Ritual Tattoo Sessions

Dre here, 

I got obsessed with the idea of having these unique experiences in tattooing that combined some of the old ways and some of the new before I had even started learning to tattoo. 

As my understanding of the technical aspect started to get better, I began discussing it with some close friends. I love ceremony and ritual. 

The prayers, the cleansing and preparing the body, mind and spirit,  the reverence in anointing with oil.

I grew up in the Mormon faith, so there was no incense, but I became very fond of Buddhist temple incense and various types of religious and ceremonial herbs and resins in general and have always loved the idea of a beautifully scented environment to worship, seek comfort, profess love or seek forgiveness or comfort in. 

I learned about different ritual tattoo techniques from using shards of obsidian to make cuts and deposit ash, mud etc. “Tatau” is a  Tahitian word which means to mark or strike. Tahitian tattoos are typically applied with a sharp stick or a bone and tapped into the skin in a long and considerably painful experience. In Samoa a special tattooing comb called an  "au" is made from sharpened boar's teeth fastened together with a portion of the turtle shell and to a wooden handle.   

 Smelling ceremonial herbs and resins in the air- beautiful, low lighting- the quiet hum of the machine, the tiny drops of blood that come to the surface and mix with the ink making these special, sacred marks. These permanent marks made on the body are in dedication, devotion, or remembrance of something precious.