Remaining Beltaine Ink

I've been away from blogging for a good long while and must now play catchup!

Beltaine Ink 2: Colorful Kali

Kali

This gorgeous Kali is another tattoo I was blessed with photographing on Beltaine. This tattoo belongs to the gracious Chelsea, who will be making more appearances here at NeoPagan Ink, and was inked by the fine folks at Electric Voodoo Tattoo in Springfield, Missouri.

Mandala Back Piece

Click image(s) to see the larger version(s).

This gorgeous mandala comes from the Flickrstream of tattoo artist Shannon Archuleta who works out of her shop in San Francisco.

Lotus

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

This tattoo was inked by Kelly at Tattoo Zone is Rockaway, New Jersey.

We will first turn to Egypt. As the lotus sinks under the water at night and reemerges when the sun returns it was closely associated with the sun. It was also linked with the idea of rebirth and was thus closely tied to Osirian cult as Osiris ruled over death.

The lotus features more heavily in several Asian religions, especially Buddhism and Hinduism. Many deities are depicted as standing upon lotus flowers; Vishnu, Brahma and the goddesses Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Kubera are among the most closely associated with the lotus. Within the realm of Buddhism it is said that everywhere Gautama Buddha stepped a lotus would spring forth.

Garuda

Click image(s) to see the larger version(s).

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

This tattoo was inked at Slave to the Needle out of Seattle, Washington by guest artist Isaac Fainkujen from Phoenix, Arizona.

This tattoo features Garuda who, along with Ganesha the elephant-headed god and Hanuman the monkey god, is one of the principal animals gods of Hinduism. Garuda rules all birds and also displays his mastery over the wind with his amazing speed. He has the head, wings, beak and talons of an eagle and the rest of his body is human. He is a great fighter for good and often eats the evil.

Serene Buddha

Click image(s) to see the larger version(s).

This very nice Buddha comes from the Flickrstream of Sebastian6 and is licensed by Creative Commons.

This tattoo was created by Thomas Pendleton of the new A&E show Tattoo Highway. And while the photo quality isn't that great I decided to feature it here anyway because not only is the tattoo very well done but because of the perfectly captured sense of peace. If anyone ever needed a reason to try and practice meditation this tattoo looks like a very good one.

Gautauma Siddhartha is thought to be an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu and, by urging his followers to give up worldly possessions and pleasures, founded the religion of Buddhism. He taught that by destroying and hopefully removing the ego one could achieve Nirvana which is the highest level of bliss and the ultimate goal of the earthly study and practice of Buddhism.

Original Om Design

Here's some neat stuff from Kerikiss; she's the 26th person to submit art to NeoPaganInk! Yay! The design is her own original art and the tattoo was inked by Phil Blast of A New Dimension Tattoo of Lake Worth, Florida. Very cool! I asked her about the significance of the letters and she said they are the initials of dear family members. She had this to say:

They were very dear to me, and the last four true Italians in my family. The Ohm represents the element of music in my life, and how big of a role it played in the creation of who I am.

Thanks Keri for sharing your tattoo!

Unfinished Lakshmi

This beautiful, though unfinished, Lakshmi comes from Rate My Ink. You can see a finished Lakshmi back piece, of a different style, here.

Lakshmi is a Hindu goddess of beauty and good luck. She is the mother of the young god of love Kami. Similar to Aphrodite of the Greek myth she arose from the ocean foam. As the wife of Vishnu she is his consort during his earthly incarnations.

Kali Outline

Another tattoo from Rate My Ink. This was created by Mike Hutton of Tattoo Faction out of North Olmsted, Ohio.

Kali is the Hindu goddess of death and destruction who holds even the mighty Vishnu in her sway, or under her foot as the case may be. Often depicted holding decapitated heads and wearing various severed body parts on her person she is a fierce, powerful and truly terrifying goddess. But she doesn't just kill people. She destroys things that need destroying like ignorance as she maintains order in the world. She is one of those amazingly fascinating deities who rightfully inspires great fear but is also beneficial.

Mandala

This beautiful mandala comes from Jeff Johnson, an artist out of Newbury Park, California.

Lakshmi Back Piece

This gorgeous Lakshmi tattoo comes from here. Lakshmi is the goddess of good fortune and beauty and, like another goddess of beauty, was born from the foam at the Churning of the Ocean. She is the consort of Vishnu and mother of Kama, god of love.

Amazing Goddess Sleeve

This beautiful goddess comes from the Flickrstream of Jennifer Esperanza. Btw, the text is Hebrew but I don't know what it says. I think this goddess image may be a representation of Anat but it's hard to say with certainty as she has no connection to Hinduism. Be sure to click to see the details in the larger image.

Ganesha

Just found this amazing Ganesha on the now-defunct InkedBlog.

Om and a Dead Bear

Here's some more ink from my friend Lilith. She's got some incense cone brandings along her upper back as well.

Green Ganesha

This gorgeous Ganesha comes from the Hindu Blog. If you have an interest in Hindu tattoos I recommend you check it out. I know Hinduism isn't strictly pagan but it is of great interest to many non-Hindus, as pointed out on the Hindu blog.

Kali

This amazing tattoo of the goddess Kali comes from moonrat42's Flickrstream. This is an amazing Kali! The non-traditional things she's holding her hands makes it very personal and unique.