Symbols of Me

Have you noticed the image at the bottom of my homepage?

That’s not just some random clip art. It’s an image designed by my daughter that is meant to be a wrist tattoo (that I might actually get some day), and it has an important significance to me.

Several years ago I was seeing a therapist, digging for “answers” as many of us do sooner or later. Eventually I ended up confronting some really frightening truths. I had to dig deep inside myself to find the part of me that could face those truths.

I already had a vision of my “inner child,” the part of me that was still a terrified five-year-old. What I needed was a way to keep that child safe while a more courageous part of me faced the demons.

It took me a long time to find a place where I/the child could feel safe. What finally did it was a memory of me sitting in my grandfather’s lap when I was little. When I was in his lap everything felt right. That memory developed into a larger-than-life image of what I called a “grandfather-god” and he looked decidedly Native American.

For the courage, my therapist suggested a lioness. A mother who would protect her child at all costs.

These three images: the child, the grandfather-god, and the lioness became my inner guides. Each had a purpose. The grandfather-god provided wisdom as well as safety, the lioness was my courage, the child showed me what I needed to know.

Nordic runes provided symbols for each image: Kaunaz, the nordic letter “C” symbolizes knowledge. Ansuz, the nordic “A”, meaning god. And Teiwaz, ” T”, the warrior.

The image on my home pages is the result. The symbolic representation of me:

The grandfather who possesses wisdom.

The courageous warrior.

And the child, who knows the truth.