Central Texas Tattoos & Attitudes
Central Texans show their beliefs through spiritual tattoos
Sunday, June 25, 2006
By Terri Jo Ryan
Tribune-Herald staff writer
When 29-year-old Waco police officer Eric Carrizales hits the streets on patrol duty each day, he has an angel looking over his shoulder.
The Roman Catholic has a tattoo of the armored archangel Michael, patron saint and protector of public servants, on his left shoulder as a constant reminder that with God on his side, he’s never alone when working his beat.
Tattoos, long the badge of dishonor or at least harboring an unsavory mystique, are showing up on the ankles and arms of more and more people of faith.
More than a third of Americans ages 18 to 29 have at least one inked patch, according to a study published June 11 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Zac Colbert, owner of Southern Culture Kustom Tattoo of Waco, estimates that 40 percent of his business involves tattoos of a religious or spiritual nature, covering a wide spectrum of beliefs.
Among the young Christians who come to his shop, he said, crosses, thorns and even faces of Christ are popular. The ichthus — the ancient “fish” symbol used by Christians to identify each other during the dark days of Roman persecution — is especially popular among young women “because it can be something small and dainty they can get on the top of their foot or an ankle.”
Artist Lindsey Ebert, 24, of Temple, said one of the tattoos she has on her arm, created by Colbert and former Waco artist Galen Ihlendfeldt, speaks to her embrace of many spiritual concepts, although she does not attend any church.
For example, one part of her shows the “hand of Christ” holding a seashell, from which a stream of water flows, an image of baptism and cleansing the soul. Another depicts a tree split open with a heart inside, an image she said honors nature and the sacred spirit in all things.
Varied images
Gabriel Colbert, brother of Zac Colbert, said he’s observed that Hispanics prefer praying hands entwined with a rosary; the “sacred heart of Jesus” symbol, a flaming heart wrapped in a crown of thorns; and the Virgin of Guadalupe, a depiction of a Madonna figure especially dear to Mexican Catholics.
“I’ve even seen people get ‘The Last Supper’ on their backs,” he said.
Zac Colbert, a tattoo artist for 10 years, said that in the past year, he’s seen a surge in the number of clients asking for tattoos of Bible verses — in Hebrew.
But a close second to Christian body art, he added, are neo-pagan images, such as the Wiccan pentacle or the Runic alphabet for devotees of the old Norse pantheon.
Hindu deities, such as Ganesh (the elephant-headed remover of obstacles) and Kali the Destroyer, also make for vivid tattoos and are popular among fans of Eastern religions.
“I don’t mind doing Wiccan stuff,” said Zac Colbert, who identified himself as a deist. “But I won’t do anything graphically satanic.”
Ebert said she draws the line at anything blatantly demonic or gory. “Everybody has a right in this country to believe what they want, but I don’t have to be the one to give it to them,” she said.
Despite their growing popularity, religious tattoos have their detractors.
To some Buddhists, tattoos of holy people are considered disrespectful. In Islam, the prophet Muhammad cursed both the giver and receiver of tattoos, for they represent a human attempt at altering God’s creation.
Similarly, some Christians oppose tattooing as a desecration of the body, which the apostle Paul likened to a temple in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Making a permanent mark, therefore, is considered by some as vandalism of God’s property.
Many Christians quote Leviticus 19:28 when stating that Christians should never receive a tattoo: “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”
The verse refers to a pagan practice of honoring the dead with a tattoo mark on the living, in order to protect oneself from the spirit world and the wrath of other gods.
But Leviticus 19 also prohibits mixing two kinds of fiber in cloth, or eating meat rare, or trimming one’s beard — injunctions that most modern believers don’t follow either, noted Brandon Hill, director of community life at Point Loma Nazarene University of San Diego.
The “Christian Teen” expert for About.com added that even he sports a tattoo, a Celtic cross on his back.
Artists who make tattoos and clients who get them say the artwork is another venue to show and share their beliefs with others.
tjryan@wacotrib.com
757-5746
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/featr/content/features/stories/2006/06/25/06252006wactattoos.html
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