Tattoos can often appear in our minds as just art – casual designs chosen for personal style or quiet rebellion. But what happens when the marking of skin is approached as a ceremony of transformation, as a living ritual that threads together personal growth, pain, and purpose?
In a recent conversation, Tattoo Pathway Founder Mark Nara spoke with Lee Trew, one of his clients. Lee arrived at the process without any previous tattoos and no strong desire to be part of the mainstream “cool factor” of tattooing. Instead, he came seeking something deeper, something that could speak to a long-held sense of personal meaning. His journey illuminates how tattoos can become both signposts of inner growth and catalysts for greater self-understanding.
Hearing the Call
Lee recalls the first time he felt a definite “yes” in his body at the idea of intentional tattooing. When his wife mentioned an artist in Mullumbimby who approached tattoos ceremonially, something sparked. He’d always found tattoos appealing in theory – admiring the flowing shapes and colours on other people’s skin – but had never found the inner conviction to have one himself. It never moved beyond the realm of “that would be cool” to “this is mine.”
“When she said there’s this guy who does intentional tattooing as a ceremony, I was like, ding!” says Lee. “That’s for me.”
He didn’t know what it would look like or precisely why he wanted it – only that something inside was lighting up. This felt like a familiar pull, one he’d experienced before when searching for transformative experiences. It reminded him of his childhood in the UK, attending “forest school camps,” where an ordinary camping trip would blossom into something richer: a taste of a different way of living, a brush with a more natural and communal existence. In those camp “villages,” Lee felt joy, belonging, and a rewilding of the human spirit. It was a steady reminder that life could be lived differently. Now, decades on, that yearning re-emerged in the context of tattooing.
A Continuum of Transformation
Lee’s path has wound through many forms of transformation: from participating in nature-based camps as a child, to practicing psychotherapy, to exploring vision quests – four-day wilderness solos designed to peel back layers of the self. Each of these experiences involved going beneath surface appearances, reconnecting to something elemental. The idea of a tattoo as a form of ceremony fit neatly into this continuum.
“There’s this sort of a golden thread … I think all lives have it, and sometimes we get to glimpse it really clearly and we feel like we’re really in the flow of that golden path” says Lee.
The suggestion of a ceremonial tattoo reawakened that golden thread. It stood among the many tools and experiences Lee had already embraced in his quest for meaning. The difference was that this time, the transformation would become visible on his body, permanently marked on his skin.
Aligning Intentions with Action
As Mark and Lee discussed, a meaningful tattoo naturally arises from a meaningful life. If someone yearns for an intentional, symbolic marking on their body, it often reflects how they’re already living, or seeking to live. Tattoos may, of course, spark the desire for greater intention in one’s life, but often they simply mirror a path already chosen.
“If you want a meaningful tattoo or an intentional tattoo, you need to be living a meaningful life … You need to be intentionally living because then the tattoo will just correlate.”
Lee’s life had been intentionally oriented for a long time. He wasn’t just dabbling in different practices; he was working as a psychotherapist, leading wilderness quests, and helping others weave deeper connections with themselves and the world. So when he came to the tattoo process, he arrived with a stable foundation. The ceremony of marking the skin would build upon an already rich inner landscape.
Pain as Sacrifice, Pain as Teacher
Before meeting Mark, Lee’s vague interest in tattoos had hovered around aesthetics – perhaps a large koi sleeve. Yet he never took it further, sensing a lack of genuine resonance. Traditional “cool” tattoos didn’t quite fit the tapestry of his life. When the idea of intentional ceremony emerged, it stood out as more than skin deep.
From the first email, Lee and Mark’s collaboration held the promise of something alive and evolving. Initially, Lee proposed a single eel curling around his hips and lower back, symbolising transitions and lineage. Mark suggested two eels for better symmetry and flow with the body. Lee, in an expansive “yes” phase, enthusiastically agreed, even if it meant more skin covered and more time under the needle.
“When you said two eels,” Lee recalls with a laugh, “I was still in that big yes. It was like, sure, even bigger. Let’s do it!”
Soon enough, the reality of the process landed. The pain of the needle against his skin was unlike anything he’d imagined.
“I was like, oh shit, what have I done actually? What did I say yes to?” Lee says, describing that first session. “My soul says yes and … suddenly it’s like, oh shit, this is what I’ve been lured into somehow.”
Lee’s first tattoo session was brutal. The gap between theory and reality, between idea and execution, confronted him with hard truths. He’d stepped into a ceremony unprepared for the intensity. He likened it to a vision quest: one can try to “set an angle” and anticipate hardships, but until you’re in it, you don’t know.
“It felt like scalpels going in,” he says. “I had to keep telling my body, ‘We want this, we signed up for this.’”
The sensation was far more intense than expected. Yet Lee discovered meaning in the discomfort:
“The eel metaphor for me was about commitment. … How badly do I want this? And then I got to use the pain as a way to mark that commitment … it felt like I was offering this as a sacrifice on the altar of what it represents.”
This experience taught him something important about life itself:
“If you change your relationship with pain, you change your relationship with life,” Lee reflects. The tattoo’s pain became a teacher – an ordeal that, once endured, provided insight into suffering, resilience, and the capacity to find purpose amidst challenge.
Afterwards, he felt a lingering rawness, even mild trauma symptoms that took a couple of weeks to settle. Yet he emerged with a new relationship to suffering, one that would inform his next experience of tattooing.
Shifting the Relationship to Pain
The second stage came about a year later. By then, Lee had integrated lessons from the eel tattoo. He’d also chosen a different symbol – flowers – for a different reason. This time, it was about gratitude, about the loving and celebratory aspect of existence. He wanted to honour the memory of his young daughter, who had passed away ten years earlier. This anniversary marked a shift from pain and resentment towards a profound thankfulness for the time they shared.
“The eel was the thousand-kilometre swim, the sacrifice,” Lee explains, “and the flowers were a softening, a fragrance, a lie of gratitude.”
Armed with insight from the first ordeal, Lee approached the pain differently. He vowed to feel every sensation fully, to accompany his body rather than abandon it. Instead of recoiling from the needle, he leaned into it
He decided he wouldn’t grit his teeth and force himself through pain as before. Instead, he sought a gentler way:
“I was like, I don’t want to be gritting my teeth and forcing myself through this. So what’s the alternative? … I’ll feel this with you,” Lee says. “Instead of trying to leave my body, I just said, no, I’ll be exactly with the sensation in this now moment.”
By choosing presence over escape, Lee found himself softening into the experience. Pain lost its harsh edge, and at times, he even felt warmth and closeness rather than distress. It was as if the suffering became a gateway to a deeper intimacy with himself.
Relational Ceremony
Lee initially assumed tattooing would be a solo ordeal, much like his vision quests out in the wilderness. But midway through the process, tensions arose around practicalities – time, money, progress – and Mark pressed pause. They talked openly about what was coming up.
In that conversation, Lee realised this was not a lone hero’s journey. Tattooing, when done with intention, is relational. It unfolds, as Lee puts it, “at the edge of the village.” He came to see that Mark was there not just as a craftsman, but as a partner in creating a meaningful outcome. This shift from isolation to connection made space for trust.
“I realised, oh, this is something we’re doing together … I was thinking of it as a solo process, but now it’s happening at the edge of the village … it’s relational,” Lee explains.
With that recognition, the dynamic opened, allowing Lee to relax and embrace the guidance and support Mark offered. The ceremony was not only in the markings but in the conversation, the mutual understanding, and the holding of space.
Cultural Layers and Reclamation
After completing the second piece, Lee noticed a subtle internal dialogue about societal expectations. Tattoos have often been perceived through lenses of stigma or criminality, a legacy of cultural shifts that tore the art from its indigenous, sacred roots.
Lee felt that he was reclaiming something older and deeper. Tattooing, once integrated into rituals and rites of passage, is being remembered and restored by people seeking meaning. Rather than symbols of rebellion or status, Lee’s tattoos mark transformation, gratitude, and connection.
“It felt like there’s this rewilding, this coming back into a tribe paradigm, coming back into a deep relationship with nature, coming back into this deep relationship with myself,” Lee says of his broader life’s journey—and the tattooing fits right in.
Lessons for a Broader Culture
Lee’s experiences underscore that tattooing can be so much more than ink on skin. It can be a teacher of how we handle pain, how we relate to others, how we navigate time, money, and expectations. It can bring up old wounds, test boundaries, and invite healing. It’s a journey of the body that mirrors journeys of the heart and spirit.
In a world that often emphasises speed and surface, approaching a tattoo as a ceremony asks us to slow down, reflect, and connect. It encourages us to trust skilled practitioners who understand that tattooing can be a container for growth, not just an aesthetic adornment. It invites us to rediscover old ways and weave them into modern contexts, rewilding not just our landscapes but our inner worlds.
From forest camps to vision quests to psychotherapeutic work, Lee’s path has always circled back to the question: How can I live more fully?
The ceremonial tattooing process offered another answer, another piece of the golden thread. It reminded him, and by extension, all of us, that sometimes we must embrace discomfort to transform it, find support where we expected isolation, and learn from the traditional cultural practices once lost to time.
The tattoos on his body now join that lineage of transformative experiences. They are visible symbols of what he has lived and learned, anchoring him more firmly to the values and truths he holds dear.
As each of us follows what we believe is “good” and true, we influence the cultural web. By engaging in practices like intentional tattooing –where we face suffering, choose symbols mindfully, and invite relational trust – we plant seeds for a healthier, more integrated cultural story.
Inviting the Village Back to the Fire
One can imagine a future where tattoos are openly understood as transformative rites. Perhaps they occur in community spaces, where elders and guides help younger people navigate their meanings. Perhaps conversations like the one between Mark and Lee will be commonplace, and everyone will understand that marking skin can be as profound as any pilgrimage or ceremony.
For now, each step in this direction counts. Lee’s journey affirms that even a single decision, like approaching a tattoo artist who works with intention, can ripple through one’s understanding of pain, belonging, and selfhood. And as others do the same, these ripples grow into waves, gradually reshaping cultural norms.
Finding Your Own Path
For anyone curious about this route, Lee’s story offers an invitation.
Just as he discovered a profound new relationship with pain and trust, others too might find that tattoos can become meaningful signposts on their life’s journey. With the right approach and guides, they can be ceremonies of remembrance and promise – places where what’s inside becomes beautifully, powerfully visible on the outside.
Whether through tattooing or other transformative practices,the message is consistent: we have more freedom and capacity to grow than we often realise. The golden thread Lee felt tugging at him is available to all of us, if we care to follow it.
FOLLOW
Instagram: @lee_trew
ConnectionCulture.life – Psychotherapy Training
BluegumBushcraft.com.au – Family Camps and Bushcraft Mentoring
WildHeart.life – Deep Rewilding, Vision quest and Survival quest
Join the Tattoo Pathway Community Waitlist
Instagram: @themarkofnara
These resources can help if you’re drawn to explore how body markings, nature connection, or therapeutic mentorship can support your own unfolding path. In the end, it’s all part of the same tapestry—an ongoing ceremony in which we learn, time and again, how to be fully human.
