resources and creating something we could not create alone.

When I look down my chest, it looks like the double venus sign, but more than that, like two dancing figures wearing funny hats. Double the pleasure, double the fun - I know, I sound like a gum commercial...

In the ancient Tang Dynasty, there was a student who was on the way to the capital to attend the national final examination, in which the top learners would be selected as the ministers in the court. Unfortunately, he fell ill halfway when he passed through a mountain village. Thanks to a herbalist doctor and his daughter, he was taken to their house and treated well. He recovered quickly due to the father and the daughter's good care. Well, when he had to leave, he found it hard to say good-bye to the pretty girl, and so did she. They fell in love. So the girl wrote down the right hand part of an antithetical couplet for the student to match:

"Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration."

"Well, I can make it though it is not easy. But you'll have to wait till I have finished the examination." replied the student. The young girl nodded in significance.

In the examination the young man won the first place, who was appreciated by the emperor. Also the winners were interviewed and tested by the emperor. As luck would have it, he was asked by the emperor to finish a couplet, which would need a right part as the answer. The emperor wrote:

"Red flowers dot the land in the breeze's chase while the land colored up in red after the kiss."

The young man realized immediately the right part of the couplet by the girl was the perfect fit to the emperor's couplet, so he took the girl's part as the answer without hesitation. The emperor was delighted to see the matching half of his couplet was so talent and harmonious that he authorized the young man's identity as Minister in the court and allowed him to pay a visit to his hometown first before holding the post. The young man met the girl happily at home and told her the emperor's couplet. They soon got married. For the wedding, the couple DOUBLED the Chinese character, HAPPY, together, on a red piece of paper and put it on the wall to express the happiness for the two events. And from then on, it has been taken on and became a social custom.

Double Happiness Tattoo by Robin Lovedog, 2003