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You*re thinking your appearance needs some spicing up, and that you wouldn*t mind adding a little color to a secret place. But you also know that, if you*re going to invest your money in a permanent bit of body d*cor, you need to put some thought into its design.

So you head for your friendly neighborhood tattoo parlor (with the skyrocketing popularity of tattoos you*re bound to have one) to look for inspiration. You know that whatever you select will become a permanent part of your existence. You can cover it up, but you can*t escape it. So you will need to choose carefully.

The first thing you may notice when you enter your tattoo parlor is just how many designs there are. It's not unusual for every nearly square inch of a parlor's walls to be covered with posters, nearly every square inch of which is covered with designs. You are experiencing *flash*, and not because all of those designs and colors make your eyes feel like that a flashbulb just nailed them.

Tattooing was a staple of traveling carnivals in the early to mid 20th century, and carnival barkers were notorious for the shelves and shelves of cheesy gaudy prizes which they used to lure players to games completely rigged to relieve them of their money. Those prizes were known, among the barkers, as *flash*, and it may be that the carnival tattoo artists adopted the term for their selection of tattoo designs.

But however they came by the name, those posters covering the walls at your tattoo parlor are called the *flash.*

So, if you find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety of tattoo designs, it might be a good time to step back from the flash and do some self-evaluation. Decide what you want your tattoo design to say about you, or what you want to say to the rest of the world with your tattoo.

Tattoos originated as ancient, symbolic art forms, and many of them retain their symbolic meanings today. So you could choose a tattoo based on its meaning.

Or, you could just want a tattoo that commemorates something or someone important to you.

You can start by returning to the flash and seeing if there are any designs which keep catching your eye. Narrow your choice to those that have the most appeal, and then do a little more digging. Find out if one of those tattoo designs says something about you, and you'll be much closer to getting one you won*t eventually regret.

If you are female, you may instinctively be drawn to the butterfly tattoo designs. You wouldn*t be alone; butterfly tattoo designs are the most-often requested by women.

And they have an enchanting history; butterflies have, from ancient times, been seen as the perfect symbol for the human struggle to move from the lower to higher realms of existence, like the butterfly emerges from its cocoon. A small butterfly tattoo can make a big statement!

Women are also drawn to floral tattoos. Cherry blossom tattoo designs, although they are generally used just as accents for much larger tattoos, are reminders, in Japanese culture, of the beauty and impermanence of human life.

Peonies, floral tattoo designs even more showy than roses, represent luck and prosperity in Oriental cultures. If you are a male with a risk-taking nature, not afraid to sport a peony tattoo, it would certainly be an appropriate choice; it represents to the Japanese a gambling nature.

And, of course, there's the rose. It's the most popular floral tattoo design and the best-loved flower in Western culture. The rose has come to represent the epitome of beauty. But roses are not without their thorns, so you can communicate a double message with a rose tattoo.

Even the color of the rose tattoo design you choose will say something. Red roses are a symbol of passionate love; white roses are a symbol of purity; and yellow roses are a symbol of friendship. There are even black rose tattoo designs, for those with an antiauthoritarian streak.

Then there are the animals. They can range from a tiny frog to a U.C. Marine Corps Bull Dog, or a psychedelic Dragon. If you have a love for a particular kind of animal, or identify with the traits which we usually assign to different species of animals, you might find the perfect tattoo design in the tattoo flash zoo.

If you see yourself as sleek, independent, and powerful, a panther tattoo design might communicate your self-image to the world. If you identify with the wild and free American mustang, your tattoo artist can accommodate you. You may be as shy as a deer, smart as a fox, or hor** as a toad. All doable tattoo designs.

If you have the money and the available skin, in fact, you can have an entire menagerie of tattoo designs, providing an animal totem for each of your personality traits.

There are also tattoo designs to appeal to those of a religious or personal nature. One of the most widely known is the Celtic Cross, which has its origins both in the Christian Cross and Celtic fertility symbols. Other popular Christian tattoo designs are Praying Hands, the Rock of Ages, and, of course, images of Jesus.

If you are into astrology, you are sure to find your Zodiac sign in a tattoo design. And if you believe in Tarot cards as predictors of the future, you will be amazed at the breathtaking Tarot tattoo designs available.

There are twenty-six of them available, one for each card, so you can pick the ones that you think hold the most favorable outcome for you!

Tattoo designs, in other words, are art forms appealing to the artist in each of us. So give your imagination free rein, and it will carry you to the tattoo design that says exactly the right thing, both to, and about, YOU!