During my vacation I got a turtle tattooed on my foot.
I was in Dalyan (Turkey) and turtles are like a symbol of the city.
I've been to Dalyan 19 times now and I was 2 years old the first time I visited it, so I feel very at home every time I come there and it's influenced me a lot growing up, so I thought it would be nice to get a tattoo in Dalyan of a turtle!

Now while this was my main reason to get the tattoo, this wasn't my only one.
I've loved turtles ever since I was a little kid, and actually had a pet turtle at some point! (rip Karel)
Later I figured out that turtles actually have a very interesting spiritual symbolism!

The spritual symbolisms behind turtles

One of the symbolisations of turtles that really jumps out is longevity or even immortality .

Turtles have been on the earth for a very long time, and can become really old. Especially sea turtles are known to live just as long or even longer than humans can!
In ancient times turtles their shells and even their meat got used to treat illnesses. They believed that the essence of a turtle could heal, restore or even revive someone!
Later it got proven that turtle meat actually is very protein rich, so I guess that there was some truth to the old believes, and it could actually help someone who had battled illness to get back on their feet, but I'm very very glad that made a lot of advances in medicine and that there are other protein rich options.

Now in a spiritual sense we don't actually have to eat turtles to make use of their longevity properties.
We can connect to the healing energy of turtles by meditating, adding turtle symbols to our altar or maybe even bringing one home as a pet (but be sure to do your research beforehand!!).


With that knowledge it probably isn't a shock that turtles also symbolise ancient wisdom.
Turtles have been on the earth for a very long time and live very long lives. At the same time they live their lives very slowly (literally) and can still survive many threats.
Turtles are very connected with nature and in some mythology they even carry the world on their back.
I think that this connection to the earth is what makes them wise. They are in harmony with the earth, themselves and everything around them. They don't need to rush, they go with the flow and adapt themselves to the things that come onto their path.
This means that turtles are also great to ask for (spiritual) guidance. You can again meditate, add symbols to your altar, and maybe they will even come to you in your dreams and show you some insights.


Turtles have a lot of symbolisations but the last one I want to talk about is, protection.
The shell of a turtle protects them from predators and weather conditions.
The turtle tells us that whenever we are threatened we should shield ourselves from that threat.
It's okay to sometimes retreat back into your shell/safe place for a little while to protect yourself.


There are so much more symbolisms behind turtles like transformation, determination, patience etc.
Turtles are interesting creatures and it seems that folks all around the world thought the same.