So, you’ve heard a lot from me about my own tattoos and my insights on the sacred designs I am blessed to be able to partner in co-creating, but other than some of the testimonials you can find at my website, we have yet to hear a personal story shared from the other side of this collaborative process.

Today, will fill that missing link, as I bring to you one of my beautiful clients – turned dear friend – who truly embodies her own unique expression of sacred body art. I love that designing these sacred pieces brings me into collaboration with souls across the globe, from every walk of life and age, and allows me to be a vehicle of support, as I am humbled to work so intimately with each soul.

I have made many life-long friends and reconnected with soul family because of this work and I am grateful to witness the blossoming and shifts that each individual journeys, as they so graciously invite me to walk along with them for a brief, but powerful part of that path.

Today, I am excited and honored to share with you one of my dear clients and friends, Mari Braveheart-Dances. She and I, along with her gifted tattoo artist, Bethrah Szumski, have created already 4 sacred tattoo designs and are in process of 3 more. She is an incredibly courageous woman – just as her name reflects – who dances with symbolism and understands this process in reflective resonance to my own journey.

Mari’s experiences have created huge shifts in her life, that I’ve been grateful to be a part of, hear about, and witness. She has recently made a huge transition, during the time we have known each other, which has her courageously following her dream to empower and support herself. This has involved a physical move and soon to find her transitioning across the states to a special area in California so that she can pursue her intents and gifts. I’m so excited for her.

If you’ve seen my own sacred body art, you can see how she and I are walking expressions of our unique souls made visible through our skin, as you explore her photos shared here. It’s definitely not the path for everyone, but for many it is one tool and way that we have chosen to embody our self-expression and create integrative healing portals via the vehicle of our bodies as artistic and cosmic temples. Some people may never be drawn to tattoos, some may wear one, and others may find that several speak their individual language wanting expression.

Then there are people who will be triggered by the sight of tattoos, which will bring up their own individual processes to explore (or not), as well as people who are daily experiencing their own shifts in judgments, perspectives, and ideas surrounding tattoos.

You may find these two articles to be of interest if you are considering this path:

The Essence of You – Do Tattoos Support Or Hinder Your Personal Expression?

Sacred Tattoos – Personal Portals To Genetic Rewiring 

The most recent piece Mari and I worked together on was her Shaman’s Necklace, which was the first piece I had created as a neck and chest ornamentation. It was quite the undertaking on many levels, but I have to say, when I saw it completed, I was incredibly moved by the way it not only had come to life, but how Mari radiated in wearing this like the true Goddess that she is.

I’ve shared photos of Mari, her sacred tattoos, and the designs we have worked together on, throughout this article, to explore as you read her personal thoughts on the process we have embarked on. I look forward to the continued journey with her and hope that you find her experiences to be insightful and inspiring.

Here’s Mari Braveheart-Dances as she shares from her heart about her “Spiritual Skin“

Mari’s Thoughts on sacred tattoo designs:

My Tattoos are my Intentions.  They are my heart and my soul.  You put an energy into your body, your mind, your being, your skin – and you are changed.  But the change for a truly energetic/spiritual experience of course comes from within yourself first.

Putting permanent ink on your body is a huge decision.  It is not simply ink on skin.  As a creator, you have the creative license to adorn your naked body if you wish to.  This is no cause for shame.  This is something to be proud of.  When you take it to the level of interconnecting your inner world and intentions or whatever way you view it, with the outer world:  energetic as well as physical – you engage a level of existence for yourself that heretofore was unheard of.

Make no mistake about it.  Inking oneself is huge.  In a perfect world, it would not ever be taken lightly.  It’s serious business, at least in my opinion.  I care about body, and I care about my being myself.  I love the absolute beauty and creative genius that goes into my Spiritual Skin!  Why is it huge?

Because Spiritual Skin shifts things.  Tania can explain all that, but I am simple about it.  My world has shifted as if the tectonic plates had mis-aligned in the past some-odd years.  My Spiritual Skin journey has been a part of my waking up from a bad dream, and coming closer and closer to the light I wanted in my life.

My Tattoos are Incredibly Beautiful.  To see them is to know beauty and symmetry, true love, anam cara, transformation, warrior-ness, phoenix, Powerful Woman, Wolf, Raven, and The Sea, among others.  All this is beautiful.  It is a small part of me, Mari Braveheart-Dances.  I am grateful to my co-creatrixes:  Tania Marie who designed most of my tattoos through a beautiful process of weaving our energies back and forth in an infinity pattern of connection.  She is not only an artist in the physical realm of being, but also and equally importantly in the spiritual/energetic realms —  and Bethrah Szumski (Bethrah doesn’t have a tattoo website, as she no longer tattoos except for long-held clients) who as an artist transferred Tania’s designs onto my skin.  With a true tattoo artist – one who inks you – I insist on them being both artist and tattoo artist.  Bethrah is both.  She made everything flourish together in one living, breathing, intentional work of art.  Not only that, but Bethrah added the beauty and meaning that tied it all together.  All three of us are certainly co-creatrixes of my beautiful Spiritual Skin!

Since Tattoos are much more than ink on skin, hence the experience “Spiritual or Sacred Skin,” you have to expect your life to change.  If you do tattoos like I do them, as intentions, your life will change.  You must trust the universe to bless you with the beauty of your intentions.  Also understand that you will have to hold on to your seat, as it may be a bumpy ride in terms of adjustment.  If your family is as conservative as mine, you may not fare so well.  I would say to be aware, always, of energy from yourself and others.  Tattoos call people’s energy.  They call your energy.  They are, in my opinion, a bid for power.  I speak of Spiritual Skin.

It’s very important to believe in yourself, and to feel proud of your work.  Tattoos are, to me, a work of art and art being life itself – equivalent to life.  Tattoos = Art = Life!

And there you have it – a fragment of this wonderful and wondrous, and very beautiful – energetic and spiritual and physical journey of Spiritual Skin.

~ Peace and Love, Mari Braveheart-Dances ~

Mari’s personal process with the inking and her thoughts on how to approach and understand the unique journey that will be your own, relative to you and the energy you are integrating: 

It was a shock to me to experience being tattooed for the first time.  I was not prepared at all for the pain.  But as I have had many tattooes, I’ve learned that my own state of mind is the most important factor in the experience.  I think, too, that it is essential to have an excellent relationship with your tattoo artist as this encourages the healing process as well.  It’s helpful to me, in fact essential, to focus on very deep breathing both before, and during the inking process.  Also, I personally don’t schedule too much around a tattoo session, as I find that it takes away from the relaxation I need in the healing process.

I always go into a session with the knowing that I will heal perfectly, and I am vigilant about aftercare.  My tattoo artist at first refused to do my hands, for various reasons – not the least of which is that hands are known to heal poorly.  But I “knew” that this would not be the case for me.  It was painful, of course, but not unbearable – it actually went incredibly well, and I have a pretty big tattoo on one hand.  Healing was unbelievably perfect.  I don’t think I’ve ever had such excellent healing as my hand tattoos!

For my large chest piece, which was done over about five or six sessions, I experienced the greatest learning curve being inked.  The chest is a pretty difficult place to be tattooed, and on the third time I was the most peaceful I’ve ever been on a tattoo.  It was the only time I experienced some ability to step outside the pain and find my way to experiencing it as less-pain, and I was able to continue longer than both my tattoo artist and I expected me to.

The last section of this chest piece, which is actually a sort of “necklace” that goes from one side of my neck, across my chest, and to the other side of my neck, was unexpectedly the most difficult tattoo experience I’ve ever had.  I realized that it had much to do with the energetic intensity of this particular part of my tattoo – and for the first time I experienced severe bruising.  I’d had the same sort of work done on the other side of my neck, and that was not the case there.  In other words, often the experience of being tattooed is related to the type of animal or symbolic design that is being inked.  As I looked in the mirror at my neck, I saw that Raven stood in the shadow of “the great bruise,” and I understood on an energetic and personal level why that had to be.

There is almost always some sort of “opening” into new experiences as I’m being inked, but I find that the main opening takes place over time, as I become more and more open to the shifting taking place within me, and in my life, as a result of living with my Spiritual Skin.

Mari on her experiences with me and what it has meant to her to work with the process of tattoos as “Spiritual Skin”:

To me, getting tattoos has always been about the spiritual meaning of them.  I would get to a point in my life when I would want to have a design that would signify an important accomplishment or change in my life.  

I have searched through many different means, ways to transform my life.  I have never experienced anything as powerful and life-altering in a positive way as the experience of tattoos as Sacred and Spiritual.  

I began to try to find out if anyone else had these same experiences, if anyone else cared about the Sacred and Spiritual Energetic shifts that can occur with Tattoos.  In my searching, I found Tania Marie who wrote a beautiful book called Spiritual Skin – Sacred Tattoos More Than Skin Deep.  I was drawn to her book by the title, and it enhanced my experience even more.

Eventually, I was compelled to email Tania and discuss the possibility of having her work with me to design some Sacred Tattoos for me.

It is almost impossible to put into words what this experience has meant and continues to mean to me in my personal life.  The process of co-creating with Tania, Sacred Skin that is meaningful and life-changing, is so much more than just designing a beautiful tattoo.  So much more than mere ink on skin.  Any good artist can create a beautiful design.  But I know of no one who does the kind of work that Tania does.

Working with Tania is like working with someone on a different plane – someone who takes what you say about who you are, and listens to the energy behind your words.  Tania has the beautiful ability and gift of being able to read a client’s energy and also to read the energy that is coming through from the universe that is most needed for the journey of wholeness to be made complete in the sacred tattoo design.

My heart and soul trusts this woman with complete openness and faith in her incredible ability to truly listen.  This is a rare, rare gift, and it shows in the designs she creates for me.

My life has changed, and continues to change, in miraculous ways due to the Spiritual Skin designed by Tania Marie especially for me.  These Sacred Designs are so much more than beautiful ink on skin – they truly are portals to different depths of experience of the fullness and wholeness of life.

I am blessed and honored beyond measure to be a part of such a Sacred and Transformative Process – working with this beautiful human being to bring in the healing designs that are what I need at that time.

May you be blessed with your choice to work with this truly gifted and spiritual woman.  You will never regret one second of this choice.

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If you would like to partner in co-creating your own sacred visionary piece of artwork or tattoo design to embody the empowerment you desire, you can contact me at tania@spiritualskin.com.

You can easily make your deposit at the link provided to embark on this journey in partnership with me. There is currently a waiting list, so deposits are needed to hold your place, since the designs are created on a first come, first served basis.

For more information about the process and pricing please visit: What is a Tattoo Design Consultation

To enjoy a visual journey of some of the sacred tattoo designs I’ve had the honor and privilege of co-creating, please visit: Spiritual Skin for my YouTube video. You can also explore some of the tattoo designs I have helped create, along with completed images as “Spiritual Skin” here: Tattoo Design Gallery

Some people have preferred to read my book, Spiritual Skin ~ Sacred Tattoos: More than Skin Deep, especially if they are new to sacred tattoo designs, before embarking on this journey.

If you are drawn to learn more about sacred tattoos you can order a copy of the book here: Spiritual Skin

It is also available in Kindle format here: Spiritual Skin

You can also order your personal copy here: Signed and Inscribed Copy of Spiritual Skin