Paeon used a peony to heal Pluto of an ailment, and the god Aescapius became jealous and violent, trying to kill Paeon. Thankful for Paeon’s help, Pluto tried to save him by turning him into a peony. This gave peonies their original meaning, which was compassion.
The peony has a few additional varying meanings based on its historical use. The bright and beautiful peony was originally known for its full and romantic blossoms.
Over time, they’ve become symbols for beauty, love or marriage, wealth, prosperity, and sometimes even bashfulness. Any flower lover who’s looking for their next tattoo to be as meaningful as it is spectacular to look at should definitely look into getting a peony tattoo.
In Japanese traditional tattooing, a flower would typically be paired with something great and powerful like alion. This gave the tattoo a poetic balance of strength and beauty, or delicacy and power.
Your peony tattoo gives you plenty of room to be creative, though. Some people choose only to get a simple blooming peony, but it’s most common to see a bouquet or colorful batch of the flowers and their delicate petals.
Depending on what your peony tattoo would mean to you, there are numerous possible artistic additions or modifications to be made. If your peony tattoo is meant to represent your bashfulness, you might add a dew only slightly-blooming peonies to your tattoo.
Maybe you’re especially compassionate. You could portray this by adding an animal or something else you love, which would also be a wonderful way to add detail and depth to your tattoo design ideas.