As we all know and cherish our beloved Angelina Jolie TV celebrity, we might not be aware of the sweet meanings behind the tattoos on her body.
Living our day-to-day lives we can tend to forget her life is more than a movie. Come to find out the majority of Angelina Jolie’s tattoos are much more symbolic than we might’ve expected.
Cultural appreciation and tattoos with deeper meanings
Inked on her, Jolie’s got an estimated 16-25 tattoos. Of course we cannot confirm all of them. From what we’ve found however, majority of them have a deeper symbolic meaning behind them.
The bengal tiger tattoo
Since the actress adopted her eldest son from Cambodia (2002) she was offered her rightly Cambodian citizenship back in 2004. That’s probably why she has appreciation for the Asian culture, but, who are we to assume?
Although a tattoo on her lower back, done the traditional Thai style way might’ve been a tad painful and a bit of a long process, we must say it was definitely worth the patience!
Coverup #1: the dragon tattoo
Not only was this a piece of body art, it was also a coverup of her tribal ancient dragon tattoo placed on what many call, the ‘tramp stamp’ placement. Basically, lower back tattoos. But don’t worry, we do not agree with that label.
The window that was inked together with the dragon tattoo, probably portrayed the fact that she wanted to be in another place with herself. She decided to cover it once she had finally found her place.
The dragon itself was more of a spontaneous decision.
On the fashion side of things
Beauty takes pain and the Bengal tiger tattoo she’s got on her back is definitely a beautiful piece, a piece of art might I add. This tattoo is surely something to be proud of.
Besides, it is a perfect example of the rotation of fashion in all areas, and how it is slowly returning. Notice how tiger tattoos are a current today?
Billet-doux for her children
The tattoo artist Sompong Kanphai, who took care of her bengal tiger tattoo, was also responsible for this one. Jolie got this tattoo on her left shoulder blade in order to honor her eldest son, Maddox Chivan.
The translation of the Khmer script
Now thanks to the bengal tiger artist, a tattoo of the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia is forever on her body and it says:
May your enemies run far away from you; If you acquire riches, may they remain yours always; Your beauty will be that of Apsara; Wherever you may go, many will attend, serve and protect you, surrounding you on all sides.
Coverup #2
Before this script became a permanent add-on to her body, there used to be a japanese symbol. It was the japanese symbol for ‘death’.
The diamond armour tattoo
On the opposite side of her back, her right shoulder blade, Angelina Jolie had the honor to be tattooed by the thai monk Ajarn Noo Kanpai.
‘Yant Kraw Petch’ meaning ‘diamond armour’, is a buddhist symbol used for exiling bad luck. In contrast, it brings the user (in this case, Angelina Jolie) success and wealth.
Furthermore it is believed that it wards off evil spirits and in consequence gives you protection.
Another Buddhist tattoo
On her left forearm she’s got the buddhist swirls tattoo. It’s also a tattoo that’s meant for warding off evil spirits and bad luck!
This just shows Angelina Jolie’s faith in Buddhism and spirituality once again.
The chaining yants
Yant ViHan Pha Chad Sada
The neighboring tattoo was also tattooed by the same thai monk. It is the famous ‘Yant ViHan Pha Chad Sada’ tattoo that entails two yants (= sacred geometrical design). It’s a sak yant talisman square. The exact translation of the texts is only known by her buddhist tattoo artist Ajarn Noo Kanpai since he custom made it for Angelina, but we do know that the talisman square represents the four elements: water, fire, earth and air.
It’s worth to mention that the same ink was used on her ex-husband Brad Pitt’s stomach for another Buddhist symbol tattoo. With a matching tattoo, they wanted to symbolically bind themselves to each other as husband and wife.
Yant Phutson
Right above the talisman square, between her shoulder blades, sits the Phutson Yant. The name translates to Yant of the five gods and is known to be a Master talisman.
This is a multi-purpose talisman, but it highly represents having mercy for not only yourself, but others aswell.
Supremacy of The Clash
Angelina has not only shown her appreciation of different spiritual cultures with her multiple tattoos, but with the following tattoo she additionally showed her respect for the performing arts’ culture.
Between her shoulder blades, she has a minimalistic yet symbolic tattoo in a bold gothic font. ‘Know your rights’ is a song title from the band The Clash containing political lyrics with a deeper meaning. Angelina Jolie definitely made a statement by getting it inked.
You have a right not to be killed, unless it was by a policeman or an aristocrat. Know your rights. You have a right to food, food money. Provided, of course, you agree to be investigated, humiliated, and treated with otherwise fashion. Know your rights. You have a right to free speech as long as it is not the truth and has nothing whatsoever to do with the truth. And furthermore Has never, in any way, been connected with the truth. These are your rights.
Seems to us the girl with the dragon tattoo is calling out the political injustice and its hypocrisy. Rightfully so!
About our society...
On Angelina’s left forearm we detected yet another tattoo with a greater subject matter. Pinpointed, we can see: ”A prayer for the wild at heart kept at cages”
The reference from Tennessee Williams’ play Stairs to the roof from 1940, signifies an escape from the ordinary and what many know to be the American dream. Quoting the W. W. Norton & Company:
Rebellion against the clock, the monotony of his eight-to-five job, and all the dehumanizing forces of an increasingly commercial society.
Summed up, a huge p*ss off to the capitalistic world.
For Angelina, it’s a prayer for everyone to find their happiness and to break out from our world full of cages. She got this one at just 20 years old during a time she was feeling lost. Together with her mother they visited a tattoo parlor and got it done.
How sweet is it that she got one of her first tattoos together with her mom!
The latin phrase on her lower belly
Below her waistline, Jolie has the phrase ”Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit”. In latin that stands for: ”What nourishes me, destroys me.”
That’s again, yet another example of Angelina Jolie thinking a bit further than most people when getting new ink.
She got this one in 1998 by Daemon Rowanchilde. This tattoo artist is one that approaches tattoos as a form of spiritual healing. Quite inspiring in our opinion.
Energy waves tattoo
That was not the only tattoo she got from him. The tattoo enthusiast Angelina Jolie supposedly also got some energy waves engraved on her body by Daemon. It’s said the energy waves tattoo got removed later on.
Billy Bob also had the honour to get inked by him. Billy requested Daemon to design a tattoo incorporating a bird of prey with the initials of him, his two kids Harry and Willie, Angelina Jolie’s and their adopted son Maddox.
‘While in the chair, Billy Bob told me that he and Angelina fell in love in my studio.’ – D. Rowanchilde on what Billy Bob told him.
Heavy X: the cross tattoo
coverup #3
Angelina also has an X-cross tattoo on her left hip, next to the latin phrase, as a coverup of her dragon tattoo. Angelina Jolie, the girl with a dragon tattoo whom had a blue tongue, decided it was time to hide it.
She got the cross tattoo the day before marrying her ex-husband Johnny Lee Miller.
Speaking of exes... AND dragons
That wasn’t the first time she had gotten a tribute tattoo for her, at the time, current husband. To celebrate her marriage with Billy Bob Thornton, she got his name together with another dragon tattoo on her left shoulder/left bicep.
Later on she went ahead, as she should’ve for herself, and lasered the Billy Bob tattoo off before covering it with one more meaningful tattoo.
Loyalty to Billy Bob Thornton
That was not the last round of ink meant for him, though. During their relationship, the couple fabricated a custom tattoo design together, some call it an abstract ‘Nailed bed’. Angelina Jolie got this on her right (inner) forearm.
Coverup #4: strength of will
After their split, Angelina went ahead and got it covered with arabic script. When translated, the arabic tattoo says ‘Determination’.
For Angelina Jolie this means strength of will. We interpret this as her strength of will to move on, continue learning and healing herself.
For her youngsters
In honor of her children, she got their birthplace’s coordinates on the same spot of her lasered ex-husband’s tribute dragon, her left bicep.
In the Pit
But that wasn’t the end of ex-husband tattoos. As time went on, she also got Brad Pitt’s birthplace coordinates added. As the Jolie-Pitt couple got separted in 2016 to finalise their divorce in 2019, she got the Brad Pitt tattoo removed with an additional laser treatment.
Guess you can say she made herself fall in the pit(t) by including that into her collection.
Whiskey bravo
That wasn’t the last of the Brad Pitt tattoos yet.
At the airfield, she used to watch planes land and take off with her son Maddox. That’s how she got inspired and aquired her pilot license back in 2004. It’s said Brad Pitt got his as well because Angelina got him into it.
Since they were both now pilots, she decided to get Brad Pitt’s initials in the aviation alphabet located on her inner thigh.
William Bradley = Whiskey Bravo
Nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat
An homage for Winston Churchill: the roman numerals
On her left forearm she settled on a Roman numeral tattoo of May 13th, 1940: XIII V MCMXL. The day that the beloved WWII Prime Minister made his first speech to the House of Commons when he stated:
I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
As we know it today, that means a lot of effort and hard work; detemination; suffering, in order to get where you want to be.
Yet another of her many tattoos that shows us Angelina’s hard working spirit and gratification.
Some more of Angelina Jolie's tattoos
Another meaningful tattoo of Jolie is a poem of the poet Rumi. Rumi belongs to the Islamic poets and was best known for Maṭnawīye Ma’nawī (= Spiritual Couplets).
This ‘Angelina Jolie’ tattoo is located on her right forearm and from Persian it translates to:
”There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.” – Rumi
On her left arm, more precisely her wrist, Angelina Jolie has got the letter ‘H’. People speculate that’s a tribute to her brother James Haven.
Some have also assumed it was meant for her ex-boyfriend Timothy Hutton, but as she still has it till this day we like to think the ‘H’ tattoo is an homage for her brother.
On her right palm Angelina Jolie has another letter tattoo, the letter ‘M’. She got this for her mother Marcheline Bertrand that sadly passed away back in january 2007 after a long fight with cancer.
Moral of the story, summed up
Those were all of her tattoos we managed to research and explain to you the best way we could. Angelina’s tattoos with the deeper meanings and history behind them are a perfect example of accepting and learning from mistakes, moving on from regrets and becoming a better version of yourself.
Tattoos can be more than just an accessory you get to show off at the red carpet.
Nothing is permanent, so enjoy it while it lasts
All of these examples just go to show that nothing in life is permanent. Everything is temporary. From tattoos, to sometimes husbands.
Although we might wish and pray to whomever/whatever we believe in, for the good things in our lives to stay permanent – nothing is guaranteed. The good nor the bad.
So do not take things for granted, and on the flip side, do not break your head about the negatives in your life. Appreciate the little things, even if they might seem insignificant at the moment. Live in the moment and don’t put off things out of fear for regrets.
Be grateful. Little by little, day by day, whatever’s meant for you, will find its way.
What do you think about the ‘Angelina Jolie’ tattoos? Be sure to let us know down below!
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