Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tattooing, Piercing, Scarification, Branding, and Implants

(Paperback)

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Description

Body modifications of all kinds have become increasingly popular over the past twenty years. Tattooing and piercing are widespread. Implants are commonplace elective surgeries for men and women. Body modification is both a statement of individualism and part of the popular culture. This book presents the history and context of body modifications, as well as sociological and psychological motivations.

Reviews

"Tattooings are not only ornaments... they are not only emblems of nobility and symbols of rank in the social hierarchy; they are also messages fraught with spiritual and moral significance... not only to imprint a drawing onto the flesh but also to stamp onto the mind all the traditions and philosophy of the group."
- Claude Levi-Strauss

"And this tattooing has been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete theory of the heavens and the Earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but those mysteries not even himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them."
- Herman Melville

Author Bio

John A. Rush, Ph.D., N.D., is a Professor of Anthropology at Sierra College, Rocklin, California, teaching Physical Anthropology and Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion. Dr. Rush's publications include Witchcraft and Sorcery- An Anthropological Perspective of the Occult, The Way We Communicate, Clinical Anthropology- An Application of Anthropological Concepts within Clinical Settings, and Stress and Emotional Health- Applications of Clinical Anthropology. He is also a Naturopathic Doctor in private practice.