The third eye refers to the spiritual gate leading to higher consciousness. The third eye often symbolizes a state of enlightenment that has deeply personal, spiritual and psychological significance to each practitioner.

The third eye embodies your ability to see both the inner and outer worlds associated with reflection, clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences, visions, and precognition.

Located in between the eyebrows, the third eye chakra or ‘Ajna‘ is the sixth of your seven chakras and translates to “perceiving” or “command” in Sanskrit. It represents connection to wisdom and insight, allowing you to access the inner guidance coming from deep within, enabling you to cut through illusion and access deeper truths.

Tattoos are often visual representation of individuals most important internal symbols, helping make the third eye a versatile theme in ink expression and stylistic inspiration.

Read on for the top 105 examples of third eye tattoos followed by useful contextual questions to help frame your future ink decision making.

1. Animal Third Eye Tattoos

These assembled animal third eye tattoo examples veer wildly between subtle, understated pieces and complete madness (one black and gray cat even has five eyes!). There’s excellent usage of technique, whether it’s shading to feature fur and feather effects, or vibrant colors showing off realism or in supporting the main image. I like how some pieces opt for a mishmash of applications, employing color and black and gray to effect contrast in pieces, or utilizing geometric and line principle to build broader bits of body art unconstrained by borders and boundaries.

2. Black and Gray Third Eye Tattoos

There’s a range of techniques employed in these black and gray tattoos. A lot demonstrate effective mixing of line work and shade – particularly the different Eye of Providence tattoos on display that manage fine line black ink and thicker, sharpie style approaches. Another cool aspect is the different placement of these third eyes – either being incorporated into wider tattoo imagery on arms or legs, or deployed in awkward yet symbolic positions like the hands or outer section of the wrist.