Tattoos
I recently got a new tattoo! And the entire time the needles were doing their thing into my skin all I could think about is that one day when I’m dead and this body is placed in a hot pink and orange raw silk shroud no more than 3 and a half feet underground, so I can decompose naturally in a green burial, is that this tattoo is still going to be there. It was like an hour-long death meditation!
This tattoo now serves as a memento mori-every time I look at it I remember that I’m going to die. People get actual memento mori tattoos of skulls and crossbones and some people get memorial tattoos to remind them of someone who has died in a grief ritual. Some folks preserve the tattoos of their loved ones and others get cremains mixed in with the ink. And now that this tattoo is healing I am thinking about the cycles of birth and death watching the old skin fall off and new skin come back-birth and death.
Maybe it's the death doula in me-maybe it's the maybelline-who’s to say? 🤷🏿♀️💀
What unintentional memento mori have you created for yourself?
Shout out to the GwG End of Life Training tattoo artist grads!! Looking at you Kit and Julz! If I missed you, holler.
Thank you for giving me a minute of your life to think about the end of it. 🙏🏿⏳💜
~~~ For death doula training, visit goingwithgrace.com/trainingdet...
Apply for the End of Life Training Program today at goingwithgrace.com/application/
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I'm a tattoo artist, and I can say that this is a beautiful way of looking at your tattoo experience. I've seen countless people coming in to dedicate their skin to loved ones who have passed on, or celebrating birth and new journeys. Many happy tears, emotional moments and challenging years of all these beautiful experiences and more. I'm very lucky to be in this position where I can help people with whatever they may be going through.
I don't have tattoos myself, but I love this post. You do wonderful work.
I have several tattoos that deal more with the concept of immortality from a nondualist perspective. One is a quote from the movie Cloud Atlas: "The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds" This quote changed my life when I first saw the movie. I realised I was part of a fabric of causality that would continue on forever after my death based on the choices I made, that I was made up of all the people and things that have ever influenced me and in a way I am them in another life. And so it will be after my death, even in my life. When I "saw" this in a moment of realisation, I lost my fear of death. "Om Namah Shivaya" and "Tat Tvam Asi" in Sanskrit - both of them are mystic mantras from Hinduism that deal with nonduality. Om Namah Shivaya means "universal consciousness is one" and Tat Tvam Asi means "you are that" (ie you are not separate from the universe and all of existence). These two quotes represent my mystical experiences that have further made me realise death is nothing to fear. That our idea of death is not what death actually is. It is merely change.
You are so beautiful inside and out!!
"Maybe it's the death doula in me, maybe it's the Maybelline"..??!! Queen! I am saving up and I am going to study with you. Thank you for bring such beautiful vibrance to the death ritual. You are a blessing, you are blessed
I will get my fist tattoo next monday - it's going to be a memorial tattoo... I'm really grateful that you posted this today, because I feel much more validated in my decision to get this tattoo
@chrisbecker4412
2 ай бұрын
❤ My first tattoo was a memorial as well, & so is the current one I'm designing. I'm sure yours will be absolutely beautiful, & the person it's for would love it.
I've been thinking about the idea of getting a tattoo since forever now lol but what gets in the way is that I'm afraid I might start hating the drawing after years of having gotten it. But if we think about it, it is fine because we are so much more than the skin we see every day: we are a bunch of complex systems who somehow work to make us think and love so why not add nice details to it while it lasts? I didn't choose the other organs' designs so I might as well customize one lol
I love youuu! Big fan of tattoos. I have my fathers name tattooed on me.
BINGO! When my dad died I got a tattoo in his writing that he sent to me in a birthday card a LONG time ago. Right on my forearm... Says 'we are light defying darkness ' from an ancient Egyptian papyrus. He used to study the Egyptian Book of the Dead... He wasn't afraid. We had discussed so much in life that I'm comforted that he's out there waiting to guide us when it's our time..
My first tattoo was a memorial tattoo of my first dog Chacha. She was my soulmate and her passing was so difficult for me. I asked the artist to mix her ashes with the ink so I could have her in my skin until the end. Since then I have gotten all my dogs tattooed on my arms. I believe that when it is my time to depart, all my dogs will be greeting me on the other side.