Ceremonial Tattoos

“what if you wrote the mantra on your heart” -Bhagavan Das

Tattooing is one of peoples’ oldest art forms, coming somewhere between scratching in the dirt and cave painting. The word tattoo itself comes from the Tahitian word “tatau,” which means “to mark.”. In today’s society, anyone who goes to a tattoo parlor can get anything they want permanently painted on their skin. However, in the ancient past, tattoos were reserved for certain people and often had deep religious meanings. Traditionally, the sons of chiefs would get their first tattoos once they reached puberty as a sign of adulthood. The process of getting the tattoo was highly ceremonial and was seen as a stepping stone in the young man’s path to leadership.

sacred Genesh Tattoo

Tattoos in Ajah have very important religious and spiritual contexts. Many times they are patterned specifically around which deity is to be honored and placed accordingly on a part of the body related to the deity being worshiped. Since before the beginning people have been marking themselves with the signs of their dieties. On the outer level of meaning, they are trying to gain the strengths and abilities of the diety. On a more inner and mystical level, diety tattoos mean that the bearer has a close and mysterious relationship with this image of spirit as his tattoos are permanent way to honor the one self. Tribal people believe that the spirit is an exact replica of the human body. This matches many modern belief of the astral body. In both cases, spirit and astral, this allows you to use the proper tattoos as a rite of passage in the spirit world. The people of Borneo, especially the Kayans, believe that not only would their tattoos get them into the proper spirit world, but could also be used as a further qualification, for obtaining certain profitable occupations in the spirit world.

The Ajah knows that the body is the temple for the soul

To decorate and adorn your body in sacred images, and healing mantras is to pay homage to the God (spirit) within the Goddess (Nature)

Ajah can be tattooed for various reasons but they are usually religious reasons, such as talismans, tributes to the gods and or to act as a connection to the divine.

Ritual Tattoos

Tattoos are meant to connect the wearer to all of life. Done in Sanskrit, Tibetan, or a script of your chooseing, the patterns are taken from artwork and are based on deities, mantras, yantras/mandalas , and other various symbols. Tribe/Clan markings are another common ritual tattoo. Not only can you recognize your friends quickly,but more importantly, your people are connected even beyond death.

On the other hand if you don’t want tattoos then this is completely unnecessary but equally potent sadhana (spiritual practice.