Negura Bunget Ink

Click image(s) to see the larger version(s).

This tattoo comes from reader Iulia and is one of the most unique tattoos ever featured here on NeoPagan Ink. It was inked at Black Ink Studio in Bucharest. Here's what Iulia had to say about it:

The symbol is above my left wrist and it represents the principle of four, the natural form of the Universe to manifests itself - the 4 seasons, the 4 phases of the moon, the 4 moments of the day, the 4 winds, the 4 cardinal points, the 4 elements.... Macrocosmos’ manifestation in microcosmos. It is also the logo of one of my favorite bands, Negura Bunget, a Romanian Black Metal band whose ideology is deeply rooted in Transylvanian spirituality.

Thanks so much to Iulia for sharing this great tattoo!

And here's some Negura Bunget for all you black metal lovers out there.

Zoso Wizard

If you don't already know, and I pity you if you don't, this is the wizard from Led Zeppelin IV also known as Zoso. I don't know why this individual chose to reverse it but, oh well, it looks awesome! Not sure where this originates, it's just been living in my photos for a while.

And just for the fun of it, here's the lyrics to "Misty Mountain Hop" from said album.

Walkin' in the park just the other day, baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
"Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?"
And you know how it is.
I really don't know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay awhile.

I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, "Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line."
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.

Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin',
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're comin'; oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.

If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don't care, really don't care, don't care , really don't , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I've decided what I'm gonna do now.
So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don't know.

Om and a Dead Bear

Here's some more ink from my friend Lilith. She's got some incense cone brandings along her upper back as well.

An Eye on an Arm

This awesome eye tattoo comes from the arm of Em's husband. She is the ninth person to submit art to NeoPagan Ink. If it looks kinda familiar it's very similar to eyes featured on some TOOL albums and with good reason as it's based on the artwork of Alex Grey whose work has been featured on cd artwork by various other bands including the Beastie Boys and Nirvana. Just for the hell of it I thought I'd post the lyrics to one of my favorite TOOL songs, this is the song Lateralus from the album of the same name. It is one of the albums which features the eyes of Alex Grey. To learn more about TOOL visit The TOOL lyrics page. And thanks to Em and her husband for submitting their image!

Enjoy.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going, going...

Horus

This is another image that's been stagnating in my documents so I don't know where it came from. Pretty neat though? By the way, the text is from a great Alice in Chains song that was very popular in the '90s. The song is "Down in a Hole" and the lyrics are as follows:


Bury me softly in this womb
I give this part of me for you
Sand rains down and here I sit
Holding rare flowers
In a tomb...in bloom

Down in a hole and I don’t know if I can be saved
See my heart I decorate it like a grave
You don’t understand who they
Thought I was supposed to be
Look at me now a man
Who won’t let himself be

Down in a hole, feelin’ so small
Down in a hole, losin’ my soul
I’d like to fly,
But my wings have been so denied

Down in a hole and they’ve put all
The stones in their place
I’ve eaten the sun so my tongue
Has been burned of the taste
I have been guilty
Of kicking myself in the teeth
I will speak no more
Of my feelings beneath

Down in a hole, feelin’ so small
Down in a hole, losin’ my soul
I’d like to fly but my
Wings have been so denied

Bury me softly in this womb
Oh I want to be inside of you
I give this part of me for you
Oh I want to be inside of you
Sand rains down and here I sit
Holding rare flowers (oh I want to be inside of you)
In a tomb...in bloom
Oh I want to be inside...

Down in a hole, feelin’ so small
Down in a hole, losin’ my soul
Down in a hole, feelin’ so small
Down in a hole, outta control
I’d like to fly but my
Wings have been so denied