At one point in my dream, I was tattooing Dan and myself. I was tattooing our faces. I did his first. It was more like painting with a long, rigid needle brush. I was "painting/tattooing" his face by tapping my needles on his face. His face was almost entirely covered in ink so I couldn't see where the ink got in and where it was just superficial. He was simultaneously my friends from early years - Kate, Jayne, Susy.
I tattooed myself in the same manner, tapping the needle stick on my face and gaining immense, dark coverage with the ink, but not necessarily permanently in the skin. I felt savage doing such a thing and about halfway through, I got a feeling of familiar dream panic - Ordinarily, I would ask myself, "What am I doing? What have I done? I can't undo this!" But this time, instead of feeling regret or fear, I accepted that I now had to finish what I started, and just kept going.
When I was done, Dan washed the ink off his face. I got a close-up look of how much ink stayed in. It was almost none. There were a few little dots - smaller than pores. Curious about my own, I washed off the ink. As I removed the dark layer, I discovered that much of the ink didn't stay, except for a couple of dark stripes under my left eye and up my left temple.
I felt changed somehow, like I had adopted a new spirit. I loved the feeling of being strong and willful and unafraid of the choices I had made. Ordinarily, when I have facial tattoo dreams, or other dreams wherein I wind up with tattoos, they are traumatic and terrifying.
P.S. this photo is from my favorite tattoo artist - Thomas Hooper.
To see ink in your dream, represents creativity. You are adopting a new way of looking at things. If ink is spilled in your dream, then it symbolizes a blemish or minor problem. Or perhaps you are about to be exposed. Alternatively, ink may also be a metaphor for "getting ink" or getting a tattoo.
To see bottles of ink in your dream, suggest that a solution to your problem will soon become apparent.
To see ink spilled over one's clothing, many small and spiteful meannesses will be wrought you through envy.
If a young woman sees ink, she will be slandered by a rival.
To dream that you have ink on your fingers, you will be jealous and seek to injure some one unless you exercise your better nature. If it is red ink, you will be involved in a serious trouble.
To dream that you make ink, you will engage in a low and debasing business, and you will fall into disreputable associations.
To see bottles of ink in your dreams, indicates enemies and unsuccessful interests.
Seeing ink spilled over one's clothing, symbolizes bitterness, spite and envy. Seeing ink on your fingers means jealous and rage toward someone. Seeing bottles of ink in your dream, suggests that a solution to your problem will soon become apparent.
To see your own face in your dream, represents the persona you show to the world as oppose to the real you. It may refer to how you confront problems and deal with issues in your life.
To dream that your face is flawed or pimply, symbolizes erupting emotions. You may be suffering an attack on your persona or your reputation. According to folklore, if you dream that your face is swollen, then it means that you will see an improvement to your financial situation.
To dream that you or someone has two faces or that the faces changes quickly from one person to another, indicates untrustworthiness. You or someone in your life is acting "two-faced".
To dream that you are washing your face, suggests that you need to come clean about some matter.
This dream is favorable if you see happy and bright faces, but significant of trouble if they are disfigured, ugly, or frowning on you.
To a young person, an ugly face foretells lovers' quarrels; or for a lover to see the face of his sweetheart looking old, denotes separation and the breaking up of happy associations.
To see a strange and weird-looking face, denotes that enemies and misfortunes surround you.
To dream of seeing your own face, denotes unhappiness; and to the married, threats of divorce will be made.
To see your face in a mirror, denotes displeasure with yourself for not being able to carry out plans for self-advancement. You will also lose the esteem of friends.
Seeing your own face in your dream indicates the persona you choose to show to the world as oppose to the real you. It may refer to confrontations and your willingness to deal with problems and issues in your life. Dreaming that you face is flawed or pimply, represents erupting emotions. You may have suffered an attack on your persona or your reputation.
To see your body appearing tattooed, foretells that some difficulty will cause you to make a long and tedious absence from your home.
To see tattooes on others, foretells that strange loves will make you an object of jealousy.
To dream you are a tattooist, is a sign that you will estrange yourself from friends because of your fancy for some strange experience.
To dream that you have tattoos, represent your sense of individuality and the desire to stand out in a crowd. You want to be unique and different from everybody else, particularly if you do not have any tattoos in real life. Consider also what the tattoo is and what significance it has in your life. It may represent something that has left a lasting impression on you. Alternatively, to dream that you have a tattoo, suggests that a waking situation or decision is having a much longer lasting effect that you had expected.
To dream that you are a tattoo artist, suggests that your exotic tastes and strange experiences may turn off those around you. If you are a tattooist in real life, then the dream is just a reflection of who you are.
Dreaming that you have tattoos means that some urgent and difficult business will call you away from your home for an extended period of time. It may also signal a new stage in your life. Seeing tattoos on others in your dream indicates that you will be the object of jealousy. Dreaming that you are getting a tattoo with a friend, represents your deep bond and long-lasting, solid friendship. Dreaming that you are a tattoo artist means that your strange life style will alienate your friends and family.
Tattoos may represent those things in our lives that seem only skin deep, but may be interesting and fun. They could represent our thinking, our playful ways, and our seemingly unimportant habits. As time progresses, we may realise that our passing fads have become permanent. Thus, a tattoo may be symbolic of something that we inflict on ourselves, is permanent if not deep, and generally carries with it some negativity.
Tattooing and ornamentation may be regarded as falling within one
generic symbolic group, for both are expressions of cosmic activity. But since
tattoos are applied to the body, other important meanings accrue to it—sacrifice,
the mystical and magical. E. Gobert, in Notes sur les tatouages des indigènes
Tunisiens, suggests that tattooing is connected with the Arabic proverb ‘blood
has flowed, the danger has passed’. Since sacrifice has the power to store up
latent forces which later may be made use of, each sacrifice tends to invert a given
situation. A mystic purpose lies at the root of the mark or sign of identification:
he who brands himself seeks to display his allegiance to that which is signified by
the mark. (Lovers’ marks carved on tree-trunks, and initials and heart-shapes
pricked out on the skin, are clear illustrations of this.) In the last analysis, the
attitude of allegiance is reversed: the sign is expected to ‘reciprocate’ this display of sacrifice and subservience on the part of the individual who has so marked
himself; and this is the magic property of the tattoo as a defensive talisman. Apart
from these three meanings of the tattoo, ethnologists have noted two others: it
may serve as a sign designating sex, tribe and social status (v. Robert Lowie’s
Cultural Anthropology), in which case it is simply a profane version of the mystic
symbolism; and, also, as a personal adornment. This latter purpose seems to us
over-simplified, but we cannot go into the matter here. In particular, tattooing is
a ‘rite of entry’ or of initiation which alludes to the turning-points in the span of
a man’s life and in the development of his personality. Cola has pointed out that
some of the most ancient monuments of pre-history, in particular those of Egypt,
suggest that tattooing was practised in ancient times, for the priestess of the
goddess Hathor displayed three lines on her lower belly. He also enumerates the
principal techniques of tattooing: incision, stitching, wounding by cutting or
burning, and pseudo-tattoos or paintings on the face or body (in which case the
motives are the same although the effect is transitory). Among primitive races,
the principal forms of tattoos are as follows: stripes, dots, combinations of both,
or numbers expressed through either, chains, knots and rosettes, crosses, stars,
triangles, rhombs, circles, combinations of any two or more of these, and also,
highly stylized anthropomorphic figures either complete or fragmentary (just the
limbs), etc. Cola also notes that tattoos have been used in imitative magic. For
instance: the tattooed figure of a scorpion is credited with the power of warding
off the actual scorpion’s sting; and the image of a bull is a guarantee of numerous
progeny (12).
To dream of darkness overtaking you on a journey, augurs ill for any work you may attempt, unless the sun breaks through before the journey ends, then faults will be overcome.
To lose your friend, or child, in the darkness, portends many provocations to wrath. Try to remain under control after dreaming of darkness, for trials in business and love will beset you.
A dark place, such as a cave, in a dream can symbolize negative emotions. In your dream, are you able to find your way out of the dark place?
A dream about being in darkness can also mean that you believe you are being "kept in the dark" about something - that someone else is keeping a secret from you.
If you dream that you are afraid of the dark you could be unwilling to deal with obstacles that you expect to face in the future.
To dream that you are getting a facial, indicates that you are feeling guilty about something. Alternatively, the dream represents your facade and what you allow other people to see or know about you.
To see or use a needle in your dream, indicates that you need to mend some relationship or situation that has gotten out of hand. A needle is also symbolic of some emotional or physical pain. Alternatively, the dream is a metaphor for male sexuality or a sexual act. In particular, to see knitting needles in your dream, suggest that you are manipulating a situation in order to get a desired outcome.
To dream that someone is using a needle, suggests that you need to incorporate and join together various aspects of your consciousness.
To look for a needle in your dream, symbolizes useless worries over small, trivial matters. Consider the phrase of looking for a needle in a haystack to represent our fruitless pursuits.
To dream that you are threading a needle, represents unfinished issues that you need to tend to and perhaps even repair. Alternatively, the dream may have sexual connotations.
To use a needle in your dream, is a warning of approaching affliction, in which you will suffer keenly the loss of sympathy, which is rightfully yours.
To dream of threading a needle, denotes that you will be burdened with the care of others than your own household.
To look for a needle, foretells useless worries.
To find a needle, foretells that you will have friends who will appreciate you.
To break one, signifies loneliness and poverty.
Using a needle in your dream indicates that you need to mend some relationship or situation. It may also indicate your creativity. To look for a needle in your dream, symbolizes useless worries over small, trivial matters. Dreaming that you are threading a needle means that you will be burdened with the care of others. You have unfinished issues in your waking life that you need to tend to and perhaps even repair.
To dream that you are dreaming, signifies your emotional state. You are excessively worried and fearful about a situation or circumstance that you are going through.
To dream that you are painting your house, indicates that you will experience success in a new project. You may even be promoted to a coveted position. You may be expressing your creativity. Alternatively, the dream indicates that you are covering up something. If someone else is painting your house, then it suggests that someone close to you is hiding something from you. Also consider the color of the paint to determine any additional significance. For example, red colored paint may imply painting the town red and releasing pent up excitement.
To dream that paint has gotten on your clothes, signifies that you are too easily offended by criticism about you.
To see a painting in your dream, represents creativity and your need for self-expression. The painting is symbolic of your intuition and inner realizations.
To dream that you are painting a picture, indicates that you need to express your creative side more.
Dreaming that you are painting your house means that you will find much success in a new project and that you will be promoted to a coveted position. You may be expressing your creativity. Alternatively, it may also mean your are covering up something. Consider the color of the paint to determine any additional significance. For example, red colored paint may imply painting the town red and releasing your pent up excitement. Dreaming that paint has gotten on your clothes means that you are too easily offended by criticism about you. Seeing a painting in your dream, represents your need for self-expression. The painting is symbolic of your intuition and inner realizations.
Painting something in your dream is a sign of how you express yourself. What are you painting? The image that you are painting may have an important meaning.
If you are painting a large picture, you may need to see the "big picture" in regard to a situation. If you are painting a miniature, you may need to pay more attention to details. If you are painting a nature scene, you may need to get outside more.
Looking at a painting in a dream can indicate that you are starting to pay attention to new ways of thinking. If you are examining the painting closely, it can be a sign that you need to look at the details of a situation that is taking place in your life.
The eleventh enigma of the Tarot pack. The image shows a queen
who, without apparent effort, overcomes a lion, holding his jaws wide open. The
allusion to the Zodiac is clear enough—Leo vanquished by Virgo—and the subject finds its mythological counterpart in Hercules overcome by Omphale. Wirth
points to a highly interesting detail in the allegory: the queen does not slay the
lion, but clasps it to her bosom having stunned it with her club, signifying that one
must not despise the inferior, but master it and put it to good use. There is an echo
here of the alchemists’ belief that what is base must not—and indeed cannot—be
destroyed, it must be transmuted into what is superior. In the affirmative sense,
this enigma symbolizes the triumph of intelligence over brutality; in the negative,
it denotes insensibility and fury (59).
To dream that you have great strength or little strength, represents your level of power in some situation of your waking life.
Astrological Sign: Leo.
Positive associations with this tarot card:
strength, willpower, compassion, patience, courage, triumph, fortitude.
Negative associations with this tarot card:
cowardice, fear, inertia, defeat, loss of opportunity.
When the Strength card appears it represents not just physical strength but the ability to cope with extreme pressure and win through in the end.
If ill health has been an issue this card indicates rapid recovery, if considering giving up an unhealthy habit such as smoking or drinking this card indicates a good time to start.
The Strength card signifies triumph over most things; challenges in your relationships or career, even defending yourself against jealousy, ignorance and oppression .
Negatively this card represents insecurity, fear and giving up, perhaps being beaten by unfair means.
The Strength card warns of missed opportunities and not to give up when you could be so close to the finish line.