In August of 2009 I turned 18, finally old enough to get my first tattoo. It had always been in my belief that if you get anything permanently inked into your skin, it should have deep, personal meaning so you never have to regret it. Three days after my 18th birthday, I knew exactly what I wanted to get on my skin for the rest of my life.
For the months following my 18th birthday, my boyfriend at the time developed an interest in reading Norse runes. Rune reading is similar to tarot cards, but engraved on these runes are symbols reflecting letters of the alphabet, each with a different meaning to be determined based off of the type of reading the person gets. My ex would give readings to his friends, often for serious issues going on in their lives. At the time I had problems as well that I couldn’t seem to figure out, and figured, what the Hell. I’ll ask the runes.
The problem: I was openly transgendered and strongly desired to transition, but my ex was opposed to the idea of transitioning. Whenever I brought it up, he would get angry with me, insisting I should just be happy with my body and that he couldn’t have ever loved me if I was born a man. I was deeply conflicted because I loved him, but knew that I would be suffering for my whole life if I couldn’t transition. More or less, I just decided to have a rune reading for fun. Of course, my question to the runes was whether I should sacrifice my happiness for this guy or if I should just transition. I refused to tell him before or after the reading what my question was so he wouldn’t change the interpretation.
The rune he drew was Dagaz.
Dagaz
According to runemaker.com, Dagaz means “A breakthrough. A new dawn or a major change of direction. Achievement and prosperity, a successful conclusion to a passage. Darkness is behind you because a new day has begun.”
According to alizons-psychic-secrets.com, Dagaz means “concerned with dramatic change, breakthrough and the dawning of a new day. It can show a change in direction that will lead to better times ahead.”
When my ex gave me the interpretation, he also indicated that the answer to my question was “change”. The answer excited me, and I took it to mean that I should go ahead and transition. Granted, I knew it would be a long time before I could transition, and I wanted Dagaz tattooed on my to be a reminder that some day I will be able to fully transition and that then I can be happy with myself.
My first tattoo
That picture was taken about two days after my tattoo was done. It’s been a year and a half, and I still don’t regret my tattoo. Funny enough, when I finally told my ex what question I asked the runes, he got angry with my and insisted that the rune means “waiting”.
Anyway, that is my tattoo story.
