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Oyster Symbolism & Meaning

When it comes to being tight-lipped, Oyster ranks highly among Animal Helpers. Being silent is a powerful thing. That is when the voice of the Divine can speak through the fray of daily life. Oyster knows this, living with the currents’ call and endeavoring to remain in harmony with the surrounding environment.

There is a balance in Oyster symbolism. It has a rock-like exterior and a soft interior-mirroring the Sacred Masculine and Feminine. More interesting still is that the Oyster is a protandric hermaphrodite. Some days it’s male, other days female. Scientists say they can sometimes be both at the same time should the circumstances require. Talk about convenience!

Oyster Table of Contents

Oyster Symbolism & Meaning

In female form, Oyster becomes an emblem of fertility. She can lay billions of eggs. This acts as compensation for the complex set of circumstances necessary for reproduction. To spawn they need phytoplankton in the water, which they use for energy in creating either sperm or eggs. The Oyster senses when water temperatures stay above 70 degrees and salinity changes. Then the Oyster begins creating a gonad which may take 60 days.

When the Oyster releases the gonad into the water, other Oysters filter some sperm. As the Oysters nearby detect the presence of the sperm, they too release their gonads for reproduction. Once fertilized, the eggs remain floating in the water, trusting the fates. What awaits them is a complete metamorphosis from larva searching for a hard substrate to which to attach themselves to creating a shell from the calcium carbonate in the water. Now the Oyster can grow up to an inch a year. The whole process gives Oyster strong connections with transformation, especially for adapting to our environment.

In exploring the Oyster’s meaning, we cannot overlook the beautiful pearls some produce. Renaissance scholars thought dew impregnated the Oyster going into the shell valves at specific times of the year. And while they do, indeed, siphon over one gallon of seawater hourly, that’s not how a pearl forms. The siphoning process is how they get nutrition. Nonetheless, the romantic concept was one that captured certain theologians who associated Oyster shells with the Virgin Mary.

Around the world, people considered the Oyster as a symbol of prosperity, reincarnation, protection, fertility, and femininity. These associations appear in Babylon, Egypt, China, Tibet, and Sumeria, just to name a few. Among the Greek, Aphrodite, a Goddess of passion and beauty drifted in an Oyster Shell to Cyprus. The strong shells create a barrier keeping love safe. The difficulty experienced in trying to open an Oyster represents the resilience of true love and devotion.

Oysters living on reefs create beds. The beds become a habitat for fish, anemones, and barnacles. The reefs provide a strong barrier against damaging storm waves too. Here, Oyster shows us that once you ground yourself, you can offer much to your local region, sometimes without even knowing it.

Oyster Spirit Animal

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There are several reasons Oyster comes as a Spirit Animal. One is as an agent of warning and protection. You need to build a tough outer shell and keep it secure during tumultuous times. Whatever is happening some people are trying to tear you down-the negativity aims a goal, a career move, a relationship, or other highly personal passions. Oyster offers you aid until the danger passes.

Second, the Oyster Spirit Animal may come to those who have not been watching their words. You need not be an expert on everything. You need not be a central part of every discussion. Oyster wants you to learn the art of active listening and knowing when silence is truly golden. If you do not heed Oyster’s lesson, your words (especially exaggerations) will become your undoing.
A third reason for the Oyster Spirit Animal’s appearance is that you are struggling with matters of gender identity. It does not matter what the world sees on that rough exterior shell, it’s what’s inside that matters. Oyster Spirit supports whatever transitions and adjustments you need to make for contentment, happiness, and feeling comfortable in your skin.

Oyster Totem Animal

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Individuals born with the Oyster as their Totem Animal are tough cookies. They rarely let their guard down, and even then it’s only with people they’ve known and trusted for years. Showing feelings isn’t easy for them. Throughout their life, they have found that having that strong exterior makes people think twice before attempting any emotional onslaught.

If the Oyster is your Birth Totem, you are someone who prefers a peaceful, harmonious existence. Violence and noxious behavior are abhorrent to you. Even though you know how to handle turbulent waters, it makes you stressful and you treasure your normal daily calm. When need be, you will tighten down your shell and filter through the information until you know how to respond.

Oyster Medicine is all about making something beautiful out of nothing. That little grain of sand (in your case knowledge, talent, or wisdom) may irritate sometimes, but it can also become a pearl of great price. People around you wonder how you turn problems into triumphs, not just for yourself but for everyone in your circle.

Oyster Power Animal

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Call on your inner Oyster Power Animal when you must reclaim balance and accord. Oyster energies provide a sense of centering and protection-of knowing everything will be ok with a little time and patience. There is no need to rush. Siphon water at a pace that fills you and ejects anything you don’t need.

Invoke your Oyster Power Animal for strength. If you find folks are always rubbing you the wrong way, Oyster grants you a harder skin for endurance. Together, you and your Oyster Animal Helper transform what seems to be an impossible challenge into an opportunity.

Seek out your Oyster Power Animal when you know you’re being fed “junk” information or ideas. The Oyster’s vibrations transmute that gunk, like an astral alchemist. Find the gold!

Oyster Dreams

A single Oyster completely closed in your dream implies a secret. It may be one you are keeping for a friend, or one being kept from you. Look to other elements of the dream for greater clarity.

When the Oyster in your dream is open and bears a pearl, this is a good omen. You are turning into your most authentic, beautiful self. Keep on this path.

Seeing men or women holding an Oyster in your dream has sexual connotations. Perhaps you find someone attractive, or they to you. If this union occurs, there’ll be plenty of heat in the bedroom.

If you see yourself inside an Oyster in your dream it reflects turning inward. It’s time to go deep within the well of self on a quest for personal discovery.

Putting someone or something into an Oyster in your dream means you are working very hard on protection. If the person or object goes in smoothly, you will succeed.

A group of Oysters in a dream is auspicious. Either you will have a large gathering soon, or you are destined to have a large family.

An Oyster appearing in the ocean, moving on the currents, predicts you will take a journey by sea to an exotic locale.

Dreaming of an empty Oyster shell shows you have given your heart and soul to a project or person, but perhaps lost something of yourself.

Walking on Oyster shells is an ominous omen. Frustration occurs with some attempt at securing financial security. Take care who you trust.

Far Eastern Oyster Symbolic Meaning

Oysters are a symbol of good luck in China. In the Cantonese language, the word for Oyster sounds similar to the phrase “good things”.

Oyster Symbolic Meanings Key

  • Adaptation
  • Inner Workings
  • Fertility
  • Filtering
  • Gender Fluidity
  • Harmony
  • Protection
  • Sensitivity
  • Security
  • Treasure

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