The Symbolism of Sheep and Wool
Introduction
The everyday symbolism of sheep is based on the fact
that a sheep tends to follow other sheep without questioning
where it is being led, head down, oblivious.
If we ignore the negative connotations of this, however,
the more positive side is that it represents someone who has faith
and many studies have shown that Believing in the spiritual world
does make a huge difference in whether one receives spiritual input.
Faith can genuinely produce miracles.
But the mystic meaning of the sheep
is far more subtle and profoundly important.
Ba
In Ancient Egyptian culture, the Ba was the Higher spirit,
often show in pictures as a bird because during out of body experiences
it was the Higher spirit that left the body to roam about the spirit world.
It was the objective of all Egyptians on the spiritual path
to merge the ka [Personality - mortal soul] with the ba [immortal soul]
- producing as a result the concept of akh - a living god.
ABD AL-KARIM AL-JILI: Tawid, Transcendence and Immanence
The Ba is a dark letter.
In addition, in the entire Basmala there are no dark letters besides it.
That Ultimate Being made of the letter Ba’
the beginning of the Qur’an in every sura,
because the first veil between you and this divine Being - is darkness.
For this reason the Ba’ is a cloak over the dot [the void]
because it is over it, [like] the cloak is over the garments.
The Ba’ is Darkness to the Light of the dot,
veiled [as it is] by the presence which is the visible world
[that originated] from the beautiful world of the dot.
In fact, a rational consideration of the appearance of the dot
behind [the Ba’] points to the fact that the realm of what is [truly] real
is [hidden] behind what is visible.
Since the dot is attached to the Ba’,
the Ba’ is used in speech for joining. ...
Remove your shoes - that is, your character and your being
- for indeed, you are at the Blessed Valley,
and there is no place for you in the Blessed Valley of the dot
unless you rid your being and your character of doubt and defilement.
Look now at this Ba’,
how my sharpness has increased the condition of its great beauty.
Wool
Wool is spiritual energy.
This symbolism derives from the spindle
and the spinning of wool that we saw in the video of the Order of Creation.
Symbolically a sheep is thus a person
with spiritual energy pouring forth in great abundance.
Ruzbihan Baqli - The Unveiling of Secrets
- The Diary of a Sufi Master [translated by Carl Ernst]
The Spinning of the Shepherd
I saw the Truth in the dress of a shepherd with a spindle in his hand,
spinning the throne, wearing clothes of rough white wool [suf] ...
But I saw the throne being wound around the spindle like fleece.
I was astonished and drowned in the ocean of magnificence.
Then he hid from me.
So a Sufi is a mystic with a lot of ‘wool’ [spiritual energy]
and a Black sheep is actually a person who is at the level of ‘darkness’.
Beyond the first ‘veil’, with seven more veils to go.
Baa baa black sheep
Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full !
One for the master, one for the dame,
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.
Sheep and wolves
Sufis, and indeed most mystics,
were very badly treated by the established religions
- see our Introduction to Sacred symbolism.
And since, in Middle eastern countries,
the Wolf was the main predator of sheep,
a Wolf was symbolically a truly dangerous cleric,
indeed deadly cleric.
Matthew 10:16 (King James Version)
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:
be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
In other mystic movements and many shamanic cultures, however,
the wolf was greatly revered for its beauty and intelligence.
See our video on Wolf symbolism
The Shepherd and his crook
And it is from the idea of ‘sheep’
- aspiring mystics on the spiritual path
- being vulnerable to attack especially by ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing’,
that we get the symbolism of the shepherd.
The Story of Little Boy Blue
Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn;
Where's the boy that minds the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep!
The inherent danger of sheep and cows being where they were
in this Nursery rhyme is best explained by this quote
"The idea of a sheep eating in a meadow, or a cow eating in the grain field
("corn" means grain in this context)
would have been horrifying to the people of the time,
since heavy feeding on lush grass can make sheep sick
(grass tetany, for example) and similarly corn is not good for a ruminant “.
And so the shepherd from his higher vantage point
is there to warn sheep of danger.
Aries and Horns
As one would expect, since the sheep is a major symbol,
it is also a constellation. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac.
Aries' symbol *V* represents the spiral horns of a Ram.
And we have a video on the importance of Horns as a symbol.
In Alice through the Looking Glass,
the Sheep character was symbolically representing ARIES,
as Alice went round the signs of the Zodiac
on her spiritual path to become a Queen.
Golden Fleece
The Greeks associated Aries with the Ram
and in the story of the escape of Phrixus and Helle,
Phrixus rather cruelly sacrifices the ram who had saved him
and hung its fleece in the Grove of Ares.
There, the fleece was turned to gold
and became the object of the Argonauts' quest.
We see this archetype, of the sacrifice of very key mystics,
over and over again in myth, a very gifted prophet or seer
- a swan - is killed after having saved,
often rather undeserving, members of humanity.
And by dying, the ‘fleece’ - the wisdom, inspiration and healing
- produced by the ‘Ram’ becomes sought after
by all on the spiritual path, particularly heroes.