At one time pearls and shells had spiritual significance everywhere; but bit by bit their use took on a literal meaning until people even believed that pearls dissolved in ‘wine’ somehow gave you immortality. As we shall see they may represent the immortal part of a person, but they can’t give you anything quaffed in wine! Wine of course has its own spiritual symbolism.Higher spirit in the EggBut, by extension the oyster with its shell is also symbolic of the Egg .The shell this time is just Form in general. This symbolism is not at odds with the overall symbolism. The oyster itself is not dissimilar in appearance to the egg, with a hard outer coating and a ‘soft interior’, the soft interior being the source of life. So the symbolism is rather good – a Higher spirit nestled amidst the soft yolky interior of the Egg. None of this odd symbolism clashes, although it is clearly a bit abstruse.