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Tattoos are something you are going to wear and stare at for a long time. Once you decide to get a tattoo, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the body’s energy zones and how they interlock together as one consciousness.
When you physically get a tattoo, it also becomes an energy imprint into the layers of your etheric body. The phenomena that the body, mind, and spirit are not separate, but one functioning system, is something that still baffles science.
Looking at tattoos solely through the lens of the physical world, some may wonder if getting tattooed goes deep enough into the skin to upset any of the acupuncture points on the body. Even though tattoos may lay on these energy points, the needles don’t go in as far as acupuncture needles, but the intention, image, and ink color, in a holistic sense, influence the energy vibration around these points.
Where you ink a tattoo will signify particular ideologies; for example, the back is where we carry the burdens of life. What images are you imprinting on your back? What is the cryptic message that you not only embody, but also express outwardly? The intention, plus the art, attracts similar energies to the area where it is placed and can also activate stored energy.
Where you choose to get inked will be discussed with your tattooist. The body area is usually determined by where the image looks best. You may have a certain area in mind, but you should take a step back and closely listen to your instincts. Your consciousness directs where on the body the tattoo will find its best resonance.
Putting something where it doesn’t belong eventually causes an energy blockage. This may seem foreign to you, but everything is consciousness, even the images you wear. Mindfully tattooing can enhance your energy field, instead of wearing it down by decreasing your body’s vibration.
To put it in other terms: a house has many rooms, each designated for certain functions (kitchen, bathroom, dining room, etc.). If you put a dining set in a bathroom, it won’t resonate with that space, no matter how beautiful the furniture. It fights the energy that wants to be expressed in that area.
Additionally, when decorating homes, one takes color into consideration. Colors imbue vibrations into a room; for example, a red room has a more active energy than a cool blue room. Moreover, cluttered space holds too much energy and breaks the flow of chi; this can be draining. Putting something where it doesn’t belong will cause stress, and its energy will ping off of everything else.
The wrong tattoo placement, design, and colors, along with too much going on in one space, can overload your body’s energy field. This will either block your chi, or make it extremely overactive and draining. Include consciousness along with aesthetics when deciding where you want your tattoo to be inked.
Choosing Placement Holistically
When choosing to decorate your skin with body art, you will get better results if you do it holistically, from the perspective of body, mind, and spirit being one unit. Sometimes karma from a prior life experience will inspire you to place a tattoo on a particular body area. This happens because of subconscious memories from past lives that come up again and want to be released in the current life.
The images you ink in this incarnation will remain in your subtle body field and become part of your consciousness. (Too many dark images can unfold into your next life experience and possibly manifest unwanted situations and conditions.) Always ask (yes, ask) the image before inking it onto your body if it is for release of something you are holding in your subtle body field, or a current expression of your present mindset. You will feel the answer and then be pulled to where the tattoo will be best expressed on the body. In an intuitive way, your body directs you to the area where your arty inspirations feel most at home.
Everything held in your consciousness is realized through the physical body, whether it is a talent, disease, addiction, or other strong experience. Tattoos are not only a form of self-expression, but also an intimate way to express yourself to the outside world. Tattoos cryptically reveal your inner soul. They give insight into your spiritual self, hint at past lives, and suggest what you may be attracting toward your future.
Tattoos link into your consciousness, and the body is the drawing board that displays your inner mix of archetypes and shadows. Tattoos that are primarily geometric or tribal designs express their meaning through color, shapes, and symbols. Lettering, phrases, and words inked on your skin also have very potent meanings. They can be stronger than traditional images because they are more definable. When you ink on phrases or words you are clearly defining yourself.
The Subtle Body Infrastructure And Tattoos
Choosing an area of the body to tattoo simply because the art will look good in that space should be part of the decision; however, keep in mind what doors you are opening into the subtle realms of your essence.
Emotions are not solely stored in your brain, but throughout your body. Any emotional energy we don’t fully experience and process can get trapped in the body. The piercing of the skin stimulates energy, similar to acupuncture. Tattoos can either assist in release of trapped energy or possibly aggravate it.
It’s a good idea to become familiar with the body’s preference for expression. Tattoos on an uninviting body space can shift your energy in undesirable directions and upset your chi.
Left Side? Right Side? Front? Back?
Tattoos that reflect how you feel about the now are, in a mystical sense, drawn to being placed on the right side of the body. This is the side of the body that reflects how you feel about your current life experiences and is governed by your logical left brain. It’s where things we are currently passionate about are comfortably expressed.
However, tattoos that want to be inked on the left side of your body connect to your mystical side, where you, possibly unknowingly, want images of objects you are intuitively drawn to, along with images of things that are dear to your heart. This side of the body links into the emotional, vulnerable right brain, which displays our emotional connection to our inner self and wounds. The creative, intuitive voice of your soul is instinctually revealed instead of logically planned.
Tattoos on the front of your body reflect your social mask, how you want to be perceived as you move through the outside world. It represents the conscious part of us and the future. Front-facing images hold clues to the archetypes you identify with on a day-to-day basis.
Alternately, tattoos on the back of the body reflect the past, where you draw strength from experience, and even hint at an awareness of prior lifetimes. They can cryptically contain archetypes that relate to the emotional burdens you carry and the strengths you need to draw upon to help carry the load.
Because we are looking at tattoos from the holistic perspective, the list below gives insight into body areas and the emotions they express. Intention and images that resonate with the body enhance your aura, whereas tattoos that fight the energy may eventually cause energy blockages, weaken your aura, and attract more of the wrong energy via thought-form attachments.
The Body’s Zones And Their Expressed Emotional Energy
Brow: Intuitive center, deep emotional expression.
Forehead: Intellectual expression.
Face: Expresses the various “masks” of our personality, shows how we face the world.
Behind the ears: The portal for past-life experiences and what we remember from other incarnations.
Ears: Listening to guidance.
Throat: Communication and speaking our truth.
Neck: Where thoughts and emotions come together.
Shoulders: The burdens we carry.
Chest/torso: The place for your private self: your relationship issues, heart and love emotions, self-esteem, and feelings of worthlessness are held here. It also holds our most private wounds.
Arms and hands: Connections to the external world that also show what you embrace. Who or what you are holding on to? Or, what do you want to let go?
Armpits: Storage unit of what we don’t want to see anymore.
Upper arm: Shows strength.
Forearm: Your goals and what you go after in life.
Wrist: Capacity to start and complete something that has already been accepted.
Hands: Associated with giving (right hand) and receiving (left hand). They represent holding on to reality, reaching goals, and how you handle issues or situations.
Fingers: The fingers of the right hand are how you purposely express the associated qualities of each finger; the fingers on the left hand show how your intuitively approach these qualities along with your individuality:
Thumb: Flexibility.
Index finger: Assertiveness and power.
Middle finger: Ego and ambition.
Ring finger: Outer beauty and harmony.
Little finger: Confidence and self-awareness.
Back: Where we store our unconscious emotions, the past, and past-life experiences. Tattoos here show what you need to feel supported.
Upper back (between the shoulder blades): Where anger is stored. Tattoos can reflect unresolved anger issues or be images that help us resolve our inner conflicts depending on what image energy you choose to embody.
Lower back: Where our outward expression to the material world is conveyed, including sexuality.
Abdomen: The seat of emotions, which contains our deepest feelings, the center of sexuality, and our gut feelings toward life.
Hips: Hold the energy for moving forward in life, so ink images that pull that energy in the right direction.
Genitals: Where we hold the energy for survival, sexual energy, and fears.
Buttocks: Where we hold emotions.
Abductors (inner thigh): Contains sexually charged issues.
Thigh: Personal strength, trust in one’s own abilities, and energy for our decisions.
Knees: Show our pride and flexibility. Images on the knees pull in energy for self-respect and the ego.
Lower leg: Expresses movement toward goals and also what we leave behind as we move forward.
Ankles: Convey balance and what we need to feel supported.
Feet: Our expression toward security and survival, and the steps we take to feel grounded.
Toes: Toes are high energy areas and each toe expresses a certain quality of self-expression:
Big toe: Right is joy; left is sorrow.
Second toe: Right is wishes and desires; left is emotions.
Middle toe: Right is aggression; left is creativity.
Fourth toe: Right is attachment; left is love.
Little toe: Right is fear; left is trust and sex.
Mindful Tattooing
If you are thinking about getting inked or already have tattoos, the body’s vibrational voice helps you realize the deeper meaning to your body art and gives you awesome insight into the many layers of your consciousness.
Mindful tattooing can enhance the meaning behind your body art, more so than an impulsive urge, which pushes you toward getting a tattoo you later regret having on your body. Consulting with your tattooist, deciding on the design you want, declaring your intention for the tattoo, and carefully considering body placement are all very important.
©2018 by Lisa Barretta. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission of New Page Books,
an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser.
Article Source
Conscious Ink: The Hidden Meaning of Tattoos: Mystical, Magical, and Transformative Art You Dare to Wear
by Lisa Barretta
Ancient cultures practicing shamanic tattooing laid the groundwork for our modern exploration of consciousness. Tattoos are both a revelation and a proclamation of your embodied archetypes, dreams, emotions, even a hint of past-life memories. Conscious Ink shows how this edgy skin art interfaces with our body's subtle energy field and reveals how tattoo imagery ties into the potent energy of inner alchemy that expands our self-awareness. Looking at tattoos beyond the lens of body art, Conscious Ink gives you a new perspective on tattoos and their undeniable roots in pure, magic and mysticism.
Click here for more info and/or to order this book.
About the Author
Lisa Barretta is a member of the National Council for Geocosmic Research -NCGR, American Federation of Astrologers - AFA, and the International Society for Astrological Research - ISR. She practices as an intuitive counselor, certified Reiki practitioner, and researcher in the fields of consciousness and psychic sensing. Lisa is also the author of Conscious Ink, The Street Smart Psychic’s Guide to Getting a Good Reading and The Book of Transformation. Visit her web site at www.lisabarretta.com
