Monthly Archives: August 2011

moon and stars tattoo

One of the Twelve Symbols of Sovereignty (imperial authority), the moon is a symbol of heaven. The moon is representative of the passive principle (Yin) to the sun’s active principle (Yang). The moon in heraldry is always borne as a crescent, usually with the cavity turned upward. In Western astrology The Moon is said to represent the feeling nature of the individual. It is used to characterize the inner child within us, as well as the past and how we have been as individuals rather than how we are now.

In ancient Egypt, we find the earliest written records of the moon’s influence in the lives of humans. Before Sun worship, the Egyptians worshipped the moon. Isis was not only a symbol of Moon, she was Goddess, too. In ceremonies and processions, her headdress was a moon with a pair of cow’s horns symbolizing motherhood, since Isis was also the representative of Nature. The ancient Egyptians also portrayed the moon as a cat, not because of any physical resemblance, but because both were lights in the dark – the cat could see at night, and the moon shed light in the night sky.

The Assyrians held the moon to be the supreme deity, while Moon worship existed in Ancient Greece, Babylonia, India and China. The belief was based on the observation of how the moon’s phases affected the growth and decline of crops, and of animal and human life. Little wonder then that the power of the Moon was seen as divine. Because the cycles and phases of the Moon are so predictable, the Moon played a prominent role in the earliest concepts of time and calendars, and the Lunar Calendar was used by many cultures to plan religious ceremonies around, and to time the planting and harvesting of crops.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Harvest Moon, is the full moon that occurs nearest the autumnal equinox on September 23, and usually takes place in late September or early October. This Full Moon was often closely associated with the fall harvest of grain and other crops, hence its name and many celebrations took place at this time of the year. During the period of the Harvest Moon, the retardation (later rising each night) of the moon is at a minimum, because of the relation of the moon’s path to the horizon. On several nights in succession the moonrise is at nearly the same time, and there is full moonlight almost from sunset to sunrise if the sky is unclouded.

Stars are often encountered as symbols, and many cases the meaning of a particular star symbol may depend upon the number points it has, and sometimes the orientation of these points as well. As a light shining in the darkness, the star is often considered a symbol of truth, of the spirit and of hope. The symbol of the star embodies the concept of the divine spark within each of us. Their nocturnal nature leads stars to represent the struggle against the forces of darkness and the unknown. Moon and stars tattoo design, done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall makati manila.

Dice and Lightning tattoo

Dice or a pair of dies, are the familiar numbered cubes that we all used to use to play Yahtzee as children, or any other games of chance in which the random tumbling of the dies determines the games outcome. Games of chance and gambling using dice or similar objects is common in many cultures around the world.

Although sometimes referred to as a “lucky” symbol, or one of good fortune, dice are often featured in tattoo designs that highlight the perils of gambling, such as in “Man’s Ruin”. Dice are often featured with other vices, including playing cards, drugs and alcohol, guns, race horses and women of easy virtue.

The expression, “To roll the dice”, implies taking a risk in which the outcome is unknown and beyond the control of the individual. It implies that the results of the die being cast is left entirely to fate and chance. Similarly, the expression, “The die are cast”, means that once the dice have been set in motion and rolled, the outcome is indeterminable.

Lightning, lightning bolts, thunderbolts, or bolts of lightning – however you wish to describe it – are the electrical discharges that we are all familiar with during thunderstorms. There are few displays of the power of nature more spectacular than the electrical fireworks that accompany a thunderstorm – a brilliant flash of blue-white light that seems to arc out of the heavens as if by magic and with it, the incredible, near deafening thunderclap that comes mere seconds later. In a cold, dark, rainy night, a bolt of lightning would make it seem like daylight for a moment. What a concept for a tattoo design! What a potent symbol.

To the Greeks, lightning bolts were thrown by the very hands of Zeus, the father of all the Gods, and the principal God on Mount Olympus. Lightning was a symbol of power, and because it could not be predicted, it was also a symbol of the capricious nature of the Gods and the world men lived in. Because lightning often accompanies a rain storm, lightning also was seen as a symbol of fertility, rain being a crucial element to a successful crop. Some cultures saw lightning as male, as the sun was male, and the earth as female.

The Romans saw lightning as the symbol of the their principal God Jupiter. In Norse legends, Thor was the God of Thunder, and lightning boltswere the sparks that flew when his mighty war-hammer hit its target, often the skull of a Frost Giant.

In the Bible, lightning accompanies the appearance of God in Exodus. Lightning symbolizes the light of truth.

In many Asian cultures, Air or Sky Dragons are responsible for lightning, the bolts caused by their scales and wings as they fly through the heavens. Lightning bolts are often used in traditional Japanese tattooing when a dragon is flying through the sky.

In modern times, a stylized lightning bolt is used to symbolize the power and danger of electricity, and a lightning bolt is a symbol of potential danger around high-voltage lines. Dice and lightning tattoo done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall makati manila.

cross tattoo

The cross as a Christian symbol was just emerging in the 4th century, and coincided with the time when the Gospel was being introduced to a sun and moon worshipping culture in what is now the Britain Isles. The legend of St. Patrick suggests how the two came together in his attempt to bring the Druids to Christ. Shown a sacred standing stone marked with a circle, Patrick blessed it by making the mark of a Latin cross through the circle. Was that the first Celtic Cross? The Druids probably continued to recognize their phallic symbols, even after the Christians re-sculpted those large stones ascrosses. And more than a millennium later, ‘born again pagans’ are seeing the circle as the sun, appropriating the Christian symbol back to its supposed primal meaning.

As symbolic expressions, the circle and the cross could not be more different. One is mystical while the other is almost geographical. The circle is a symbol of eternity and the endlessness of God’s love, while the crossrelates to the four directions, or four corners of the Earth (or perhaps the four elements: Air, Earth, Fire, Water), while the axes coming together imply the joining of forces such as Heaven and Earth. That coordinate, enclosed within the circle, suggests a realm where time & space cease to exist, a precondition for communication between this world and beyond.

Despite its long history, the cross has been well adopted by Christianity, but that does not mean its ancient meanings have altogether vanished. Just as the swastika became a symbol for hate, overriding its former associations, the original meanings of the cross and circle are waiting to be rediscovered. As a tattoo design it may have different meanings for different peoples, but at its symbolic roots it is a design that powerfully evokes the spiritual nature of the universe. Cross tattoo done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall makati manila.

girl tattoo

custom black and gray, sun, moon and stars tattoo.

lettering tattoo

arabic design lettering of his daughters name “gabrielle”, done in mor