A Mission to Get Inked

All three of my tattoos were spontaneous, almost zealous missions to get inked.While waiting for loan docs on my first sale of a house, I called Michelle who was getting yet another tattoo at Costa Mesa Tattoo. I immediately drove down and as fate would have it an artist was ready. I showed him an earring and he drew a tribal looking butterfly with extra lobes that made the symbol resemble Buddha’s Eye. I wanted the tattoo to symbolize my spiritual name I received at a Tongva ceremony - Dancing Butterfly Who Soars on the Wind - and the idea that with eyes in the back of my head, I would make sound decisions in difficult times. After walking out on my ex-husband, I drove directly to get my second tattoo: a green vine on my right foot to symbolize stepping out on my own – and into the forest – where the wild, untamed things are. My sister Julia fed me blueberries while the needle poked my metatarsals – “because there are high in anti-oxidants.” I felt like a fool, but they tasted good, so what the hell.

Today I got my third tattoo: a peacock feather on my left calf – just hours after I found out my mother has a tumor in her breast and needs to get chemo, surgery, and radiation. I've always known the idea of what the tattoo would mean to me, I just never knew its image, until it was revealed to me. So, today as the artist was looking at me, as if to say, “You want a tattoo, but you don’t know what or where? What do you want me to do?” I saw a peacock feather on the wall and just knew. It wasn’t until halfway through the process that I remembered what the peacock symbolized. The peacock is a symbol of Hera, Great Mother Greek Goddess and represents her many eyes watching out for you. The left side represents the Divine Female. Female power for certain.