Jên’§
Ta††öö
Œxpr觧ion§
December 18, 1998 and July 5, 2002
My brother Tim died in a car accident my first year of college.
The night before he died we were picking out tattoos
together. My reaction to his death was to brand myself, I got the sun we chose together.
I'm a Leo so the sun fit, plus I'm have a sunny optimistic personality so it suited me.
I further customized it by adding a Celtic knot in the center which is a symbol of the neverending journey and the interconnectedness of all things. It is a symbol of the cycle of all things, with death being the ultimate
cycle. My brothers initials TJL border the three sides of the traingle. The tattoo is on my upper left chest over my heart and just below my collarbone. Tim will never be forgotten. I eventually hope to have a picture taken of this, but I don't have one now.
I wanted a shamrock for my second tattoo, and also wanted to stay with the celtic knotwork theme.
"White Clover, Trifolium repens forma minus, family Leguminosae, was the original shamrock of Ireland..."
Worship of the shamrock vastly predated Christianity in Ireland and other Celtic lands.
White clover in particular was held in high esteem by the early Celts of Wales as a charm against evil spirits. Its three heart-shaped leaves were supposed to be a natural reference to the Triple Mothers of Celtic lore, sometimes called Three Brigits or Three Morgans, the 'mother-hearts' of Celtic tribes. This pagan tradition was continued by early Christian leaders and became the symbol of the Holy Trinity for the Irish people."
The Shamrock is the universal sign of good luck.
This will give you an idea, though the actual tattoo is not exactly like this, this is what I gave the artist and he redrew it so the side arcs are larger, more similar in size to the shamrock so the lines are more continuious. It is also completely in black and white. I will scan the pic I had taken, the tattoo artist even took pics to add to his portfolio because of the awesome linework present. It is about 8 inches across and 3 inches high.
