Swamp Thing, Dead Lady

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These gorgeous tattoos come from the Flickrstream of Sfllaw and is licensed by Creative Commons.

Looks like Swamp Thing on the left and maybe a dead zombie gypsy on the right? Anyway, enjoy!

Beetlejuice

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of BlindInsect and is licensed by Creative Commons.

This tattoo was inked by artist Keeth Cherrington from Atomic Zombie Tattoo out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Beetlejuice is the title character from another amazing Tim Burton film; it wouldn't be Halloween without showing him some respect. My most favorite quote from the movie goes like this: Adam, a recently deceased man, has just asked Beetlejuice about his qualifications as far as getting rid of the living people who have moved into his house. Ya see, Beetlejuice is a "bioexorcist" who works to scare off the living so the ghosts don't have to put up with them. And Beetlejuice says:

Ah. Well... I attended Juilliard... I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT... NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY... NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK? You think I'm qualified?

Spider Fairy

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This ooky fairy comes from the Flickrstream of Opacity and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Just another dark goddess type to mark the season! I'm kinda thinkin' this might be based an original painting so if someone knows anything about it be sure to speak up.

Sad Zombie Lady

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This sad zombie lady comes from the Flickrstream of tattoo artist Trev Poulson who works out of Loyalty Tattoos of Clearfield, Utah and is licensed by Creative Commons. If Trev's work looks familiar that's because his work has been featured here before in the form of the gorgeous Headless Lady.

Jack Skellington Ink

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This killer Jack Skellington tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Vgsgeek and is licensed by Creative Commons.

For those of you who don't know, and I pity you, Jack Skellington is the big man about Halloween town in the film The Nightmare Before Christmas by that master of weirdness, Tim Burton. In it, Jack discovers Christmas town and wants to bring his own scary flair to the joyful holiday. He has good intentions but ends up scaring the holy hell out of people before being shot down and landing in a graveyard. I know he's probably a metaphor for something really deep but I just like him for his adorable creepiness.

The Fool and His Skeleton

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The tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Ste3ve and is licensed under Creative Commons. It was inked by Martin Roberson of Lucky Stars Tattoos, San Jose, California.

The card image comes from Wikimedia Commons and is a recolored version of the classic Rider Waite Smith Tarot card, the original images of which are now public domain.

The idea is an original concept of the owner that includes the normally fleshed Fool as a skeleton in honor of The Day of the Dead festival. The Fool is one of the trump cards that make up the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck. I think this is a fascinating reinterpretation of the Tarot and while The Day of the Dead, and Tarot, aren't strictly pagan I couldn't resist sharing this tattoo!

Oops! Did I Do That?

I learned a hard lesson this morning: never moderate comments when teetering on the edge of sleep. Overnight there was a comment made about the Ahura Mazda tattoo featured here in April. I guess I got a little punchy and accidentally rejected it even though I read it and wanted to publish it. And, since I moderate through the Blogger Dashboard and not email, it's apparently gone forever. So, if the commenter could post their comment again I'd be much obliged. Thanks a heap; I look forward to discussing the tattoo with you!

Killer Cat

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This supercool tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Tlindenbaum and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Bat in Flight

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Here's a nice bat from the Flickrstream of Earley Curley and is licensed under Creative Commons.

If you look closely you can just make out what appears to be two nipples, so, I don't know how accurate this is but it's neat all the same!

If Zombies Attack I'm Tripping You!

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Here's some wicked zombie ink from the Flickrstream of ChiBart; it's licensed under Creative Commons.

Existing Together

This is actually my tattoo. It is the ever popular Coexist image. This image, at face value stands for all religions coming together on this big ole blue-green marble. For me it's a little deeper though. To me it stands for many people from VERY different backgrounds. I got it when I first realized how much my husband (then just my roommate) really meant to me. He has two children from previous relationships and it just came to me: No matter how much these other two women may irk me or hurt me, we all have to get along for the sake of these kids. And if I'm not willing to do that then I need to let him go.

Needless to say I've worked on accepting and dealing with these women (at times they try their hardest to negatively effect my life) and I married my hubby this year. :) It hasn't been easy all the time but when I look at my arm I'm reminded to strive for cohesion.

Halloween Kitty

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This cute scaredy cat comes from the Flickrstream of Neverfeltbetter and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Just one of many spooky themed tattoos to come!

By the way, I'm still hot on the pursuit for contributors so if you're interested let me know.

Headless Lady

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This cool tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Trev Poulson and is licensed under Creative Commons. Trev is a talented tattoo artist who works at Loyalty Tattoos and Piercing out of Clearfield, Utah.

Here's a nice dark goddess to brighten up, or darken down, your Samhain season. Don't know if this an original work by the tattoo artist or someone else. Either way, it's very nice. I like the contrasting use of color and black and gray. She's one hell of a sexy goddess.

Halloween Every Day

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This groovy tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Katie Cowden and is licensed under Creative Commons.

I know we're still two weeks 'til the actual day but I'm getting the Halloween/Samhain fever so here's the first tattoo celebrating my favorite season. If you haven't already done it this is your official NeoPagan Ink message to get out your pumpkin lights and skull candles.

Very Excited to Be Here!!!!

Hi!

I'm SO excited to be able to contribute to NeoPagan Ink. I've been reading this blog for a while and I really enjoy seeing how all sorts of different paths can be visualized. My husband is in the Navy and I'm in college. I have two step-kids and I write in my blog Forever Searching about how those three things impact my life.

I am an eclectic Pagan and have been for about 5 years now but I just got serious about practicing about a year or two ago. Again I'm excited to be here and I hope that I can make a wonderful contribution to this site.

Call for Contributors

I was wondering, would any of my readers like to join NeoPagan Ink and be regular contributors? My requirements are pretty straightforward:

1. Images

You'd have to know how to download/upload images. And you've got to be willing to put in the time to find images; sometimes it can take a while to sift through all of the vaguely labeled images on Flickr. More importantly, all images would have to be licensed under Creative Commons or otherwise be free to use. That means no swiping images from wherever you might happen to find them. No copyright infringement allowed. (I know I've still got quite a few examples of infringement on here but I've already got too much to deal with to go back and update/change/remove them. I plan to eventually!)

2. Competency

I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing anyone on board unless I knew they were competent writers and that they knew their way around the internet. You don't have to be a scholar but you'd have to be able to write something decent and make use of your spell/grammar checker. As mentioned above, you'd also have to know how to download/upload images. And you'd have to know how to handle Blogger and make nice looking posts with correctly functioning links. You don't have to be a blogger necessarily but it would go a long way toward proving to me that you know how to handle the Blogger site. That said, as far as I know, Blogger is the simplest blogging format so if you know how to post text, links and images on a message board you'd probably be just fine. Still, if you want to contribute I'd need some link(s) to show me that you could do a decent job. It could be a link to your personal site or blog, a message board you frequent, your Facebook, etc., just as long as it includes some proof that you could handle things. If you'd prefer you could just send me an email with some links and pictures to show you know how to do those things and that would be fine.

3. Understanding of or Interest in Paganism/Mythology

You wouldn't necessarily have to be pagan to contribute here but it would help if you have a general knowledge of paganism, mythology and the related symbolism. Or you've got to have a high level of interest in these things and a willingness to spend time learning about them so you could present coherent and interesting posts. There's plenty of things I've posted about that I wasn't very familiar with so I had to spend time learning about them; it's part of the fun!

4. Regular and worthwhile posts

This is pretty self-explanatory. You would be expected to publish at least one post per month (but would be very welcome to publish as many as you wish!). And while long explanations aren't required for each post you would be expected to post more than just a photo and a link most of the time. (I've been guilty of doing this, especially lately, which is why I'm looking for some help! My hope is that with others contributing there would be plenty of time to devote to writing quality posts.)

For the record: I'd still be contributing and have veto power and all that. For instance, if you repeatedly steal images, don't write enough posts or start being a jerk I'd kick you right to the curb. (If life got in the way and you couldn't post for a while that would be fine as long as you gave me some heads up.) I'll also maintain control over reader submissions and the associated email address.

To conclude, if you're not sure what being a contributor would entail just go back and read some older posts and that should give you a pretty good idea. If you have questions before throwing your hat in the ring feel free to ask either through comments or through email. I'd really like to keep this blog going and would greatly appreciate some help. I look forward to working with you on this great project!

Swedish Ink

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Efigment and is licensed under Creative Commons.

The rune on the left is Mannaz which represents the self, the human race or how those things are perceived. I think the center rune is supposed to be Thurisaz, which should have longer lines extended from towards the top and bottom instead of looking like a sideways triangle, but perhaps the photo doesn't do the tattoo justice. At any rate Thurisaz has to do with reaction from another force or conflict.
The rune on the right is Sowilo which is linked to achievement and success. (By the way, being that I'm not a Nordic pagan I've gotten these explanations of the runes from Runes, Alphabet of Mystery.)

The larger symbol beneath the runes is what really interests me. According to the owner it's from an ancient rock carving found in Sweden, but I've been unable to pin that down or find an image. If any of you tattoo enthusiasts are familiar with the symbol I'd appreciate a heads up. Whether I discover the original source or not I just love this tattoo. Simple, elegant yet powerful.

Spiral Back Piece

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Metaphorge and is licensed under Creative Commons.

This tattoo was inked by the amazing Idexa of Black and Blue Tattoo out of San Francisco. Be sure to visit the site as there is a lot of very nice work to view.

No real historical background to add to this; I'm just a sucker for spirals. They can be found the world over from almost every culture and every epoch. While they don't always represent the exact same things from region to region throughout time they are usually somehow linked to either goddess worship, veneration of ancestors or the continuity of life, or all of the above.

Hamsa

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This gorgeous tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Jovino and is licensed under Creative Commons.

A hamsa is an ancient hand-shaped symbol usually utilized for protection. It is most popular in the Middle East and North Africa and is believed to originate with the ancient Phoenicians of Carthage (that'd be North Africa for you non-history buffs). Another name for the hamsa is the Hand of Fatima in honor Fatima Zahra, daughter of the prophet Muhammad.