Pics of Maori Warriors

I'm deseperately seeking examples of the face and body paint that the Maori Warriors wear.
The patterns etc.

See links here on Maori Tattooing

See also some photos here

hmmm... hopefully this goes without saying, but just in case...
be careful what you do with that information! you are dealing with a people's sacred energies, and they may take offense if you go copying or emulating them without being a part of their teaching. for instance, i know of people that have copied tribal tatoos, and offended "natives" to the point of violence because they copied a design from a picture that was the medicine of their grandfather, etc... sacred teachings are not to be taken lightly, or even not so lightly. maori are very strong people, and might not take lightly misuse of their medicine. anyway, hope this does't sound presumptuous, just trying to help, as i've seen weird things happen with sacred medicine...like fire...

Arashi,

Good points.
I am not sure why Wildchild want the pics but you are right that you cannot just copy their designs.

Regards

Malcolm

First of all: Thanx for the info — about the tattoo examples as well as the sacred teachings.
I need it for a workshop where each fire dancer has to create a "performance-persona".
I will, however, take special care not to copy any of the designs directly — rather create my own design with the examples merely as guide-lines.
As far as respect and awareness is concerned, I understand that the Ta Moko is a "sacred medicine" for these people, and will therefore appraoch the use thereof as such.
Thanx again, I do appreciate it.

Actually I am thinking they don't mind much. If you look at the bottom of the gallery in the second link Malcolm posted it says that you can purchase a book of 20 designs for use in tatooing. That would mean the general public is welcome to it in my eyes.

The first link didn't work for me, but some of them I have a hard time understanding what makes them specifically Maorian. Many of the more "dragon" designs were strikingly similar to celtic and oriental dragon designs. There was one that while amazingly done, looked like a Geiger creation. Some I understand about, like the father-son one, the patterns and the facial tats.

So they use the tap and ink method, much like the traditional oriental tats used a bladed edge and ink? Ummm...ow. I think at that juncture I would pass...but it really is striking!
Thanks Malcolm for posting those!

PS...for stage performance temporary tat's WildChild, make a template out of a heavy duty plastic. Tape it to the desired body part and then use a strong quality body paint, marker or even body spray paint. That way your look will remain completely consistant from show to show!

Thanx,Pele*
The performance took place a week or so already.

As far as the body painting is concerned:
As far as the actual performance is concerned:

I appreciate your advice, however, since I will definitely make use of the idea again.

Would you say that the women mainly wear that bit of "mouth-and-chin" tattoo??

I like the idea of the father-son tattoo. Don't rate my chances of persuading my dad to get a dragons eye on his arm to match mine though. Could try for a "badger" on his back

fingers crossed.

I see what you mean about the Geigeresque one P.

I'm thinking of having several neolithic rock carvings tatooed on me. one or two were going to be exact copies, and one or two stylisations, with certain rock pieces as direct basis.

quote:

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you are dealing with a people's sacred energies, and they may take offense if you go copying or emulating them without being a part of their teaching.

---

Do you think this rule still applies here?

Liam, Arashi was only guessing. He doesn't know for sure. He lives in Texas not NZ.

You could read up on it though. You should use the uni library. There's bound to be stuff in there.

yeah cantus is totally right, i was just trying to bring up a respect for the sacred, they really probably don't give a flying fart. the ecounter i was talking about was with a polynesian warrior. close geographically so i thought i'd mention it. you never know.

surely if you are having the rock carving tattooed because you like it and respect it then there isn't reeally a problem. where as with the facial markings it's a direct imitation and could seen like you're trying to meddle with or copy something you don't understand. With the carvings it's different. the equivalent would be reproducing the carvings and having them on display in your garden. methinks. not sure though. just my jumbled interpretation.

Oops, didn't notice the name slip. Sorry. I'll go and stand in the corner.

yeah, i agree still. those rock drawings are ancient, and it is truly impossible to really understand what the heck they REALLY mean. they are like a blank canvas adrift in a sea. but with medicine, like tattoos or sweat lodges or totem items, they mean something, and they have a magick wrapped in them that is there, and is associated with someone's power. so to copy them means that you are doing something, that you have no idea what, and it seems very babylonian to just think that you can copy it for ego reasons when you have barely brushed the surface of the culture. it shows lack of respect. not that that is even pertinent to the maori tattoo thing. (i've never met a Maori, my friends did when they did splore in NZ, and they told me about them, so i don't really know). but it is certainly an attitude that runs rampant in our world. even sacred medicines, like father peyote or the coca leaf, become bastardized and itemized and marketable to babylon. but those cave drawings are like rorscharch inkblots. that is my opinion. and it's not like you are going to claim those medicines as your own, or think that you are now a cave man because you saw a picture of a cave drawing and got the tattoo.it is mostly about the attitude. some people see a polynesian tattoo, and decide "hey cool, i want one" when they have no idea what the tattoos means, nor have they even ever met a polynesian warrior or medicine man, much less shown respect for them by helping to support their ways, etc. i used to apprentice with a sculptor who did lots of stuff with neolithic art, and it was okay, cause it seemed obvious to me he was in touch with the energies of them and he even made his own designs mostly based on his studies of them. well that's enough of my big mouth.

Hmmm..... interesting, I was wondering if morphic resonance or genetic/racial memory could be bought to bear as one of the reasons that I am drawn to such designs in the first place, and what effect that the above theories would have on this discussion

Speaking from personal experience, my art and designs come from an inner place. I don't think too much about them. Just let it flow and out it comes. I think that's what people have done for millenia - drawn from within. And that which comes out speaks to various people on various levels. Some might see it as intricate, striking or thought provoking. Others spiritual. Yet others as just marks.

It's down to the individual.

That's my ramble for the moment.

[ 10 June 2002, 16:34: Message edited by: C@ntus ]

oh, yeah, gettin in to akashic record is totally where you get in to being in touch with the energies of it, and not on a babylonia level of conversation. as far as that goes,HELL YEAH! that's when you have the respect as said above, because it has medicine for you. there is also the possibilties that the symbols can be speaking to you through the collective consciousness, through dreams, or other dimensional psy work. the list of ways that the universe could be bringing you those energies is infinite. maybe the spiral in the corner of the picture will speak to you and you will change your name to spiral?!? the difference is that a lot of people just know very little about something, such as native american beliefs, and yet start wearing native clothes and buying plastic dream catchers and getting native warrior tattoos and the real native watches it all, and cries inside, because it is all at the expense of his own people. and the knowledge of what their lives were like and the spirit and feelings of the ancestors that evolved it with suffering, and what the dream catcher IS isn't transmitted in that impetuosity. that's something that can translate over to poi too. the same thing happens there. anyway, i think it is really a matter of awareness. is it being done as another way to avoid our reality and how we are affecting the universe ("wow, this is neat, pass me a happy meal, let's go to the tattoo shop") or is it a way to help us become more aware and conscious ("man this stuff is nifty! spirals are ubiquitous in mankind's artistic expression! i wonder what that means?)

arashi - your long posts hurt my poor eyes. I know you're making valid points but I seem to have an inability to understand more than about six lones of text at a time.........

Any possibility of some random breaks to help little me? Not a dig -

xx

sorry, i write stream of consciousness. i'll put a happy fuzzy sticker on my enter button, that'll help

thank you

Indeed, I took my name spiral for several reasons, and one of those reasons is one of tattoos I want to get done. I feel that in a way they are talking to me, and they are part of my sacred medicine, if that is not to bolder statement to make ?

indeed, spirals are the shizit. i have stripes, which are linear sections of spirals in my mind, dyed in my dreds.

excellent

[ 12 June 2002, 12:10: Message edited by: Spiral ]

I like this Arashi chap Spiral. He sounds like our kind of people.
Don't tell him I said though, ok?

funny, I was just thinking that

gee, thanks, lion-o, snarf snarf

hey,
I'm a NZer!!! ..i don't really know...but.....

y don't u come here and find out??? there is quite a few of hippies as well!!!

sorry, i know i was no help....

Lydia