Very often, various symbols of the relentless flow of time (like hourglasses, watches, sundials, old pendulum clocks, timepieces, horologes) are included in the Death tattoo designs. The presence of the time-related symbols is a reminder that the time is running out and the life is slipping away.
Among these, the most popular is the traditional symbol of mortality - the Hourglass.
The image of the hourglass, sometimes with the addition of metaphorical wings, is a symbol of the human life's fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human life. The Hourglass also represents the belief that death is not the end, but rather the beginning of something new, as the hourglass can be turned to start over. The hourglass is also a symbol of the patience (the symbol of Death patiently waiting for every human being).
This design often uses the hourglass as the focal point in the tattoo. The hour glass design can be made to look almost as menacing as the Grim Reaper.
Related posts:
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
A Grim Reaper tattoo design is often combined with a variety of other design elements in order to make a truly unique tattoo design. The number of these design-elements is very large (up to several hundreds) and for this reason even their mere enumeration is an extremely difficult task. In this post I will attempt a brief overview of the most popular elements which can be seen in a Death tattoo.
1. Skulls and skeletons are probably the most common elements which can occur in a Death tattoo; sometimes Death himself / herself is depicted as a skeleton carrying a scythe. Anyway, a skull tattoo can have a different meaning than a Grim Reaper tattoo: triumph, anarchy, white race supremacy, etc (read more here).
2. Symbols of the inexorable flow of time: hourglasses, watches, sundials, old pendulum clocks, timepieces, horologes, etc.
3. Objects related to the culture of death: crosses (especially gothic and celtic crosses), candles, and tombstones.
4. Animals: the Death's horse, the Black Dog, Cerberus, venomous snakes, birds which are usually seen as bad omens that foretell of death like ravens and crows, some insects (especially the moths).
5. Weapons: the most common is, of course, the famous Grim Reaper scythe, but many other weapons appear as well: swords, spears, lances, javelins, knives, daggers and even modern guns
6. Objects related to magic and alchimy: orbs, magic compasses, magic crystal ball (a reminder of the fact that Death can see every single corner of the world), the five pointed star, old magic books or papyruses.
7. Latin maxims and aphorisms: Memento Mori (Remember your mortality, Remember you must die or Remember you will die), Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world), Carpe Diem (Seize the day), Ubi sunt...? (Where are...?) or Ubi nunc...? (Where now...?) - both of them are shortened variants of the Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt? Where are those who were before us?)
8. Fate-symbols: dices, playing cards, Tarot cards
9. Symbols of power: thrones, highly decorated swords, chains, royal crowns, rings, lightning strokes
10. Nature elements (these elements occur especially in the large tattoos): dead trees (very common in a Death tattoo), the Moon, mist, clouds, dark waters, swamps, lightning strokes
11. Elements associated with the Underworld / Hell: flames (the flames of Hell), thrones decorated with human skulls and bones, demons and monsters, the five pointed star. These elements occur very frequent in the so-called satanic tattoos
12. Other elements: handlamps (used to see in the dark), flowers (the symbol of ephemerality), hearts, scales (as a symbol of equity, justice and impartiality, as well as a symbol of the divine will).
Related posts:
Angel of Death tattoos: examples and ideas
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoos: angels of death - themes and representations (1)
Death tattoos: angels of death (1)
Hi, everyone.
In this post I'd like to show you several dragons tattoo designs available on my website, www.seiza.ro.
First, a black and white tiger and dragon tattoo design, combined with some tribal elements. I think that this design could be a good choice for a shoulder tattoo or for a back tattoo. If you like this image and want to see it in a larger format (600x500 px) you can find it on my website.
Next: a (relatively) symmetrical tribal tattoo, appropriate for a back tattoo (an upper-back tattoo or a lower back tattoo). If you like this image and want to see it in a larger format (600x500 px) you can find it on my website.
Next: a chinese dragon bracelet tattoo design. Read more about the Chinese dragons and about the main types of chinese dragons.
A tattoo design for the persons born in the Chinese year of the Dragon; the design combines some tribal elements, two Chinese dragons (in fact, is just one dragon mirrored) and the Chinese ideograms for the Year of the Dragon: ??; (pinyin: l�ngni�n).
The last image for today is a tattoo design which depicts two stylized dragons sitting back to back.
In the Aztec mythology Mictlantecuhtli was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple.
His wife was Mictecacihuatl, and together they were said to dwell in a windowless house in Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was associated with spiders, owls, bats, the eleventh hour and the northern compass direction, known as Mictlampa, the region of death.
Mictlantecuhtli was depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton or a person wearing a toothy skull. Although his head was typically a skull, his eye sockets did contain eyeballs. His headdress was shown decorated with owl feathers and paper banners, and he wore a necklace of human eyeballs, while his earspools were made from human bones. He was not the only Aztec god to be depicted in this fashion, as numerous other deities had skulls for heads or else wore clothing or decorations that incorporated bones and skulls. In the Aztec world, skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance, alluding to the close symbolic links between death and life.
His arms were frequently depicted raised in an aggressive gesture, showing that he was ready to tear apart the dead as they entered his presence. In the Aztec codices Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime.
Most of the tattoos depicting Mictlantecuhtli are inspired by the statues found in various archaeological sites, especially the Ceramic representation of Mictlantecuhtli exposed at the museum of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City and the statuette of Mictlantecuhtli exposed in the Museo de Antropolog�a in Xalapa, Mexico
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