Angel Tattoos

Angel tattoos have been slowly but surely gaining popularity over the past few decades. Maybe it’s the result of several popular books and TV shows dealing with angelic visitations – whatever the reason, the public has grown somewhat preoccupied with angels of late, and one way in which this is manifesting is in angel tattoos. It makes sense when you think about it – if you get an angel tattoo, it's like having an angel with you all the time.

Angel tattoos can be large or small. It’s not unusual to see a small guardian angel tattoo on someone’s shoulder or hand, but some angel tattoo designs are very large – covering the back for instance. These tattoo images are very beautiful and striking – often, the angel tattoo designs are taken from classic art. There is a wealth of angel images in the art of the middle ages and Renaissance and these can be adapted to tattoo images by a skilled tattoo artist.

Rather than a whole angel, some people opt for an angel wings tattoo. The wings can be quite large and ornate, covering the shoulders and or much of the back. Other angel tattoos depict the whole angel in a classic pose, either flying or at rest. A guardian angel tattoo comes in different sizes and shapes, but its purpose is always the same – to protect the person wearing it. You may have seen the small golden ‘angel pins’ that have been popular for the past five or six years – you clip them to the collar of your coat or shirt, and they act like good luck charms, protecting your from harm. Angel tattoos do the same thing, with the extra advantage of being impossible to lose or misplace. Sometimes people will get an angel tattoo to commemorate the death of a loved one. According to a common belief system, the dead become angels who protect us. Getting an angel tattoo in memory of someone is a way of having them with you for always.

Of course, some people have a considerably less solemn take on angel tattoos. Some angel images are more cartoon-ish in appearance and may even be accompanied by a devil image. In fact, these angel devil tattoos have a special significance all their own – they represent the two parts of the human psyche, the good and the bad. An angel devil tattoo is an amusing way to acknowledge that both exist and that the best thing to do is to find a balance between them. Angel tattoos are a quietly growing trend that has found many different modes of expression.