Shepherd's crook

Shepherd's crook, artist's depiction. A sculpture of the hooked wooden implement known as a "shepherd's crook", shown in an oblique view with a stylized sheep atop the bend in the crook.

William Blake's hand painted print for his poem "The Shepherd" depicts the idyllic scene of a shepherd watching his flock with a shepherd's crook. This image represents copy B, printed and painted in 1789 and currently held by the Library of Congress.

The shepherd's crook is an important albeit primitive device used by shepherds. Sheep can feed on rough pasture which is unsuitable for cattle or agriculture, including mountainous terrain. Seasonal herding along mountainous routes gave rise to what are now known as drovers' roads. A strong, multi-purpose stick can be used for balance, examining dangerous undergrowth and for defence against attack by predators.

Symbolic Use

The crook and flail on the coffinette of Tutankhamun

The innovation of a hook facilitates the recovery of fallen animals by ensnaring them by neck or leg. For this reason the crook has been used as a religious symbol of care (particularly in difficult circumstances) such the badge of office for a Mithraic pater and the Christian bishops' crosier.

The shepherd's crook is also symbolic of the spiritual Kundalini energy described in Eastern religions, which rises up the spine and over into the third eye (pineal gland) and crown chakra (pituitary gland) when a being reaches enlightenment.

The shape of the Shepherd's crook is also named the "Johnson Curve" for highly intensive engineering calculations.

The shepherd's crook and the flail (an agricultural tool) are insignia of pharaonic authority: the Crook and flail