Dreaming of Tattoos

Written by avenefica on September 4th, 2009

Dreaming of Tattoos

My friend Sue Samuels called this morning and asked about the symbolic meaning of dreaming of tattoos. I found this synchronistic as I’ve been feverishly working on my new tattoo site, so I was completely engaged in her question.

Although unsure about what everybody else says, I’m certainly clear on my brand of understanding about dreaming of tattoos. Here is a quick list of concepts conveyed in dream tattoos with an explanation of my conclusions to follow:

Ritual
Devotion
Lineage
Initiation
Permanence
Heritage
Ancient connection
Historical reference
Drawing attention
Creative expression
Commitment
Alteration
Metamorphosis

How am I coming up with all these symbolic meanings for dreaming of tattoos?

Some are self-explanatory. Tattoos are permanent, and so when we’re dreaming of them it conveys a sense of unaltered choice. To use the adage “the dye is cast” is appropriate. Dream tattoos speak about irreversible choices we make in our lives that affect us on deeply personal levels for the rest of our days.

Concepts like “drawing attention” and “creative expression” are pretty obvious too. When we dream of tattoos, our inner voice is telling us to express ourselves more outwardly – share our gifts and talents with the world.

Symbolic meanings of “alteration” and “metamorphosis” connect with tattoos being a form of changing our appearance. Body modification is personal transformation taken to the extreme(with internal/spiritual consequences too), and so when we dream of tattoos it’s a reference to major changes.

Now to my favorite parts of this topic. Dream tattoos can pertain to heritage, lineage and archetypal identity because our collective consciousness is fully aware of the historical human practice and purpose of tattooing. As humans we all share ancient memories and common lineage (there is only one ethnicity: “Human”).

Our subconscious has access to all this hereditary memory. Ergo, when we dream of tattoos (specifically dreaming of tattooing in progress), we are experiencing a sacred process our ancestors practiced for eons.

From an ancient perspective, tattoos are ritual. They galvanize the human saga. They mark initiation. They concretize identity. More specifically, our ancestors used tattoos to commemorate rites of passage (coming of age, marriage, battle victories, etc). They also used tattoos to document historical importance’s within the tribe. In this instance, the skin is a scroll upon which the history of the family clan is recorded.

So, dreaming of tattoos in this sense is a message that we are infinitely connected with our ancient heritage. It holds meaning of tribal awareness, and our infinite link with the sacred nature of the human saga.

I hope you have enjoyed these thoughts on the symbolic meaning of dreaming of tattoos. Get more information on tattoo meanings by visiting the new website I just started this summer: www.Tattoo-Symbolism.com

You might also be interested in my articles on Dream Meanings: