Author: heidelbergerwohnen

The modern age of Anime arrive in Japan in the 1960s, and over the course of the next decade or so boomed into the giant robot, space battle genre bender that we would soon recognize as the anime of today.

Evolving over the next 30 years or so, it reached a peak where it could begin to overtake and become an integral part of other cultures, much like the Hollywood of the 1930s quickly grew to encompass the rest of the world and inform their pop culture. In the same manner, American pop culture becomes increasingly informed by the trends and cult response to anime.

Anime first appeared in the US market in the 60s with shows like Kimba the White Lion and Astroboy. However, the national consciousness as to where these shows came from as well as the poor marketing of the shows made them forgettable and rather than a jumping in point, they act as a nostalgic reminder.

When Speed Racer arrived, the beginnings of a true consciousness that Japan was creating something new and exciting began to set in. The popularity of Speed Racer was never that of its American contemporaries, but it created in a set fanbase the willingness to devour newer offerings later on in Starblazers and Robotech (a convoluted perversion of multiple animes, but still a relative success in the states). Still, the affect was mostly underground.

In the 1980s, the introduction of Beta and VHS made it possible to join together with friends and watch more varying forms of anime. Truly it was the technological revolutions of the coming years that would make it truly possible for anime to perforate the American entertainment bubble. When Akira arrived in 1989, the effect was palpable. Receiving only a limited American screen release, few saw it in initial release, but the copying of VHS tapes and word of mouth made it something of a cult sensation. Those that knew of Akira were fans for life, eagerly awaiting their chance to partake more and more of the growing trends out of Japan.

For Japan’s part, this era was a period of major expansion, a veritable boom in the business. The 1980s saw the success of shows like Gundam and Dragon Ball overgrow the national consciousness and become runaway sensations. The explosion of the manga industry before hand, with serializations of works by Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo in the early 80s simmered in the youth of Japan and finally seeing the commercial possibilities of these works, creating in the process a major conglomerate of companies in the Akira Committee to bring the massive budget of Akira to fruition.

By the 90s anime was the mainstream in Japan, and the result was the ramping up of production and increased output of shows. In part because of the simple, streamlined art style, multiple artist were able to work on a single project and create on episode a week for years at a time, resulting in monumental runs such as the case of Dragonball (156 episodes) and Dragonball Z (276 episodes). The ability to serialize and turn a story into something that millions of youths would tune into each and every week made companies billions (of yen) and secured the kinds of commercial sponsorships and funding necessary to undertake incredible projects that would require vast sums of money to complete.

Back in America, a few executives were beginning to see the effect these shows were having in Japan. Slowly and very carefully they began taking the most popular, Dragonball Z and Sailormoon for example and finding timeslots very early in the day, before the daily retinue of American cartoons, testing the waters of marketability. In 1995, the trickle of anime into the states was just that, a relative trickle. Sailormoon aired every morning in syndication, but chopped up and missing key seasons to relate the endings of important storylines. Dragonball Z ran an equally mild run early on Saturdays in syndication that was abruptly cut when the rights to the show were lost by the initial company and purchased by Funimation.

All the while, works from Japanese masters like Hayao Miyazaki were being overlooked, passing unnoticed through limited release in the states, while making him a God of his craft in Japan. All the while companies like Manga, Funimation, and Viz were buying up licenses and releasing little known, untraceable shows that no one knew the origin of. The shows were treated poorly, often dubbed and cut up to match American audiences. Viz even launched the first Anime magazine in 1993 with Animerica, primarily reviewing their own products but still giving a view of the culture that no one knew anything about.

But, in 1995, the release of the shows in America along with the premiere and rave reviews of Neon Genesis Evangelion in Japan, Otaku interest abroad began to spike. Otaku is a bid of a misnomer as it’s a bit of an insult in Japan, a mean spirited way to call someone a nerd. Here though, it generally means a purveyor of Japanese pop-culture and with the Otaku so in style right now it’s less of an insult than a clique. The import and fan subbing of shows began in earnest via VHS editing software that few if anyone had access to. The early 90s was a time of massive growth of interest in the little known import of Anime though, and the American marketplace wasn’t slow to react.

In 1997, television networks made broad sweeping moves to bring shows to the mainstream. The Sci-Fi channel had always had a small niche in its latenight line up for cult classics like Vampire Hunter D, but Warner Bros finally brought the genre to primetime. Funimation finally got their licensing figured out and Dragonball Z saw its triumphant return to the Cartoon Network, with new episodes to follow a year and a half later. And in 1998, a little known video game for the Game Boy exploded in the American market, bringing along with it its entire arsenal of marketing ploys, including the overwhelmingly childish, but enormously popular Pokemon anime. Finally, children across the nation were gluing themselves to the television set as earnestly as their Japanese counterparts had for nearly a decade before hand.

Miyazaki’s new film played to better reception, receiving a proper release via Miramax. Princess Mononoke was a success in the terms of the time, even receiving the coveted two thumbs up (let alone a review at all) from Siskel and Ebert. Films began to arrive in America more liberally, still finding limited release, but release at least. And the shows began to pour in. At the time, the fansub scene was more or less the only way to get access to some of the more obscure titles being released in Japan. But as the market boomed, so did the licensing by major companies, and it actually started to become illegal to fansub certain shows because they might be released by a company eventually.

Thus began the final and full assimilation of Japanese pop culture into American. The DVD format sped up the process, as more episodes of a show could be packed into a disc than a VHS and production costs plummeted, removing a lot of the financial risk of an untested foreign product in the American marketplace. Cartoon Network debuted its Toonami afternoon cartoon slot, in which they featured anime that had been around for a little while, but managed to appeal to a much larger demographic and spread the word about these great story driven cartoons from across the ocean. An entire generation grew into the growing popularity and became entranced by the epic storylines, amazing storytelling and ability to show in a cartoon what many considered adult themes and much more mature perspectives on things like competition and personal success. The Japanese ability to cross genre and the extremely high production values that started to go into shows made in the late 90s and beyond meant amazing shows that appealed not just to children but to adults and beyond.

What started as a crossover, slowly began to actually change the way in which American’s marketed their television to children. Shows with more adult content appeared, and in some cases emulated the Japanese format. The writers at Pixar crafted brilliant, more maturely themed cartoons without the silly musicals of Disney past, and Disney even dissolved their tried format in favor of more mature, complete stories. The devolution of American quality in cartoons though as they attempted to match the output meant even more Japanese entries in the market. Now, if you turn on Fox kids in the morning you’ll find over half of the shows on are animes. And Cartoon Network still presents multiple entries themselves, with more mature offerings in their Adult Swim block late at night. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animation in 2003 and South Park, the quintessential American barometer of cultural trends at first knocked the trend with their Chinpokemon episode, later to embrace it (while still mocking it) via changing their own art style in the Weapons episode just a couple years ago.

Nowadays, you’ll find anime oriented t-shirts everywhere, an entire aisle devoted to DVD releases in Best Buy (compared to the one row only seven years ago) and the success of the Anime Network, a channel solely devoted to Anime programming. Magazines like Newtype, a Japanese trade magazine for the Anime industry is now translated and released in America every month with previews of new shows, and American directors like James Cameron are looking to direct live action versions of manga like Battle Angel Alita.

Now, we see new releases from Japan within six months, and the fansub community has to scramble to keep up with what’s legal and what’s not legal to offer via their online services. The internet itself has made it a huge community, where a show can be recorded on Japanese television, ripped and subbed, then uploaded within a couple hours for the world to view. There’s no lay over, and new shows are immediately available. And it’s evident in the universities too. Japanese is one of the most sought after languages, filling up immediately with a yard long waiting list every year, and more sections being added every year.

Japanese pop culture managed to tap a certain perspective that American counterparts were unable to do themselves and in so doing, cornered and grew in a market that few thought existed in America.

Since art is a form of expression, it is not only limited to digital arts, paintings, music and many others but it can also be marked on the skin. Tattoo, the most common form of body art is not all glitz and self expression but it also entails pain. However, many enthusiasts and even tattoo artists admits that pain can be addictive that’s why they keep going back to the tattoo parlor.

When getting yourself a tattoo, you should prepare yourself for the pain it causes. Some would think that it is like an insect bite or a burning pain depending on the person’s pain threshold. But in areas where there is less flesh like the ankles, neck or wrist, the pain is more intense as compared to getting tattoo on the usual site.

Since getting it is quite painful, you have to ready yourself first before undergoing the procedure. Getting information and preparing you on what to expect avoids anxiety and nervousness which can cause more pain. Mind setting lessens the pain perceived.

Here’s how to reduce tattoo pain:

1. Avoid drinking alcohol prior the procedure

As a part of the preparation, never get yourself drunk when getting a tattoo. Although in movies and stories they mix getting drunk and inked, it is not a good idea because it can lead to more bleeding which can eventually cause more pain.

2. Have a ready water to drink during the process

Another way on how to reduce pain is to stay hydrated in the whole process. Artists suggest their customers to be hydrated at least 36 hours before the getting inked since dehydration can cause problems and worst, you can faint as it progresses.

3. Do the breathing exercise

Deep steady breathing is always a good practice to avoid pain. Breath in, breath out. Talk to the artist on how he can help you with this.

4. Pause for a break

When the pain becomes too much or you think you can’ handle it, you can always ask the Artist to have a break and pause for a while. This is also suggested since lying, sitting or doing any position can be tiring.

5. Divert your attention

Also, try to talk to your friend or watch a TV show or listen to good music or even talk to the artist to divert your attention and forget about the needle pinching into your skin.

6. Take pain reliever

Finally, when the procedure is done, it is suggested to get pain medication like NSAIDs or mefenamic acid from the drugstore. These are over-the-counter drugs so no prescription is required.

To effectively reduce tattoo pain, and avoid problems, do not lean on the side where you got a tattoo or even scratch them. It is not suggested to put balm or creams on the area because it can cause irritation that can lead to infection.

Translation is the interpretation of the meaning of a source text and the subsequent creation of an equivalent text in other words, transmission of information into another language.

This definition seems to explain accurately the essence of the so-called science. If you’re reading this, then probably you most likely either a written or oral translator and you have to understand this classic tackle that continually faces almost every translator: you understand the context of a source text, but you are not able to find the equivalent in your own language; you are also not allowed to change the context of a text and your main aim is to find the solution and find appropriate words in your native language.

From this point of view, everything depends on the text that is in front of you. Legal document or a patent must be translated with precision surgery, while at the same time sales presentations, marketing documents, as well as artworks must sound naturally on a target language.

To give a translation natural-sounding requires a certain linguistic skills, understanding of language and its processes. Translation can hardly be called a science, but it is rather the inner music of language, a stream of phrases that are connected into the text, with a precise set of terminology.

Someone still believes that translation must be considered as an exact science. They say that the main thing is professional skills and knowledge, but not a subtle perception or sense of language. The science alleges it is a properly prepared and trained mind that can easily transform one language to another – like a computer.

Translators can be divided into two groups: those who always use logic, concentrating on the original text, and those who do it with a sense, focusing on a language. It also applies to consecutive and simultaneous interpreters. There are technical translators who possess the ability to translate a technical text and make it sounds quite naturally and translators who literary translate the text that adhere to the original context and create a huge number of pages, hardly amenable to reading and understanding (the last statement applies in particular to translation of literary texts in Chinese or Japanese languages in Europe).

The process of translation and interpretation reflects how it is complex to transmit communication messages. And especially if you are doing interpretation, being a person who wants to facilitate communication and understanding between the two other people, you might want to translate something that was not said: the “hidden” meaning of words or something that someone did not say out loud, for example, because of uncertainty. Without exaggeration I can say that you, as an interpreter, can influence the fate of nations. A good example of what you’ll find in a novel by Javier Marias “White Heart» (A Heart So White). Read it if you are interested in the literature on translation activities.

Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko or Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956), was a Russian artist, sculptor, graphic designer, and photographer. One of the co-founders of ‘Constructivism’ and ‘Russian Design,’ he started his career as a painter, with ‘Abstraction’ as his forte. Dipped heavily in ‘Constructivism’ and ‘Productivism,’ his works were sophisticated, thoughtful, and some were even weird. At the beginning, he got abstract ideas from natural forms, which he would finally condense into geometric forms, with the help of compass and ruler. The geometric elements in Rodchenko’s paintings had all the minute details and were mathematically accurate. His first most famous painting was “Dance, an Objectless Composition,” created in 1915.

This painting was Alexander’s pre-revolution work, purely ‘Abstract’ and ‘Non-Objective,’ far more dynamic and influenced by the ‘Suprematism’ of Kazimir Malevich. A ‘Suprematist’ work was composed of geometric shapes, mostly circles and squares. Rodchenko always portrayed bold thoughts in his paintings. This can concretely be seen in his most famous painting, “Dance, An Objectless Composition.” The painting displayed Aleksander’s inclination for ‘European Modernism,’ ‘Italian Futurists’ to be specific. ‘Futurists’ always believed in moving speedily towards the promising future. They had a strong liking for depicting motion in their paintings.

Though, “Dance, an Objectless Composition” is a ‘Futuristic’ work however, coincidently Aleksander Rodchenko anatomizes the subject. The painting appears as his emotional outburst. In consonance with the title (Dance, An ‘Objectless’ Composition), no recognizable dancer can be seen in this painting. Only a divine spark of dance comes across. Probably the disturbing elements of this painting reflect the state of unrest of the then Russian society, which was moving close to revolution. Alexander endeavored to paint emotions and feelings. “Dance, An Objectless Composition,” appears roughly painted, with white background, where pencil lines were drawn, colored using primary & sub-primary colors, and beautifully spaced. The three components lines, color, and space played a vital role in Rodchenko’s painting.

After “Dance, An Objectless Composition,” at 22, Alexander Rodchenko drew his other most famous painting “Black on Black” in 1918. This painting was a good example of ‘Constructivism,’ blending art, design, science, and engineering together to strike an ultimate ‘supremacy of feeling.’ “Black on Black” exhibited an effective use of black and brown colors. It dealt with the physical qualities of painting, including the affect different pigments and mixtures had on the appearance of paint on canvas. In 1921, Alexander Rodchenko reduced most of his work and logically concluded it. This time his paintings were exhibited in ‘5×5=25’ exhibition, in Moscow, showing his three famous canvases:

o Pure Red Color

o Pure Yellow Color

o Pure Blue Color

Is an unhealthy lifestyle your responsibility or the health care system's? Well, as an advocate for healthy lifestyles, I believe that each individual must take responsibility for their choices, actions and their overall health. That being said, this simply means that health is a matter of choice. When you are not healthy because of your consumption of fatty foods, high-sugar drinks, smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages (in excess) or not exercising regularly, you are contributing to your unhealthy lifestyle. With the freedom of choice comes the responsibility to choose wisely.

When you choose to turn your unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one, you reduce your chances of getting sick, you reduce your visits to the doctor and you get a much better chance of preventing future diseases. My equation for turning your unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one is:

(+ CHOICES ) + (+ ACTIONS ) = (+ HEALTH )

To be successful … it must start with YOU.

Then, we must turn our attention to education. Education is the key to changing the thought patterns of the younger North American population from unhealthy lifestyle choices to healthy lifestyle choices and actions. General health is on a downward spiral and in order to stop it from getting worse, we must educate our children today so that they can attain a level of expertise in the care of their own health.

These suggestions may seem simple but did you know that only 3% of Americans maintain a healthy lifestyle? The research is published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine and the 4 criteria that define a healthy lifestyle are:

1. Not smoking
2. Healthy weight
3. Eating healthy – minimum 5 vegetables and fruit per day
4. Exercising 30 minutes, 5 times per week

So step up, take responsibility for your choices and those of your children and take appropriate action. Leading a healthy lifestyle should be the necessary expectancy of a much larger percentage of our society. There are huge benefits to turning your unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one such as increased life expectancy, reduced disease risk, reduced medical costs and improved quality of life.

Ever wondered how to create those realistic scars, wounds and skin effects seen in the movies? You may think it’s beyond the average persons capability to create anything as convincing as Brad Pitt’s aged skin effects in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button‘ or the gaping cuts and wounds so evident in ‘Zombieland‘. Not so. Liquid latex, the main constituent of any realistic skin effect, is relatively inexpensive and readily available, both on-line and at most craft stores. Be sure to read the label before buying liquid latex for skin application and avoid any brands that state ‘Not for cosmetic use’ or ‘Not suitable as body paint’.

Before You Start

Before using liquid latex on your skin you should always patch-test a small area of the skin before beginning your project. Dab a small amount on the back of your hand to check for any allergic reaction. If you experience any discomfort or a rash appears you most likely have a latex intolerance and should discontinue using it. Most people are not sensitive to latex and should be OK but a small percentage of people have reported adverse reactions so it’s always advisable to check first to be on the safe side.

The other thing to bear in mind at this stage is that liquid latex will bond to fabric and hair; and it does not come out. Once it comes into contact with your clothes or your carpet it stays there… forever. The only way to remove liquid latex from hair is to pull it out, which usually brings the hair off the skin with it. You should also ensure it does not come into contact with your eyes or mouth. Needless to say, children should be supervised at all times when liquid latex is around. So a little preparation is necessary but it’s well worth it as there’s lot’s of fun to be had with liquid latex.

When you first open the latex container you will notice a fairly strong smell. That’s the ammonia used to preserve liquid latex. Even though ammonia is added to liquid latex in minute doses (approx. 0.3%, depending on the brand) it’s advisable to have some ventilation in the area you’re working. For best results use a foam make -up sponge or foam brush to apply the latex. Whichever applicator you decide to go with it will need discarding after use. Soaking the applicator in soapy water prior to use will extend it’s usage but once liquid latex dries on the applicator not even turpentine will save it from ending up in the bin.

How to Make a Fake Wound

Dab a little liquid latex on the skin, remembering to keep it away from your eyes, hair and mouth; and wait a few minutes until dry. Then gently peel a little of the dried latex away from the skin. This will give the appearance of torn or blistered skin depending on how you manipulate it. The more coats you apply the deeper the appearance of the wound. Drying time for each coat is usually around five minutes or so and can be sped up using gentle heat from a hair-dryer. Each coat should be allowed to dry thoroughly before applying the next or the wound will take much longer to dry. Liquid latex is available in a wide range of colors but is mostly sold as ‘clear’ or ‘transparent’ therefore only minimal decoration is usually required to match the end result to individual skin tone. Red food coloring can also be added to give the wound a fresh or infected look.

How to Create Aged Skin effects

Place a small piece of tissue paper on a non-porous surface, such as greaseproof or tracing paper, and coat it evenly with liquid latex. After a minute or so place the tissue paper on the desired area of your skin. Using your chosen applicator, cover the tissue paper with more liquid latex and it will begin to adhere to the skin. As the latex dries it will begin to shrink, causing the skin to contract and form a wrinkled effect. When thoroughly dry, talc & make-up can be used to decorate the area until the desired effect is achieved.

How to Make a Fake Scar

To form the base of your scar take a 1/4″ strip of cotton wool and twist it into a long straw shape. Apply some latex to the skin where you want the scar to appear and place the cotton wool on top. Let it sit for a few minutes until it sticks to the skin. With your foam brush or applicator apply two or three even coats of liquid latex over the cotton wool (remembering to allow the latex to dry in between coats) until the desired result is achieved. You will notice the end result has a rubbery, skin-like texture and seems realistic to the touch. Make-up, foundation & eye-shadow pigment can then be applied to blend the scar to your individual skin-tone.

Liquid latex is easily removed from the skin by peeling away. As already explained, if liquid latex has been applied over hair it is likely to pull the hair off the skin which can cause some discomfort.

So there we have it. Now there’s nothing to stop you turning into a zombie or fooling your friends with your own realistic home made wounds.

In 1995, president of Battlecade, Rick Blume coined this term of Mix Martial arts. It is a combat sport and consists of techniques and skills from different martial art and non-martial art sports. This amalgam makes MMA very special. It consists of grappling as well as striking techniques.

Pankration was a mixed form of martial arts consisting of striking as well as grappling techniques and this sport was a part of ancient Olympics. The strategies of Pankration are very much similar to those of the modern form of MMA. In 1899 a MMA combat was held in London in which European and Asian fighting styles were combined together. It was known as Bartistu.

In the United States, first MMA championship was held in 1993 and according to some experts it has evolved more since then as compared to the past 700 years of its history. It is becoming popular day by day mostly because of the fact that it doesn’t merely consist of techniques and skills from one type of combat sport. Amalgamation of grappling with striking techniques makes it a very important form of combat sports.

There are many positive aspects of mixed martial art. Its pay per views are popular and are showed to general audience. In this way people get to know about martial art. There is an increase in audience of this sport, hence making it popular day by day. With the increasing popularity of MMAs, it is being developed and evolved on scientific basis.

Martial art training methods are now being based on scientific and modern techniques. Everyone usually accepts and like a sport with scientific explanation. So, scientific approach can be very helpful for us in various ways. It can help us in getting rid of the traditional exercises which are not of much use and have no scientific explanation. Useless exercises are of no good and can even harm the body.

There are certain negative aspects of increasing popularity of MMA too. First of all, it makes people think that all the styles of martial art are violent and have no other use. Moreover, increasing popularity of mixed martial art will bring drugs into this sport too. These drugs have negative effects on human body and spirit of the sport usually dies by using them.

Filipino sculptures have undergone an evolution in shape, form, content and mediums. Like other cultures the first sculptures created by Philippine native cultures were primitive. These primitive sculptures utilized native materials like stone and clay. The sculptures created depicted normal life and acts of worship. Colors were limited in these primitive sculptures.

The transitional sculpture movements in the Philippines between the primitives and the modern movements were influenced by outside cultures and internal evolutions. In the middle of the transition between the primitive and the most modern sculptures was the 19th century art movement. The hero of this sculpture movement was Guillermo Tolentino. His most popular and well known piece was the Bonifacio Monument. This monument was a tribute piece to the Filipino revolution that was fought against the Spanish in 1896. Tolentino completed this multi-figure sculpture in 1933 and it became the cornerstone of his career.

One of the latest artistic movements in Filipino sculptures is the modernist movement. This movement has had at least three generations. Michael Cacnio belongs to the third generation of the Filipino modernist movement. His sculptures are done in brass and they echo the heart and soul of Filipino heritage and culture. Some of his contemporaries include Abdulmari Imao and Benhur Villlanueva.

If you are interested in sculptures then you may want to browse through various works created by Filipino sculptors like Cacnio, Imao and Villanueva. These artists offer sculptures that range from intimate conversation pieces to large monumental works. When selecting a piece to add to your personal collection look for colors, textures and themes that appeal to you and that will match the décor of your home or office.

People will think it is fun working with art, especially if we are arranging something for ourselves. Colors, clean lines and bold prints are very interesting to be mixed. If you are planning to redecorate your entire home or only a room, it is useful to know about the basic concepts of art deco interior design.

The first concepts you need to pay attention when arranging yourself is geometric shapes and clean lines. And you should know that it consists of well-defined lines, sweeping curves similar with the streamline design of planes. Besides the well-defined lines, there is also other popular design using of geometric shapes, angular blocky, include the influence of ancient Aztec temples like trapezoids and shapes.

As the influence of industrial power, materials such as stainless steel and textures enter the art deco. It affects people’s vision on nature and creates such things like lacquered wood. From this influence, it is growing and the expression of the space of a room becomes more creative.

The stainless steel and textures also influence the use of clean lines that give sense of stark and opulent at the same time. In the industrial time, other materials also become popular such as marble, ebony, and glass. If you want a glossy surface, there are many materials in art deco available for this sense.

Next, art deco interior design developed with the influence of many other cultures. Not only in one country but also brought many effects from other country with its own characteristic. The result is more materials involved in this art and give you many options if you want to redecorate interior design living room.

There are also more fabrics and softer materials like sharkskin, zebra patterns, or soft elegant silks affect people’s vision in the art. So, it is possible if you want to get a situation of warm pacific waters, savannahs of Africa or the beauty of Chinese and Japanese. With a little imagination and creativity combining those materials, you are able to apply art deco as well as possible.

Tattoo aficionados, curiosity seekers, and skeptics wanting to receive progressive insights that can positively transform their lives and shift perspectives about the world of sacred tattoo art, need a doorway to that deeper understanding. We take a relevant journey through uncharted waters in revealing insights that take Dr. Masaru Emoto's concept of molecular restructuring of water in response to vibrational stimuli, to a whole new level in how the human body temple, mostly made of water, responds the same with intent sacred tattoos. This realization supports the rising needs of those seeking empowerment in these shifting times and people who want to integrate more spirituality into their lives, in a person authentic and meaningful way, through sacred body art.

The more I experience the effects of what I find to be life-changing information, the more I feel driven to share those discoveries with others. This is what took place after over 13 years and 100 plus hours of tattoo work, leading me to share what I found to be substantially empowering and healing. The more I saw the valuable gifts as integrated pieces to the bigger picture support of the new collective gifts, it became clear there was something powerful being revealed that others could also benefit very from. Personally learning how sacred tattoos were potent transformational tools made me realize the significance of what this information held and it was something that felt like a disservice to keep to myself.

Aiding a new paradigm of experience that mirrors the New Earth energy, we are able to take tattooing – something seemingly simple, yet vastly rich in ancient history, but misinterpreted through enculturation, and exposes a plethora of provocative insights blended with practicality in eye-opening ways. People are learning how the vehicle of symbolic, intentive tattoos can alter a person's total life experience – a concept that Dr. Masaru Emoto's finds in "The Hidden Messages in Water" unveiled, but now through sacred tattoos is being expounded on with a unique perspective of the body as a portal.

It's the same process that he discusses – that of altering our and others' genetic / DNA code with symbolically potent symbols and images that have high vibrational intents. As we are mostly made of water and water has been proven to shift its molecular structure in mirroring response to positive thoughts, feelings and images, so then our body responds the same way with sacred, intentive tattoo images, specifically and energetically chosen, created , and placed.

A recent survey has revealed that 1/3 of people getting tattoos choose designs reflecting their spiritual or religious beliefs and first timers are especially prone to this type on first go around. I'm seeing it more and more all around me. The more energy is shifting collectively, the more people shift awareness to more conscious and intent ways, drawing them to want to bring more of their spirituality and beliefs into prominence manifestation in their lives in ways that are meaningful to them – a way of mirroring the energy and aligning with the new choices and life experiences that they are having because of their joyful awareness.

Sacred tattoos can act as tangible means to access portals of experience at great energetic depth, helping you to embrace intent, can allow you to use your body's canvas as an artistic portal to help open, heal, support, strengthen, empower, and create greater flow to anything you intend – functioning in therapeutic, talismanic, and spiritual ways, to name a few. And this effect can both be experienced by the viewer and wearer, helping to energetically transform on deeper levels of consciousness.

As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words and images are universal in how they are received. It's the same as if you view a painting or see a photo and it moves you to feel something, or stirs something inside, or speaks to you in a way you can not verbalize, but you just feel changed by it at a very deep , core level. Take that experience blended with potent intentand energy, ancient symbols and powerful universal images, along with a person intuited and lovingly woven design matching your vibrational desires, and you instantly increase the impactful, individual experience of what is being viewed or worn as your purposeful, sacred tattoo.

It's a way that you embrace an energetic intention that alters your personal experience and helps align you with the energy of the now. Again, just like Dr. Emoto's finds with water shared how when you say and feel negative, low-vibrational, conditional and judgmental things saying saying and feeling positive, high-vibrational, unconventional and nonjudgmental things, this has a direct result on the molecular structure of the water it is applied to, either producing gorgeous crystalline snowflake forms or discombobulated, frenzied structures.

The same takes place with your human body temple, composed of mostly water, when you place intent, symbolic, high vibe, potently meaningful images and symbols on your skin. Your DNA structure changes to integrate and reflect the energy of it. If what you are considering is not something you want to portray, emanate, physically manifest, or experience in your life directly or indirectly, then you may want to reconsider, as it will alter things molecularly and energetically, drawing in and mirroring the direct result in your life. So it is vital to choose with conscious awareness what you decide to place on your skin, likely for the extent of this walk of life, as what you seed will blossom a mirroring birth into your life experience. You deserve your whole-hearted presence in the decisions that form your life personally and collectively.