The above image was tattooed onto my arm by Emma at Aurora Tattoo a few moths ago, based on a drawing by Holly Payne. Seeing as I can think of nothing better to write about, I shall attempt to explain its significance.
It depicts a girls holding a scythe, and 'tis something of a tribute to Neil Gaimane's Death character. It seems reasonable to me that Death should be beautiful. Old age, and illness and fatal accidents are all terrible things, but Death itself is not. As on the tarot card, Death is a new beginning- a change. We know not what happens after Death; be it reincarnation, asendance to some other world, or the end of our material lives, but we know that it is a change. "The last great adventure", as Mr Pan tells us.
There are two Ancient Greek quotes which are rather good;
"And perhaps we are actually dead, for I once heard the wise men say that we are now dead, and that our body is a tomb." Plato.
"We live the death of the immortals, they live ours." Heraclitus.
The point is that death is not finite, it is not a horror to be feared. That is why Death wears her ankh and her spiral (eternal coil) eye liner.
Death is beautiful, yet it is not to be desired above all other things. Let no one say that this writer encourages suicide- even if his body be marked by death. Quite the opposite.
When death is not feared, life can be lived more thoroughly. 'Tis a curse of this materialist age that we fear death so. We ought to know what the Vikings and the Samurai knew, that when we loose the fear of death, we gain a great deal from life.
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