Sheep
Conformity; feeling or being ‘one of the herd’; blind following of a leader or others; the aspects of oneself that are the same as other human beings; sheep may depict the way me might be led into situations, sometimes awful, by conforming to prevailing attitudes and social pressures; a passive female; vulnerability; sexual feelings about females.
Black sheep: Someone, or you, that has not lived up to expectations, or do not fit into the usual standards of the group attitude. An outsider, or one judged to be. It used to be said about the son or daughter of a church minister who did not live up to the moral standards expected by the father.
Caring for sheep: Being a leading figure, or helping people to grow, perhaps spiritually.
Herd of sheep, or sheep in rural setting: Innocence; natural feelings and peace; quietness of mind; the custom of following a leader instinct in us.
Lost sheep: The lost sheep is a very old and wonderful symbol as told in the parable of the one sheep that had wandered away from safety. It is about either caring for someone or something that has lost its way in life, or is about you,
Sheep being attacked by dog or wolf etc: This might reflect feelings of difficulty in dealing with other people’s aggression or the world in general. It could also be about trying to develop an approach to the play of forces around and with in you – active/passive; passive/aggressive.
EXAMPLE: “I walked past a married couple who were walking up the hill too. As I passed I heard them say something about a shepherd. Looking up the hill I saw the sheep, then The Shepherd. A beautiful aura of many colours surrounded The Shepherd. I looked and felt joy and exuberance rise in me, and I ran to the couple saying it was THE SHEPHERD.” Brian C.
In the example Brian is not only aware of the sheep, but also THE Shepherd. The sheep is his experience of being one of the crowd and the Shepherd is his sense of his own unique potential or love transforming his ordinariness. But remember that the shepherd cares for the sheep to provide food for him and others. He is carer and killer. See: shepherd.
EXAMPLE: A young female sheep wanted to make love with me. We were rubbing our heads together vigorously – like a dog does when playing. Someone, a woman, was going to cleanse its vagina, perhaps by injecting disinfectant. It seemed we would have sex. Arthur C.
IDIOMS: Make sheep’s eye at someone; follow like a sheep; being sheepish.
Useful questions and hints:
What is my dream sheep doing that I can identify in my waking life?
Do I have a tendency to be a follower or a leader, and what is shown in the dream about this?
Am I in some sort of caring or leading situation in the dream, and is this a reflection of my life?
Am I active or passive in life and sex?
Comments
I had a dream of a lost sheep last night that had a name of Brandon and I was looking for him in the pasture. What does it mean? My deceased Mom and grandma were in the dream along with my Dad, my sister and my Moms friend. Any insights?
Hi – I am going to halt from answering your posts – the reason is that in so many of your post I give the same information to. That is because most posts do not realise the difference between dreaming and waking life. It makes a great difference.
So, most of what I put in answers is my attempt at explaining what dreams are really about. It would help you to understand your dreams, if you would read – http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#Summing it would help me, and hopefully you too.
Tony
I wonder whether you are the lost sheep and Love is trying to find and cherish you. The pasture is the higher levels of life we are capable of. The fact that your dead family were present highlights this possibility.
“One of the most amazing parts of the session is what I have called the High Pasture. After surrendering my life and my being to Christ I felt the light, and timeless. Perhaps it is better to say I had the experience of light and timelessness. It seemed to me that I lost my sense of self in what I call now have the mind of God. I’m will try to describe my experience of this.
It seemed to me as if time stopped. In a place without time and without space there is an enough opportunity to explore. So it is with the mind of God was without time and without space. In this condition this time as being explore infinitely who we are what we are and what are possibilities maybe. Because there is no time passing eternity can be taken just exploring the life and possibilities of just one of us.”
I had a dream lastnight , where a giant white sheep chasing us . I’m with my mother & uncle in the car when we incounter a giant sheep . The sheep is getting wild it keeps on chasing us , and it looks like that it want to eat us. What’s the meaning of my dream ?
I had a dream that and angry black sheep took my son. I managed to get my son back and was trying to protect him but the sheep just kept coming and coming! I was throwing obstacles in its way and closing gates as we ran but he was so angry and vicious and baring his teeth at us trying to get to my son! I’ve had this dream 3 times now what does it mean?!
Dear Leah – In general dreams recur because there are ways the dreamer habitually responds to their internal or external world.
Because your attitude or response is unchanging, the dream that reflects it remains the same. It is noticeable in those who explore their dreams using such techniques as described under http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/ that recurring themes disappear or change because the attitudes or habitual anxieties that gave rise to them have been met or transformed.
So your recurring dream may reflect that you have not found the right approach yet to deal with an internal and/or external situation.
Often it is a matter of exploring different ways to find a way that will work and change or stop the dream.
The first step could be to explore the black sheep in your dream; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson so that you can understand if this is an aspect of your inner world only or if the sheep reflects a person in your waking life.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/anger-angry/
The same approach you can use for your son in your dream.
Your son can be a symbol for your ambitions; potential and hopes, but he can also represent your marriage. Because your child is the fruit of the relationship, he can represent the state of your relationship.
Anna 🙂
In a dream, the black wolf is dead, lying on the ground, with a few sheep around him. I would understand this image as a sign of vulnerability and sweet affection entering my heart in this current time of my life. For a long time I thrived to serve the world on my own, cultivating my own power and leading from a place of strength and power. Today, with this symbolism, I foresee a shift where arrogance and pride are transformed into compassion and vulnerability; compassion is born from vulnerability: by feeling my own limitations and sensitivity I thus can feel the sensitivity of others. It is about accepting my humaness to understand and serve better others.
Thank you Tony for your contribution to a better world through all you do and offer.
Many blessings.
I had a dream recently that I was driving down a lane. There were sheep asleep in the lane blocking my way. I had to get out of the car and lift the sheep up over the wall and put them back into the field. There was a house at the end of the lane that belonged to a witch. A good witch. In my waking life it was the night of the elections and I was annoyed that people voted for the same corrupt politicians. Could this be related to that? I’m a full time peaceful protester.
Dear Sandra – The sheep may reflect some inner tendencies that you are not aware of yet and that form an inner obstacle; “There were sheep asleep in the lane blocking my way.”
In your dream you manage to get them out of the way so that you can continue your inner journey that leads to the house of a good witch; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/witch/
Did the sheep wake up when you lift them over the wall and put them back into the field?
I wonder if this is about getting in touch again with what is natural in you.
Perhaps as a full time peaceful protester you have repressed feelings that need to be expressed every now and then as well in order to heal yourself?
See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
Anna 🙂
Dear Anna,
Thanks for your reply Anna. That was really insightful. It actually makes a lot of sense. I never would have figured that out myself. So thank you. You asked if the sheep woke up once I put them in the field. I don’t remember. I just remember being happy they were out of the way. I do feel like I’m healing at the moment, getting in touch with what feels right for me. Learning to say no and being more assertive. I’m a musician and have been feeling a lot freer when I perform lately. So maybe it’s related to that. I tried those arm exercises you recommended. They really helped. So thank you again. I’ll try to make them a regular practice. Keep up the good work! You’re really good at what you do.
Cheers,
Sandra.
Dear Sandra – I am glad that you are aware of undoing your inner obstacles, which leads to healing and a change in perception.
I feel like expressing that the arm circling exercise can be a step towards learning to allow “More of you”.
It is up to you to sense/feel if you need this exercise before moving on to the next part of what I recommended.
When I decided to use LifeStream – Opening up to Life – I did not use any of the preparations mentioned; http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/water-wonderland/
You wrote; “I never would have figured that out myself” and perhaps you feel like adding the word “yet”?
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Anna 🙂
Exactly! “Yet” realising that the characters and objects in dreams are aspects of ourselves, has given me a better insight into a lot of dreams that had been puzzling me.
I just woke up from a dream that involved a herd of sheep in my house. (all white) The sheep scared me so I got on top of the dinner table. They were hungry I guess and one tried to bite my hand. I pushed them away and managed to trap them in my garage. Can you please tell me what this means?
Hello Tony,
I have had a dream about a few sheep behind bars (white and black), two/three of them reaching out to lick my hands. Then my father who was beside me found a tick on my hand which crawled on his hand then again on mine. We were trying to kill it which I then finally succeeded in. What is the licking about? The tongues were strong, grey and rough. Also, the tick and the rest of the dream. Any idea?
Vera
Dear Vera – Your first question is “What is the licking about” and to answer it you will have to explore your feelings in the dream – you do not mention any of the feelings that are part of your dream – while you are being licked; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
What I see in your dream – but please do explore it yourself as well http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/ – is that you are exploring the kind of “restricted love” that is expressed (the licking) where one party is benefitting (and judged for it) at the expense of the other.
In your dream you decide that you do not want “a parasitic relationship” (anymore) and so you kill the tick with the help of your (inner) father.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-animus-jungs-view-of-the-male-in-the-female/ and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/father-dad/#InnerFather
Because a dream symbol is multi layered I would see the grey tongue also as love that is expressed in a way where both parties benefit; grey is the mid-point between black and white, so in that sense depicts balance.
Anna 🙂
I had a dream where I was helping white sheep out of a fast moving dirty river , the white sheep kept getting lost and I kept bringing them back to the herd. One part of my dream I saw a dead white sheep in the water as soon as I touched it and pushed it out of the water it was alive again.
What does this dream mean please?
I recently had a dream that I was with a friend at my old childhood home. We had taken a sheep from the flock to sheer the wool thinking that one at a time would be easier. We brought the sheep inside the house with us, my friend stayed in the living room while I led the sheep through the kitchen and into the backyard. I shut the door on the sheep, leaving it by itself outside while I cleaned the kitchen from the mess the sheep had made. The entire time the sheep stayed by the fence while I cleaned.
What could this mean?
Hello!
I had a dream that it was dark outside, (somewhere around 2:00 a.m.). I was in my bed and felt like I should look out the window, when I did, I saw a black lamb that was wondering around frantically as if it were lost. I got out of bed immediately and told my brother so we could both get the lamb. He opened the front door and I motioned to the lamb to come inside, and it ran inside our home.
I was so happy that it was here and I hugged it. I had a feeling the happiness wouldn’t last long. For some reason I sensed that the black lamb was lost, looking for someone. I went back to bed and slept. When I woke up it was morning, the lamb wanted to go back outside so I went out with it. It ‘baa’d” the word ‘mommy’ and walked toward the big black sheep down the road. The big black sheep was surrounded by kids at a birthday party. Then, when i took a second look at the sheep, they were both gone, and the party resumed as normal.
Dear Mina – The way I see your dream is that it is a beautiful example of a healing dream; of how you can change your past in the present.
The past isn’t something we need to look back on or try to remember, it is a living thing inside us and influences our every decision through habit patterns, fears, hopes and words we have taken in. It is alive because we are alive, and what we have experienced is part of our living system.
You might repress it, but then you have blocked out a great lump of your learning – for we learn by everything we experience – pleasure, pain, longings and fears are all ways we learn important lessons, but only if we digest them.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/digest/
Your dream starts with the willingness to have a look into your inner world, where you become aware of a black lamb; an aspect of your inner child that was judged as an outsider because she/it (and perhaps your brother too) did not fit into the usual standards of the group attitude.
See http://dreamhawk.com/health-and-healing/inner-baby-and-child/
And
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-outsider/
In your dream you do not repress this part of your past, because you let it in and you “embrace it”.
You are not aware yet however what this is all about, which is symbolised by your thoughts “I sensed that the black lamb was lost, looking for someone” and by you going back to sleep and by it being dark outside.
When you wake up again you are ready to explore and the black lamb shows you that there is a connection between it and its mother, who is also a black sheep.
To understand this please read this entry and also the comments at the end;
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-conjuring-trick/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/mother-mum-ma/#InnerMother
In your whole dream you take the position of an observer, who does not seem to judge anything.
Much of our behaviour is largely or wholly unconscious and becoming aware of something without judging it can by itself produce a change as in shown in your dream too; “Then, when I took a second look at the sheep, they were both gone, and the party resumed as normal”.
The birthday party I see as a symbol of your rebirth and of the feeling of “belonging”; no matter what you believe or think or feel.
Happy Birth Day!
Anna 🙂
I had a dream I was in this house and I was being chased by someone or something. I escaped and went outside. I saw two horses outside in a fence arguing at me about something, I didn’t like them at all. Then a single white sheep called my name and I followed it. It felt as if it would lead me the right way. It was glowing white. The two horses were telling me to come back or something. But I followed the sheep confidently.
Dear Michael – It may be that you have taken the right decision to follow the white sheep and perhaps you feel like exploring what you avoided in your dream?
For you did avoid the confrontation with whatever or whoever is chasing you and with the two horses arguing at you about “something”.
So it may be helpful to read about the other symbols in your dream too, like http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/chase-chased-chasing/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/horse-horses/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/fence/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/white/
and then use Power Dreaming to explore your dream (again).
It is good to recognise that every part of your dream is an expression of some aspect of yourself such as sexuality, creativity, ideas, fear, and so on. In the world of dreams our most intimate fears and longings are given an exterior life of their own in the form of the people, objects and places of our dream. Therefore our sexual drive may be shown as a person and how we relate to them; or given shape and colour as an object; or given mood as a scene. Our feeling of ambition might thus be portrayed as a business person in our dream – our changing emotions as the sea or a river; while the present relationship we have with our ambition or emotions is expressed in the events or plot of the dream. So even the monsters and fears of your dreams are part of you. If you run from them you are actually afraid of yourself, of your own emotions and memories. So, in this step, you gradually meet, change, and even imaginatively become the fearful image. In that way you transform your anxiety into available energy. You overcome your fears.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
Dear AD – Every image and person in your dreams is an expression of your own life process. As such it is alive and intelligent and is something sent to help you. A dream is like a projection from a movie projector, except that you are the projector.
Everything you see as outside you is coming from you, your emotions, your fears, your beliefs, your joys and explorations and are all you, clothed in the dream images and drama.
It is remarkable in your dream that each sheep has an “attack/opposing thought”. And your becoming aware of the sheep is what triggered the attack. Also there are 7 of each and I wonder what you associate with that number.
I associate 7 with (inner) growth – every 7 years you change – and with individuation.
See http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/every-seven-years-you-change/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/individuation/
One of Carl Jung’s most interesting areas of thought is that of individuation. In a nutshell the word refers to the processes involved in becoming a self-aware and independent human being. The area of our being we refer to when we say ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘myself’, is our conscious self-awareness, our sense of self, which Jung calls the ego
I doubt though if “attacking your inner sheep/thoughts” is a helpful approach (habit?) to become an independent human being and I do see “observing your inner sheep/thoughts” as more effective, for when you do not identify with your inner sheep/thoughts, there is no need to attack them either.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/habits/
Through simple self-observation one gradually arrives at a form of insight which leads to a transcending of oneself as you stood prior to the insights. One may even arrive at a massive altered state of awareness – an insight into the impermanence of your present personality, and the experience of liberation arising from it.
Observing your own ebb and flow of thoughts and feelings, your own habits and responses to things, is one of the most powerful of tools to use in transforming your life. This also leads to a fuller connection with your intuitive connection with your core.
Much of our behaviour is largely or wholly unconscious. Becoming aware of something can by itself produce a change. If you are not aware of how you act or respond, there is less likelihood of satisfying change.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
Anna 🙂
In my dream there was a small herd of sheep, 7 to be exact. Almost instantly, after I noticed their existence, they were pursued and attacked by 7 wolves. Any thoughts on what this could mean?
I had a dream of two very large and hairy sheep playing tennis at this hotel my family was staying at in my dream. My brother and I walk downstairs to find these animals. The ball gets hit towards us and the sheep get angry because we cannot find the ball that was hit in our directions. I wake up to the two large sheep about to attack my brother and I.
Any thoughts?
Mac – You did not reveal what colour the sheep had and if the ball left the tennis court when it was hit towards you and your brother.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/brother/
Dreams are a reflection of your inner world
and often need your personal associations.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#Reflect
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/association-of-ideas-with-dreams/#Working
I wonder if this dream is about the blamer -in this context the sheep – and the pleaser in you; why would you want to look for their ball in the first place, it is their game, not yours?
“Being the sheep” will help you explore that role for yourself too.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
And you can use the techniques expressed in this feature:
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
I have had two dreams in which I had my arms around a sheep, perhaps a lamb, and I felt an overwhelming sense of love, peace and understanding between us.
Alizah – The lamb represents the innocent life that gives itself so that we can live. It started when humans started keeping animals, and winter was a hard time and a time of hunger and often illness. But when the Spring came and the lambs were born it was a time of rejoicing and a return to health.
But the sheep and lamb became deeply impressed in people’s life and mind, and became a much bigger symbol. It became linked with the feelings of strength and comfort we get when we realise that we are all part of something much bigger than our small self. We are part of humanity, and we can sense the goodness of that when we look at all the people who serve us, the growers of our food, the nurses and doctors who are there.
So imagine you are the sheep/lamb and enter into it in your imagination. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
Tony