What types of tattoo designs are typical for Gothic tattoos? Here’s where it gets complicated. People who are part of Goth culture have very eclectic and imaginative tastes and interests, a fact that is fully reflected in their tattoos. One category of Gothic tattoos, therefore, are ‘fantasy’ images – fairies, dragons, and the like. Interest in the medieval is one offshoot of Goth culture, and the imagery of that time is strongly represented in the tattoo images. The images tend to be fantastical, as much of the mythology of the time was – a nod to the older religions and belief systems, perhaps, or maybe an affiliation with a fairy-tale world. That’s not to say that this fantasy world is always benign, though – as the dragon images show, fairy tale life had its own set of dangers!
A second category of Gothic tattoos deals with what we might term the occult – images relating to Wicca (white witchcraft), the Tarot, the Viking Runes, or other mystic crafts or oracles. Wiccan images include the pentacle, a five-pointed star; the ‘athame’, a double edged blade used in Wiccan rituals, or symbols related to the four elements – earth, air, fire and water. Keep in mind that none of these occult crafts is evil; they have nothing to do with Satanism, for example. These are ancient religions that were practiced before Christianity, and then they had to go underground. Gothic tattoo designs actively seek out and celebrate these images.
