SCORPION

This meaning of the symbol has of course created a lot of
problems and arguments among the other two groups of bearers
of nautical stars. Most puck and military people do not
want to have a nautical star that points back to anything from
the lesbian movement so many will say that there is no
connection there and this is false.

Here is a quote from another armed forces member about the
symbolism of the nautical star among the gay community:

"This "gay symbol" is a load of hooey that someone made up
VERY recently. The nautical star tattoo has been around nearly
as long as tattooing itself. The late Celts (or early Irish,
depending on your view of World History) were said to have
been the first to have the tattoos, although evidence of it
being used on ships in Spain has been found pre-dating the
Irish claim.

As a Marine, it's a very commonplace symbol amongst us if
we have been part of a Boat Raid company, red for port, green
for starboard on varying parts of the body. On ship, I saw
about a million different variations on the Sailors I was was
serving with, obviously harking back to the sailor roots."

Here is a quote from a punk rocker and his feelings about
the symbolism of the tattoo:

"what idiots..even the military boys dont know what it
really means....JUST SO YOU ALL KNOW!!!!!it was used by OLD
sailors.. and the symbol represents North on a Map ...and it
is the North Star the sailors would use it as a baring to get
home....you can find it on Really really old maps and old navy
vessels... Punk Rock.. well we use it because we can and
because Sailor Jerry made the coolest tattoos who started
putting them on everyone.. my grandfather even had one thus
being used as a traditional icon"

It just goes to show that when the same powerful symbol is
used over and over again over decades of time it can taken on
very different meanings for different groups. So all of
those that you see sporting a nautical star tattoo might not
all have the same interpretation of its symbolism.

So do you have a nautical star tattoo or think about
getting one in the future? Which meaning of the symbol
will you get the nautical star for? As long as you know
what the symbolism behind the star is for and you have gotten
it for the right reason to either support the lesbian movement
or as a symbol to finding your way!

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