“Don’t walk under the ladder!” you’ve probably heard throughout your life, and the superstition is so closely related to the otherwise functional ladder that it’s hard to glean any deeper symbolism.
However, ladders indeed carry a significance of their own, and for those who opt for a ladder tattoo, the climb is a story unto itself.
We use ladders to reach otherwise unreachable heights, and that alone should be significant enough. Many report reoccurring dreams of climbing an endless ladder or, more stressful still, perpetually plummeting down one, and this dream analysis takes root in our own struggle for progress. In life we climb up the proverbial ladder to better things, but so too do we often fall down.
We never stop climbing though, and the ladder tattoo is a testament of one’s determination to reach the highest rung, even if it takes a lifetime. A ladder tattoo can scale the calf or bicep or trail down the shoulder; where he wears the tattoo matters little in comparison to what the ladder tattoo reveals about the wearer himself. You are a man who refuses to let failures and setbacks determine his route; what you set your eyes on you reach, and if a rung breaks, you keep climbing no matter what.
Ladders may belong in the physical realm of workers and craftsmen, but the symbolic construction applies to each of us. There is no going back when we set about reaching our goals, and the ladder is a reminder that every step up is a step towards that longed-for progress.
