holding steady.™

i recently came into possession of the penguin dictionary of symbols. on a lark this morning, i opened up to the entry on ‘tattooing,’ and learned a bit about the symbolic nature of marking one’s body to the ancient Chinese and adaptative clans and groups, and how it can be used as an identifications mechanism, for (an arguably sentient) divine power and for humanity at large.

i also read the following, which made me stop and think about the four tattoos that i have:

Identification always carries a double meaning: it tends to invest the individual concerned with the properties and strength of the creature or thing to which that person is assimilated and, at the same time, to immunize the latter against its potential power to cause harm…identification also carries the sense of surrender or even of consecration to whatever the tattoo symbolically depicts. It then become a badge of fealty.

given that sentiment, i have surrendered to the continent of Africa, the common humanity that binds us all, to the confusion that comes with death (as well as the nature of infinite possibility), & to love. there isn’t a greater value to taking stock in what you have chosen to make sacred in your own mind, but knowing that you have is important.