the Yin-Yang symbol or Taijitu, with black representing yin and white representing yang. It is a symbol that reflects the inescapably intertwined duality of all things in nature, a common theme in Taoism. No quality is independent of its opposite, nor so pure that it does not contain its opposite in a diminished form: these concepts are depicted by the vague division between black and white, the flowing boundary between the two, and the smaller circles within the large regions.

Everything can be described as both yin and yang.

1. Yin and yang are opposites.
Everything has its opposite – although this is never absolute, only relative. No one thing is completely yin or completely yang. Each contains the seed of its opposite. For example, winter can turn into summer; “what goes up must come down”.

2. Yin and yang are interdependent.
One cannot exist without the other. For example, day cannot exist without night. Light cannot exist without darkness.

3. Yin and yang can be further subdivided into yin and yang. Any yin or yang aspect can be further subdivided into yin and yang. For example, temperature can be seen as either hot or cold. However, hot can be further divided into warm or burning; cold into cool or icy. Within each spectrum, there is a smaller spectrum; every beginning is a moment in time, and has a beginning and end, just as every hour has a beginning and end.

4. Yin and yang consume and support each other.
Yin and yang are usually held in balance—as one increases, the other decreases. However, imbalances can occur. There are four possible imbalances: Excess yin, excess yang, yin deficiency, and yang deficiency. During the switch to Daylight saving time, for example, there is more ‘yin’ than ‘yang’. They can again be seen as a pair: by excess of yin there is a yang deficiency and vice versa. The imbalance is also a relative factor: the excess of yang “forces” yin to be more “concentrated”.

5. Yin and yang can transform into one another.
At a particular stage, yin can transform into yang and vice versa. For example, night changes into day; warmth cools; life changes to death. However this transformation is relative too. Night and day coexist on Earth at the same time when shown from space.

6. Part of yin is in yang and part of yang is in yin.

The dots in each serve:

as a reminder that there are always traces of one in the other. For example, there is always light within the dark (e.g., the stars at night) these qualities are never completely one or the other.

as a reminder that absolute extreme side transforms instantly into the opposite, or that the labels yin and yang are conditioned by an observer’s point of view. For example, the hardest stone is easiest to break. This can show that absolute discrimination between the two is artificial. Yin and Yang tattoo done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall Makati Manila, Philippines.

The Spider is another popular tattoo symbol that crosses many tattoo genres and is prominently featured in the traditional tribal tattoos of many indigenous peoples around the world. There are very few cultures that do not have stories about spiders within their mythological histories, no doubt in part because spiders can be found on nearly every part of the planet, even on far-off islands, as spiders can travel vast distances using their webs as little parachutes! And who amongst us has not been fascinated by the webs that spiders weave and the way they capture their prey. Such images have fired the imaginations of men and women since the dawn of time

You can adopt the Spider also as a mark of creativity and cunning, and when found dangling at the end of its thread, see it as a symbol of good luck, because it’s thought to be bringing down joy from heaven. Amongst weavers, worldwide, the Spider tends to be the symbol of their craft.

From ancient Greece comes the tale of a beautiful maiden named Arachne, who was so brilliant a weaver that the goddess Athena became jealous. According to the myth, Athena made Arachne’s life so miserable that the maiden died. So great was Athena’s remorse that she resurrected Arachne as a Spider, so she could spin beautiful webs for all time.

Spider gets a particularly bad rap in Europe, a hangover from the days of the Plague when the Spider was thought to have spread the disease. Naturally, it became an object of fear and loathing. For some people, their fear of Spiders became a medical condition, a phobia called ‘arachnophobia’, named for the Greek maiden, Arachne.

If you or your forbears hail from bonny Scotland, you will know all about Robert the Bruce and the Spider. This legendary king of Scotland took refuge in a cave after being defeated in battle by the English. Seeing no hope of recovering his kingdom, he was prepared to leave the country and never return. In his depression, he watched a Spider at the cave entrance building its web, and in the process failing over and over again. But the Spider did not give up. King Robbie was inspired to fight on, and is known for instructing his men, “If at first you don’t succeed — try, try and try again.” It’s a saying familiar to every schoolchild in Scotland.

In popular culture, today, the Spider and its web represent a force that’s even more treacherous. You only need to observe it processing innocent victims caught in its web to know that it’s a deadly, blood-sucking carnivore. It’s no surprise that evil, flesh eating Spiders are the life-blood of comic book characters, children’s games, and ghost stories. They spell terror and fatal entrapment, and every one who loves a horror story, loves Spiders. Photo realism spider tattoo done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall Makati Manila, Philippines.