This is another deceptively simple-looking image that carries many more layers of meaning than it initially lets on. Though, karma takes the cake as the most common meaning.
What is a boomerang, anyway? Traditionally, it’s an Aboriginal hunting implement used to kill small game in the Australian outback.
In the United States, it’s been popularized as a children’s toy, even though it carries the potential to inflict some real damage if not used with care.
But figuratively speaking, a boomerang is more than just a weapon or a plaything. It’s impossible to look at one and not think about the old adage “What goes around comes around.” Just as a boomerang comes rebounding at us after we throw it away, the energy we put into the world comes back to us. In this sense, the boomerang can also be a profound symbol of karma, of what we send out into the world returning to us, for better or for worse. The spiritual significance of the image is impossible to overlook for those who understand cause and effect, and how their actions impact themselves and others.
With this in mind, the boomerang design also makes a great conversation starter. It’s an image that’s sure to invite a lot of questions, and in so doing it will open the floor for some powerful, personal dialogue about the universe and our place in it. Often it’s tattoo designs like these — the deceptively simple ones — that resonate with the most symbolic significance.
