Spiritual Tattoo

by John A. Rush
Spiritual Tattoo
Author: John A. Rush
Publisher: Frog Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2005-03-17
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1583941177
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Say "body modifications" and most people think of tattoos and piercings. They associate these mainly with the urban primitives of the 1980s to today and with primitive tribes. In fact, as this fascinating book shows, body mods have been on the scene since ancient times, traceable as far back as 1.5 million years, and they also encompass sacrification, branding, and implants. Professor John Rush outlines the processes and procedures of these radical physical alterations, showing their function as rites of passage, group identifiers, and mechanisms of social control. He explores the use of pain for spiritual purposes, such as purging sin and guilt, and examines the phenomenon of accidental cuts and punctures as individual events with sometimes profound implications for group survival. Spiritual Tattoo finds a remarkable consistency in body modifications from prehistory to the present, suggesting the importance of the body as a sacred geography from both social and psychological points of view.

Mythical and Spiritual Tattoo Design Directory

by Russ Thorne
Mythical and Spiritual Tattoo Design Directory
Author: Russ Thorne
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780785827153
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This book provides the ultimate reference guide for artists and wearers alike. It covers the most popular types of mythical and spiritual tattoo designs with unique illustrations from some of the leading artists working today. Accompanying each type of design is a detailed explanation of the history and symbolism attached to it, so that anyone researching a tattoo will be sure to find one that perfectly expresses their beliefs. This book will also appeal to anyone with an interest in tattoos and tattoo art, traditional tattoo forms and techniques, or even religious symbolism and iconography. The canvas of the human body provides almost infinite scope for mythical and spiritual tattoos, and this book acts as a lively, informed companion for every spiritual quest.If you wish to express your faith?"whatever it may be?"to the world, there is an immense library of tattoo symbolism to choose from. The tattoo will be with the bearer for life, so it is important to consider the meaning and design of any tattoo carefully. With more than 800 images, no body artist should be without this uniquely comprehensive volume. The flash drawings and explanation of the symbolism of all tattoos featured in this book will inform and inspire.

Spiritual skin: Magical tattoos and scarification

by Lars F. Krutak
Spiritual skin: Magical tattoos and scarification
Author: Lars F. Krutak
Publisher: Edition Reuss Germany
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2012
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9783943105117
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Text in English & German. This is a photographic masterwork in two parts exploring the secret world of magical tattooing and scarification across the tribal world. Based on one decade of tattoo anthropologist Dr Lars Krutak's fieldwork among animistic and shamanic societies of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Melanesia, this book journeys into highly sacred territory to reveal how people utilise ritual body modification to enhance their access to the supernatural. The first part delves into the ancient art of Thai tattooing or sak yant that is administered by holy monks who harness the energy and power of the Buddha himself. Emblazoned with numerous images of dramatically tattooed bodies, this chapter provides tattoo enthusiasts with a passport into the esoteric world of sak yank symbols and their meanings. Also included is an in-depth study into the tattooing worlds of the Amerindians. From Woodlands warriors to Amazonian shamans, tattoos were worn as enchanted symbols embodied with tutelary and protective spirit power. The discussion of talismanic tattooing is concluded with a detailed look at the individuals who created magical tattoos and the various techniques they used. Krutak writes about many tribal tattoo designs permeated with various forms of power and explains what these marks mean for the people who wear them. Part two is an absolute must-read-and-see for anyone seeking knowledge about the religious meanings of tribal scarification. The rituals, techniques, and spiritual iconography of scarmasters in Benin (Bétamarribé), Papua New Guinea (Kaningara), and Ethiopia (Hamar) expose a relatively undocumented world of permanent body symbolism created through painful and bloody rites of self-sacrifice and restraint.

Spiritual Tattoos

by Russ Thorne
Spiritual Tattoos
Author: Russ Thorne
Publisher: Apple Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2011-04
Genre: Signs and symbols
ISBN: 9781845434120
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Tattoos on the Heart

by Greg Boyle
Tattoos on the Heart
Author: Greg Boyle
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2011-02-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1439153159
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How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on your life. As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration. Tattoos on the Heart is a breathtaking series of parables distilled from his twenty years in the barrio. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally. From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JCPenney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God’s love. From ten-year-old Lula we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Pedro we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the darkness. In each chapter we benefit from Boyle’s wonderful, hard-earned wisdom. Inspired by faith but applicable to anyone trying to be good, these personal, unflinching stories are full of surprising revelations and observations of the community in which Boyle works and of the many lives he has helped save. Erudite, down-to-earth, and utterly heartening, these essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love in difficult times and the importance of fighting despair. With Gregory Boyle’s guidance, we can recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of the men and women in these parables and learn to find joy in all of the people around us. Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

by Anne Fadiman
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Author: Anne Fadiman
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2012-04-24
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0374533407
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Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, this brilliantly reported and beautifully crafted book explores the clash between a medical center in California and a Laotian refugee family over their care of a child.

Filipino Tattoos

by Lane Wilcken
Filipino Tattoos
Author: Lane Wilcken
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2010
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780764336027
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Tattooing is a very old and spiritually respected art form that has existed in many different cultures around the world. After many centuries of not being practiced in Europe, tattooing was re-introduced to the Western world through the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean. Beginnning in the 16th century, European explorers came across many people who practiced tattooing as an integral part of their cultures. This is the first serious study of Filipino tattoos, and it considers early accounts from explorers and Spanish-speaking writers. The text presents Filipino cultural practices connected with ancestral and spiritual aspects of tattoo markings, and how they relate to the process and tools used to make the marks. In the Philippine Islands, tatoos were applied to men and women for many different reasons. It became a form of clothing. Certain designs recognized manhood and personal accomplishments as well as attractiveness, fertility, and continuity of the family or village. Facial tattoos occurred on the bravest warriors with names that denoted particular honor. Through the fascinating text and over 200 images, including color photographs and design drawings, the deep meanings and importance of these markings becomes apparent.

Sacred Skin

by Tom Vater
Sacred Skin
Author: Tom Vater
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9789628563791
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Sacred tattoos, called 'sak yant' in Thailand, have been around Southeast Asia for centuries and afford protection from accident, misfortune, and crime. Young women get tattooed with love charms in order to attract partners, while adolescent men use the protective power of their yants in fights with rival youth gangs. For most though, the tattoos serve as reminders to follow a moral code that endorses positive behavior. During the application of a sak yant, the tattoo master establishes a series of life 'rules' that need to be closely adhered to, starting with Buddhism's first five precepts. Failure to observe the master's instructions will cause the sak yant to lose their power. Beautifully photographed these are tattoos that are the essence and 'key' to individual identity, a philosophy for living, the translation of soul to skin, as complex as the leaves of an autobiography, the story of a life.

Conscious Ink: The Hidden Meaning of Tattoos

by Lisa Barretta
Conscious Ink: The Hidden Meaning of Tattoos
Author: Lisa Barretta
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2017-10-23
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1632658925
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There is hidden, powerful wisdom in tattoos. Did you ever think of your tattoo as a charged body talisman or a portal into your spiritual self? Ancient cultures practicing shamanic tattooing laid the groundwork for our modern exploration of consciousness. Tattoos are both a revelation and a proclamation of your embodied archetypes, dreams, emotions, even a hint of past-life memories. Conscious Ink shows how this edgy skin art interfaces with our body’s subtle energy field and reveals how tattoo imagery ties into the potent energy of inner alchemy that expands our self-awareness. Are you prepared to: Find out how/why intention is the moving force behind your tattoo’s vibration? Do you bring on good luck or bad juju? Understand why the piercing of your skin and drawing of blood forms a symbolic link into the energy field of your tattooist? Explore how tattoos reveal past-life/current-life emotional memory? Discover how tattoos can shift the emotional energy stored in certain body areas? Mindful inking can be an amazing modality that awakens your spiritual self. Looking at tattoos beyond the lens of body art, Conscious Ink gives you a new perspective on tattoos and their undeniable roots in pure, magic and mysticism.