Monthly Archives: August 2012

dolphin tattoo

The popularity of the dolphin tattoodesign can most definitely be traced back to a long standing empathy and understanding between our two species. Humans and dolphins have co-existed for thousands of years, and the more we continue to learn about these creatures, the more we come to believe that the dolphin carries a divine spark that separates them from other animals. Early man was fascinated by the obvious intelligence of dolphins and their ability to herd schools of fish to make it easier to prey upon them.

In Sumeria, dolphins were connected to Ea-Oannes, the deity of the sea, and sometimes with the goddess Isis in Egypt. The Celts associated the dolphin with the healing power of water, and the image of people riding dolphins is seen on some Celtic artifacts. Some Australian Aboriginal tribes claim to be direct descendants of dolphins, who are sometimes regarded as guardian spirits.

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, dolphins were revered among sailors as symbols of divine protection and guidance, aided no doubt by the dolphin’s habit of surfing the bow wave of ships at sea. It was thought that dolphins would assist lost sailors back to their home ports and rescue sailors that fell overboard and take them back to shore. In Greece, killing a dolphin was comparable to killing a human and was a crime punishable by death. For dolphins were seen to be messengers for the Gods, and were closely associated with Poseidon’s daughters, the Nereids, the goddess of love Aphrodite, the heroine Galatea and the music-loving sun god, Apollo. It was said that the constellation Delphinus, the dolphin, was put in the sky by Poseidon in gratitude to the dolphins for finding his bride Amphitrite.

In addition to inhabiting the sea, a number of species of dolphin make their homes in largefresh water rivers all over the world. In the rainforests of the Amazon Basin, the native Indians tell stories about the the Amazon river dolphin, also called the Boto. Stories abound of the river dolphins taking human form and wooing young girls. They are often as regarded as unlucky, as they may tempt unknowing men and women into the water, where they are taken to Encante, the underwater world of no return. Similar tales of shape shifting are told of the elusive Baiji, or Yangtze river dolphin.

he dolphin is also an important symbol in European heraldry, and is often featured on Heraldic coats-of-arms, and represents diligence, salvation, charity and love.

It has long been believed that dolphins serve as our connection between the world of men, and the underwater world of the sea. This interconnectedness between the dolphin and humanity has led to great understandings and innovations, like dolphin interaction and therapy. Swimming with dolphins has helped children to cope with handicaps, overcome learning challenges and soothed the suffering of individuals with severe depression or mental anguish. It is a sought after experience for people with various problems and from different walks of life.

Our affinity with this amazing creature has spawned the tribute of dolphin tattoo designs, living breathing art that testifies to the character, traits and symbolism of the dolphin, and in some way attempts to absorb this creature’s qualities into our own bodies.

girl tattoo

My fear is my only courage
So I’ve got to push on thru

dagger tattoo

 Dagger and Knife Tattoo designs and symbols are a reoccurring theme and image (that means they pop up a lot!) in many different tattoo genres and eras, and are often tattooed by themselves as a singular object or as an integral part of a gruesome tale!

Throughout the Middle East, in Babylon, Mesopotamia, Persia and many other cultures, knives were used to kill animals on special altars to sacrifice them to the Gods. The image of a knife and blood-letting and death are all firmly intertwined. The ability to spill blood, the very essence of life, is an extraordinarily powerful image and a very potent symbol. At its most primal level, the knife or dagger represents Death.

The ancient Aztecs used special ceremonial daggers to cut the still beating hearts out of their human sacrifices as they paid homage to their Gods. Such a dagger represented the fearsome and capricious power of the Gods.

Daggers and knives are present in many Military tattoos because of their use as a weapon – perfect for close fighting and because of their silence. Special Forces Units are particularly prone to using daggers in their regimental and unit crests. The symbolism of a knife or dagger tattoo in a military design is very similar to that of a sword, with perhaps a slightly less noble pedigree. The knife or dagger represents ferocity, quickness, tenacity and death at the hands of another. The knife can also represent an assassin.

As a weapon, the knife and dagger go back to the most ancient of times, and the sword evolved as a weapon in an arm’s race to make the biggest, most dangerous and most powerful dagger. All knights and noblemen carried daggers as weapons in addition to their spears and lances and swords, because a knife or dagger was literally a fighting man’s last line of defense. When you and an enemy were face to face, when your spear was thrown or broken, when your sword was struck from your hand, you still had a chance – you reached for the knife or dagger in your belt.

But the knife or dagger was more than just a weapon to a fighting man, or make that any man at all. It was also the primary tool in his arsenal. Knives were used to skin animals, fashion shelter, sharpen sticks to make in to other weapons, and most importantly, to eat with! The knife was the utility tool of its day for the better part of the history of mankind. Even before the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, men were making lethal knives chipped out of flint and attached to bone or antler hilts.

Because a knife had so many uses, and was used by every member of early cultures, the rich and wealthy, the powerful and the Nobility, soon began to decorate the hilts of their daggers with gold and jewels until they became potent symbols of rank. A Nobleman displayed his wealth and his rank when he used his best dagger to spear a piece of meat when he sat down with his peers. A bejeweled dagger was a powerful status item.

Even today, an integral part of a Scots ceremonial dress when wearing the traditional kilt, is a dagger – similar to the Scottish dirk – or Sgian Dubh (pronounced “skeen doo”), thrust into the hose. A man might have to take off his sword when entering a home or castle, but he was still armed in case of unexpected danger or treachery!

Sikhs also wear a ceremonial dagger, the kirpan ( as part of the five K’s), as a symbol that they are warriors for their faith.

And daggers and knives were such a prominent part of life, that many traditions that we take for granted today, started because of their very prevalence.

Men began shaking hands when greeting each other to demonstrate that they were not concealing a dagger.

Expressions such as, “I was stabbed in the back”, meant you had been taken unawares, and betrayed from behind. Knives and daggers even had their place in romance, to be “stabbed in the heart”, was to be betrayed by love.

American ex-army gets a custom Dagger tattoo with her daughters name and sons name, done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall Makati Manila, Philippines.

rosary and infinity

The Rosary (its name comes from the Latin “rosarium,” meaning “crown of roses”), is an important and traditional devotion of the Roman Catholic Church, combining prayer and meditation in sequences of ten “Hail Marys,” each sequence being called a decade. A complete Rosary involves the completion of fifteen (now twenty) decades.

This tattoo design is  best described as a figure eight on its side, it is used to denote that which is limitless and without boundary or end. The symbol as a tattoo would stand for the state or quality of being infinite. The concept of infinity first appeared as a mathematical conceit and was quickly adopted by philosophers.

Historically and culturally, the infinity symbol is similar to mythological creatures such as Ouroboros, the snake that consumes its tail and is a creature without end. Circles and loops are reminiscent of the idea of life being conceived as an eternal, often times seasonal cycle, that endlessly repeats itself. In many eastern religions and belief systems the idea of endless reincarnation and planes of existence is similar.