When I stumbled upon the tattoo ideas across the net, one of bird tattoos with black theme almost on all designs, raven tattoo, came into my sight. Raven has been lived with humans for thousands of years. In North America, many people may take crows as raven as they look quite identical and it’s sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the two bird species. Ravens, like common ravens, are larger than American crows. While there exist other distinctions, raven is a bird with a lot of mystical symbolic meanings echoed by some people who get it on tattoo.
If you like to get a raven tattoo, please don’t ignore the symbolic meanings and legendary stories associated with the bird. The fact that the bird lives on carrion, raven is often associated with the dead and considered as a link between life and death. Raven has appeared in the mythology of many cultures, such as Chinese, Greek, Celtic, etc. and is often depicted in many of the literature, modern novels, poems. In ancient western cultures, raven was often associated with a God of their time. In Greek and Roman mythology, raven was the messengers of Apollo in the mortal world, a god of music, truth and prophecy, the sun and light. For the Germanic peoples, ravens were often associated with Odin, a widely attested god of healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge. In Celtic mythology, ravens were associated with the Welsh god Bran the Blessed (the brother of Branwen), whose name translates to raven.
Ravens also appear in Native American legends. It was considered as a hero to many tribes. In Native American mythology, raven created the earth by a raven that dropping stones into the sea. It was considered as a symbol of creation. In China, it’s a bad omen and something imminent would happens when a raven flies on your head or creaks around your home in the morning.
Many people get confused between raven tattoos and hawk or eagle tattoos. Ravens are not as strong as hawks or eagles in their hind limbs. The flat bill of the raven is one of the major difference from the hooked bill of the hawk or eagle. So don’t expect to represent muscular power with raven tattoos.
Raven is considered to be the moderator between death and life. Raven is often associated with dream. When someone sees a raven in the dream, it’s often considered misfortune or something special would happen. On the other hand, it’s good for you to take advantage of the forecast and get prepared for the incoming event.
A lot of raven tattoos are inked on the sleeves or back. Almost all of them are portrayed in black theme, just like a real raven if it is in realistic style. Let’s enjoy the collection of raven tattoos and hopefully you will find inspirations if you’d like to get one.
Ravens full back tattoo
The two ravens are portrayed in black watercolor style, with a sense of deep sorrow and depressing thought.
All deep black is usually not the choice for women’s tattoo. This tattoo design apparently challenges the notion. It’s not just fashion statement, but evokes mysterious emotions when looking at the black raven.
Abstract tattoo with squares and raven
The abstract style strengthened the meaning of raven would represent, creating the freedom for people to think or imagine.
A lonely raven stands among roses in a dark night. When a person gets such tattoo, he’s ready and stand by for anything to happen. The roses here implies here not bad things.
“Nevermore” – the meaning that the raven tattoo is going to express.
The two ravens in love season. The Chinese ink painting style and the plum flowers make you forget all of the bad omens associated with the bird.
A raven in a mysterious morning, a beautiful raven tattoo design.
The realistic full sleeve tattoo reveals a picture of mysterious legend in which ravens, of course main characters.
“Nevermore” – the raven stands on a pen portrayed in old school style. This time is probably suitable to a young man.
For a fashionable woman, what about when she loves both fashion and black raven, purple is the perfect color as a compromise. Watercolor style creates stylish effect, perfectly fit to women.
Deep mysterious by the dark raven tattoo
I absolutely love ravens and have been thinking about getting a tattoo of one. I love the symbolism that is in the bird. However, I have not been able to find any that I really liked until I came across this post. I especially love the tattoo design example of the pixelized raven and I think that it would be the perfect one for me. If I were to have that design, I would probably have a quote from Mark Twain’s “The Raven” inscribed by it as well.
These are all amazing!
For the record though, those which mentioned “Nevermore” are actually reverence to “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe and are not just random.