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significance is where they were located: along the lumbar spine and knee and ankle joints. This placement perhaps indicates an effort to combat arthritis or other joint ailments. Ojibwa Indians here in North America who suffered from headaches or toothaches would inscribe permanent marks on the cheeks, temples, and forehead to try to counteract their pain.
    Some cultures believed that you could invoke the protection of a particular animal by marking its image into the flesh, an important survival tactic in a world where humans were considered tasty two-legged meals. Tattooing the image of an animal on your skin acted as a talisman of sorts, or might even permit you to take on that animal’s attributes, melding them with your own. A fox tattoo, for instance, would instill that beast’s supposed cunning in the recipient, an owl its wisdom or a lion its strength. According to Cherokee tradition, painting or tattooing an eagle’s eyes around your own would gift you with that raptor’s keen eyesight.
    Even Christianity used to look favorably on tattoos. After completing the arduous journey to the Holy Land, early believers would acquire a tattoo on their hands or face to commemorate their pilgrimage and to actively display their piety to the world. The practice fell out of favor during Emperor Constantine’s reign (a.d. 306-337). No doubt drawing on the injunction against marks as mentioned in Leviticus 19:28, the emperor felt such tattoos disfigured “that made in God’s image.” By a.d. 787, tattoos had been banned in England, and during the Dark and Middle Ages those with marks were viewed as outsiders, and, in some cases, evil incarnate.
    Some of today’s Christians display their faith through marks, and it is not uncommon to find figures of Jesus, Mary, the fish symbol, crosses, angels, and Bible verses tattooed on the observant. Jews display their faith by inscribing verses in Hebrew, the Magen David (Star of David), or scenes from the Old Testament on their flesh (though traditionally, having a tattoo means you cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery). Despite Islam’s prohibition against marks, some Muslims have tattooed passages from the Koran, the Crescent Star, and the Hand of Fatima, which is supposed to ward off the evil eye. For Pagans, you’ll find a vast array of ink art: deities, Celtic knots, Odin’s triple horns, lunar crescents, and an astonishing selection of animals, both real and mythical.
    The House of Night’s tattoos obviously have a spiritual tie; however, the vampyres’ Marks don’t just reflect their devotion to Nyx but are directly connected to the Goddess herself. Nyx serves as a divine tattoo artist, shaping the raw clay of the fledgling, marking the body both physically and spiritually, and preparing him or her for a life in Nyx’s service.
    It is possible that Nyx has no say in who becomes a vampyre, or perhaps with the aid of biology Nyx selects certain humans and sets them on a path to become her children. Either way, the tattoos seal the relationship between goddess and acolyte. Zoey’s more elaborate tattoos are evidence of her special relationship with the goddess; her tattoos are more than just a “this girl has potential” stamp of approval. From a metaphysical perspective, Zoey’s Marks are a physical road map of her journey along Nyx’s path as she grows into her role as High Priestess.
    STATEMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY
    Within the House of Night books, adult vampyres’ Goddess-given Marks range from the mysterious to the elegant. High Priestess Neferet’s tattoos are described as cresting ocean waves, while those of Zoey’s fencing teacher (Professor Langford) favor the more dramatic approach: “His tattoo represented two dragons whose bodies, serpent-like, wrapped down over his jaw line. Their heads were over his brows and their mouths open, breathing fire at the crescent moon” (sounds amazing) ( Marked ). Other professors have thin Celtic knots and feathers or