Bird tattoos can be different. They can be positive and lovely as well as dark and moody. They can carry light and positive symbolics as well as stand for some deep notions. Owl tattoos are among the latter for the bird itself is assosiated with such notions as night, death, danger as well as wisdom and old age.
Now owl is perceived as an emblem of insight and bookish erudition while in past it had ominous symbolism in ancient cultures, especially in China. Its noiseless nighttime flying, glowing eyes and terrifying screams were connected with death and the Otherworld. So be accurate with owl tattoos and get them done provided that you know all shades of their meaning.In Ancient Egypt, India, Central and Nortern America, China and Japan it was believed that an owl was a bird of death. In India, in particular, it was considered to carry the souls of the dead to the Dead Kingdom.
Owl Tattoo DesignsIn China they believed that young owl could peck out the eyes of their own mothers. It was also connected the “Yan” symbol that has negative and destructive connotations in its meaning. In Christianity owl acts as a symbol of evel spirits and witchcraft due to its nightime mode of life and also symbolizes blindness and the lack of faith.
Owl tattoos are not totally dark thanks to another symbolic meaning of this bird. Its association with wisdom origins from the Ancient Athens where it was an attribute of Athena the Foreseeing, the goddess of learning and wisdom. Now the image of the “wise” owl can be seen on Greek coins.
Owl Tattoo Designs
It you want to have a “wise” owl tattoo rather than a dark and dreary one, you may take its emblematic image that is frequently seen in European fairy-tales and fables. It is an owl sitting on a pile of books and wearing glasses.
That’s why owl tattoos are quite different from the rest of bird tattoos but this fact makes it more attractive and magnetic.