Scorpion Tattoo Meaning: Protection, Danger and Scorpio

The goddess of the scorpion

In ancient Egypt the scorpion was not only a threat but a protector. The goddess Serqet, also called Selket, was shown as a woman with a scorpion on her head. She was the guardian against venomous bites and stings, and healers called on her name. She also protected the dead: she was one of the goddesses who guarded the canopic jars holding the organs of the deceased, and a golden figure of her stands at the shrine of Tutankhamun's canopic chest.

Here the scorpion means the power that can kill turned into the power that defends.

The scorpion and the hunter

The Greeks told how the giant hunter Orion was killed by a scorpion. In different versions the creature was sent by the earth goddess Gaia or by Artemis, to punish his boast that he would kill every animal on earth. Both hunter and scorpion were placed in the sky as constellations, set on opposite sides of the heavens: when Scorpius rises in the east, Orion sinks below the horizon in the west, still fleeing.

The scorpion in this story is the humble creature that brings down pride: no one is too great to fall.

The scorpion-men

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest written stories in the world, the hero comes to the mountain where the sun rises and sets. Its gate is guarded by scorpion-men, part human and part scorpion, whose gaze is death. They let Gilgamesh pass into the darkness on his search for eternal life. The scorpion here is the guardian of the threshold between worlds.

Scorpio in astrology

In Western astrology Scorpio is the eighth sign of the zodiac, covering roughly late October to late November. Astrologers associate it with intensity, passion, loyalty, secrecy and transformation, and it is traditionally ruled by Mars and, in modern astrology, by Pluto. For many people a scorpion tattoo is simply their sign: a statement of who they are under the surface.

The mother scorpion

Real scorpions hold a surprising tenderness. After the young are born, the mother carries them on her back until they are ready to fend for themselves. The fiercest-looking creature in the desert is also a devoted parent, and a scorpion can be worn as a symbol of a protective mother.

The fable of the scorpion and the frog

A well-known fable tells of a scorpion who asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog fears being stung, but the scorpion argues that it would drown too. Halfway across, it stings the frog anyway, and as they both sink it explains: it is my nature. The story has made the scorpion a symbol of nature that cannot be changed, a warning about trust, and an image of self-destruction.

What a scorpion tattoo means to the person who wears it

Protection: a guardian that strikes back at what threatens you or those you love.

Survival: strength in a harsh world, and resilience that has outlasted everything.

Danger and power: a warning to anyone who would cross you.

Identity: the sign of Scorpio, and the intensity that comes with it.