Mermaid Tattoo Ideas and Meanings

Symbolic Mermaid Tattoo Ideas

If you have an irrepressible love for the sea and this worlds’ oceans, a mermaid tattoo might be a very fitting symbol for you.

Mermaids in myth are legendary for their unpredictability, and tempestuous ways. Just like their home, the ocean, mermaids will never be bound to orthodoxy or convention.

Are you a wild one? A renegade? If so, perhaps the mermaids song sings in your soul – a song of passion and unbridled freedom.

Speaking of song, the mermaid is heralded for her enchanting voice. Apart from her astonishingly striking beauty, mermaid song holds irresistible attraction. Melodic narcotic.

Indeed, she uses her looks and voice to woo unsuspecting souls at sea. Depending on which myth you’re reading, a mermaid’s purpose for luring seafarers could be to offer refuge, salvation or pleasure. On the flip-side, she could be offering death.

I totally dig this whole “righteous vs. evil” two-face potential of the mermaid. It screams duality to me, and of course underscores the theme of unpredictability. A friend of mine, Monica, got a mermaid tattoo to convey her “flavor of the moment” attitude. She takes a great deal of pride in her nature – which is technicolor, varied and mind-bogglingly changeable. Her moods undulate like the seas. She recognizes in herself the ability to be utterly charming, compassionate and kind – whilst at the same time, she knows she is capable of dastardly deeds. She’s okay with that, and her mermaid tattoo conveys that kind of cool self-confidence required to look with honesty at both sides of her behavioral coins. Rock on Mon.

This kind of emotive metamorphosis is also associated with the moon, which the mermaid holds sacred. We’ve all heard of unpredictable behavior and events around various phases of the moon….it’s why the root of “lunacy” is based on the Latin word for moon: Luna. We know mermaids are energetically connected with the moon because the sea is influenced by it. Also, in ancient depictions of mermaids, they are often shown with mirrors – which is a symbol of the moon. So, we’re talking about a very yin, or feminine aspect here.

Symbolic Mermaid Meanings

Wild
Free
Fluid
Sensual
Elusive
Knowing
Alluring
Feminine
Emotional
Seductive
Intuitive
Reflective
Enchanting
Tempestuous

To be sure, mermaids are symbolic of sensuality, and I’ve known several people (men and women) who pressed ink to flesh in mermaid-form as a way to express their inner voluptuousness. Where convention and taboo sometimes prohibits provocative behavior, a mermaid tattoo can speak for us in terms of eroticism and sexual confidence. Very cool.

In myth (mostly Celtic, ancient European), mermaids were very big juju in terms of knowing. They were thought to have deep psychic connection which makes utter sense as we learn the element of water is connected to concepts like: Dreaming, Intuition, Emotion, Deeper Knowing. In this line of thought, mermaids are knower’s of deeper, darker aspects of the soul. Just as the sea holds unknown mysteries, so too do our own psyche’s – but legend indicates mermaids can see clear to the core of a human. That kind of “clear-knowing” might also be a symbolic sea treasure as you consider mermaid tattoos.

These are just few thoughts about mermaid tattoo meaning for your contemplative pleasure. Swim ’round my other page on Mermaid Meaning and Symbolism here. You might find more inspiration for you mermaid tattoo ideas from that article too.

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