Beltaine Ink 3: Hawk

Another of the great tattoos photographed on Beltaine! This belongs to my cool new friend Bob and was inked at Electric Voodoo Tattoo in Springfield, Missouri.

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.

Beltaine Ink

This lovely tattoo comes from the even lovelier Larissa who made a great May Queen for some recent Beltaine festivities I attended. It was inked at Electric Voodoo Tattoo in Springfield, Missouri. This tattoo is just the first in a series of many great tattoos I was able to snap photos of while celebrating the day. I hope you all had as good a Beltaine as I did!

Dogwood Blossoms

White Dogwood

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 The above is a nice tattoo to celebrate our blossoming spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of TheNinth and is licensed under Creative Commons. These pretty flowers were inked by artist Adam at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum. FYI, the dogwood is both a flower and a tree and is the state tree/flower of my home state of Missouri!

Happy spring!

Awesome Triskele

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This gorgeous tattoo comes from reader Kitsune and was inked by Nathan at Sailor Jim's Electric Tattoo Company out of Logan, Utah. Here's what Kitsune had to say about her tattoo:

In the tattoo itself the Triskele shows that all three principles of Eolas, Fírinne and Dúlra are connected to each other. The Irish Gaelic around the triskel says ” Truth, Nature and Knowledge” which are the three flames that illuminate all darkness, in an Irish saying. The acorn and oak leaves represent growth in knowledge and strength..It reminds me to always step in the direction of these three principles with strength and commitment. My Celtic ancestry guides my heart naturally to these and If i steadily grow with them I cannot fail.

To read more about Kitsune's tattoo, visit her very interesting blog.

And thanks to Kitsune for sharing her beautiful tattoo!

Irish Pride Chest Piece

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This gorgeous chest piece comes from the Flickrstream of ChiBart and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Happy Saint Pat's!

Evil Leprechaun

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This nasty fellow comes from the Flickrstream of Ragz1138 and is licensed under Creative Commons. He was inked by the fine folks at Katalist Konsepts out of Fort Collins, CO.

Venus of Willendorf 2

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This stunning tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Arbuford24 and is licensed under Creative Commons.

The name "Venus of Willendorf" is something of misnomer. Yes, it was found in Willendorf, Austria. But the original statuette isn't really a representation of the goddess Venus, for she dates from approximately 25,000 BCE, which makes her much older than any mention of Venus or her Greek counterpart Aphrodite. She was given this name to make clear her importance as a very early goddess figure. You may ask why she looks the way she does. We don't really understand it and can only make educated guesses. She's probably a large woman to represent fertility and plenty. After all, only a people with lots of crops to harvest can grow so hefty. Her large breasts also play into the same ideal: large breasts produce more breast milk making for strong healthy babies. Those notions seems pretty straightforward to me but not all her characteristics are so obvious.

What I wonder about most is her face. Why is she-essentially-faceless? It may be because the ancient artist couldn't begin to put a face on the divine and so didn't try. It could be a representation of the facelessness of women, meaning her ability to produce healthy children was more important than her looks or her mind and opinions. It could be any number of things. Whatever the original reasons behind the statuette the Venus of Willendorf has become a much-revered image among modern pagans and is a personal favorite of mine. Enjoy.

You can see another Venus of Willendorf tattoo here.

Baba Yaga via Hellboy

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This awesome, albeit unfinished, tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Armchairdj and is licensed under Creative Commons and, according to Armchairdj, was inspired by the Hellboy version of Baba Yaga. The more finished tattoo, seen here, is not listed under Creative Commons hence the link instead of that unpleasant copyright infringement thing.

The playing card is from an official Hellboy game and, just like the comics, features the art of Mike Mignola.

Baba Yaga is a fairly evil witchy character who lives in a hut set on chicken legs in the forests of Eastern Europe. She is surrounded by the usual skulls and bones and also somewhat typically devours the foolish who wander into her midst. In ancient Slavic myth Baba Yaga was probably one of the many Great Goddesses who suffered demonization under the comparatively new religion of Christianity. The fact that she travels via a mortar and pestle and sweeps her tracks clean with a broom points to her older, more authentic status as an Earth and healing goddess as a mortar and pestle was/is used to grind herbs with the intention to heal the sick. The broom is an obvious reference to cleaning a physical space but was/is also used by witches to ritually cleanse an area of negative emotions and so further compounds the idea that Baba Yaga can rightly be interpreted as a benevolent deity.

Botticelli Ink

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Okay, so it's still in progress but I don't care. This Birth of Venus, from the original Botticelli masterpiece, is too gorgeous to not post. This lovely tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of artist Shannon Archuleta and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Venus, or Aphrodite if you're more inclined to the Greek side of things, was born from the foam, we all know that. But what many people don't realize is that, according to Hesiod, she was born from the foam of the ocean because Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus. Said member was thrown into the sea which became pregnant and voila! Venus. Her older, Greek name, Aphrodite, comes from aphros "sea foam". How's that for a birth story?

Iris for Imbolc

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These lovely tattoos, of iris and a butterfly, come from the Flickrstream of Rambleonsylvie and is licensed under Creative Commons. This tattoo, except for the original butterfly, was inked by artist Tom Meyer.

The iris is just one of many flowers associated with the spring-is-coming-please-hurry-up holyday of Imbolc so I thought it fitting to share this nifty tattoo.

Incidentally, this Imbolc marks the 11th year since my initial dedication to the pagan path. Yay for me!

More Great Froud Ink!

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The above image features some more amazing artwork from tattoo artist Lisa Schmoldt of Otherside Ink from our good friend Daniel who has contributed more to NeoPagan Ink that any other reader. Yay Daniel! Here's what he had to say:

The tiniest of Faerie offering up a berry as some times a little bit of magic in your life is enough to see you through.

These tattoos feature art by Brian Froud and Amy Brown. To see more of Daniel's great tattoos go here, here, and here.

And a great big "Thank you" to Daniel for sharing so much amazing tattoo art with us here at NeoPagan Ink.

Nice Eye Horus

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This awesome Eye of Horus (or Eye of Ra, depending on which myth you read) comes from the Flickrstream of tattoo artist Micaeltattoo who works out of Sao Paulo.

We hadn't had any Egyptian stuff lately so I felt the urge and this tattoo was just calling to be posted. Enjoy.

Negura Bunget Ink

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This tattoo comes from reader Iulia and is one of the most unique tattoos ever featured here on NeoPagan Ink. It was inked at Black Ink Studio in Bucharest. Here's what Iulia had to say about it:

The symbol is above my left wrist and it represents the principle of four, the natural form of the Universe to manifests itself - the 4 seasons, the 4 phases of the moon, the 4 moments of the day, the 4 winds, the 4 cardinal points, the 4 elements.... Macrocosmos’ manifestation in microcosmos. It is also the logo of one of my favorite bands, Negura Bunget, a Romanian Black Metal band whose ideology is deeply rooted in Transylvanian spirituality.

Thanks so much to Iulia for sharing this great tattoo!

And here's some Negura Bunget for all you black metal lovers out there.

Froud Pixie

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Here's another very nice tattoo from reader, and multiple submitter, Daniel based on original art by Brian Froud. Like his other awesome tattoos this was also inked by Lisa Schmoldt of Otherside Ink. Daniel shared the following poem to go along with his pixie tattoo.

From the 19'th Century

Nora Cheeson

The Pixies

Have e’er you seen the Pixies, the fold not blest or banned?

They walk upon the waters; they sail upon the land,

They make the green grass greener where’er their footsteps fall,

The wildest hind in the forest comes at their call.

They steal from bolted linneys, they milk the key at grass,

The maids are kissed a-milking, and no one hears them pass.

They flit from byre to stable and ride unbroken foals,

They seek out human lovers to win them souls.

The Pixies know no sorrow, the Pixies feel no fear,

They take no care for harvest or seedtime of the year;

Age lays no finger on them, the reaper time goes by

The Pixies, they who change not, grow old or die.

The Pixies though they love us, behold us pass away,

And are not sad for flowers they gathered yesterday,

To-day has crimson foxglove.

If purple hose-in-hose withered last night

To-morrow will have its rose.

You can see more of Daniels' amazing tattoos here and here.

And I'm sending a big "Thank You" out to Daniel for sharing so much of his amazing tattoo work!

Triple Spirals, Again

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

Yeah, it's another tattoo of spirals. And it's another tattoo of a triple spiral similar to those at Newgrange. What can I say? I'm a junkie.

Fireworks Ink

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

Hey folks, I've been really busy with the holidays, as everyone else has I imagine. Anyway, back to blogging now. Happy New Year!

Yule Sun

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This groovy sun tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Fabi Dorighello and is licensed under Creative Commons. It was inked by the fine folks at Dark Side Tattoo.

Kingfisher Ink

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These gorgeous Kingfishers come from the Flickrstream of Graeme Fraser and are licensed by Creative Commons.

In ancient Greece, the week before and the week after the winter solstice were peaceful days on the sea allowing the kingfisher to hatch her egg. As the Greek goddess Alcyone was represented by the kingfisher we now call these days the Halcyon Days. From Wikipedia:

The myth of Ceyx and Alcyone describes how Alcyone, as recorded by Ovid, pines all day by the shore where Ceyx was destined to return. Unfortunately Ceyx, who is referred to as the son of the morning star (a reference to the solstice, not anything satanic), has died in a shipwreck. Alcyone finds this out, and throws herself into the sea. The gods feel pity for Ceyx and Alcyone, transforming them into Halcyon Birds. The first Halcyon days were those days in winter, on which Alcyone first lay her eggs. Her father Aeolus, god of the wind, calms the seas each year since so she can lay them again.

These are considered days of peace and prosperity. I like to think of these days as a calming time before the insanity of the mainstream holidays kicks in.

Tiger Totem

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This tattoo comes to us from reader Heather! It was inked by artist Alex at Good Times Tattoo in Salt Lake City, Utah. Heather had this to say about her gorgeous tiger:

I've always been attracted to tigers and everything that they stand for. My very first tattoo was of one and I feel like it's not just my totem but that perhaps I was one in a prior life. My love for them surrounds me and my home.

Thanks so much to Heather for sharing her tattoo!