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The Continued Rise of Spiritual Tattoos Especially Among Women & Yoginis
Photo by Jill Shropshire from the article Spiritual Expression: Yoginis & Their Tattoos
I love seeing how the symbolism of tattoos as a spiritual expression continues to spread. It makes me smile to witness the increase of reading about and hearing from others on this subject, including personal experiences of the depth in which this sacred body art resurgence is collectively supporting energetic shifts.
There definitely seems to be a continued parallel between a conscious, evolving spiritual journey and spiritually reflective tattoos.
A few days ago Allison Jacobson (my dear friend that you may have remembered having gone through her own major sacred tattoo transformation with the Sacred Scarab Goddess tattoo design I helped her create) posted the article, Spiritual Expression: Yoginis & Their Tattoos, on Facebook.
Not only does this article by Sara Lovelace share some light-hearted takes on, as she puts it, the “parade of personality in a yoga class,” it also proceeds to discuss the “feminine revolution” and how the “growth in female yoga practitioners in the last decade dramatically parallels the rise in the percentage of women getting tattoos.”
“One study said women are 59 percent of the tattooed population.”
The article links both yoga and tattoos as “ancient forms of spiritual expression.”
Sound familiar? 😉
I particularly got a giggle out of her sharing this:
“Spending hundreds of dollars on spiritual garbs isn’t, perhaps, what the ancient yogis had in mind. I don’t remember Pantajali saying anything about moisture wicking organic cotton fair trade om editiontank tops. Maybe I read the abridged version.”
And loved her personal view on the feminine revolution and how it translates for her, adding, “There is a Hindu goddess by the name of Lirbai who is depicted as being covered in tattoos—full sleeves, actually. She has female worshippers who adorn their bodies with tattoos in tribute to her. When I see this Goddess, I’m so relieved to see myself staring back. To look back and not turn into a pillar of salt, but find evidence of my own divinity. I can see it in you too, sisters.”
This reminds me of a quote I share in my book Spiritual Skin:
“A man without tattoos is invisible to the Gods.” ~Iban Proverb
It also brings to mind the chapter where I include information about your body as a temple, which equates to being, by definition, a dwelling place of God or a divinity. Yes, sacred tattoos are one way to integrate the physical and spiritual into the divine wholeness of which is innately you.
As I’ve shared in my recent radio interviews, articles and book, a recent survey shares that 1/3 of the people getting tattoos choose designs reflecting their spiritual or religious beliefs and first-timers are especially prone to get this genre of tattoos. This all points to the new paradigm of awakening into our divine wholeness, rapidly spreading.
In my recent post Women and Tattoos: An Historically Symbolic Evolution of the Divine Female I shared in tandem with Sara Lovelace about the rise in women getting tattoos, as well as discussed its reflection to the Divine Female and Divine Male, and spiritual tattoos as self-expressive forms of transformation and empowerment. The post was tied in with the short article titled, “A Secret History of Women and Tattoo,” by Maria Lokke that focused on the thriving tattoo culture, especially among women, accompanied by beautiful images of tattooed women in history.
The article stated:
“In fact, 2012 was the first year in which more women than men were tattooed in the U.S (twenty-three per cent of women, compared with nineteen per cent of men).”
It’s an interesting story that is rewriting itself, as we journey further into the collective experience we are sharing together.
If you’d like to read the whole article by Sara Lovelace, you can do so here:
Women and Tattoos: An Historically Symbolic Evolution of the Divine Female
Synchronously, this recent article (1/16/13) from The New Yorker was shared with me by someone who admires my work on the same day this week that I was a guest on Culture Freedom Radio’s Mind Magick with Lady Dee discussing sacred tattoos – the topic being Spiritual Tattoos for Transformation and Empowerment. The message of empowerment and freedom of self-expression in ways that symbolically have meaning and purpose (with effects both personally and collectively) seemed to be the shared thread in both my own message and what stood out to me most in the article.
The short article is titled, “A Secret History of Women and Tattoo,” by Maria Lokke and focuses on the thriving tattoo culture, especially among women, stating that:
“In fact, 2012 was the first year in which more women than men were tattooed in the U.S (twenty-three per cent of women, compared with nineteen per cent of men).”
Couple this statistical fact with a recent survey that revealed 1/3 of the people getting tattoos choose designs reflecting their spiritual or religious beliefs (especially so among first-timers) and we find how it all points to the new paradigm of awakening into our Divine Wholeness rapidly spreading.
Sacred tattoos are just one of the many choices we can choose from to do this that supports freedom of self-expression best mirroring our authenticity.
I did not find the higher percentage of women-getting-tattooed statistic to be surprising, as it actually made a lot of sense to me given my experience so far with helping clients in the co-creation of their own sacred tattoos, plus the fact that it mirrored the shifting frequencies into embracing the re-awakening of the Divine Female and conversely, the Divine Male in direct correlation to this return.
The true male is as engaged with the Divine Feminine return while they activate their own female energy within themselves into balanced partnership and empowerment. I have seen this in the work I’ve been assisting with my male clients’ sacred tattoos and how they are truly tapping into this inner dance of harmony. The new designs are all being created with rich symbolic representations of how each of my clients are empowering their Divine Female and Male into integration at this juncture on their life journey – a beautiful manifestation of the new energy we are in.
The new male is not threatened or in fear of the awakening female, but rather is embracing full support of this transition as he becomes aware of how the old programming is holding him back from his divinity. Equally so, the new female is empowering these repressed parts into full beauty and glory, without need to hide her Divinity.
Needless to say, I have been moved deeply from witnessing the transformational experiences shared by my female clients with their sacred tattoos that have assisted exponential leaps in their empowerment.
Maria Lokke goes on to share in her article:
“Tattoos appeal to contemporary women both as emblems of empowerment in an era of feminist gains and as badges of self-determination at a time when controversies about abortion rights, date rape, and sexual harassment have made them think hard about who controls their bodies—and why.” As we approach the fortieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this observation is especially resonant.
Symbolically poignant in supporting how I had come to discover the healing power of sacred tattoos to transcend the personal and become collective.
Maria Lokke’s article highlights author Margot Mifflin’s work in her 1997 book (with a third edition release on 1/15/13), “Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo,” which examines this trend in a cultural, image-rich, history of tattooed women and female tattoo artists through the ages and examines the evolution of the tattoo culture in the last fifteen years.
You can read the entire article here: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, as well as see all 9 photograph selections that accompany it (I only shared a few of my favorites for this post), along with captions by the author.
All photographs from “Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo,” by Margot Mifflin, published by PowerHouse Books.