While today’s meanings for shooting star tattoos might have lost the ancient beliefs and mythology that held deep meanings to the life and fortunes of tribal sky-watchers, some remnants of those old beliefs remain. Stars, one of the oldest symbols in any form, have been very powerful images for centuries of wonder in several religions and tribal belief systems.

While star tattoos are not specific to any religion or culture and have many variations in design, they still have metaphysical meanings for today’s body art devotees and continue to be universal symbols of good luck or life changes. Shooting stars, on the other hand, can infer fleeting, but highly emotional romances or any of life’s transitions.

Some are adding shooting star tattoos to their body art to mark some event in their lives that left a lasting impression. It could memorialize a close friend, a deep romance or a moment in time that brought a change of attitude or lifestyle. The death of a loved one can be memorialized by a blaze of shooting stars, signifying the soul’s journey to another existence.

We are all dreamers and these beautiful clusters of stars shooting across your body could represent finally arriving at your goal or simply reaching for the stars and grabbing your dream. Who isn’t attracted by the very thought of reaching for the stars?

When you engrave a trail of stars across your shoulder or back, your meanings are personal and might have nothing to do with anyone else’s opinion of the symbology. The use of symbols for graphic or unconscious interpretation is a time-honored method of attracting attention to a product or business, and can easily attract attention to you for the same reasons. Advertising companies have become mega businesses doing just that.

Some popular sites for men who choose shooting star tattoos include the upper arm, shoulder or upper back. These displays can be a straight line flash of color leading to a fireworks-like display at the end of the star trail or one that swirls around your arm, highlighting your muscles,

Women tend to choose more delicate versions of the same design. They might prefer a subtle swirling of stars around an ankle and starting up the leg or one displayed in the small of their back, for example. Either one can be a slightly provocative or flirty design, while symbolizing a woman who’s wishes come true, or one with an interesting past.

The only thing that matters when you are choosing your shooting star tattoo, is what it means to you and not anyone else.

The Eastern World has known about the benefits and uses of the henna plant for a long time. Today, most of those uses are for dying your hair and tattoos, though it is a valuable ingredient for making perfumes.

Henna use for body decoration dates back to Ancient Egypt over 5000 years ago and was primarily used to decorate the hands and feet to attract prosperity, good health and happiness. Those ancient Egyptians also used henna to color their hair and cure some ailments of the time, like headaches.

Traditionally, henna decorations have normally been a common female custom that was passed silently down from mothers to daughters for generations – much like some traditions are still passed down the family tree, keeping you guys in the dark and puzzled forever. Just accept it! You can’t win!

Henna decorations on women have been closely linked to several ancient ceremonies and celebrations, like religious rites, festivals or weddings. This practice was common on women from all social plateaus, from housewives to royalty.

Henna tattoos today are very popular among women and teenagers or young adults. They do not require the painful needle gun procedure or require the scabby healing time. They are not permanent and will fade away in several weeks, eliminating the need to have it surgically removed if your design choice loses it’s appeal later.

Think about having your current love interest’s name permanently tattooed on your shoulder, chest or breast and then breaking up and finding another love of your life. That mistake will make your life miserable forever. Trust me! I speak from experience.

Henna tattoos are applied painlessly. First a design transfer is applied to your skin on top of a light oil base to make a clear template to work from. A henna paste is applied to the design with a cone and, after air-drying until it falls off the skin, you have a beautiful brown tattoo. Depending on the makeup of your skin, the tattoo could start out in the orange shades, but will darken naturally over the next few days.

It is important not to pick the henna paste off early. If some falls off, don’t panic. All that means is those pieces are dry and no longer useful to the tattoo. Keep your tattoo dry for at least 12 hours or the color will stop developing. Don’t expose it to the sun during those 12 hours either. If you have to go outside, wear a shirt that covers it up.

Also avoid swimming pools because the chlorinated water will stop the color development and maybe change the color to something ugly. In the shower or bath tub, do not scrub the tattoo, but wash it gently. Don’t rub your wet skin with the towel, either. Pat it dry.

One very valuable benefit of a henna tattoo is that, in a few weeks, the original tattoo will fade away and you can either replace it or choose another name wrapped around a heart. Your new lover will never know the difference.

The flower, in many cultures, is viewed as definitely feminine, because of it’s cup shape and non-aggressive method of growing and blooming in beautiful colors. Some flowers have powerful spiritual meanings in certain cultures, particularly in the West and East. The influence of flowers is so strong that an entire subliminal language has become common knowledge from the beliefs about certain blossoms and colors.

Flowers have been used to convey subtle meanings probably decades before the Victorian period. Evidence of this can be seen in art created in medieval times and during the Renaissance. Saints were often painted with flowers that represented their moral virtues. In Christian beliefs, for example, the white rose is believed to represent virginity or chastity.

When you are choosing your own flower tattoo design, you might want to check out some meanings before you get it applied to your body. The specific flower has particular meanings or importance, but so do the individual colors. Red, for example, is often considered by many to indicate passion, while pink might symbolize immaturity or a lesser level of passion.

While most flowers have one or two meanings associated with them, the beautiful rose has a very long list of symbolic meanings in the West.

Getting a rose tattoo with your love’s name on it might tell the world that you felt true love for that person if you used a red rose, while a pink rose could symbolize youthful energy, a love of life or desire. On the other hand, tattooing a yellow rose on your body could indicate just friendship, jealousy, infidelity or platonic love.

In the East, the mysterious lotus flower is just as versatile, and, in the language of flowers, purity, chastity, and eloquence are common meanings. Others include beauty, evolution, prosperity, creativity, birth, death and renewal. Hefty load of meanings for such a simple, but gorgeous flower.

You might not believe or even consider the secret language of flowers and their colors when you want a flower tattoo. That might be a mistake.

Perhaps you favorite color is yellow and you want a yellow rose to broadcast your new love. A yellow tulip would announce that you believe your love to be hopeless. Like daffodils? Their yellow color indicates uncertainty or unrequited love.

Common carnations are very popular in flower bouquets and can be found in tattoos. They, like the rose, have a different meaning for each color. Pink says that you have a female’s love and white shows your disdain for the person you’re involved with.

Purple carnations indicate your whimsical or changeable nature, including announcing that you can be fickle. Yellow, with this flower, advertises your disappointment, rejection or disdain. White also sends a message of disdain.

Those striped carnations are very attractive, but the language of flowers says they mean refusal.

While you might not pay attention to the meanings behind simple flowers and their individual colors, it is a good possibility is that your love’s mother or grandmother are very well-versed in the language of flowers and will be giving the object of your well-meaning tattoo an earful all the time. Invisible stress you don’t need.

I’ll bet you thought flowers were simple!

Kanji tattoos, however, have a built-in negative side that should be given serious consideration before putting one on your body.

One thing to remember is that Kanji tattoos come from a language that is not Western and the literal meanings you might be used to do not apply with Kanji. Kanji symbols do not represent individual characters, but are graphic depictions of complete ideas or concepts. What looks like a simple character could actually be more than 20 or 30 separate strokes and have several meanings, depending on the script style of Kanji used.

Kanji scripts have three styles of expression to consider when you are looking for the perfect Kanji tattoo for your body art.

Japanese Kanji characters and symbols originated in China and are used for nouns like peace, morning or determination. Kanji writing, over time, developed into part of the Japanese system of using ideograms to express whole concepts.

Katakana characters, on the other hand, are used for foreign words and names. Adjectives and grammar will be expressed with the Hiragana script.

Just wanting a name, yours or a loved one, as a tattoo would probably be done with Katakana characters, which easily convert from Japanese to Western names or initials without the more complicated underlying meanings found in the Kanji scripts.

Just visiting your tattoo parlor and picking out characters from a wall poster or book of designs could be a mistake. The letters that might represent your name could also represent complete thoughts that would be negative or belittling to your image.

They would be understandable only by those who speak Japanese, which, considering the numbers of Japanese businessmen & women in most industrial countries, should be a concern of yours if you are a business professional or planning on becoming one. If you believe your tattoo spells your name and don’t investigate the underlying total concept, you might also be wearing a tattoo that says you have “ugly dog breath,” for example. Your Japanese supervisor would not be impressed.

The point to remember here, before decorating your body with a tattoo you might regret, is to investigate your Kanji tattoo meanings BEFORE getting them permanently applied to your body. There’s several translation services online that can do the job for you. Spending a little time checking out the meanings behind Kanji tattoos might save you embarrassment later.

They were used to ward off evil, celebrate some victory, signify marital status or keep the bearer healthy. Some cultures believed that decorating their bodies with tattoos of fierce beasts would transfer the animal’s strength to them. It wasn’t until organized religion spread across the globe and banned the ancient practice of tattooing, that it fell into disgrace.

Even so, in a desire to ensure a Christian burial if they were killed in battle in a foreign land, the Crusaders (circa 1095 AD) tattooed a small cross on their hand to announce their religious wishes.

Today, the popularity of religious tattoos, including the Christian cross, is making a very strong comeback and is responsible for nearly 25% of all tattoos purchased in North America.

Religion is taken very seriously by those involved in religions of any sort all over the world. When someone has a religious symbol placed on his or her body, they are announcing their religious convictions with pride and devotion, along with drawing their personal spirituality closer to them.

Those religious symbols take several distinct forms, with the cross being the most popular and taking many forms, like a simple cross, a Celtic design or the Crucifixion. The Crown of Thorns is another symbolization of the death of Christ and is often used to mark suffering.

Other often seen religious symbols include, angels, biblical characters, biblical verses, doves, praying hands and the Madonna. The Alpha/Omega symbol is used to recognize that the Lord is the beginning and end of all things.

By far the most dramatic symbol is the Catholic Church’s Sacred Heart, a medieval symbol of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This tattoo symbol is used to represent not only the redeeming love of God, but announces God as the light and happiness of the wearer’s soul. Besides being a major religious symbol, the Sacred Heart is a particularly beautiful tattoo, with a bright red color, enhanced with flames and crossed by thorns.

Since ancient times, thousands of years before organized religion or the birth of Christ, body decoration with religious tattoos has always been based in the spirituality of every existing culture, whether primitive or modern.

Depending on the cultural history of the dragon tattoo you are going to have inked on your body, you could be wearing a symbol of gentle wisdom and kindness or a fire-eating enemy ready to do battle. Legend has always depicted a hero slaying the dragon and saving the castle or the village from total destruction and winning the heart of a fair maiden.

In Chinese cultures, the dragon symbolizes lightning, thunder and rain, which, in their ancient understanding, represented the uniting of the earth and water elements or fertility. Traditional Japanese tattooing is often about balance and the various characteristics of yin and yang. The dragon, in Japanese tattooing, is often portrayed with other symbols that represent both the balance and duality found in yin and yang.

Another aspect of dragons, in the Far East (China & Japan), is their representation of either the four points of the compass or the nature symbols of water, earth, the underworld and the sky.

The Gnostics, who started a philosophical and religious movement in pre-Christian times, believed in the spiritual nature that lives in all of us and relied on their understanding and knowledge of God. Their belief about dragons revolved around the chaos of nature and the Spirit of God. Their fiery dragon could conquer all things.

Ancient Emperors and Celtic kings believed the dragon symbolized an existence that brought order and prosperity to their kingdoms. Very old documents and drawings about these powerful leaders often described them as heavenly dragons seated on a throne.

Dragons thought to be born of water can be credited with pleasant and benign activities, like bubbling springs and waterfalls, but they also drown people according to ancient understandings. Great horned dragons live underwater, beckoning people to their watery graves, if you read the beliefs and myths of Eastern Native Americans.

Water dragons possessing a glittering jewel flashing lightning bolts can be found in legends from Cambodia. Thunder and its power to bring rain was often believed to come from a pearl held in the dragon’s mouth. The medieval paintings of St. George are full of dragons resembling sea serpents.

When reading these ancient beliefs and thinking, “How could people be so naïve?” keep in mind our current myths about dragons: the Loch Ness monster in Scotland and Ogopogo in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia.

We’re not so far removed from believing in flying, fire-breathing dragons.

Star tattoos span all religions and cultures, while remaining a universal symbol today that has deep metaphysical meanings for people with different spiritual beliefs. One of the oldest symbols that can be found in religious myths dating back to prehistoric times, stars have a powerful history that continues to fascinate groups of people worldwide.

The most masculine of the star tattoos is the nautical star with 5 points split down the middle and meeting in the middle. Each point is filled with two alternating colors that create a 3d effect.

The nautical star stems from an old Pagan symbol and can be found in certain hospitals in Ireland to symbolize good health. Sailors throughout history have used stars for guidance through the oceans of the world. As a result, they placed nautical stars on their bodies for protection and guidance to get them home safely.

The Star of David, a six-pointed star that is the symbol of the Jewish religion, is a symbolic reminder of the rule of God over the entire universe.

The Pentagram tattoo, or pentangle, has a long list of spiritual, cultural or religious meanings dating back for many centuries and is one of the oldest recorded symbols in the history of civilization.

In some beliefs, the pentagram protects the wearer against evil. This star is the most used of all symbols from the occult and is widely believed to be the strongest method of attracting benevolent spirits.

Believers in Satanism, black magic, invert the star so two points are up. This inverted star pattern is the symbol of Masonry and the Eastern Star.

Wiccans, witches and warlocks who practice white magic, use it with the point up, which is a symbol of faith for them . Both beliefs place the star inside a circle, which is believed to strengthen the powers of the star.

Christianity, on the other hand, uses the pentagram to symbolize the five elements of the earth: light, air, wind, fire and water.

One non-religious symbolism of the pentagram includes the ancient Egyptian pentagram found on ancient graves and symbolizing the celestial sky. Another, from Pythagoras, would represent mathematical perfection.

In astronomy, the pentagram is used to symbolize femininity and the planet Venus, which follows a path around the sun that resembles a pentagram.

Stars have fascinated civilizations since the beginning of time. The night sky and the bright stars have created many mythologies as primitive cultures struggled to understand the forces of nature all around them. That simple fascination continues today as men and women decorate their bodies with this celestial symbol.