dark world

Dark World is part of the same idea as Light World.

It displays the world tree of Shamanism, that spans from the Upperworld (branches) into the Midworld (trunk) and through to the Underworld (roots). Each world is displayed as an individual panel as part of the overall design. The format for the panel shapes is designed to show midworld as the axis point but also as a sphere, representitive of the shape of the earth, terra firma. The Upper and Lower worlds streach out wider to show that they are infinite in size (though Midworld is as well, depending on who you ask and your personal cosmology).

Dark World for me is the dead or dying aspects of Upper, Middle, and Lower worlds. The rising moon in Dark World represents the fact that light, while harder to find, exists in the dark places as well. However, it’s a waning cresent, my birth moon phase and a phase of the moon of fading light. The stark barren tree is to show that Dark World is just that, dark! It is not intended to be light, fluffy or alive. The ground is barren, the tree’s crown empty of leaves. The roots, paths, through the underworld are dark blue, the color of midnight. Hard to find your way across, easy to fall into darkness. You really can’t tell if the tree and lands above are dead or merely in winter, which is often the case in the darkness. In such darkness you often can’t tell which end is up, nor whether the darkness will prevail. All you have is that sliver of moon, if your lucky enough to even have that.

technical info
dimensions: 6” x 3”
tattooed at: Unique Ink, Marion IL
tattooed: October 15th, 2003, 2 hours

photos taken: October 17, 2003