Pansies

Thought
Thought, I love thought.
But not the juggling and twisting of already existent ideas
I despise that self-important game.
Thought is the welling up of unknown life into consciousness,
Thought is the testing of statements on the touchstone of consciousness,
Thought is gazing onto the face of life, and reading what can be read,
Thought is pondering over experience, and coming to conclusion.
Thought is not a trick, or an exercise, or a set of dodges,
Thought is a man in his wholeness, wholly attending.
-- DH Lawrence

"The name pansy comes from the word 'pensee,' which means 'thought', and was so named because the flower resembles a human face-- in August it nods forward as if deep in thought. It was believed that pansies could make your lover think of you."

I just got a new tattoo, here in August, of pansies. I'm turning 45 this month and have a lot of thoughts to muddle through. I loved that pansies, one of my all-time favorite flowers meant "thought" and "reflection." With the creative artistic skills of my new tattoo artist, Max, we created a beautiful bouquet to mark this milestone in my life.

Being from the iPhone, this is a reverse photo. It is actually on my left shoulder.

Lilies

I have found that lilies symbolize many things. The more traditional lily is a long stemmed garden flower with petals curling back from a horn-shaped face. This type of lily is strongly associated with the Christian tradition and Jesus' love. In Aboriginal Australia, the lily symbolizes courage and perseverance. In both China and Japan, the lily is said to dispel personal grief. Women wear lilies to help them forget the sorrow of a loved one's departure. White lilies symbolize purity, innocence, and chastity. At the same time and in the Greek culture, the trumpet-like shape of the petals symbolize erotic love and passion. In Greek mythology, the flower came from the milk of the goddess Hera as she was nursing Hercules; it dropped to earth (an outpouring which also created the Milky Way).  Clearly, the meanings are endless.


The lily that I chose to be tattooed on my upper arm is a day lily. Apparently the day lily is associated with coquetry. Yes, I had to look up what that meant! "Coquetry" is flirtatious behavior or attitude. LOL. Anyway, I chose my day lily it not for it's symbolism, but because I thought it was pretty. I chose the colors and design and worked with a tattoo artist to design something unique. I guess if I did have to choose a symbol for mine, I'd chose the Aboriginal or Greek symbols. Of course, maybe it is a little coquettish (is that the right use of the word?) too. :-)

Note: Information found on multiple websites when Googling "lily tattoo symbol" and "day lily tattoo symbol."