Symbolic Trio

Awesome Triskele

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This gorgeous tattoo comes from reader Kitsune and was inked by Nathan at Sailor Jim's Electric Tattoo Company out of Logan, Utah. Here's what Kitsune had to say about her tattoo:

In the tattoo itself the Triskele shows that all three principles of Eolas, Fírinne and Dúlra are connected to each other. The Irish Gaelic around the triskel says ” Truth, Nature and Knowledge” which are the three flames that illuminate all darkness, in an Irish saying. The acorn and oak leaves represent growth in knowledge and strength..It reminds me to always step in the direction of these three principles with strength and commitment. My Celtic ancestry guides my heart naturally to these and If i steadily grow with them I cannot fail.

To read more about Kitsune's tattoo, visit her very interesting blog.

And thanks to Kitsune for sharing her beautiful tattoo!

Amazing Horned God

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This positively gorgeous Cernunnos comes to us from reader Richard who says:

It is a representation of The Horned God, Cernunnos, or Herne. To me it is symbolic with my connection to him as one of my patrons and was done as a devotional act to honor our bond.

Thanks so much to Richard for sharing his stunning tattoo!

Irish Pride Chest Piece

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This gorgeous chest piece comes from the Flickrstream of ChiBart and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Happy Saint Pat's!

Evil Leprechaun

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This nasty fellow comes from the Flickrstream of Ragz1138 and is licensed under Creative Commons. He was inked by the fine folks at Katalist Konsepts out of Fort Collins, CO.

Colorful Celtic Knot

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Photo o'Randomness and is licensed by Creative Commons. The tattoo was created at Iron Brush Tattoo and Body Piercing out of Omaha, Nebraska.

The Celtic knot is a favorite of many tattoo owners including pagans but many others as well. There are more Irish-Americans than there are actual Irish in Ireland so it makes sense that tons of people would have Celtic knot work tattoos. Contrary to popular belief, however, the Celtic knot isn't an invention of the ancient Celts, or Gauls, who originated in a large area of what is now mostly France and only entered Ireland to escape the Romans. They are a 7th century CE art form created by Irish Catholic monks to decorate their religious manuscripts of the gospels as they worked to convert the last of the pagan holdouts to Christianity. They were influenced by older knot work designs from the Middle East which they transformed into a completely unique and now wildly popular Irish symbol.

Fawn

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This gorgeous sleeping fawn tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of tattoo artist Mez Love and is licensed by Creative Commons.

Once upon a time Finn mac Cumhail, a warrior of heroic proportions, was out hunting when his dogs refused to kill a white deer he had been hunting. Later in a dream the goddess Sadb told him that, due to a spell cast upon her, she had been transformed into the white deer he had chased and that only his love could free her. It was a love he freely gave. Unfortunately, after Finn had been called away to war the sorceror who cast the original spell reclaimed Sadb and she could not be found. Years later Finn was out hunting again when he came across a naked boy who, though knowing nothing of his father, knew his mother to be a deer. Finn instinctively knew this boy to be his son and named him Oisin, which translates as "fawn". Oisin grew to be a great warrior like his father but, taking after his mothers, also became known as the greatest poet in Ireland.

Corn for Lughnasadh

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This tattoo image comes from the Flickrstream of Steve Rhodes and is licensed by Creative Commons.

Hey folks, Happy Lughnasadh! Today marks the halfway point between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox and is the traditional beginning of the harvest season.

Lughnasadh was begun by the Celtic god Lugh, a god of many, many talents, in honor of his foster mother Tailtiu who, after clearing and thus preparing the fields of Ireland for planting, died of exhaustion.

Cernunnos

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Mateoutah and is licensed by Creative Commons.

The original image comes from the famous Gundestrup cauldron dating from approximately the 1st century BCE. It was found in 1891 in a peat bog in Denmark and features what is probably the most popular image of Cernunnus, the Celtic god of fertility and the wild.

You can find more Cernunnos tattoos that have been featured on NeoPagan Ink here and here.

The Oak

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Here's another very nice tattoo from the Flickrstream of tattoo artist Mez Love, this one an oak tree. The text reads: As the roots lie in the soil, Our heritage lies in our name, wise words to be sure.

June 10 marks the beginning of the Celtic tree month of the oak, the most sacred of the many trees revered by the Druids. Among the ancient Celts, as well as the Greeks and the Romans, oak leaves were worn as status symbols. As one of the largest and oldest trees, often living over 200 years, the oak is considered a repository of wisdom and sacred knowledge. As the oak tends to be very tall is often attracts lightning and is thus linked with the Dagda, ruler of the Tuatha de Danann (children of the goddess Danu, foundress of the race of Irish-Celtic gods). The Dagda is a god of the earth, treaties and magic as well as war and, you guessed it, lightning.

Curly Tree of Life

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This very pretty tree comes from the Flickrstream of Three Little Cupcakes and is listed under a Creative Commons license.

This nifty tattoo was created by Amanda Cancilla at Artistic Skin Designs in Indianapolis, IN. The original Flickr page says that the owner's son's name is in the roots, but I can't quite make it out. UPDATE: Clare picked out the name in the comments section: it's Sawyer!

The Tree of Life is a title that features in many ancient cultures; what follows is a small sampling. In the Bible the Tree of Life grows alongside the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden of Eden. In Persian mythology the tree of life, Gao-kerena, has roots that reach into the world ocean called Voura-kasa. Its seeds can not only resurrect the dead but grant immortality to people who eat them! In Sumatra and Indonesia it is called Djambu Baros and grows in the topmost heaven. On each leaf a word is written such as: joy, prosperity, etc. Each soul must acquire one of these leaves before it can leave the Earth and whichever leaf it obtains decides the fortunes of the souls future incarnation. The most popular Tree of Life, among most neopagans, is the Celtic Tree of Life. This tree has its roots in the Otherworld, its trunk resides into our waking world while its topmost branches reach into the heavens and was believed to bestow blessings upon the living. When tribes cleared land for settlement they were known to leave one large tree in the area and it was known as their own local Tree of Life. (More on the Celtic reverence for trees in a few days.) In the tradition of Kaballah the Tree of Life is interpreted as a map of reality and equated, by some, as the same Tree of Life from the Bible (and the beginning of this paragraph). This concludes my summary of the Tree of Life and its significance in various cultures and mythologies.

Bona na coroin

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This fabulous tattoo comes from reader William of InsanityChyld; he is number 28, yay! This tattoo was inked by Roger when he was at Ink Link Tattoos of Florida, USA. William had this to say about his tattoo:

Attached is my tattoo of the traditional Irish fox with broken collar and sword through the mouth. The words translate into "Neither collar nor crown" meaning you're not a slave, but you're not a king, you're free.

Thanks to William for sharing his art!

Unique Back Piece

Also from Rate My Ink.

Triple Moons

More triple moons from Rate My Ink. Created by Vince Paolucci at Oceanside Ink in California.

The triple moons so prevalent in modern paganism are directly related to the phases of a woman's lifetime. The waxing crescent represents the young maiden growing to maturity. The full moon represents the mature woman full of possibility/child. The waning crescent represents the aging, yet still powerful, crone.

My Dreamcatcher

So this tattoo is a mixture of cultures. My mom's side of the family is part Irish and part American Indian and that's what this tattoo reflects. This was done by Jake Dalton. It's been a while since this was done so most of the white has faded, but still lookin' pretty good to me. My brother, sister and our closest cousin who is like our sister all got these on our right legs just above the ankle. Yeah, it's a family thing.

Shamrock

This groovy Celtic knot work shamrock comes from The Mental Nomad Podcast.

Today is the national Irish celebration of Trefuilnid Treochair which is the festival of the "the triple bearer of the triple key" (who later became Saint Patrick), associated with the sacred plant of the shamrock.

And just in time I found a five-leaf clover and both I and my young cousin found four-leaf clovers. Yay!

Triple-Nature Tattoo

This very cool tattoo comes from the DeviantArt page of Croatian tattoo artist Gamavision.

Tree of Life

This nifty tattoo comes from lunanymph's Flickr page. (Don't ya just love that name?) The tree of life's traditional name is Crann Bethadh and aside from being a popular symbol on its own is also the symbol associated with the Celtic god Ceadda, who is a deity of healing springs and holy wells. Ceadda eventually became known as Saint Chad who was known to spend all night immersed up to his neck in a holy well as a form of meditation. For these reasons this is a good day to clean up around holy wells and to leave offerings of fresh flowers.

Morrigu

This gorgeous Morrigu was created by Cathey Osborne.

Cernunnos

This gorgeous Cernunnos comes from Moongrouse which is in another language but features several neopagan tattoos and is well worth a look. Some of my readers may recall a post from September that featured another tattoo version of Cernunnos. I think we can all agree that this latest tattoo is much, much better. Cernunnos is a Celtic fertility god of animals, nature and the Underworld who may have first arisen as a god painted on cave walls dating back to 13,000 BCE. The picture to the right is a detail from the famous Gundestrup Cauldron found in Denmark in 1891. It is made of silver, features several mythological motifs and probably dates from the 1st century BCE.