Ritual Union

Not too long ago I was saying I’d never get a tattoo. Three months later I have a Tree of Life on my right hip and this ↑ on my left arm. The Tree of Life is an ancient universal symbol that essentially means that all things are connected through life and death by a divine source. It represents strength, wisdom, growth, and prosperity.

This tattoo has a more extensive meaning. I took the lyrics to two songs (by Little Dragon, of course) and combined them into one illustration. The image of the two parrots is the official logo of the first song, “Ritual Union,” which describes the feelings of someone who is in a relationship but doesn’t feel that love is what society cracks it up to be. “..Ritual union’s got me in trouble again..” The feather that I added to the logo is from the second song, “Feather” which is about a person that would rather float along by themselves (like a feather) than to be locked down by someone. “..I’d rather be a whisper in Heaven than to be a daughter locked in your prison.. You are airborne, you’ve got silver rays.. Will you ever float, will you ever soar along?” Now. Although both songs are specifically about persons not wanting to be committed (which is not how I feel), my general interpretation of them – collectively - is the desire to escape conventionalism and be a free-spirit.

Another concept I included in the thought process of this tattoo was the behavior of parrots.  I would like to think that parrots were used in the “Ritual Union” logo because in nature, they are extremely loyal creatures. Once they find a mate, they remain with that parrot for the majority of their lifespan (generally around 80yrs). According to my own understanding of the lyrics, the logo shows them fighting because they want to be free from each other, or ultimately, free from convention and their imitational lifestyles. So in this aspect of the tattoo, I used one parrot to represent myself and the other to represent society.

The last concept is Sigmund Freud’s iceberg theory. His theory states that there are three aspects to an individual’s personality: the Ego, which is the ‘surface’ or the behavioral characteristics that we display to others; the Superego, which is our moral compass; and the Id which consists of our selfish desires. According to Freud, our Id and Superego are always at conflict, which I feel is EXTREMELY applicable to my own internal battles. My morals tend to stop me from doing and saying what I want, which eventually stops me from being who I really am. Or at least that’s what I assume happens. So of course, one parrot represents my Id, and the other, my Superego.

The college education in me wants to add a conclusion or some sort of closing thought to this post. However, I don’t know what else to say about it, so screw it.

I use a lot of commas.