Tattoo Update

Months and months ago, I posted about vegan tattoos and tattoo care. I’ve had some requests from readers to see some photos of the progress on my tattoo. Six sessions later, I’m nearing the end of this giant tree/crow tattoo. Almost a year ago, I was going in for an art consult with the amazing Andrea Ottlewski at Slave to the Needle Tattoo. She showed me some sketches and then on January 1, we got going on the outline. When choosing an artist, I knew I wanted to work with a woman, so I looked at every female tattoo artist’s portfolio in Seattle and Andrea’s style and skill was by far my favorite. As I said in the earlier post about vegan tattoos, for me, finding the right artist was the most important thing. Then, I asked her to use vegan ink for the tattoo and I used vegan after-care products, a salve that my sister-in-law made that contained coconut oil, cocoa butter, some essential oils, and something else (I can’t remember). Andrea is wonderful and I love her art and her down-to-earthness.

I’ve wanted a tree tattoo covering my back for the last 10 years and, after sitting with the idea that long, last year I finally decided I was ready to do it. I didn’t know what kind of tree precisely and then the spring before last spring I was inspired by the blooming cherry trees in our neighborhood. They explode with pink and white flowers in early spring and when I see them, I feel this giddy sense of joy. I was out walking with Maizy one day and the cherry trees were filled with crows. The black crows against the pink blossoms was a striking contrast. That was, in part, the inspiration.  

When I was little—maybe 7 or 8—I remember our next door neighbors cut down a perfectly healthy towering pine tree in their front yard. It was taller than their three-storey house, it was beautiful, and it was home to countless birds and other critters. That tree contained an entire ecosystem and network of life. The arrogance of our neighbors in cutting down this tree that was much older than they were still astounds me. I remember standing in the window of our second floor, watching as they cut down the tree, branch by branch. It was excruciating to watch and I remember how bitter my tears were, but I also remember feeling like it was important that I did watch this happen—that there was a witness to this socially accepted, deeply violent act. (I guess not much has changed for me in that regard—still a witness of totally depressing shit twenty years later!)

There is a huge towering maple tree in the backyard of the house where I grew up and I spent most summers as a kid lying in a hammock, looking up into the branches, watching squirrels skitter from branch to branch, watching raccoon families perched in the limbs as dusk fell, watching the tree there as a constant for decades through every season.

Trees are at the heart of life, producing oxygen, making the landscape green, creating shade and habitats, standing together in forests. In life, trees are vast and deeply important parts of the ecosystem. But also in death, trees become a new part of the forest landscape—the decomposing trunks and branches and leaves become home for insects and other critters. Fungi and lichen grow on trees. The decomposing tree replenishes the soil and creates a rich, hearty loam. Trees are, of course, symbollic in many cultural narratives. The Celtic tree of life. The Jewish Kabbalah. The Bodhi Tree in Buddhism. Cherry trees specifically symbolize death and rebirth and awakening.   

I’ve loved crows for as long as I can remember and when I’m outside and encounter a crow, I always feel a moment of awe and mutual respect and like I’m witnessing something special. Crows are highly intelligent animals. They have a complex language with which they communicate. They watch each other and learn from each other. They are crafty and resourceful and adaptable. They have amazing facial recognition abilities (much better than humans when it comes to remembering other species).   

Crows have powerful symbolic meaning, too:

When we meditate on the crow and align with it, we are instilled with the wisdom to know ourselves beyond the limitations of one-dimensional thinking and laws. We are taught to appreciate the many dimensions of both reality and ourselves, and to learn to trust our intuition and personal integrity.

Crow can also teach us to be mindful about judging people automatically. Be mindful of your opinions and actions. You need to walk your talk, to speak your truth and to know your life’s mission. Again, trust your intuition and personal integrity, to create your own standards, whether or not they match those of the world around you. Be an individual, think for yourself, don’t necessarily follow the crowd!

Crow is an omen of change. Crows live in the void and have no sense of time, therefore being able to see past, present and future simultaneously. They unite both the light and the dark, both the inner and the outer. Crow is the totem of the Great Spirit and must be held with utmost respected. They are representations of creation and spiritual strength.

Crows are messengers, telling us about the creation and magic all around us, that is available to us just for the asking. Look for opportunities to bring into being the magic of life. The striking black colour of the crow represents the colour of creation. It is the womb out of which the new comes into existence. Black is the colour of the night, giving birth to the light of a new day. SOURCE

Together, the tree and the crows speak to me and teach me in material and symbolic ways. Materially, the tree and the crows represent the environment and the animals with whom we share the planet and with whom we so often have a relationship of exploitation and abuse. This tattoo is a reminder of that. It’s a reminder of darkness and hard truths. But it is also a reminder of the light, of the potential for change and growth and maybe even some hope.

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