I woke up starving. I have a craving for pancakes so I find myself back at El Gato Negro eagerly anticipating my chocolate banana pancakes making their way to my corner. The sun is shining and the ocean wind is ripping through the streets and through the blue painted bars on the front of the cafe. As I try to piece together how my day will unfold I remember that last night I had a meeting with a really friendly tattoo artist in town and we got to talking about doing a piece on me. I have been keeping an eye open for a tattoo artist I could relate to and inspire to do a piece on me. I felt good about this guy, who is coincidentally called... Guy.
We brainstormed a bit, and I picked his brain to gauge how he views the art he does. I like his style and I was really impressed with his shading techniques and facial features. He has some cool inspiring views of the art he does and also the art he plans to do. We exchanged ideas about what inspires us each as artist and I told him about a tattoo project I've been interested in for a while. I want an Archangel Michael tattoo and I wanted to see a version he would come up with having complete creative control so I supplied him with a few examples of various artistic depictions of this guardian angel and we talked about what he represents. I hope to see something amazing today when we meet again.
I began to remember what was taught to me by my father about Archangel Michael. Michael actually means "Who is like God" I knew this as my middle name and the name of my father is Michael. For quite some time now I mistakenly depicted that to mean the name Michael meant "someone who is like god" or a "god-like person" but I quickly realised that that translation is completely opposite to the proper. It's funny the different meanings you can derive from simple words. The traditional Hebrew definition poses it as a rhetorical question, "Who is like God?" as if anyone could suggest they are like god. I find this a timely revelation on my part as I just finished reading Ishmael and from what I gather the premise of the teachings of that book are to trust the gods and to realise that man does not have the power to decide who lives and who dies. We are not like gods in that respect we must be humble and accept the fate of all species. Life and death cycles are in the hands of the gods. Man isn't here to conquer the earth we are here to steward over it and maintain its perfect harmony. Our 10,000 year history of civilisation is one long drawn-out failure to recognise that simple fact.
Armed with these contemplations I am eager to see what Guy draws up.
