If you are a lover of ink am pretty sure you have seen these around. According to many tattoo artists, every ink carving Carrie’s a story behind it and it is majorly the person that wants the tattoo that can tell the story in their own perspective.
For a few tattoos however, their meanings have been derived from ancient times and have been carried along, only to be given a few additional meanings, still in context with the ancient stories that they have always told.
Here are the 5 commonest tattoos and their meanings;
The semi colon tattoo
This tattoo is a symbol of strength and perseverance. It also signifies hope. A semicolon tattoo represents hope and resilience for those who have faced mental health challenges, specifically those that have once in their lives faced suicidal thoughts challenges or tendencies. Just as a semicolon signifies a pause in a sentence, this tattoo simply signifies a pause in life's sentence. People that get this tattoo are acknowledging that instead of putting an end to their life, they are choosing to pause and restart a new life somewhere.
The semi colon is quite common these days because it is aimed to foster solidarity and reduce stigma around mental health and suicide tendencies (something like ‘we stand as one').
The Medusa tattoo
This tattoo is a symbol of women empowerment as well as resilience. It shows a woman who is feared and she is very intimidating. Currently, many people see medusa as the symbol of female rage, which is why she has over time turned into that for very many women out there.
The Medusa tattoo can mean many things actually but it's generally a symbol of survival, strength, and overcoming assault. Medusa has become a figure of protection to women who have experienced sexual assault or assault on some level, particularly by men.
The butterfly tattoo
Butterflies are beautiful. They signify rebirth and beauty. You have witnessed where a butterfly starts its phase of life from, right? The transformation is a beautiful rebirth. The butterfly tattoo signifies the same. For people that have faced something’s in the past and have managed to overcome them, they are reborn hence opting for the butterfly tattoo to signify their new life.
In many cases, people that have survived self harm carry this tattoo because they have decided to turn a new leaf and live a brand new beautiful life.
The dagger.
A dagger is usually used in combat, most especially close combat. It is the kind of weapon that gets you when you are least suspecting(more like it sneaks up on you). The dagger tattoo could symbolize all the uses of the dagger like protection and sacrifice.
For some people however, they carry this tattoo as a symbol of a past betrayal, loss or instances of danger that were once inflicted on them most probably by a person closest to them, one they never once suspected would subject them to that.
The barbed wire tattoo.
As you well know, barbed wire is a restriction. It is almost like imprisonment or oppression just like a hand cuff. This kind of imprisonment however causes pain to the prisoner (the barbed wire being prickly and all).
The same goes for the barbed wire tattoo. For some people, they are imprisoned by the past, imprisoned by fear or even imprisoned by restrictions. If the barbed wire be broken however, that means this oppression or these restrictions have been broken.
The barbed wire however is also used as a fence for protection which could also apply to ink lovers. Some people have this tattoo as a symbol of strength and protection, meaning they have been able to ward off their fears.
Every journey has a story to it and for some people, the best way to express themselves is through ink.
