Posts
1772
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Slidell, LA
US
Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 8:11pm
Before you read further, just look at the picture and decide what your perception of this tattoo would be.
And I'm well aware of the fact that whether or not you put a certain tattoo on your body, it should not be guided by other people's opinions, cause if it is then it doesn't belong on your body. However, how people perceive it may play a factor in whether I put it on my forearm or my upper arm. As far as my wife is concerned, it's a tattoo of Lucifer so it is perceived as "Satanic," and both of her sets of parents (dad and stepmom, mom and stepdad) are devoutly religious - 3 of them Assembly of God fundamentalists and the other a Catholic. The irony is that the sculpture, "Le genie du mal," resides in St. Paul's Cathedral in Belgium since the mid 1800s. It depicts Lucifer as the fallen angel, with an obvious look of the greatest sense of loss, regret, or remorse. Note the symbolism of the crown, the apple, and the broken sceptre (with the star on the end, as Lucifer was known as The Morning Star).
I have one small tattoo on my left upper arm, a reaper with a checkered flag as the hood, that I got a few years ago at Hart & Huntington while on vacation in Orlando. I've been wanting to do something much larger, possibly a sleeve or half sleeve, and now that I'm on disability and don't have to worry about what my patients or anyone else in the job market thinks about it, I'm ready to do it.
Why choose this image?
- I'm a heavy metal child of the 80's and always loved the "dark" imagery that went along with it, such as Eddie from Iron Maiden and stuff like that, and this thing just plain looks badass.
- While I'm an atheist (and that doesn't make me a devil worshipper), I was raised Catholic and have made somewhat of a hobby of researching the controversial history of religion and god myths, and love religion-based classical literature like Milton's "Paradise Lost" or Dante's "Divine Comedy/Inferno."
- And most importantly, tattoos should mean something. I was at the peak of my dental career in my early to mid-40's, making decent money, enjoying life to the fullest via motocross, roadracing, etc., and now at 45 I'm on disability and can not do any of the stuff physically that made my life enjoyable. Don't get me wrong - I have a great wife and still have a 12 yr. old son at home and love my family life, but physically the things I can do with my son are very limited and I feel a great sense of loss - and this image captures the ultimate loss, or having it all and losing it.
So for all those reasons, I've put a lot of thought into what tattoo I want and waited a long time so I wouldn't rush out and do it on a whim. However, I also understand that my wife is my life partner and what I do reflects on her and her feelings as well, and I want to be considerate of her feelings - to some extent at least, because her feelings are mainly based on what her parents will think, and I won't be guided by their opinions (and they have no idea of my religious beliefs or disbeliefs). So I may take those factors into consideration on whether I put the tattoo in an area readily visible or in an area where I have to lift my sleeve for people to see it. However, I have been kind of reserving my upper arm for a larger, really elaborate Ozzy tattoo that I want as well so I'm leaning towards inner forearm for this one.
So I'm really just curious about how other people will perceive this tattoo. Since I won't bother explaining all of my reasons for getting it to 99% of the people who will see it, when the person on the street sees this thing on my arm, at first glance, how will they perceive it?
And I'm well aware of the fact that whether or not you put a certain tattoo on your body, it should not be guided by other people's opinions, cause if it is then it doesn't belong on your body. However, how people perceive it may play a factor in whether I put it on my forearm or my upper arm. As far as my wife is concerned, it's a tattoo of Lucifer so it is perceived as "Satanic," and both of her sets of parents (dad and stepmom, mom and stepdad) are devoutly religious - 3 of them Assembly of God fundamentalists and the other a Catholic. The irony is that the sculpture, "Le genie du mal," resides in St. Paul's Cathedral in Belgium since the mid 1800s. It depicts Lucifer as the fallen angel, with an obvious look of the greatest sense of loss, regret, or remorse. Note the symbolism of the crown, the apple, and the broken sceptre (with the star on the end, as Lucifer was known as The Morning Star).
I have one small tattoo on my left upper arm, a reaper with a checkered flag as the hood, that I got a few years ago at Hart & Huntington while on vacation in Orlando. I've been wanting to do something much larger, possibly a sleeve or half sleeve, and now that I'm on disability and don't have to worry about what my patients or anyone else in the job market thinks about it, I'm ready to do it.
Why choose this image?
- I'm a heavy metal child of the 80's and always loved the "dark" imagery that went along with it, such as Eddie from Iron Maiden and stuff like that, and this thing just plain looks badass.
- While I'm an atheist (and that doesn't make me a devil worshipper), I was raised Catholic and have made somewhat of a hobby of researching the controversial history of religion and god myths, and love religion-based classical literature like Milton's "Paradise Lost" or Dante's "Divine Comedy/Inferno."
- And most importantly, tattoos should mean something. I was at the peak of my dental career in my early to mid-40's, making decent money, enjoying life to the fullest via motocross, roadracing, etc., and now at 45 I'm on disability and can not do any of the stuff physically that made my life enjoyable. Don't get me wrong - I have a great wife and still have a 12 yr. old son at home and love my family life, but physically the things I can do with my son are very limited and I feel a great sense of loss - and this image captures the ultimate loss, or having it all and losing it.
So for all those reasons, I've put a lot of thought into what tattoo I want and waited a long time so I wouldn't rush out and do it on a whim. However, I also understand that my wife is my life partner and what I do reflects on her and her feelings as well, and I want to be considerate of her feelings - to some extent at least, because her feelings are mainly based on what her parents will think, and I won't be guided by their opinions (and they have no idea of my religious beliefs or disbeliefs). So I may take those factors into consideration on whether I put the tattoo in an area readily visible or in an area where I have to lift my sleeve for people to see it. However, I have been kind of reserving my upper arm for a larger, really elaborate Ozzy tattoo that I want as well so I'm leaning towards inner forearm for this one.
So I'm really just curious about how other people will perceive this tattoo. Since I won't bother explaining all of my reasons for getting it to 99% of the people who will see it, when the person on the street sees this thing on my arm, at first glance, how will they perceive it?
As far as your religious relatives, as long as they understand that the image is a symbol of the fall of man and not something you worship, they shouldn't have a problem with it.
Would I care? No
Would it make me think you're a "Satan worshipper?" No. I would think it just had some symbolism to you
That said, I'm not a fan of ink
I think you can find a better lucifer choice. jmo
The Shop
I also suggest you go BIG. The bigger the better. Give the artist a HUGE canvas to work with and let them loose. You'll be happier with the outcome.
As far as the tattoo idea, who give a fuck what other people think? It's YOU and you have to live with it. Do what you want.
I was asking the originator about the apple because he said there is one but i can't see it.
I saw this cool looking painting of a hot chick with battle armour half way off and all these battle wounds/scars that I thought was pretty badass. I would rather have that on me than a dude. JMO and to be honest, if the artist added some hot chicks around Lucifer that would be it less gay. As long as the art is good, it is all good in the neighborhood.
That being said I see a crumbled wooden cross shadowed behind the statue for effect.
Pit Row
This is my favorite tat from Paul. The dude is Evan Seinfeld from Biohazard, you can see this tat in "action" in any Tera Patrick film. Those horns go in some nice places.
Kinda gay. But after looking closer, it is a beautiful sculpture and would probably translate well into a tattoo.
My rule for tattoos is get it for you and to hell with other peoples opinions.
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