Tattoos have long been associated with rituals amongst tribal people. Young men would often be tattooed to mark their transition from boyhood to adulthood and to mark other rites of passage. The process of tattooing is deeply symbolic and contains many of the elements associated with ritual such as blood, symbolism and the awakening of the astral body through the experience of pain.Tattoos and the modern practice of tattooing is seen by many as an almost mystical experience akin to the exchange of energy experienced during tantric sex or modern day sex magick. In many ways the level of trust involved in opening your body up to the tattooist is equivalent if not greater than the abandonment associated with the ecstasy and release of sex.
This spiritual emptiness of the modern world manifests in the obvious need for people to seek out meaning in their lives.
This is apparent to anyone working in the tattoo industry who will tell you about the surge in people seeking tattoos that have a ascribed meaning to them. Whether that be a tattoo with some kind of spiritual significance or even a tattoo which takes the form of a sacred symbol or image of an Eastern deity.Symbols have been practiced for thousands of years for religious, magickal and sacred reasons. We have become so bombarded by advertising images that we are almost immune to their presence. It is not surprising that symbols, sigils and seals would be used as tattoos. Many people are beginning to suggest that the placement of sacred symbols on their bodies can help with illness or grief.
