Did you know the lotus is the only plant that flowers and bears fruit at the same time? It grows out of the murkiest waters, but emerges to make this beautiful bloom. No wonder it is such an important symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as other beliefs both ancient and, ahem, "new."

If you don't know a thing about the lotus flower, you should look it up. I do on occasion and it seems I discover something new every time.

As for this signature specifically, it was blooming in Cat-Claws' "Invalid Item" , a sig shop of flowering beauty, pun oh-so-totally intended. It actually comes with an interesting story. At least, it's interesting to me.

When I requested the image, I asked Cat-Claws to personalize it with my handle. When the image came, it had my username on it instead. My first impulse was to email Cat-Claws and ask her to change it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how perfect it was that she had used my username.

You see, I have a bit of a personal attachment to the fact that my username is amalthea and my handle is Satuawany. And it's actually one of those things I did by accident and only realized later how much it fit. (Kinda like the signature below, no?)

In The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, Lady Amalthea is the name the unicorn goes by when she's in human form. Satuawany is the name a friend of mine gave to a drawing of a sea monster I did in junior high school; it's been my online "personality" since I first found my feet on the Internet ten years ago.

Now you have the bare facts of the situation. I leave interpreting all the symbolism---lotus flowers, Beagle characters, and sea monsters---up to you.