Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: Magic circles touch closely to other subjects. Ritual tattoos and scarification are one of them. Magery isn’t always sophisticated or civilised, at least not in the way we usually think of such thing. There are primal undercurrents running through some traditions, still embracing what others have left behind.
The recorded history of tattooing stretches back over five thousand years, and we can assume ritual scarification reaches back further still, our best guesses estimating the practice to have originated around ten thousand years ago. Both forms of body modification arose independently in many parts of the globe, with their different, dedicated methods and tools.
It is no wonder then that magekind adapted both tattooing and scarification to fit with its diverse arcane practices.
In every culture in which they appear in the ritual sense, magic practices also used them in the same context. Commonly body modifications were used in three fashions – as an implement of magic, to seal a contract or as a price.
Up until the end of the 4th Age, these body modifications were common and widespread, displayed with pride among the practitioners that employed them. Though even in that time it was common for them to be self-inflicted, they were just as commonly carried out by others and in public. Just the same, they were shown openly during the public rituals of those times.
With the coming of the 5th Age, with the decline of public ritual practices and the shift to our modern understanding of Occulta, ritualistic body modifications declined. Or at the very least became a staple of fringe coven and practices outside of the mainstream arcana teachings. Even among lineages that still carried out body modifications as a form of ritual, the results of those practices were hidden away under clothing.
This subdued practice, while rare, still survives to this day — the methods by which they are carried out remaining traditional. Our modern technology and medicine reserved only for the care after such rituals are carried out. In some corners of the world, a few lineages still practice them often enough for their handiwork to be recognisable.
Within the Secretum, the Aalst and Wallis lineages still practice ritual tattooing. However, both now abstain from facial tattoos. In the case of the Aalst family, a symbol with the name of their guardian is inscribed over the heart. This procedure is part of a coming of age ceremony. Though fewer members of the lineage still posses guardians. The Wallis, on the other hand, tattoo their forearms for use as a ritual implement.
Among the Mofu, both tattoos and scarification can be encountered among the older generation of mages, particularly in China and India. Scarification, in particular, is still prevalent among the hedge wizardry of Africa and Oceania, who keep the practices of their ancestors alive. In South America, some arcane practitioners attempt to resurrect the rituals carried out long ago in the Andes, but the true meaning of the tattoos is lost to time.
Esoteric Musings... 