I got mine way back in 94, in Zürich. Everybody was getting one.
I was a roadie then, and one of our stagehands was good at tattooing.
I had wanted one for some time, but never really knew what to get.
It had to be something meaningful, political, inspiring, beautiful.
Something to always remind me of my Self.
I had thought of barbed wire, of the A in the circle, but rejected them,
because I wanted something I still can show with pride when I am an old woman.

When we came to Zürich and met that tattooing stagehand
I had, for some time, been drawing and doodling the treefold spiral
the Triskel on every available surface.
No idea where and why I’d picked it up.
Things just fell into place.

I got this one

on my right shoulder
– for binding, creating and taking
for Air and Fire
.
.
And this one

on my left shoulder
- for releasing, destroying and giving
for Water and Earth
.
.
.
When I had them made I said to myself:
“This is for times when I’m lost and becoming square and tired.
They shall remind me of who I really am.”

Two years ago I was in the middle of my education to become an occupational therapist, going to school everyday, and honestly,
I… didn’t hate it…i was desperate.
I had become fat arsed and numb and tired and felt I was slowly turning into a robot.
One really bad black day I said to myself
“If my younger Self could see me Here and Now, she would be disgusted and sneer about this old ugly tired slug!”
That thought made me even more unhappy.
Then, in the evening, I took a shower and suddenly noticed my tattoos.
And I remembered what I had told myself in Zürich in 1994.
And it felt as if my younger Self suddenly was there, hugging me and saying:
I’d never laugh about you! I am always with you.
I am proud of you coz you have learned so much more by now, and you are making it through school again!
I love you! We are One:
MySelf.
.
.
.
So, :’), what I wanna say:
If you get at tattoo you might want to get something with a meaning.
I’m glad I got mine, love them, and they will still be beautiful when I am a really old and formidable hag.