#Moche tattoos

[andeanbeauties]

Magaly Solier and Cristhian Esquivel while on set of, “La Dama De Cao” (The lady of Cao).

[savvylittlecoxswain]

Every time Bobby looks in the mirror, that ugly scar is staring back at him. Every time it makes him feel like his body isn’t his own, like someone else owns him.

So one night he just goes off and finds the first tattoo shop he could find and gets a tattoo. It’s not in a super obvious and out there spot, and is probably something rowing related considering how little planning and thought he actually put into it. He doesn’t hide it nor does he go out of his way to flaunt it, but it’s not like he actually told anyone he got it either. If he’s being honest, he probably definitely forgot he got it in the first place.

And he has no burning desire to get another, it doesn’t awaken an obsession within him or anything. It’s just something he gave himself, a way to take back his body and make it feel like his own again.

[ancientorigins]

The day had been spent in ritual battles, and a group of individuals who were vanquished, naked, and tied-together were marched up the long stairs to the top platform of the great pyramid where there they were killed, throats cut, sacrificed to their supreme deity. A great silver goblet, the mark of a ruler in Moche society, was used to collect the blood and then the blood was consumed by the priestess-queen and the circle was completed, for life feeds on life, and this seems to have been a fundamental cultural concept for the violent, passionate Moche society.

[iztarshi]

Febuwhump - Immortality

Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Girl Genius

Note: Turtles as Jägers

You sit on the pavement outside the Castle. There’s an awful lot of Jägers doing the exact same thing, bodies loose and exaggeratedly casual, games of cards being played on the pavement with the usual cheerful arguing reduced to a mutter. No one becomes a Jäger without riding with them first, which means everyone here has someone they know inside. Someone who might become a brother. Or they might not. You know the odds as well as any of them and the fact that the odds can be just as bad in battle doesn’t help at all. In battle you could do something, throw your body between Mikey and the enemy even if he yelled at you afterwards.

”Raph, you can’t fight my battles for me! Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I’m useless.”

“Hy know dot, little man. Big man. But Hy em bigger und hyu is hundreds ov years younger.”

“Yeah, but I’m good at this. I’ve got the skills. I’ve got the flamethrower.” Mikey, not yet five feet, glares and you, going on for seven feet and covered in scales, cower back.

Leo laughs. “He’s got de intimidation factor too.”

Leo is lying on his back, hat over his eyes. He’d look relaxed if he wasn’t chewing his claws so hard he’s broken one. He’s not even complaining about his pretty scarlet claws being ruined and demanding glue.

You pull Leo’s claws away from his mouth and he pushes his hat back to glare. For a moment you think there’s going to be a fight. You’d almost welcome a way to release the tension except it’s the wrong moment, the wrong mood. All around you are other Jägers, also not fighting. Leo rolls onto his front instead and rests his chin on your thigh.

”Dot line needs to be higher,” Leo says.

“Shot op und stop micro-managing,” Donnie growls, painting a little higher with the ink. “Hy haff done this before.”

“Hyu vouldn’t know it,” Leo says.

“I think it looks fine,” Mikey says, smiling. The outline of a Jägersymbol is on his skin, just in ordinary ink right now but it’s ready to be tattooed.

Donnie picks up the needle and you say, “Did hyu clean it proper? Mikey iz human.”

“Hy sterilised it, yez,” Donnie says, rolling his eyes.

You watch as he pokes the needle again and again into Mikey’s skin. Mikey smiles and smiles through the process.

“Now hyu will be a brother forever,” Leo says. “Effen if hyu leave, get married, buy a house…”

That and not the pain makes Mikey scowl. “I’m not leaving.”

You fold a hand over his shoulder, careful of your claws. “But hyu’d still be our brother if hyu did. Hyu don’t need to do anyting to make dot true. Hyu ken liff hyu own life.”

“This is my own life,” Mikey says, firmly.

Donnie is scribbling something in a book. A quick peek over his shoulder reveals probability calculations, done over and over again. The answer always comes out to about one-in-ten.

You put an arm around his shoulder and pull him against your side, he leans into it with a grumble but the pencil keeps going. On the other side of you, Leo peeks up at him, before looking away again to lose himself in his own thoughts.

”He asked me!” Mikey shouts. “Master Saturnus asked me! I’m gonna be a Jäger!”

You freeze, all three of you freeze, and you should congratulate him. You understand the honour that has been done to him. You remember. Even if you had died then you would have died a Jäger, you would have died for the Master. But this is Mikey, little Mikey, who loots artworks instead of gold.

“There’s a moch higher chance hyu vill simply die,” Donnie blurts out. “Nine in ten pipple dun survive the Jägerdraught.”

“Not how I vould haff said it, but Donnie’s got a point,” Leo says. “Hy mean, congratulations and everyting, but are you really sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Mikey says. “You know how much I’ve wanted this. I’m gonna be like you guys.”

“Mikey,” you say. “Vot if hyu die?”

“I’m going to die anyway,” Mikey says. “Way before you do. Even if I live to be old you guys will still keep going after I’m gone and you’ll forget me the way you forget everyone who rides with you.”

“Not hyu,” Leo says, finding the words for all of you. “Ve could no more forget hyu than ve could a Heterodyne.”

Mikey reaches out and squeezes Leo’s arms. “You’re not going to forget me because I’m not going to die. I’m going to live forever and set the world on fire and I’m going to do it with you.”

When one of his hands lets go of Leo and reaches for you you wrap an arm around them both and pull Donnie in with the other.

The Doom Bell rings and the square goes from quiet to utter silence. Master Saturnus enters first, hair wild and stride loose with exhaustion, but still radiating energy and satisfaction.

Behind him come the survivors. Still mostly human looking, but stumbling with rearranged muscles under their skin. Grinning with still blunt teeth but grins sharp with something new.

Mikey stands among them.

You don’t know who moves first. Whether it was Leo, rolling from lying against you to standing in one swift movement. Whether it was Donnie, forgetting his notebook as he runs. Whether it was you, running, running, as the crowd around you surges forward in the same motion.

The three of you hit Mikey together and he goes down beneath you. He’s laughing, poking you between the ribs with newly-minted claws. He smells of sweat and pain and pack, the Dyne singing in his blood.

“I told you,” he says, wild and joyful. Then he laughs and says with mischief in his eyes. “Hy told hyu. Hy told hyu all.”

[xtruss]

The remains of the intricately tattooed body of Apo Annu, a tribal leader from the Benguet province of the Philippines who died more than 500 years ago. Archaeologists believe people from this region earned their tattoos—typically geometric shapes and animals—in battle. Photograph By Gunther Deichmann

The Ancient History of Tattoos—Revealed By Inked-up Mummies

Humans have been getting ink for at least 5,200 years. Here are some of the most intriguing ancient tattoos, from cultic symbols to complex horse motifs.

— By Erin Blakemore | June 5, 2023

If you got a tattoo, what kind of ink would you choose and why? The answer might reflect everything from a spur-of-the-moment decision to a poignant tribute to a loved one. But you may not realize that tattoos have an ancient—and fascinating—history.

The word “tattoo” was imported into English thanks to Captain James Cook, who noted the practice, and Tahitian word “tatau” describing it, in Polynesia in the 18th century. But scholars agree that the practice far predates the word itself—and the skin of ancient mummies proves their point.

Who are these inked-up mummies, and what can they teach us about ancient cultures? Here’s a not-at-all exhaustive look at some of the most intriguing tattoos that archaeologists have found from the past and what they tell us about the ancient world.

An archaeologist inspects the tattooed arm of a mummy, known as the Lady of Cao, from Peru's ancient Moche culture. This young woman— believed to be member of the Moche elite—died around A.D. 450. Her tattoos of spiders and snakes suggest she was spiritual. Photograph By STR New, Reuters/Redux

Tattoos in Ancient Western Europe

The earliest evidence of tattooing is inked into the body of Ötzi the Iceman. Europe’s most famous mummy, Ötzi (also known as “The Iceman”) was discovered by German hikers in the Alps in 1991. Ötzi lived in Tyrol, a mountainous region that borders modern-day Italy and Switzerland, about 5,200 years ago, and after he died his body, and its tattoos, were preserved by ice and the elements.

Archaeologists have since documented 61 line-like tattoos on his body thought to have been created by piercing the skin and applying charcoal dust. Some of them were on areas associated with pain in aging like the knees and ankles, leading archaeologists to theorize that they were created during some kind of pain treatment. But other geometric tattoos on Ötzi’s chest suggest that tattoos had some kind of ritual, ceremonial, or even religious use as far back as the Neolithic age.

The exact meaning may be debated for the next five millennia, though, since researchers concede that without more evidence, there’s no way to know why Ötzi, or other Neolithic people, got inked.

Top: The earliest evidence of tattooing can be found on the body of Ötzi the Iceman. One of those tattoos, found near his knee, is cross-shaped. Bottom: Ötzi also has a series of line-like tattoos on his body that archaeologists have theorized may have something to do with pain treatment or ritual use. Photographs By Robert Clark, National Geographic Image Collection

Tattoos in Ancient Egypt

The next earliest evidence of tattoos comes from mummies thought to have died between 3351 and 3017 B.C. in ancient Egypt. Discovered in 1900, the bodies were found to sport tattoos in 2018, when researchers re-examined them using infrared imaging and found that what looked like smudging on the skin was actually body art. Their ink is the earliest known evidence of tattoos depicting images—including a wild bull and a sheep on the male’s arm, and symbols resembling the letter “S” and possibly a staff on the female’s arm and shoulder.

The images, which mirror motifs found in other ancient Egyptian art, are the first evidence of tattooing in Africa. Though researchers can only speculate on what the tattoos meant to their bearers, they could have been status symbols or proof of the wearer’s skills such as bravery or knowledge of cult or ritual practices. The differences between the male and female mummies’ tattoos suggest some kind of gender or social system.

Other tattoos dating from later periods suggest that tattoos were eventually used as cultic symbols in ancient Egypt. In one case, archaeologists discovered more than 30 visible and diverse images, from lotus blossoms to the Eye of Horus, on the skin of a female mummy found in the Valley of the Kings. She is thought to have lived in the Ramesside period of 1292 to 1189 B.C., and researchers believe her tattoos show that she was a priestess or magician with a particular connection to the ancient sky goddess Hathor.

Tattoos in the Americas

Tattooing is thought to have been practiced across the Americas, from the Arctic circle to the south. One mummy from the Chinchorro culture in what is now Chile was once thought to sport the oldest known tattoos, a mustache-like set of black dots under his nose. That idea has since been debunked; more recent research revealed that the Chinchorro man died between 2563 and 1972 B.C.—and is therefore not older than Ötzi as previously believed. Either way, the reasons for his tattoo stump researchers since he is the only known mummy from his culture with one.

The “Toltec Mummy,” a woman thought to have lived around A.D. 250 in what is now Mexico, was discovered with complex tattoos on her forearm that reflect undulating geometric motifs common throughout the region. Though researchers can’t pinpoint the exact reason for the tattoos, they speculate they warded off sickness or were part of some kind of initiation rite. I

Beasts tattooed on the arm of a Scythian child whose body—which dates back to the 5th century B.C.—was found in the Altai region of Russia. Archaeologists believe this culture's tattoos reflect age and social status. Photograph By CM Doxon, Print Colector/Getty Images

Tattoos in Ancient Eastern Europe

Members of the Catacomb culture in Eastern Europe from around 2600 to 2400 B.C. also had tattoos. Their mummified remains, found near the Sea of Azov in what is now Russia, bore plant-dye tattoos representing snakes that researchers believe were part of “sympathetic magic” practices and social roles.

Animal tattoos have also been found on the bodies of members of the Pazyryk culture, which emerged during the Scythians’ domination of what is now Russia between the sixth and second centuries B.C. These Iron-Age nomads lived in the Altai Mountains and depended on horses to live, and even die—they were buried alongside their horses, as in the case of an ice-preserved woman discovered in 1993 alongside six bridled and saddled horses. The high-status woman, along with other buried Pazyryk people, was covered in tattoos of complex horse motifs.

Some researchers believe the tattoos reflected age and social status, meaning that as one gained both they also got more and more ink. Psychology and animal studies specialist Gala Argent posits that the tattoos signified a personal connection to individual horses, and that they provide important evidence about how humans and horses interacted when they were alive.

Tattoos in Ancient Asia

Despite modern-day tattoo stigma in China, a variety of ancient cultures across Asia embraced the practice.

In China’s Tarim Basin, for example, the discovery of mummified bodies dating from between 2100 and 800 B.C. shows the prevalence of tattoos across a variety of cultures from the area. Most of those tattoos are located on the mummies’ hands, but tattoo historian Svetlana Pankova notes that a few have face tattoos. She has called for more research on the Tarim tattoos, claiming that with a re-examination of these bodies, “it is likely that many new tattoo discoveries will be made.”

A Scythian mummy displayed at the Martin-Gropius-Bau exhibition hall in Berlin. Mummification preserved the striking tattoo visible across the man's right shoulder. Photograph By Axel Schmidt, DDP/AFP/Getty Images

Tattoos in Oceania

Despite the Tahitian origin of the word “tattoo,” archaeologists have found relatively little evidence of tattooing from ancient Polynesia—the tropics’ warm, wet weather doesn’t lend itself well to mummification. In 2019, researchers identified a set of tattoo tools made of human bone thought to date from the dawn of Polynesian culture in what is now Tonga around 2,700 years ago.

But scholars still aren't sure what kinds of motifs were preferred by ancient Polynesians or what the markings meant to Polynesians, speculating that they could have indicated belonging to a particular social group, rites of passage, or a desire to be protected from harm.

As French art historian Luc Renaut explains in an essay in Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing, representations of “possibly tattooed” figures in ancient artworks offer a tantalizing view of even earlier tattooing practices. But “few survive close scrutiny,” and ancient artistic styles cannot reliably be interpreted as portraying real-life tattoos.

That, along with a dearth of mummy evidence older than Ötzi, suggests that the true history of tattooing may never be fully uncovered. In the meantime, though, there’s plenty of ink to look for—and more to learn about a truly ancient practice.

[immobiliter]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐓 ――   Repost, don’t reblog;

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 ――

FULL NAME:  James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser NICKNAME: Jamie ALIASES: Jamie Mactavish, Laird Broch Tuarach, Red Jamie, Dunbonnet, Alex Mackenzie, Jamie Roy / Alexander Malcolm, Colonel Fraser. SEX: male. SIZE:  6'2". AGE: I write him between the age of 22 and his late 50s. ZODIAC: Taurus (May 1st) SPOKEN LANGUAGES: Gaelic, English, French

𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 ――

HAIR:  a red/auburn colour, long and worn loose in his youth, but tied up more frequently later in life. FACIAL HAIR: he normally has some light stubble. EYES: blue. SKIN TONE: he's a pale scot. BODY TYPE:  well built, muscular. VOICE:  enjoy. DOMINANT HAND:  right. POSTURE:  he carries himself like any soldier would, tall and broad, often towering over everyone else. SCARS: Jamie has many scars, but most notable are the lash marks across his back, and the healed gash on his inner thigh from Culloden. TATTOOS: none. PIERCINGS: none. BIRTHMARKS:  none. MOST NOTABLE FEATURES:  his mop of auburn hair, the scars on his back, his broad shoulders.

𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃 ――

PLACE OF BIRTH: Lallybroch, Scotland. HOMETOWN: Lallybroch, Scotland. SIBLINGS: William Fraser, Jenny Fraser, Robert Fraser. PARENTS:  Brian & Ellen Fraser.

𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 ――

OCCUPATION:  Scottish Laird, Jacobite rebel, Prisoner, Printer, Smuggler and Landowner. Not all at the same time, mind you lmao. CURRENT RESIDENCE: Fraser's Ridge, North Carolina. CLOSE FRIENDS: Lord John Grey, Murtagh Fitzgibbons, Anora Theirin, Elizabeth Swann. FINANCIAL STATUS:  verse dependent, but mostly comfortable. DRIVER'S LICENSE: n/a. CRIMINAL RECORD: a reformed (maybe) enemy of the British Crown and former Jacobite.  VICES: his anger and pride for sure, his tendency to act first, think later, the fact that he is a violent man, as well as his somewhat traditionalist views.

𝐒𝐄𝐗 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 ――

SEXUAL ORIENTATION:  heterosexual. PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE: switch. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE:  switch. TURN OFFS:  this is pretty tricky to define aside from "anyone who is not Claire" lmao. but I think, talking about an AU during the twenty years without Claire, Jamie would struggle to go for anyone who wasn't strong-willed and stubborn. LOVE LANGUAGE: physical touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, gift giving, quality time. all of it, basically. he loves to love. RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES: completely and utterly devoted ? he's the most romantic bastard ever.

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒 ――

CHARACTER'S THEME TUNE: moch sa mhadainn HOBBIES TO PASS THE TIME: Jamie enjoys reading, playing chess, hunting, fishing and busying himself with his hands around Fraser's Ridge. He built the main house in Fraser's Ridge mostly by himself and enjoyed every second of it. LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED: left brained. SELF-CONFIDENCE LEVEL: he is pretty confident in himself, his moral compass, and the love he holds for those around him.

TAGGED BY: @goldenngore   TAGGING: anyone who would like to do this!

[slutforkatya]

update tattoos parce que je pense qu'a ca en ce moment, je veux :

- une coccinelle (vendrediiiii)

- une serrure et/ou une fenêtre parce que mon corps est pas une prison bla bla bla ( je suis niaise et basique ) / un derrière mon bras et l'autre sur le côté de ma cuisse gauche /

- "it'll pass" parce que mon cerveau est pas capable de comprendre que les choses peuvent passer ou au contraire, il les fait passer bien trop vite / sur mon avant bras gauche là où il y a des petites traces qui traduisent justement des moments ou mon cerveau pensait que ca ne passerait pas /

- des tatouages floraux / sous ma poitrine une fois que je l'aurai faite réduire /

- le dessin avec la lune dans le soleil sur ma cuisse droite (il y a une photo sur mon insta du 27 février) parce que j'avais trouvé ça joli alors que j'étais dans un moment très vulnérable ou tout était moche dans ma vie et que j'aime bien l'idée d'avoir une étoile, le soleil et la lune sur mon corps / sur ma cuisse droite /

- un quartier de pamplemousse si j'arrête les AD un jour / je sais pas sur quelle partie de mon corps encore /

.......peut être une référence au peintre matisse parce que j'aime bien son art et son nom.......

du reste, je veux pas de tattoos identifiables sur la santé mentale, j'avais déjà pensé à me faire tatouer un semicolon, le symbole de NEDA ou medusa mais flemme, je veux plus

et certainement pas de tattoos liées à mes passions parce qu'elles sont pas durables, d'autant plus que c'est souvent des personnes lol donc même si ça me tient bcp à cœur, c'est mort, je me fais la promesse de ne jamais le faire même si je venais à avoir une passion socialement acceptable

[wpdariacutnes]

🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁

Me: so pilk muzick now going a be more megaman a wery someone knows a stela bot ver and someone hirding now facebook but stil logalin a "me See a me widow" but canda hirding so yeah

🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁

me: sooo canda expleing yelly oc canda drue be time galaxy shuter eke: more carapin shut gun and canda dys more persen is story like im riding bit and illuzion be only hem get personal code a dys more dyfrent cherater more balaze in sowing like dys so canda be in ver stela but a backrown because is okey cherater relly is cool

And code ashly oc but is duo a goodi oc a dys maxel or mixel someone love say a hem likes and dys more stor gang code like zero get stor but more be nife one a from katsune gems so dys why so shild stor so same be stela bot ver back backrown relly so relly

Hmmm

So canda be little bit backrown cheraters so das fine like not so moch story but nice be enifing

So guy up gosht grup chraing more a males look introsting not only woman pls owo

🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁

Me: and fanely Mai be in series a stela bot because someone wery wona but never say normal a das wirts emogi art spam but das not dill dys

More a canda get redsinging Mai im say no im never get so dys me ferts time more lot a Luna so ups epic me art life

Or me code kawaii boy dogi and fine a tattoo dog a clasirator japan si wery old like so hirding slap hends and say D.O.G.I so canda work because japan car get dys code say like dys so canda be here a multum rezan

Like Mai offical be players cherater a use in game a diva now

so canda enifing cherater be dogi a das cherater in game story and games so canda be zero code like logic

🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁

Offical note: 20.07.2022.r

🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁🦢🧁

[mathloveslola]

Je vais avec JC chez le tatoueur pour le faire reprendre un vieux tattoo

Le tatoueur (Barberousse) me fait un tatouage énorme d'un chevalier médiéval style jean quasi sans tête sur la poitrine. On voit sa tête sur mon cou qui se fait découper je suis dégoûtée. Mais il me fait aussi la jambe et il décide de me faire un homme à barbe rousse sur tout le molet. Le bout de la barbe arrive sur le pied en triangle. C'est horrible je suis dégoûtée et surtout je sais que je ne pourrai jamais récupérer ça .

Je dois le montrer à ma famille mais j'ai trop honte. Mamie Alice me dit que c'est vraiment moche et elle a raison...

[horizonwalkers]

lord-moch

replied to your post

“i have two finished arcane traditions i haven’t posted because i don’t...”

Maybe crowd source the names? Or go with trusted sources to help name them?

fortunately, i’m fond of the subclass names. The Ritualist (A Ritual Spell/Strategy/Support focused Wizard) and the Atramentist (A Tattoo-Based Wizard whose Spellbook is Inked on their Skin).

It’s more fiddling around with the name of abilities within the subclasses. Particularly I’m not fond of the Atramentist’s ability names, they seem kind of lame. 

[placemakingmiddleearthsea]

Decapitating Spider Gods and Fly Tattoos

You might not think about the Moche of Peru when you read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, but I do, especially when I get to sections about underground lairs and spiders. The Mochica culture of Peru (100 to 700 AD) had a central god who was depicted as a gigantic spider figure ready to suck the life-blood from his victims. Sometimes he is also depicted with the heads of sacrificed humans in his hands, which is why he is known as the decapitator god. We know that human sacrifices sometimes did occur in this society, usually of prisoners of war, but also sometimes of locals. One such moment is supported by archaeological evidence from the Huaca de la Luna where skeletons of 40 men under 30 years of age show evidence that they were mutilated and thrown from the top of the pyramid. Skulls were brutally severed from the bodies. You can see what that Moche god looked like here:

Seems like a pretty nice guy to hang out with in an underground temple tunnel, which is where this depiction was found. This site is exceptional too, because it housed the burial of a female leader in a society that was pretty intolerant to female leadership (women followed powerful men into death). She is known and the Lady of Cao and she was in her 20s when she died. She was also heavily tattooed with spiders, snakes, crabs, catfish, and even a supernatural being which the archaeologists call the Moon Animal which you can see here: 

John Verano of Tulane University, who excavated the mummy with El Brujo Project and Museum director Régulo Franco say that “spiders are associated with rain, as well as with human sacrifice and death, and the serpent is an important element associated in many ancient Andean cultures with deities, fertility, and human sacrifice as well.” So if she was a queen, it seems she was heavily identified with the sacrifice of humans. 

Death masks show us that some shamans and leaders would have tattoos on their faces of animals or beings that they identified with or could perhaps “shape-shift” into during trances. The death mask below, also from the Moche culture, shows a heavily tattooed face with a fly necklace around the upper neck as seen here:

Huchet and Greenburg (2010) argue that “the Moche deliberately exposed the body to the flies with the hope that the anima or spirit of the deceased would be carried from the maggots into adult flies and through close contact with people, complete the human cycle.”

Here we can see little fly gods waiting in anticipation as they hover over Moche warriors and prisoners alike. They do not discriminate when they release souls. 

All this is what I think about when I read, “There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form, even such as once of old had lived in the Land of the Elves in the West that is now under the Sea, such as Beren fought in the Mountains of Terror in Doriath, and so came to Luthien upon the green sward amid the hemlocks in the moonlight long ago. How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come. But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dur; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow...” (723, Shelob’s Lair, LOTR). The Decapitator still reigns in his underground lair in El Brujo. 

[aic-americas]

Portrait Vessel of a Man with a Cleft Lip and Tattoos, Moche, -100, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of the Americas

Gift of Nathan Cummings Size: 21.3 × 14.9 × 21.6 cm (8 3/8 × 5 7/8 × 8 1/2 in.) Medium: Ceramic and pigment

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/6947/

[ancientorigins]

The day had been spent in ritual battles, and a group of individuals who were vanquished, naked, and tied-together were marched up the long stairs to the top platform of the great pyramid where there they were killed, throats cut, sacrificed to their supreme deity. A great silver goblet, the mark of a ruler in Moche society, was used to collect the blood and then the blood was consumed by the priestess-queen and the circle was completed, for life feeds on life, and this seems to have been a fundamental cultural concept for the violent, passionate Moche society.

[starsuncounted]

Finally getting around to some long (long) overdue tag games!

Thanks for tagging me @arcaneadventurist! :)

Bold what applies to you:

Appearance:

I’m over 5’5” // I wear glasses - contacts // I have blonde hair// I prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // I have one or more piercings // I have at least one tattoo // I have blue eyes // I have dyed or highlighted my hair // I have gotten plastic surgery // I have or had braces // I sunburn easily // I have freckles // I paint my nails// I typically wear makeup (only for Zoom calls tho lol) // I don’t often smile // I am pleased with how I look // I prefer Nike to Adidas // I wear baseball hats backward

Hobbies and Interests:

I play a sport // I can play an instrument // I am artistic // I know more than one language // I have won a trophy in some sort of competition // I can cook or bake without a recipe // I know how to swim // I enjoy writing // I can do origami // I prefer movies to TV shows // I can execute a perfect somersault // I enjoy singing // I could survive in the wild on my own // I have read a new book series this year // I enjoy spending time with friends // I travel during school or work breaks // I can do a handstand

Relationships:

I am in a relationship // I have been single for over a year (thank you, corona) // I have a crush // I have a best friend I have known for ten years // My parents are together // I have dated my best friend // I am adopted // My crush has confessed to me // I have a long-distance relationship // I am an only child // I give advice to my friends // I have made an online friend // I met up with someone I have met online

Aesthetic:

I have heard the ocean in a conch shell // I have watched the sunrise // I enjoy rainy days // I have slept under the stars // I meditate outside // The sound of chirping calms me // I enjoy the smell of the beach // I know what snow tastes like // I listen to music to fall asleep // I enjoy thunderstorms // I enjoy cloud watching // I have attended a bonfire // I pay close attention to colors // I find mystery in the ocean // I enjoy hiking on nature paths // Autumn is my favorite season

Misc:

I can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // I am the mum friend // I live by a certain quote(s) // I like the smell of Sharpies // I participate in extracurricular activities // I enjoy Mexican food // I can drive a stick-shift // I believe in true love // I make up scenarios to fall asleep // I sing in the shower // I wish I lived in a video game // I have a canopy above my bed // I am multiracial // I am a redhead // I own at least three dogs

Four songs you’ve been listening to a lot lately:

- Moch Sa Mhadainn - Bear McCreary

- Moorlough Shore - Celtic Woman

- Mon Alliee (The Best in Me) - Tom Leeb

- The Parting Glass - Hozier

Bold what applies:

ancient or modern · bitter or sweet · chocolate or vanilla · coffee or tea · create or destroy · day or night · early bird or night owl · freckles or dimples · gold or silver · Greek mythology or Egyptian mythology · macarons or eclairs (never had either) · hot or cold · thunder or lightning · typewritten or handwritten · secret garden or secret library · spicy or mild · dark magic or light magic · virtue or vice · ocean or desert · mermaids or sirens · known or unknown · rough or smooth · moon or stars · rain or snow · night out or night in · power or knowledge · space or deep ocean

[carraways-son]

Vendredi

Ma fille possède un très beau t-shirt et un moche tattoo sur l’avant-bras (selon mon goût), tous deux ramenés d’Angleterre. C’est un bonheur de faire des courses avec le Kid, sa petite main dans la mienne. Au Japon, on ne mange pas en marchant dans la rue, alors il se pose, même pour avaler une mini-viennoiserie. Si je devais inventer le petit-fils idéal, c’est lui que je voudrais. C’est un amour, mais il est si tendre que ça me fait peur. Allez, chut, il dort... Quant au Mini-Kid, qui arbore toujours un beau sourire,il est bien parti pour devenir sumotori ou, au vu de ses prestations décoratives dans l’appart, déménageur de pianos.

[moch-ila]

I've been thinking about my gender is and what that means.

The older I get, the more upset I get from people calling me Michelle and not Moch. My sister once mentioned wanting to get a tattoo with mine and my mom's name, like full name and last name, and I freaked out. The first thing that passed through my mind was "that's not my name, please don't get a tattoo of not my name". And I tried to explain my discomfort and panic and just couldn't.

I've been thinking about changing my legal name to just Moch and just get over it. But it's too much hassle and I'm kinda scared that people will ask why I did it and I have to go "well, I'm deeply uncomfortable with my name because of the femenine connotations it has".

I was in class the other day, and my teacher started talking about this person who transitioned and changed their name after graduating and had to go through the process of changing the name in their diploma. And I said something along the lines of "yeah, I haven't done it because it's too much paperwork", referring to the change of name. But everyone thought I was talking about transitioning and the classroom got dead quiet. And I was terrified of looking back because my boyfriend sits behind me, and I was so scared to know his reaction. After class I wanted to ask him if me being genderqueer in any way would be a deal breaker but I chickened out.

Wanna know something really fucked up? I've been wishing I was single to figure this out because I feel that if I'm not 100% a girl it makes my boyfriend less of a man. Oh gosh, there's so much wrong there. I feel like he didn't signed up for a genderqueer person, he signed up for a girl and by not being one I'm being unfair (?). I honestly just want to not be anything. I'm tired and I don't understand gender