Tattoos and intimate decorations

 Tattoos and intimate decorations

Tattooing was also an element of love magic. The term "tattoo" is derived from the Polynesian language (tatau - sign, painting), and was imported and first used by English traveler James Cook in 1773.In 1873, it was introduced into the dictionary of the French language as tatouage

Tattooing is one of the oldest forms of decorating one's body, and is relatively easy to access. It is not just a colorful drawing made on the body, but something more - a symbol that has its roots going far back into the past, into tribal and pagan anti-cultures. Tattooing - as the ideologues of this method of body decoration claim, reaching back to the ancient meaning of tattooing - is a way of giving one's own body personal qualities, "making of it a true home and a temple for the spirit that lives in it."

A birthmark, especially when it takes the form of a drawing or ornament on the body, is like a seal, sign or signal, while its deepest meaning is rooted in the symbolism of scars, as a trace of the "fangs of the spirit."

The tattoos Polynesian women made around their lips were intended to prevent demons from entering their bodies through their open mouths. The very pigment with which the drawing was made (usually obtained from a mixture of black smoke and the oils of "sacred" plants) contained the salutary power of the fire deity who made them, and passed it on to the one doing the tattoo, who absorbed it into the skin. The chosen signs were intended to win the favor of the gods, to ward off their wrath and its terrible consequences.

Other elements of love magic were intimate ornaments, placed in the genital area and breasts, such as safety pins in the nipples, rings on the foreskin, chains on the labia, or tattooing of the intimate areas of the body or hairdressing of the pubic hair (e.g. Brazilian depilation, which involves leaving a narrow strip of hair in the pubic area). All of these decorative elements are found in numerous primitive cultures, but today they also find their adherents in Europe, who sometimes combine them with elaborate intimate jewelry.