I first heard of ManWoman in the pages of RE/Search: Modern Primitives, the comprehensive 1989 pop culture handbook on body modification. Nestled amid articles on tattoo artists and piercers was a profile of this cheerful looking guy with over 200 swastika tattoos. With a flaming third eye tattooed on his forehead and gray hair down to his shoulders, he didn't seem like a neoNazi. But I still didn't understand why a man who swears he's not a fascist, had relatives in Auschwitz, and claims to be an enlightened spiritual artist, covered himself with a symbol that most people associate with unadulterated evil.

Heeb: So what exactly is your message? ManWoman. The message of the swastika! It's a good luck symbol known around the world. Many people think swastika is a German word, but it's from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning "well-being" and "good fortune." You find the symbol everywhere-France, Germany, China, Japan, India. Buddha's footprints were supposedly in the shape of swastikas. Synagogues in North Africa and Palestine were built with swastika mosaics. But ultimately does that matter? Hasn't the swastika been irrevocably tainted by Hitler's appropriation of it? I've done extensive research on the swastika and wrote a book about its history called Gentle Swastika: Reclaiming the Innocence. Hitler was attracted to the symbol because of its power, but it wasn't just a Nazi emblem. All kinds of cultures and organizations have used it. Native Americans use it. East Indians believe it's a symbol for Ganesh. The Boy Scouts had a swastika badge of thanks, Coca-Cola made a swastika watch fob, Carlsberg beer put swastikas on its bottles. There was even a Colorado baseball team, the Canyon City Swastikas. I wear one of their hats. It's one thing to defend the symbol, but another to have it tattooed all over your body when most people find it difficult, if not impossible, to look at a swastika without flinching. What inspired you to do this? I had my first out-of-body experience when I was 19. I quit university and went off to art school and started a series of paintings about mystical longings. Later, in my 20s, when those experiences came upon me for real, my body went into a trance and my spirit flew up into a vortex of energy. I became one with God. I experienced ecstasy, love, truth; it was the source, and it was symbolized by the swastika. This was shocking at first. I had Polish relatives in Auschwitz. They weren't Jewish, but they were swept up in a raid. So I grew up with lots of prejudice against the swastika. I started having persistent recurring dreams that the swastika was a sacred symbol. The dreams kept telling me that I had gone into oneness, that my name was now ManWoman, that I was a union of opposites and that is the swastika all opposites were united. I was instructed to tattoo one on my baby finger. I did it when I was 31, but with a lot of trepidation. I was afraid people would misunderstand. Do people freak when they see you coming down the street? I've been doing this for over 30 years. I've had a lot of experience dealing with judgment. I was on Venice Beach one time and I ran into three gigantic Jewish bodybuilders. They towered over me! I had on a tank top so you could see everything and they were so mad. I understand those feelings. I understand the conditioning and the heartache that leads to that reaction. But the swastika has been a sacred symbol as far back as you can go in history. Do neoNazis ever mistake you for a sympathizer? Once I ran into this German family. The father and mother were both very tall with blond hair and blue eyes. They looked at my arms and began stroking them and were like "you're one of us!" Then there was this skinhead who wrote me several letters wanting to know more about fascism. I said I didn't know much about it and then tried to tell him about the sacredness of the swastika. Your website asks readers to "put the swastika on the image you use to represent God, love, peace, or the cosmos." Don't you think some people, especially Jews, will be so offended they won't hear you? So many young Jews are radical thinkers, they explore all kinds of things, so they don't shun me. It's true, I don't know too many Orthodox Jews, but when I do meet them, somehow we manage to get past my appearance. Here I am, this happy smiling person wearing a yellow hat with a big red swastika on it, covered in swastika tattoos. It's shocking. But the third eye I have tattooed on my forehead gives people a clue that I am not a Nazi, and the hair down to my shoulder blades proves I'm not a skinhead. But you have found some supporters? Yes! I get hundreds of e-mails a week praising my courage and thanking me for teaching the history of the swastika. I get letters from Native Americans saying how pleased they are. A kid from Israel doing a project on the symbol read my book, thanked me, and asked for more information And over a hundred copies of Gentle Swastika have gone to Germany. I find that fascinating—so many Germans feel guilty about what happened. They want to be released. And will your book help people, Germans and Jews, heal? There's been an incredible awakening in the world for the last 30 years. I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, which were dark times. I was raised Catholic and that was a grim experience filled with shame and fear. I believe there is a new spirituality in the world today. It started to gain momentum during the 1960s and has branched off into many facets. People with open minds realize that the whole stigma of the swastika is just a small part of the history of a symbol that has been around thousands of years. I'm just here to plant the seed. Our readers may send you angry e-mails! I'm ready to teach. I've had such a lovely time talking to you—I'd love to send you one of my Smiley Swastika pins. The tagline is "To hell with Hitler."