The roosters morning cry: “Come giver of light, give thy light to the world.”
The legendary Phoenix is a mythological bird of great beauty. The Phoenix is said to arise again perpetually from its ashes after a purifying fire has consumed it. Egyptians said this mystical transformation occurred only in Heliopolis, a city dedicated to sun worship. This bird incorporates all the powerful characteristics of the eagle, both being King of Birds and Sun god symbols. But the Phoenix, the Emperor of Birds, is twice as big as the largest eagle. It’s head has an aureole or nimbus with seven rays or plumes shooting out. The middle ray is said to terminate in the star of Venus.
The Phoenix also has swan traits. The swan is portrayed as a Sun symbol also as it rises flying above the waters of life transformed from an ugly duckling to a beautiful graceful bird. The Phoenix is also a swan-type symbol but more than transformation, it represents transcendence. Like the swan legend, the mythic Phoenix sings a swan song before its death. The song is played like a flute through the birds beak. It is so beautiful birds come from all around to hear the sound. Birds are said to act as bodyguards for the Phoenix when it travels.
Some scarce reference to the parrot are made such as the comparison of the burning of the parrot of Atedius Melior with that of the Phoenix: Atedius’ beloved bird is not sent without honors to the world of shades but rather with Assyrian amomum, Arabian herbs, and Sicilian saffron and therefore mounts the fragrant pyre like a happier phoenix, not suffering the ills of old age. Both parrot and Phoenix are tormented by senile weakness in their final hours.
The Phoenix also links to the Scarab as it is also an Egyptian Sun god symbol and both insect and bird represent the paradox of destruction and creation. Benu is the Egyptian name for the Phoenix. The Phoenix is also considered to represent the resurrection, immortality, the renewal of time, the sun, the power of fire, and solitude.
The Phoenix has no parents. He/she is eluded to as being asexual but a better label is bisexual, both male and female integrated. The bisexuality of the Phoenix is represents the idea of the true, perfect human being in whom the male and female elements have recovered their original unity. Jewish legend says the Phoenix became virtually immortal refusing the fruit of the Tree Eve offered to all the animals in the Garden of Eden. His death by fire, was a display of the acceptance of martyred Abel’s righteous sacrifice. But the Phoenix immediately rose from the ash alive again.
The Phoenix has a life span of 500 years. When sensing it’s aging, it makes a nest of aromatic leaves in a date palm tree. In particular, cinnamon is connected to the Phoenix. Legend says the source of cinnamon is the Phoenix who brought it from Paradise. (Without cinnamon, the mystic bird cannot regenerate.) At dusk the bird and nest self-combust and burn all night. At dawn, when the rising sun’s rays touch the smoldering ashes, the bird is restored to mature splendor and lives through another life cycle. There is only one Phoenix. It is a solitary purplish-red bird.
The Bird of Paradise from New Guinea was once thought the Phoenix and so derived it’s name. It may be from this bird the legend got its start. Australian scientists discovered skins of the Bird of Paradise were traded by New Guinea natives with ancient Phoenicia. The skins were transported wrapped in scorched banana leaves to lessen insect damage. Aromatic resinous myrrh was placed next to the banana skin to keep a marketable perfumed smell. In Syria, pieces of ritual incense, myrrh, have been found with banana leaf marks clearly pressed into the resin. Myrrh is specifically mentioned in many Phoenix tales. A myth was born while promoting the commercial value of decorative plumage.
The 2,000-year-old legend of the Phoenix has ancient roots in India and Egypt. The ancient Greek word for phoenix means: palm tree, purplish-red color, and Phoenician. Princess Jezebel of the Old Testament was of Phoenicia, a commercially successful nation of sensuous nature worshipers. Phoenix also means anything of peerless beauty or excellence. Phoenix represents anyone rising from the ashes of defeat stronger than ever. Also the successful completion of a process. The mythologist say the Phoenix ate only dew. The Phoenix myth has come to be associated with the morning and evening star, Venus, the goddess of love. The Phoenix is the escort of the sun as it crosses the sky. Shadowing and protecting the earth by absorbing the full intensity of the sun’s burning rays.
Alchemists believed the Phoenix symbolizes the destruction and new formation of materia prima on its way to becoming the philosopher’s stone. In ancient Chinese imagery the Phoenix is the fabulous bird in which Yin and Yang are united in a totality that transcends their duality; in other words a powerful symbol of conjugal union (BENXUS). Turkish and Persian versions of the myth suggest the symbolism implies periodic destruction and re-creation. Psychological interpretation suggests we all keep a “phoenix” inside ourselves, enabling us to live out every moment and to overcome each and every partial death which we call a “dream” or ” change”.