Monthly Archives: July 2012

butterfly tattoo

 One of the most popular tattoo design choices for women, the Butterfly reveals the feminine influence in tattoo culture. Generally speaking, butterflies are an overwhelmingly female tattoo design. Because of the butterfly’s short life span, many ancient peoples saw it as emblematic of the impermanent. It’s physical beauty and its fluttering from flower to flower seeking nectar have made it synonymous with the more unstable and superficial aspects of the human soul.

Butterfly goddesses have emerged in places as far apart as Minoan Crete and Toltec Mexico. Some of these deities were believed to be the personification of certain butterflies, and were regarded as symbols of beauty, love, flowers, and the spirits of the dead. They were also looked upon as the patrons of women who died in childbirth and warriors who fell in battle. At the other end of the spectrum, one of the Butterfly deities in ancient Mexico was the goddess of war and human sacrifice.

In Greek mythology, Psyche was represented in art with butterfly wings. It’s all about the airborne soul -and the caterpillar emerging from its cocoon, transformed from an earth-bound to an aerial entity, is the classic metaphor. To the Greeks, a human soul emerged each time a butterfly emerged from its cocoon. Diverse cultures looked upon the Butterfly as a symbol of transformation, regeneration and flight. Souls were carried by the Butterfly from earth to heaven, or in some cases were believed to be the souls themselves returning to earth.

So, the Butterfly is not entirely the exclusive domain of the feminine. The Roman Emperor, Augustus, took it as his personal symbol, and the warrior priests of the Mexican Popolucas peoples sported the Butterfly as a motif on their breastplates. Their Butterfly was also the symbol of fire.

In Japan, the Butterfly, ready to fly after its long spell in the cocoon and spreading its brand new wings, is a popular symbol for young girls. It represents emerging beauty and grace, with the added notice to regard change as joyful, not traumatic. Likewise, the Native American honours the Butterfly as an emblem of guidance in change. In China, it is still a popular symbol of marital bliss and conjugal harmony.

Preceding even the golden period of Japanese heraldry, the butterfly was a favorite symbol of Japanese warlords and their samurai. Dating from as early as the Nara period (710 AD – 786 AD), butterflies and butterfly patterns were popular and sought after for display.

The butterfly symbol was displayed as both a Clan or Family crest and as an emblem on the armor of samurai warriors. The butterfly was favored for the dual nature of its delicate and elegant symmetry, and its transcendent evolution from a lowly caterpillar to noble insect, carried aloft on radiant wings of colour and beauty.

Men of the ill-fated Taira (Heike or Heishi) clan – which ruled Japan from 794 AD until 1185 AD – were particularly fond of the butterfly design.

The Taira, betrayed and greatly outnumbered, were annihilated by the Minamoto clan at the great naval battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. The surviving nobles committed suicide by jumping into the sea, a noble and graceful death considered preferable to a life in shame after an ignominious defeat. According to one legend, upon leaping to their deaths in a watery grave, their released souls fluttered heavenward as butterflies. The Taira went down fighting, and so earned themselves much admiration as befitting brave and doomed warriors in the grandest of Japanese traditions.

Delightful, magical and transformational, the Butterfly reminds its admirers of the mystery of nature and the richness of human imagination.

capricorn astrology sign tattoo

The Western astrological sign of Capricorn is part of the tropical zodiac (December 22 (Winter solstice) – January 20) and the sidereal zodiac (January 15 – February 12). It is associated with the constellation Capricornus and the classical element of Earth, making it an Earth sign. it is one of the Cardinal signs (along with Aries, Cancer and Libra). Its symbol is the Goat.

Saturn, planet of discipline, organization and focus, is the ruler of the sign. Mars is in its exaltation here, while Jupiter is in its fall and the Moon is in its detriment.

According to astrology, those under Capricorn influence tend to be conservative and practical. The parts of the body ruled by the sign are the knees as well as the skeleton in general. Capricorn astrology sign tattoo, done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall Makati Manila, Philippines.

Swiss Army

If the 15th century German artist, Albrecht Dürer, was alive today, he would be a rich man. Copyright to his brush drawing of ‘Hands in Prayer’ would auction off for millions. It was originally commissioned as an altar-piece by the mayor of Frankfurt in 1508. A later version of these praying hands appeared in another Dürer work, only this time as the hands of an apostle standing at an empty grave looking heavenwards at the coronation of the Virgin Mary. The original was destroyed by fire in 1729, but a copy of the altar-piece, as well as some earlier sketches survived. Swiss ex-army gets a custom design of a praying hands tattoo and his favorite number 13 incorporated in the Achilles shield which also represents his name and a clover leaf at the back for good luck, tattoo done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall Makati Manila, Philippines.

 

cancer astrological sign tattoo

 The Western astrological sign Cancer of the tropical zodiac (June 21 – July 22) differs from the astronomical constellation of Cancer and the Hindu astrological sign of the sidereal zodiac (July 21 – August 9).

In the tropical zodiac it represents the balmy expansiveness of mid summer. In the sidereal zodiac it is associated with the myth of the Lernaean Hydra, one of The Twelve Labours of Herakles.

feather tattoo

Feathers are usually associated with birds or wings or Native American imagery in most tattoo designs. A single feather as a tattoo design may represent or symbolize the ability to take flight, either spiritually, emotionally or creatively.

Some feathers are so distinctive in their shape and size that they are easily identified with a specific species of bird, such as the feathers of the Eagle, Peacock, Ostrich Plume, and Egret, just to name a few. Such a feather would represent the characteristics attributed to that bird.

Many Native American cultures held Eagle feathers to be sacred and they were seen as powerful symbols of Chiefs, Elders, Shamans, Healers and Medicine Men. The eagle feathers assisted these individuals in having their prayers and wishes guided to their intended Spirits and Gods. Eagle feather were often used to fan smoke in a similar fashion. Warriors used eagle feathers in their battle dress to summon the courage, strength and qualities associated with the eagle, and eagle feathers decorated shields, spears, other weapons and personal clothing.

navel piercing

navel piercing at morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall Makati Manila, Philippines.