By: Kate Turnipseed
One of my, and my daughter’s, favorite creatures to see on a nature walk is the butterfly. To have land on you feels almost like a light kiss and the beautiful colors show how extraordinary our world really is. But beyond seeing this fluttering piece of heaven in nature, we also see it as a common tattoo. Why? Sure it’s beautiful, but why is it used in so many different tattoos?
Well, the butterfly is highly symbolic and it only makes sense for something with such meaning to be used consistently across all tattoo styles. So let’s take a look at how butterflies speak.
Transformation
Butterflies are often used to symbolize transformation. As a caterpillar first becomes a chrysalis and then a beautiful butterfly, so do many of us go through trials or personal growth that drastically changes us from a before to an after version of ourselves.
For Shelli, it was going from her lowest point to being “pulled up by God”. From a point of despair emerged great strength, much like from a chrysalis emerged a beautiful butterfly; triumphant.
Perseverance
Butterflies can be powerful symbols of perseverance because their entire life cycle is a journey of endurance. A caterpillar must push through the struggle of transformation inside the chrysalis, a process that looks like stillness but takes tremendous strength. Emerging as a butterfly requires effort, and without that struggle, its wings would never be strong enough to fly.
So for many of us with butterfly tattoos, including Heather and Julie, we focus on how we fought through the struggle. Heather tells us: “it’s a symbol of my survival and what I no longer felt I believed in.” For me, it was my struggle with my anaphylactic food allergies that caused me to take that pain and twist it into a food allergy ribbon turned butterfly.
And Julie, well, Julie’s three butterflies were something to hold onto when her three daughters were kidnapped (thankfully, they are all okay and Julie fought tooth and nail to see her girls home).
Remembrance
Butterflies are also deeply tied to remembrance. Their gentle presence often symbolizes the memory of loved ones who have passed. Many people see a butterfly’s visit as a sign that someone they cherish is still near, a living emblem of memory taking flight.
Mackenzie’s four butterfly’s represent her “angels in heaven”: her father, two of her aunts, and her grandmother. They will forever be carried in her heart and on her skin.
Conclusion
We could spend so much longer talking about how the Greek word for butterfly is “psyche” and how the same word is used for soul or spirit. Of how butterflies can represent freedom, love, beauty, mortality, good luck, and so much more. So if you need a moment of encouragement or something to hold onto, just remember: “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly” (R. Buckminster Fuller).