About Tattoos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo
From Wikipedia: "A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes and techniques, including hand-tapped traditional tattoos and modern tattoo machines. The history of tattooing goes back to Neolithic times, practiced across the globe by many cultures, and the symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures."
I lived most of my life either not knowledgeable about tattoos, or not particularly interested. I do not recall having a religious basis for opposing tattoos, and though I learned as an adult my Mom did not like tattoos, she did not raise me to dislike tattoos myself. I do not know how she would have reacted if I'd gotten a tattoo; I never got one while she was still in the Universe, and since she's moved on, if I got one now I'd have to wait until I see her in the Next Place to find out what she'd have to say. As for my Dad, the subject never came up, though most likely it would be the same for him.
My tattoo education started in the 2000's, as I started finding out about reality TV shows featuring tattoo artists and their shops. By then, I was living with severe chronic and complex psychological traumas, though I did not realize it at the time. The faith I previously had, that I had thought would continue for the rest of my life, was cracking, primarily because of what I now know was religious and God-associated traumas, and the effects of difficult questions with impossible to find answers.
In 2008, I was in a serious car accident while on my way to work. I found out I'd been in the accident after I woke up in the hospital; the waking up part was not that I'd been unconscious, it was the damage caused by a head injury. I was in the hospital for only a couple of days, and there had been no injuries that required surgery. On the surface, it seemed as though I wasn't seriously injured. And then everything started falling apart, more than before. My whole body hurt, a lot, especially the right side. My right ankle was injured, I had trouble breathing, and I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stay in the living room when Mom was watching TV (I was living with her at her apartment), especially when she watched sporting events. And I noticed I had difficulty remembering words and names. Except for a few errands someone helped me with (during which I realized how much my neck hurt), during the time I was at home, I did not do much except stay in my room or sit on the sofa.
During that errand day, I went to the place where my car had been towed. One of the things I found out was how much my car had been damaged; I remember the front end was destroyed, and the frame of the car that I could see around the driver door was bent and buckled. That was my first indication about how fortunate I was to have survived the accident.
These events were the beginning of permanent changes in me and my life, and I started the slow, years long process of learning about closed head trauma (a brain injury), and what it means to live with closed head trauma. Having lived with the experiences I've had, I can confidently say that closed head trauma is not an improvement for psychological traumas; in my case, the combination included significant complications coping with these two injuries.
During these years, at some point, I started watching the tattoo show LA Ink, and I began learning why some people get tattoos. Mom watched it with me, or would read while I watched it. I do not recall having conversations with her about the show, and I do recall she was always OK with me watching it. In retrospect, I much appreciate these types of decisions my Mom made.
In latter 2009, Mom had to go to the hospital for serious health complications, and she was admitted. After some weeks, hospital staff started talking about Mom going to a nursing home for therapy and recovery. I think Mom did go to one, for a brief time, and was then moved to another hospital that had a longer term care floor. I had no idea what these developments meant, and I was fully expecting Mom to only need extra time to get better, and then she'd be home. We didn't have much opportunity to talk about it because her treatment later included a breathing tube, so she couldn't talk. In late November, because of distance, I decided to stay home for Thanksgiving (Thursday), and another family member would stay with her for the holiday. I planned to visit her Saturday, and spend the night with her. When I arrived Saturday evening, I found out she had died.
My first reaction was emotional devastation. My next reaction was anger that no one called me. Then I found out the staff had called me, and had dialed the correct number, though the phone had not rung. Then I went back to emotional devastation. I called one person in my family and did not think about calling anyone else. I sat at her bedside and looked at her as I cried. Then, to my left, it seemed as though she standing near with someone else and was watching me. I know now that she was there, with our Blessed Author.
Mom's passing changed everything, again. I was not coping well.
I stayed in the apartment, and signed for it in my name. Then I was sent home to use my PTO; that lasted about 5 months or so. Then I lost my job, moved out of my apartment, and someone in my family sheltered and fed me. Several years later, I realized my family member had saved my life.
After these these changes, I was often unoccupied, and I spent a lot of time in my room thinking. I started writing a poem about my head injury, free style, about 7 or 8 pages in Word. I started writing an outline for a story intended to be a screenplay. I was listening to music, almost always rock-n-roll, sometimes movie sound tracks. And I started thinking about tattoos.
I thought about some designs I wanted, some things I wanted to say, and additional artistic expressions and activities I wanted to do based on the tattoo designs I thought about. I acknowledge I wanted to fix some of my body problems to maximize my ideas about my tattoo designs; before the car accident I was about 140; about a year and a half after the car accident I was about 220, and I stayed at 220. I wanted to lose the weight and the weight did not go anywhere except on my skeletal structure. Oh well; that part didn't work out. I finally made peace with it after Great Spirit rescued me in 2018.
Tattoo designs I thought about were focused on Earth, our natural world, our solar system, and the Universe beyond our solar system. I wanted tattoos that had themes of loving Earth, our varieties of People and Animals, our ecosystems and environment, and the wonder, beauty and joy of our natural world. The first design I thought about was one I wanted on my back; a scene of a small lizard coming out of a small cave, looking to the distant horizon toward a meadow, mountains, and a sunrise. Another design: A large tree at the center, in full leaf, symbolically representing Earth, with deep roots; below, Animals of the water, then going up, Animals of land and air, and varieties of People. I thought about the latter tattoo becoming a painting, and I wanted to do a photo shoot of the painting, and the tattoo on my back. I also thought about designs based on photos of the solar system and the wider Universe.
Then I started thinking about a dream house, a large mansion, with at least 3 floors, the rooms and house structures all specially designed; and on the top floor, a full library that would include the painting and artistically designed windows, a science room with an observatory, and a music room. All around, there would be grounds with green houses, orchards, ponds and streams, housing for staff, and arrangements for visits for school children, for field trips.
I also wanted to start a bus tour, managed by someone hired to do the tour. There would be a large RV, with a custom paint design on the outside, focused on healing and protecting our amazing, wonderful Earth, and all our varieties of Life. The paint design would include smaller, Individual designs by artists of different groups of People, encouraged to do a design that would share their culture with others.
Grand plansπ
Circumstances didn't work out to fulfill these plans, but I still dream about it sometimes.
So, these dreams started in about 2011, and now it is 2024. I'm 15 years older, and now my first priorities are focused on our Blessed Author of Life, Who I most reverently call to by the name of Great Spirit, and on completing the work Great Spirit appointed to me. As I have thought of these dreams during the work I am doing for the Blessed Document, I have asked Great Spirit to provide for some of these dreams in the Next Place. I know about a few things Great Spirit has done, and I am excited to find out about all of it later. Perhaps something will work out for some of these dreams to be part of living here, on our awesome Earthπ₯°πππ
So what about tattoos?
In the Next Place, there are no tattoos. However, living is different here; as we live here, on Earth, in the Universe, tattoos have been an important part of Humanity's cultural developments for many thousands of years. In the 2000's, as I learned about tattoos, dealing with so many difficulties I did not understand at the time, I realized that for some, tattoos are an important part of coping with trauma, loss, grief, and life changes. For some, tattoos are about their cultural and ethnic identity, and sharing connections with their Ancestors and others. Sometimes tattoos are about expressing solidarity with others in times of celebration or difficulty.
I still do not have a tattoo. I'm not certain if I will eventually get a tattoo. However, I enjoy seeing and learning about theπ¨π¨πΎβπ¨π©βπ¨π¨πΌβπ¨π©πΏβπ¨tattoosππ₯π€ππ€πΊπ€©πͺππ€ΊπΎπΊπΎπΆππΌπ¦ππ·π΄π¦π₯πππof others.
Carol Etta Kelso
Prophet, Charging Complainant (against the betrayer), the Petitioner, author of the charging document (the Blessed Document)
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