Introduction to Animal Symbols
All animals are symbols of our feelings and affections, some good and some bad. We can look at animals, on their own, or in groups and see a possible reflection of our own inner state. After all we sometimes say that a person is "as cunning as a fox" or "as stubborn as a mule" so we are already used to making some link between animals and how we feel and act. But the real symbolism or correspondence of animals goes much deeper than that.
Sheep
Sheep
have been domesticated for probably 12000 years and there are many
breeds. Sheep are symbols of the simple goodness we bring to life when
we have the desire and affection to do good for others and to be good
ourselves. Such goodness is gentle and patient, just like sheep, but
needs to be protected from attack by other selfish parts of our
character that can easily destroy our desire to do good for others. This
can be seen in the way a shepherd is able to bring a flock of sheep
together to protect and guide it and rescue those ones that have gone
astray. In the Bible flocks of sheep were often a sign of material
wealth just as we can be spiritually rich if we bring together all sorts
of good affections in our lives.
Goats
Goats
are in many respects similar to sheep but they are more belligerent.
They can be inoffensive and playful but they can also be capricious and
mischievous and they have damaging horns. We may have gentle and kind
affections that lead us to care for others but sometimes our reasoning
leads us to use these affections to serve our own needs. This
self-serving reasoning is symbolised by the goats horns which are used
for fighting and can cause much damage just like the spiritual damage
that can be done by our reason if it is led by self-interest. In the
Bible Jesus talks about the need to separate the sheep from the goats.
We too need to keep separate good and true affections from those that
are being misdirected by selfish reasoning.
Pigs
Pigs
are omnivores, which means that they consume both plants and small
animals. In the wild, they are foraging animals, primarily eating leaves
and grasses, roots, fruits and flowers. Occasionally, in captivity, pigs
may eat their own young, often if they become severely stressed.
Properly kept they are a clean and attractive animal and can be quite
intelligent. And yet they have a reputation for gluttony and dirtiness.
It is these latter qualities which provide the symbol of spiritual greed
– the love of self that takes everything from those around us. A pig
will forage all the time, endlessly searching for something more to
consume just like our self-love which will search out everything that
can support and justify its existence.
Horses
Horses
are known for their speed and strength and their ability to obey their
rider who can guide a good horse as delicately as a sailing boat. Some
4000 years ago wild horses were first tamed for domestic use and since
then many breeds have been developed. Horses are symbols of our
understanding which can be strong and powerful, move at speed through
all sorts of ideas and jump from one idea across to another. But they
need a rider to control and direct them and this symbolises the way in
which our love can guide and direct and ‘ride’ our understanding. In the
Bible the most famous symbol using horses is the account of the Four
Horses of the Apocalypse each one describing a different type of
understanding. Our understanding can be a White horse – driven by pure
love; a Red horse – driven by selfish love; a Black horse – driven by
denial of the truth; a Pale horse – driven by hatred of the truth.
Asses
Asses
were first domesticated around 4000 years ago, approximately the same
time as the horse, and have spread around the world. They continue to
fill important roles in many places today. As ‘beasts of burden’ and
companions, asses have worked together with humans for centuries. The
ass is less powerful than the horse and more obstinate. It is a symbol
of our natural reasoning which can be argumentative and which would
rather trust our own senses than rely on spiritual truth. Even so, such
reasoning and understanding can see the folly of its ways and can then
be obedient to the truth. This obedient understanding can then carry us
to a higher spiritual way of living.
Camels
Humans
first domesticated camels about 3000 years ago. They were used for milk,
meat, and as beasts of burden - the Dromedary in western Asia, and the
Bactrian camel further to the north and east in central Asia. As beasts
of burden they can carry as much as 250kg and go a very long way without
food and water relying on fat in the hump and water in the stomach.
Camels thus provide a symbol of our memory which can carry around vast
amounts of knowledge of the truth. Sadly we often make very little use
of the riches we carry about. In the Bible Jesus says that it is as hard
for this type of ‘rich’ person to enter heaven as it is to push a camel
through the eye of a needle! Being rich in knowledge of truth without
ever using it never brings us into a heavenly way of living.
Lions
Lions have probably been around for at
least a million years and are renowned for their great strength and power.
The mane of the male lion, unique amongst cats, is one of the most
distinctive characteristics of the species. It makes the lion appear
larger, providing an excellent display that intimidates. Power in our
minds comes from the love we have and a lion is a symbol of the most
heavenly love we can have – love of God. But as with all spiritual
symbols we can turn that image upside down when we love ourselves. The
lion then becomes a symbol of the power of our deepest selfishness which
seeks to destroy others.
Leopards
The
leopard is the smallest of the four ‘big cats’. It owes its success to
its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of
habitats and it consumes virtually any animal it can catch. It is more
cunning than the lion, lying in wait to destroy its prey. The leopard symbolises the cunning power of
evil distorting true ideas and making them seem to favour ourselves. The
common expression ‘a leopard cannot change its spots’ comes from the
book of Jeremiah in the Bible and pictures how evil keeps ‘black’
falsities mingled with the truth.
Wolves
Wolves function as predators and hunt in
packs and have featured in the folklore and mythology of many cultures
throughout history. They can move very quickly and cover up to 5 meters
in one bound which can make them the deadliest enemy of a flock of lambs
or sheep which they quickly snatch and kill. Thus the wolf is a symbol
of a sudden desire and delight for evil which quickly wipes out our true
good affections. We can also be ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’, an image
from the Bible, when we pretend to be good and kind people on the
outside but inwardly are like ravenous wolves.
The living creatures of the earth, in general, correspond to affections, gentle and useful creatures to good affections, fierce and useless ones to evil affections. In particular, cattle and their young correspond to the affections of the natural mind and sheep and lambs to the affections of the spiritual mind.