I dreamed that I was a tattoo artist... of the traditional type. I was a man, trying to make my way in the as-of-yet, not so well understood field. I was pioneering. I had a business job as well, but as my tattooing was getting more popular, I decided to break off and do tattooing full-time. In the dream, I was setting up a design for a person's whole body. I was free-handing it from the top down and it looked super cool. I had all sorts of publicity for being one of the first people to accomplish such a feat.
Watched a documentary on Don Ed Hardy last night. I never realized he was such a badass! I guess I kind of assumed he was just another degenerate doodler who found himself inking people for money.
Instead, I learned that he was an artist first, having went to school in San Fransisco for Lithography and other traditional arts, prior to tackling tattooing as a medium. So many of the things he said about the challenges of learning to tattoo resonate so deeply with my own experience in the learning process, all of my struggles feel vindicated and I feel more on the right path than ever!
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 that you are an artist painting a picture, signifies the creative and intuitive side of your character. The picture that you are painting in your dream may symbolize the way that you are visualizing your current situation in your waking life.
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.
To dream that you are a pioneer, suggests that you are exploring aspects of your unconscious. You are looking for a new way to express yourself and expand your thinking.
Dreaming that you are a pioneer, suggests that you are exploring aspects of your unconscious. You are looking for a new way to express yourself and expand your thinking.
To see people you know in your dream, signifies qualities and feelings of them that you desire for yourself. If these people are from your past, then the dream refers to your shadow and other unacknowledged aspects of yourself. It may represent a waking situation that is bringing out similar feelings from your past relationships.
To see people you don't know in your dream, denotes hidden aspects of yourself that you need to confront or acknowledge.
Seeing people you know in your dream means qualities and feelings of those people that you desire for yourself. Seeing people you don't know in your dream indicates hidden aspects of yourself that you need to confront. Seeing people from your past in your dream, refers to your shadow and other unacknowledged aspects of yourself. It can represent a waking situation that is bringing out similar feelings as your past relationships.
To dream of learning, denotes that you will take great interest in acquiring knowledge, and if you are economical of your time, you will advance far into the literary world.
To enter halls, or places of learning, denotes rise from obscurity, and finance will be a congenial adherent.
To see learned men, foretells that your companions will be interesting and prominent.
For a woman to dream that she is associated in any way with learned people, she will be ambitious and excel in her endeavors to rise into prominence.
You will attain influence and respect. Good omen to dream that you are learning
and acquiring knowledge.
To dream that you are a medium, indicates that you are getting in touch with your intuitive side. You are more sensitive to your instincts and in how your perceive things. It also suggests increased knowledge of your unconscious. Alternatively, the dream may mean that you are standing in middle ground. You are non-committal about a situation. Perhaps you are being too indecisive.
Dreaming that you are a medium indicates that you are getting in touch with your intuitive side and being more sensitive to your instincts and how your perceive things. It also suggests increased knowledge of your unconscious.
Literally a channel for alleged discarnate spirits to use to communicate with the living.
-Clairaudient Medium: A medium that allegedly hears the voices of the deceased.
-Clairvoyant Medium: A medium that exhibits platform clairvoyance and reportedly see the dead.
-Direct Voice Medium: A medium that slumps into a trance so the voice of a supposed spirit can communicate with the living, seemingly out of thin air.
Healing Medium: This sort of medium “channels” healing energy and not the personalities of the deceased.
-Mental Medium: A medium that verbalizes messages from the deceased, sometimes called psychophony. Most mental mediums claim to have controls, spirits who conveyed messages from discarnate entities.
-Materialization Medium: A medium that claims to be able to conjure the image of a deceased individual as long as they were secured away in a cabinet. The apparition, looking very much like the medium, would walk out in glowing clothes, called spirit-drapery.
Mixed Medium: A medium that is in conscious control of their facilities the whole time, does not slip into a trance, and somehow acquires veridical information but is more often incorrect.
-Physical Medium: A medium that allegedly produces physical manifestations that indicate a discarnate intellect.
-Psychic Medium: A medium that seems to communicate without slipping into a trance.
-Trance Medium: A medium that slips into a liminal state of mind and allows another personality to speak through them.
-Part Trance Medium: A trance medium that is fully aware of the communication.
-Full Trance Medium: A trance medium that is completely unaware of the communication.
-Transfiguration Medium: A medium that allegedly takes on the physical appearance of the deceased.
-Trumpet Medium: A medium allegedly able to cause a trumpet to levitate to facilitate the direct voice of the deceased.