Alyssas Lotus Flower Tattoo

Alyssa – Blaine, Minnesota, USA

Hailing from just north of Minneapolis, Alyssa recently celebrated the completion of her Masters degree in Communication by adding her second tattoo – a lotus flower.

But let’s start her story with her first tattoo, on her lower back…the kanji symbol for “strong” or “strength.” “I really liked the way the symbol looked. It was only a single symbol rather than a group of symbols. I didn’t want to do my name, ‘cause I don’t know what my name would mean (in Chinese), and I don’t want it to be some random…you know, like ‘dog’ or ‘antelope.’ I don’t want to have ‘antelope’ tattooed on me. So ‘strength’ worked for me, because I really pride myself on my physical strength, based on my background in martial arts. I was involved from 4th grade until a junior in high school, with my two brothers and my father. We all have back belts. I also really am proud of myself for my emotional strength, being able to come through with a lot of emotional fortitude.”

“I chose my tattoo design nine months before I got the tattoo done. My mom always said, ‘If you’re going to get something tattooed on your body, it’s permanent, and are you really going to want to look at that every day of your life?’ The placement thing was the most troublesome for me, because I really didn’t want something, - for my first tattoo especially – to be really visible, easily visible.” Alyssa pauses, then adds, “This was before the major, big-time, Britney spears, super-ultra, low-rise pants came into style. This is a time when I was still wearing clothing that would actually cover it most of the time.” She doesn’t want to be thought of as “just-another-college-girl trying to be cool having a lower back tattoo” when, in fact, she got hers long before it became fashionable. “I have to still appreciate it and love it. For what it is, and for what had happened in my life.”

Alyssa planned her second tattoo, the lotus lower, for an even longer time. “So, a long time ago –maybe two-and-a-half years ago – I decided that I was going through a rebirth in my life. I’m always re-inventing myself in certain ways, different areas of my life. I came up with the lotus flower. It means rebirth.” Of course, Alyssa learned (as Tattoo Meanings will also teach you) that the lotus flower means different things to different cultures. “It means death. It’ means fertility. It’s the symbol for the fertility god in Egypt.” The important thing about getting a tattoo is knowing about the different meanings, so you can explain to people why you chose the meaning that you did. “The lotus flower means fertility in some cultures,” Alyssa notes, “but it doesn’t mean that for me.” Alyssa selected the shoulder for this tattoo’s placement. “I was ready to show a tattoo. I wanted it where I could see it; where other people could see it.”

Alyssa shares a story of the day she got her lotus tattoo. “I didn’t get nervous until right when he was about to start. I was a little nervous. It was like, ‘If I tense up my body, it’s pretty much like it’s going to mess up the tattoo.’ The funny thing was, as he was doing my tattoo, he gets like calls on his cell phone. He’s doing this, and talking on his cell phone, and I’m thinking, ‘Holy crap.” And then one of his buddies comes in, toward the middle of it, and he’s like, ‘Who’s Hank?” I was like, ‘What!?’ It was really funny, yeah, it was cool. It was actually really relaxing. It was kind of like a Zen moment, where I was, like, in the zone.”

But why get tattooed? Alyssa answers, “I think it marks moments in my life. A lot of it. It’s a way for me to express my inner self in an outer way.” Her only concern is that, as an Anglo woman choosing Asian designs, she may be co-opting a culture that is not her own. "I have a little bit of angst about that. I feel that I’m unfairly appropriating Japanese culture. And also, am I really able as a Westerner, as a Western, white woman, to take on the symbolism, to take on the meaning, of the lotus flower? For the same moment I can feel as, well, I can really celebrate this; it says something about me.”

Alyssa may get more tattoos, but right now is not sure what or where. Her dad always warned her not to get any on her ankles, because they are too visible in the kinds of business clothing that Alyssa will not doubt someday wear. “That’s always in my mind, because I’m not comfortable compromising my place of privilege, I guess. Because corporate culture, which I hope to God I’m never a part of, there are rules in corporate handbooks, you know, HR policies and stuff like that, where you can’t have visible tattoos or body piercings in particular areas. And I’ve always thought about myself as, you know, if I’m going to work in politics? If I’m going to think about down the road, am I elect-able if I have tattoos all over the place, if I have a tongue piercing, or that kind of thing.”

She concludes, “I’m okay with getting a bigger tattoo; I can maybe build off of it later, but I’m not going to get a t-shirts worth of material all over my back. I’m not ready for that.”

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