Butterfly on upper left is my first tattoo done in 1998. The rest of my Spiritual Skin was woven together over the years.

June 18, 1998 marked the birthing of my own “Spiritual Skin” journey, not to mention the birthing of a new me in a very profound way.

I stumbled upon a journal of mine where I had written a long description to celebrate the day I got my very first tattoo and its meaning for me. It was at a time period of immense transformation that I went through during a two-year period living in Sedona, mindfully and solely putting myself through the most intense personal work that I’d ever done. I consciously chose to walk away from life as I’d known it, and from everyone I knew, in order to tear myself apart and do deep integration work in the supportive energy of Sedona’s vortexes.

I just realized that two days ago, marked the 16 year anniversary of this journey and of the beginning of my explorations into the world of sacred tattooing.

I feel inspired to share what I wrote 16 years ago about the meaning of my first tattoo, which was a butterfly on my left upper shoulder blade area inbetween my shoulder and neck. It is the only tattoo I ever named.

Her name is Maya (her name has a story too, which threads a Mayan link of my soul history I’d discovered at the same time) and here is her story, as I wrote it 16 years ago:

The butterfly represents my magical transformation into my true self. 1997 marked the year in which I detached from the outside world, into my inner sanctuary to learn, discover, grow, and overcome my past in order to reclaim myself. This is directly related to a caterpillar that retreats into its cocoon while it formulates and goes through a metamorphosis into the beautiful butterfly it’s meant to be.

Coming into my own, being all that I can be, and letting my true beauty shine for all to see, is represented by the butterfly. It also represents freedom by spreading my wings and flying to different realms of experience that were not available to me when I was restricted by the under-development of my entire being.

It always reminds me of the things I’ve gone through and endured, and of the wisdom I’ve gained so that I don’t repeat old patterns. It reminds me to never get comfortable and to always be willing to change and strive to be my best, as well as to accelerate my vibration throughout my life.

It reminds me to live each moment to the fullest because it may be all the time I have, just as a butterfly, even in all of its beauty and splendor, lives for just days in the gardens of life.

The butterfly is also a symbol representing communication and the sign of Gemini. It is my hope to add energy to this underdeveloped aspect of my being with the placement of a butterfly in the Gemini region of my body (shoulder – and my own wing), since communicating is an important part of my life’s work and path.

So the butterfly represents the “communicator”. The left side of my body is connected to the right brain, and so by this placement I am consciously activating and infusing my breadth of communication from the creatively inspired and intuitively guided aspects of myself. So, my creativity is also enriched with the miraculous beauty of the butterfly, aiding my creative journey of artistic expression with transformative energy. In this way, through my art and communicative expressions of authenticity, the butterfly represents the boundless, ever-changing work of my hands, what I voice, and the myriad of colors I’m here to express through my gifts.

The butterfly represents my  journey of trials and tribulations, struggles and challenges, to continually evolve into all that I am meant to be.

In totality, it’s about bringing forth my unique beauty into the world – coming out from the shadows and into the light.

Before a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, it goes through a great struggle to break free. If a compassionate observer was to cut open the cocoon to free the struggling butterfly, the struggle would be quickly finished, but the butterfly would experience certain consequences. It would soon die because it would be unable to fly. What the helpful observer did not know was that the struggle was necessary for the butterfly to strengthen its wings in order to be able to fly. Without the struggle, the butterfly would be weak and die. Unless a butterfly struggles to break free, it will never fly.

Setbacks in life serve an important role in making us strong and providing us the ability to serve with true compassion and understanding for the challenges others go through as well. This happens only if we have gone through the same and learned how to handle and move through the challenges. To grow in personal success you need to be challenged. As you meet each challenge by coming back to the wisdom of your true self, you will grow in your ability to achieve personal success. You can learn to use every challenge to strengthen and empower yourself. Every challenging experience can assist you in discovering your inner gifts and powers. Each time you win an inner battle, you increase your ability to experience greater love, joy, authentic power, and inner peace.