Pain Induced Powers

I just got home from a 3 hour tattoo session at Evolved with Anna Little. The outline for my "Holy Tree" tattoo is done. I feel physically and mentally exhausted, but in a comfortable, high kind of way. I can feel the pain endorphins coursing through my brain providing me with a heavy opiate sedation.

I felt revelatory during the session. I could see the tree form and giant ringed eyes emerge from the wood-grain floor as the needle ripped through my skin. The pain feels incredibly good. It is intensely painful at times and very soothing at other times.

I was starting to trip from the sensation while looking at an Alex Grey book on the table entitled, "Transfigurations". The book of his that I possess is called, "Sacred Mirrors". Tattooing is a sort of transfiguration, or a transformation of the body, and I have to look in the mirror to see my tattoos because they are on my back. I consider them sacred.

When I walked up to the door of my room, I felt the knob tremble, rattle a little bit before I even grabbed it to open it. "That's strange." I thought, maybe my will to open it influenced it before I touched it. I went to grab a water bottle on my desk to test this, and I noticed that it was rocking back and forth slightly inside of my open palm.







These are drawings of the design that I just got tattooed. It was inspired by a drawing that I did in 9th grade art class of my name spelled out in tree trunks. The "X" in Alex was burning on the right side of the letter and growing on the other side with small red circular blossoms. Last year, Christmas 07, my friend Collin got me the aforementioned Alex Grey book in which there is a painting called "Gaia" that portrays a giant tree, the left side growing with small red circles in the leaves, and the right side burning. This moment of contact with universal consciousness was part of the inspiration for my piece.





http://www.alexgrey.com

There is a lot more inspiration and symbolism behind the piece. In short, one side grows, personal growth, the other side burns, self destruction, but both are equal and coexisting. I made mine a Bodhi Tree, the tree the Buddha reached enlightenment after meditating under for 49 days. If you want to know more, ask me.

I'll be sleeping on my stomach tonight.