Rite of passage

 This past week, I allowed myself the privilege of getting a tattoo that I have been thinking about for a long time.

All of my tattoos are of significant, spiritual meaning to me, and this one is no exception.

Having finally closed the chapter of the condo, having been given good news about the cancer actually resolving in two spots (when I had assumed this drug I am on would just slow it down, not eliminate it), and having come to the last lesson in the course I have been taking for the past year.... I felt that it was time.

With my nurse's permission (she looked at my blood work, and said that the critical factors for me to be safe going through a tattooing process were looking great...normal for a normal person, not just for a person on immune-suppressing drugs), I got an appointment, and had the tattoo done on the full moon.

Here is a picture of it....

The story behind this design goes back approximately 2,500 years.  

In 1993, the extremely well-preserved 5th century BCE grave of a young woman was found in Siberia.

She was covered with tattoos that appeared to have a mystical, Shamanic pattern.  Between the tattoos, her clothing, and her grave goods, and the remains of SIX sacrificed horses, it has been determined that she was a  woman of high social status.  The presence of the tattoos, and some of the symbolic items in the burial chamber, indicates that she was probably a Shamaness, Seer, and/or Priestess of her people. 

She was dubbed the Siberian Ice Princess, the Princess of Ukok, or the Altai Princess.

A detailed reconstruction of her face has been done, and she appears to have been European (without the Mongolian features of native peoples of Siberia), and DNA testing has also shown that she was of European heritage.  The Scythian tribes of the steppes are thought to have been a mixture of Caucasian and Mongolian peoples. 

Further research found that the probable cause of her death was stage 4 breast cancer, combined with injuries from a fall.  She was buried with her medicines: cannabis and opium, which would have been used to ease the pain she was surely suffering.  Coriander seeds, which were thought to be used as incense, were also found. 

This design is on her left shoulder, just where I have it now, as well.

I will not be "ordained" until October, but this summer marks the completion of my formal studies and training to become a priestess of a Goddess regarded as the most ancient deity archetype.  Evidence of the reverence of this Goddess has been found all around the northern hemisphere, and even in some ancient sites in the southern hemisphere.

After 29 years as a practicing Pagan, I have finally found a path that really resonates with what I have always felt to be true for myself.

FORTUNATELY, I understand that a person's spiritual evolution (should they take the choice to pursue spirituality) is just that... an evolution... It is a process, not an event.... 

The adventure that started for me as a child, collecting natural treasures- feathers and stones, pinecones and bones....and arranging them on a rock under the protective branches of the spruce in our front yard, has led me down many interesting and transformative trackways... 

I am confident that this evolution will continue.