To ask “What is Visionary Tattoo?” we must first ask, “What is Visionary Art?”.  In short “Visionary art begins by listening to the inner voices and inner perception of the soul.”  It is art made in a spiritual space.  Where the art is not the end product, but the tool which is used to open your mind and spirit to what is beneath the surface of any canvas.  Visionary art is a guide to the esoteric, or the hidden.  Both artist and viewer are finding their own individual truths through the image before them.

Classic artists such as: William Blake, Salvador Dali’, Hieronymus Bosch depict timeless images applicable to anyone no matter culture, religion, or age.

Today Alex Grey is largely responsible for the spread of Visionary art into the Tattoo world.  He has opened the doors of his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors to tattoo artists and has collaborated to creat Visionary Tattoo.  This method of transportation, transformation, healing, and spiritual awakening happening directly on the body, brings that person in direct contact with the art.

Using Visionary art on a client allows them to be directly transformed, both literally and energetically.  The body is altered, and if we allow that experience to take use to a higher state,  and the images we choose become us and transform us.  Visionary tattoo can be used for healing, strengthening, paying respects, embodying the spirit of an animal or other guiding force.  It becomes a meditation, moving past physical discomfort to achieve something greater, to open to something more than our mundane everyday experiences.  The act of tattooing is sacred, and when the artist and client alike treat it that way, the tattoo becomes a reminder of the greatness one finds during this journey.

I believe “it is the role of the artist to serve humanity like the ferryman Charon, leading his charges between two worlds.”

That being said, I am now a licensed Tattoo Artist and really want to experience some sacred tattooing with people, so if anyone has ideas or dreams they want to embody, please send your thoughts my way! 

Leah