Birthmarks and freckles: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What birthmarks and freckles are

A birthmark is a coloured mark on the skin that is present at birth or appears soon after. Most are harmless. Some come from blood vessels: salmon patches (stork marks) are flat pink areas that usually fade, strawberry marks (haemangiomas) are raised red lumps that grow for some months and then shrink, usually by school age, and port-wine stains are red or purple patches, often on one side of the face or neck, that stay for life. Others come from pigment: café au lait spots are light or dark brown patches, blue-grey spots look like a bruise and usually fade in early childhood, and congenital moles are brown or black moles present from birth.

Most birthmarks need no treatment. A doctor may suggest it when a mark is near the eye, nose or mouth, affects feeding, breathing or sight, or is linked to a rare syndrome. Laser can lighten a port-wine stain, and medicines or surgery are used for some strawberry marks. A birthmark is not caused by anything a mother felt, saw, ate or did during pregnancy.

Freckles are small, flat, light brown spots made by extra melanin in the skin. They run in families, are most common in people with fair skin and red or fair hair, darken with sun exposure and often fade in winter. They are harmless, but any spot that changes, grows or looks different from the rest should be checked.

The emotional meaning of birthmarks and freckles

Spiritually, these marks are about being seen. The skin is the border between you and other people, and a birthmark or a sprinkling of freckles is something others notice before you have said a word. The spiritual interpretation centres on the port-wine stain, and its themes can be extended to other birthmarks.

Birthmarks: an old shame

A birthmark is linked to a feeling of shame that seems to go back a very long way, further than your own memories, and that leads you to put yourself down. Its place on the body is the first thing to look at, because it points to the area of life concerned. The shame often feels shared by the whole family, as if it belonged to everyone and no one.

The question is what your family ties are like. They may be almost absent, or tight and constraining, and either way they can leave a lot of confusion. You may be deeply attached to your family while also feeling held by it. Sometimes this shows as going on the attack as a way of asserting yourself.

Wanting to blend in

A birthmark is often easy to see, and you may wish you could melt into the crowd and never be noticed. Treatments like laser can lighten some marks, and that is a medical choice for you and a doctor. Spiritually, the invitation is the same either way: to understand what the mark stands for in you, so that you can be more fully yourself.

Freckles: feeling marked and staying out of the light

Freckles are linked to sensitive skin that protects itself by withdrawing, staying out of the sun or under a hat. Spiritually, they can sit with a sense of being "spotted" or stained, morally, emotionally or physically. You may feel you once tarnished your family's image, and try to make up for it by keeping quiet, not making a fuss and fitting in with what others expect.

The question is which frustrations you keep feeding. The more open and true you can be with others, the more transparent the skin of your inner life becomes.

A gentler way to hold it

The closing movement here is to set down a shame that was never yours to carry.

• Name the shame. Ask whether the feeling around your mark is really yours, or one the family has carried for a long time.
• Live your own life. Love your family and still give yourself permission to choose your own path.
• Let yourself be seen. Practise being noticed without rushing to hide or to attack first.
• Speak more freely. Share what you feel instead of keeping quiet to make amends.
• Appreciate yourself. Notice your qualities, offer yourself small kindnesses, and let the love of others in.