The serpent that defines the tattoo's border is the "world-snake", generally called Ouroboros, but it also alludes to the mythic figures of Tiamat and Leviathan. I guess on some level, it represents terrestrial existence, and what is "beastly" within every person.

The waters are the churned-up, chaotic, primal ground of existence. I see the phenomenal world as an emergent property of an ineffable Chaos--not some mere disorder, but something beyond categories. I choose this symbology in contrast to the rather flat and boring ideas of some single-pointed, unitary prime mover or original "order" that so many spiritual ideas draw from. It's faintly Taoist, I suppose. It's also another Biblical reference, to the "waters of chaos" or Tehom, in the later Genesis account.

Finally the eye in the middle is the eye of enlightenment. Enlightenment, to me, is not some exalted mystical state of bliss, but rather the simple ability to see without prejudice what is about you. The eye is alert, but serene.

In total, the symbol is a glyph for the notion that spiritual awakening is had in this turbulent world, not some "higher" plane of existence. The physical world is not some imposition on "pure spirit", but the necessary complement to intellect (psyche) and spirit (pneuma).

As the tattoo lacks any text, I will be free to reinterpret its symbology again and again as I change. It rewards my contemplation, as there are tons of threefold symbols of the world that are amenable to mapping by it.

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