Archive for Butterfly Tattoos
The Symbolism Behind Butterfly Tattoos
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the most popular tattoo designs are butterfly tattoos. A lot of people get them because they are beautiful, but they don’t know that there is a lot of symbolism behind butterfly tattoos. Here are some of the popular symbolism behind butterfly tattoos and why some people decide to get them.
New Beginning or Life
One of the popular places that people have butterfly tattoos is the lower back, and when they place their tattoo there, it usually means that they are going through a new beginning or a new life. After all, when a caterpillar goes into the cocoon, it is born again as a butterfly. Some of the cultures think that butterflies are insects that are acting themselves. It doesn’t feel ashamed of showing the pride that it has itself while it’s flying. Therefore, people who have butterfly tattoos are acting the way that they are.
Situations
Another thing that people usually use butterfly tattoos for is when they are dealing with something in their life or in their family. It might be an illness that they are fighting themselves or it might be an illness that someone else is fighting. Something else that a butterfly tattoo might do is to make a woman more attractive to men. To women, they represent beauty and they think that maybe they will look more beautiful if they have the butterfly on their skin.
New Path
A person who has started down a new path in life, such as a new job or getting married might decide to get a butterfly tattoo to show everyone that they are doing something new in life. Some cultures say that butterfly tattoos represent love that is fleeting.
Stages
Finally, there are three more things that butterfly tattoos symbolize: life, death, and spirit. There are three stages that a butterfly will go through before it dies. To a lot of people, it can symbolize the cycle of life that mankind has. It symbolizes growth, both in the mental and physical sense, the completion of one’s life, and a human’s life cycle. Butterflies are insects that are very unique, as they are beautiful and they are only alive for a short time. They go out and live life to the very fullest, and that may be why some people choose it for a tattoo.
There are four meanings that people have found to be for butterfly tattoos, but the meanings that are there are different for everyone. Just like people decide to get tattoos for different reasons,, people decide to get butterfly tattoos for different reasons. If someone enjoys butterflies and they are afraid to get a tattoo because of the fact that someone might think that it’s for a reason that doesn’t apply to them, that isn’t a reason to change their mind. Butterfly tattoos are something that make everyone beautiful and they are something that just about anyone can use to symbolize what they believe in. it’s easy to see why a butterfly is so popular as a tattoo.
Butterfly Tatoo Patterns & Symbolism
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Classical mythology associates butterflies with the soul. Psyche is often represented as a butterfly. Sylphs, invisible female spirits of the air whose voices are heard in the wind, are named from the Greek word silphe, which means “butterfly” or “moth”.
The Aztecs associated butterflies with women who died in childbirth and warriors who died in battle. In some Chinese stories butterflies represent dead women’s souls, but they more often symbolize Summer, Joy, and Longevity!
For many Native American tribes butterflies symbolize the souls of the dead but also Transformation, because the insects emerge from the chrysalis. They also associate the butterfly with Beauty.
The butterfly signifies Fire to the Aztecs while in Celtic solar festivals the firebrand that rekindled the hearth fire after it had been extinguished was called the “Butterfly.”
From the bland caterpillar to the fantastic winged creature of astonishing beauty, the butterfly has become a symbol for transformation and hope, rebirth and resurrection, the triumph of the spirit and the freeing of the soul over the material world.
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Tribal Butterfly Tattoos
Posted by: | CommentsSince both tribal and butterfly tattoos are so popular these days it’s no wonder that tribal butterfly tattoos are being seen more often. As we saw in the article titled Celtic Butterfly Tattoos, the symbolism surrounding these designs is quite interesting and probably adds to their popularity.
Symbolism
Butterflies often represent:
- rebirth
- renewal
- perseverance
- rejuvenation
- the soul
Tribal tattoos often represent:
- a person’s identification with a cultural heritage, belief, or practice.
- an allegiance to a specific social group or culture.
Although you may see phrases like Polynesian tattoos, Celtic tattoos, Japanese tattoos, Filipino tattoos, or Maori tattoos, they all fall under the category of Tribal Tattoos. Tribal tattoos tend to be abstract in form and black in color however due to their recent popularity many of them are now applied in different colors.
Tribal butterfly tattoos are some of the most interesting tattoo designs available because of the artistic nature of the design. When viewing a tattoo of this nature your eyes are automatically drawn to the central image of the design, the butterfly. Some of the designs are so abstract that you may not recognize the butterfly at first glance. This makes the tattoo more interesting and by extension, often draws attention to the wearer!
Like many butterfly designs, tribal butterfly tattoos look great in the lower back area. However, unlike regular butterfly tattoes, tribal ones look good on both men and women.
As with all tattoo designs it’s important to follow the guidelines below:
- Start with an image that has clean, clear lines.
- Make sure the image has smooth curves.
- The curves should not be too close to one another otherwise the tattoo artist may have trouble applying the design to your body.
- Get a Xerox copy of the image in the exact size you want it placed on your body. This is very important because a design that looks great in a large size might not be appropriate as a smaller tattoo because the image may lose too much detail.
UPDATE: Attached below are tattoo flash sheets of tribal butterfly tattoos. Feel free to use them as you see fit:
1. Click on any image to open it inside a blank window.
2. Print.
For photos and more information on Tribal Tattoos see:






