Dreaming about
tattoos

Some of the oldest tattoos ever found belong to Ötzi, a man who died in the Alps more than five thousand years ago with dozens of small marks on his skin. People have always marked themselves to show who they are, what they've survived or who they belong to, and dreaming about tattoos usually points to the same things, which are your identity, a commitment you've made or are thinking about, or something that has left a mark on you.

The design matters, and so does how it got there. A tattoo you chose and loved is a very different dream from one you woke up with and didn't recognize, or one you were trying to scrub off. Where it was on your body and who could see it change the reading too.

What dreaming about tattoos means

Unlike almost anything else you might choose for yourself, a tattoo stays, and the readings below all come back to that permanence.

Who you are

Getting a tattoo is choosing a picture of yourself and wearing it for life, and tattoo dreams often come when you're working out who you are. A new job, a breakup, a move, a change in beliefs can all bring a tattoo dream, especially if you were choosing the design. A tattoo is a picture of yourself you can't take off, which is why it can feel either very true or very wrong.

A commitment you can't undo

People tattoo names, dates and promises because they want them to last. A tattoo dream often comes when you're about to commit to a relationship, a child, a mortgage or a career, and part of you is asking whether you're ready for something permanent. Regret in the dream is worth noticing.

A mark someone left

Not every tattoo is chosen, and tattoo dreams can be about an experience that left a lasting trace, a loss, a hurt, a lesson. A memorial tattoo for someone who died is a clear example. If the tattoo hurt more than it should, or you couldn't see what it was, think about what has marked you recently.

Dreaming about getting a tattoo

This is the most common tattoo dream. If you chose the design and enjoyed it, the dream is often about pride, or wanting to show a side of yourself you usually keep hidden. If the artist started before you'd agreed, or got the design wrong, it's closer to feeling that other people are deciding how you're seen. The needles and the pain matter too. A tattoo that barely hurt is change that feels easy, and one that was agony is change that costs you.

Dreaming about a tattoo you don't remember getting

Waking up in the dream with a tattoo you didn't choose is unsettling. It's often about a label someone has put on you, a reputation, a diagnosis, a role in your family, or a consequence of something you did without thinking. A name you didn't recognize can be about a commitment that's arrived before you were ready. Ask what in your life feels like it was decided for you.

Dreaming about a tattoo being removed

Scrubbing, fading or lasering a tattoo off is a wish to undo something, like a past relationship, an old version of yourself or a mistake people still remember you for. If the tattoo came off easily, you may be more ready to move on than you think. If it got darker the harder you scrubbed, the thing you want to erase may still have a hold on you.

Dreaming about someone else's tattoos

Seeing a tattoo on someone else is learning something about them. A partner or friend with a tattoo you didn't know about, maybe on their arms or somewhere usually hidden, is often about a side of them you've only just noticed, or a secret you suspect. A stranger covered in tattoos can be about boldness or a freedom you'd like for yourself, and a tattoo of your own name or face about how much you matter to that person.

Dreaming about tattoos according to Jung and Freud

Tattoos aren't something either man wrote about, so these are their ideas applied.

Jung: a persona that won't come off

Jung's persona is the role you present to others, the part of you that dreams dress in clothes, masks and uniforms.^[1] Clothes can be changed and a mask put down, which makes a tattoo an odd member of the family, a persona set in the skin. A tattoo you picked and loved is a role you've decided to own, one you woke up with is a role someone assigned you, and one you're scrubbing at is a role you've outgrown but can't shed in a day.

Freud: the name you can't place

Freud started from the dreamer's own associations, and a tattoo hands you plenty to start with: the design, the place on your body, the name or date if there was one. Whatever comes to mind when you say them aloud outranks any list.^[3] He'd also ask where you last saw a tattoo, a friend's new one or a stranger's on the train, since a dream borrows from the day before. As for the wish, a tattoo is a decision made permanent, and a dream that has you getting one may simply grant the wish to be decided, to stop weighing it up.

Questions to ask about your tattoo dream

A tattoo is a picture someone chose to keep, so begin with what the picture was.

• What was the design, and where on your body?
• Did you choose it, or did it just appear?
• Did you like it, regret it, or try to remove it?
• Who saw it, and how did they react?
• What feels permanent in your life right now, for better or worse?

Oniri asks you about the design and about what's changing in your life before giving its reading, so a tattoo you chose and one you woke up with get read very differently.