Monthly Archives: April 2010

floral tattoo

Flowers as tattoo designs and symbols can be far more than just pretty pictures on pretty girls. Flowers are the embodiment of nature and concise symbols of the cycle of birth, life, procreation, death and rebirth. Specific flowers have come to represent a myriad of different beliefs in different cultures. In the East, the lotus flower has tremendous spiritual significance, as does the rose in the West. Similarly, the tremendous spectrum of colours present in flowers can have symbolic importance; white for purity, red for passion, or to represent the blood of Christ are but a few examples.

One of the most popular tattoo design choices for women, the Butterfly reveals the feminine influence in tattoo culture. Generally speaking, butterflies are an overwhelmingly female tattoo design. Because of the butterfly’s short life span, many ancient peoples saw it as emblematic of the impermanent. It’s physical beauty and its fluttering from flower to flower seeking nectar have made it synonymous with the more unstable and superficial aspects of the human soul.

nautical star

 Stars are often encountered as symbols, and many cases the meaning of a particular star symbol may depend upon the number points it has, and sometimes the orientation of these points as well. As a light shining in the darkness, the star is often considered a symbol of truth, of the spirit and of hope. The symbol of the star embodies the concept of the divine spark within each of us. Their nocturnal nature leads stars to represent the struggle against the forces of darkness and the unknown.

four leaf clover tattoo

The Shamrock and Four-Leaf Clover are universal symbols of Ireland all over the world, a symbol of being of Irish descent and in the case of the four-leaf clover, a potent symbol of luck or good fortune. Interestingly enough, both shamrocks and four-leaf clovers are one in the same – with a crucial difference – and have a symbolic tradition that goes back many thousands of years, spanning both the periods of the Druids, the Celtic Tribes and the modern era of conversion to Christianity.

In some respects the Shamrock is similar to our adoption of the northern European pagan practice of using evergreen trees at Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ during Christmas celebrations.