By Western standards, there is nothing ladylike about being tattooed. Standards of acceptable beauty for women still dictate unblemished skin. The female body can be adorned with ear piercings, make up and silicon implants, but any form of decoration that radically challenges main stream beauty standards is sure to raise eyebrows.
Tattooing is an undeniably strong statement and, for many, a disconcerting display of trauma and ferocity. While some feminists may feel more comfortable with healing circles, new moon rituals and writing exercises designed to draw out the “inner child,” a newer generation of women may relate to the healing process in an altogether different way…it typically marks an important stage in a woman’s life— a process of discovering, exploring and learning on the very surface of the body.
Many women seek out tattoos for altogether joyful reasons—to celebrate ethnic, spiritual or cultural heritages; to mark exciting life transitions or to display lifelong beautification. to dismiss tattoos as a form of self-oppression is to miss out on a fascinating complexity behind each woman’s decision to adorn her body with one or more permanent designs. Much of the time, tattoos on a woman truly says something about her character, her life and her spirit —Silija J. A Talvi in Body Outlaws
I am no longer afraid of mirrors where I see the sign of the amazon, the one who shoots arrows. There is a fine red line across my chest where a knife entered, but now a branch winds about the scar and travels from arm to heart. Green leaves cover the branch, grapes hang there and a bird appears. What grows in me now is vital and does not cause me harm. I think the bird is singing. I have relinquished some of the scars. I have designed my chest with the care given to an illuminated manuscript. I am no longer ashamed to make love. Love is a battle I can win. I have the body of a warrior who does not kill or wound. On the book of my body, I have permanently inscribed a tree. -Deena Metzger
I am the most hippy dippy, crunchy granola, loving & compassionate chick who rescues spiders, lives green, recycles everything, believes in karma, actually practices random acts of kindness, laughs all the way to the bank on purpose, is open hearted, always searching to do the greatest good, and seriously wouldn't hurt a fly.
But I admit it. Each day as I walk to my car, I deliberately step on the snails on the sidewalk, hearing the crunch of the shell under my foot, grinding all my hatred into that one slimy little body as I mutter under my breath, "Shiva, May you be reborn in your highest form and may you have been a lawyer in your past life." I tell ya, lawyers & snails keep me from reaching enlightenment this time around.
Got any good lawyer jokes for me?
Ma'at was the Egyptian Goddess of Truth, Justice and Order. Her headdress ostrich feather served as the ultimate arbiter of the goodness of a man's life, and was balanced against a newly deceased person's heart on the scales of justice as a precondition of being permitted to pass into the Afterlife. Those whose hearts were heavy with wicked deeds had their souls devoured immediately by the demigod Ammin. Only those whose were lighter than Ma'at's feather were permitted to pass through into immortality with the Gods.
Is your heart light as a feather, or ready to be devoured by a demigod?
Here I am
With all my baggage
Here I am
Take me as I am
Here I am
With all my emotional baggage
Here I am
With all of my burdens
Here I am
Complete with all my luggage
Packed with the past
Bursting with stories
Take me as I am
This is how I come, complete
With all my crap, all my stuff
This is what I come with
But I’ve got a grip
Yeah, I’ve got a handle on things
And anything I can’t carry
I just let go
I just let slip
Here I am, with all my baggage
To get me through my trips
Yeah, guilt trips power trips ego trips
I might have a lot of baggage
But at least I’ve got a grip
In my left hand is my heart
Full of sorrow from betrayal
In my right hand is my head
Full of doubts and regrets
And on my back is my burden
Weighing me down with my fears
And in my arms is my child
And a frying pan, and a pen
And in my head is the world
And war and global warming
And in my mind
Is everything I’ve ever done wrong
And in my soul
I struggle to find my song...
But deep down in my front pocket
I’ve got this little zipped up purse
Full of change...
Change of mind
Change of heart
Change of attitude
Change of underwear
Change is my friend, yeah
And it might seem to you
That I have a lot of baggage
But I’ve got a handle on it
Yeah, I’ve got a grip
And anything I can’t hold on to
I just let go,
I just let slip
And now I don't expect you
To take on my baggage
No, I just want you To pick up your own Get a handle on it, get a grip
While we walk on this road
While we travel together
Or else we let go
We just let slip
Take me as I am
Even with all my baggage
Take me as I am
Because I’m a package deal...
I was cold
Someone handed me a sparkler
I was bedazzled
Until it fizzled
I long for
your hearth.
Uzume is the goddess of dawn and revelry in the Shinto religion of Japan. She famously relates to the tale of the missing sun deity, Amaterasu, goddess of beauty.
Amaterasu's brother, the storm god Susano'o, had vandalised her sacred buildings and killed one of her maidens because she refused to trust him. In turn, the goddess became terrified of his wrath and retreated into a cave. The world, without the illumination of the sun, became dark and the gods could not lure Amaterasu out of her hiding place.
The clever Uzume overturned a tub near the cave entrance and began a sexy & bawdy dance on it, exposing her breasts and genitals in front of the other deities. They considered this so comical that they laughed heartily at the sight.
Amaterasu heard them, and peered out to see what all the fuss was about. When she opened the cave, she saw her glorious reflection in a mirror Uzume had placed on a tree, and slowly emerged from her hiding spot.
(I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a sexy & bawdy dance to bring me out of my cave...)
