#WingedWordsWindsday: 2023/09/20 -- Firebirds Ascending: A Tribute to the Phoenix

 

WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Vol. 2, No. 47: September 20, 2023

 

 

Firebirds Ascending: A Tribute to the Phoenix

Dedicated by the Editor to the Knights of the Order of the Phoenix 😊

 

“The Phoenix Bird: Beauty from Ashes”

By Rob Chappell, M.A.

Adapted & Expanded from Articles and Presentations by the Author Between 2008 and 2015

                Perhaps no other bird is as celebrated in world mythology as the phoenix. From Japan and China to Egypt and Greece, tales of this fabulous creature have been spun for thousands of years. According to the most widespread tradition, there was only one phoenix alive in the world at any given time. This legendary bird was adorned with beautiful crimson, golden, and violet plumage, and it built its nest of spices in a remote corner of East Asia (possibly in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun). It was also said that the phoenix had the most wonderful song of all birds and that its tears could heal even mortal wounds. Since the phoenix bird had originated on the Sun (where myriads of phoenixes were supposed to dwell), it needed no earthly food; instead, it was nourished by solar energy exclusively. (This might lead us to wonder: Why wasn’t the phoenix green, since it was photosynthetic?). 😊

                Every 500 years, the elderly phoenix would burst into flames and die in its nest of rare spices – but from its ashes would hatch a rejuvenated young phoenix to live for another five centuries. The newborn phoenix, as soon as it could fly, would carry the bones and ashes of its former self to the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, Egypt, where the priests would note in their chronicles that a new “phoenix cycle” of 500 years had begun.

                From an astronomical perspective, we can see how the death, spontaneous combustion, and rebirth of the phoenix symbolized the annual cycle of the seasons, in which the Sun “dies” of old age at the Winter Solstice, only to rejuvenate and ascend into the heavens once again with the approach of springtime. Drawing on such mythological starlore, European Renaissance astronomers introduced a phoenix into the sky as a constellation. The celestial phoenix can be seen just above the southern horizon on early winter evenings from the American Midwest – a starry witness to the changing seasons on the revolving wheel of the year.

                The phoenix can still hold many meanings for us today. For example, the phoenix might represent the power that we have to begin again after a personal tragedy or some other great loss. It may also remind us of Nature’s ability to recover and renew herself after disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. On a more metaphysical level, however, the phoenix was understood to represent human immortality and the hope of a new Golden Age beyond the End of Days. This theme is echoed in Erasmus Darwin’s [1731-1802] description of Nature’s revivification after the Universe, in the far distant future, has “died”:

 

“Roll on, ye Stars! Exult in youthful prime,

Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time;

Near and more near your beamy cars approach,

And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach;

Flowers of the sky! Ye too to age must yield,

Frail as your silken sisters of the field!

Star after star from Heaven’s high arch shall rush,

Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush,

Headlong, extinct, to one dark center fall,

And Death and Night and Chaos mingle all!

Till over the wreck, emerging from the storm,

Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,

Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,

And soars and shines, another and the same.”

à The Botanic Garden (1789-1791)

                As the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere await the beginning of autumn at the September Equinox, we would do well to remember these practical yet profound insights from the skywatchers and mythmakers of long ago and far away. The core message of the phoenix bird is summarized in this anonymous Keltik canticle:

 

“Welcome to the Sun”

Collected in Scotland (19th Century)

Editor’s Note: In the Keltik languages – as well as in Japanese – the Sun is feminine and the Moon is masculine.

Welcome to you, Sun of the seasons’ turning,

In your circuit of the high heavens;

Strong are your steps on the unfurled heights,

Glad Mother are you to the constellations.

You sink down into the ocean of want,

Without defeat, without scathe;

You rise up on the peaceful wave

Like a Queen in her maidenhood's flower.

 

Webliography

To learn more about the phoenix bird and its myriad meanings, readers may consult the following resources.

·         http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/phoenix.html à Here is an overview of the phoenix myth from a multicultural perspective.

·         http://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/Phoinix.html à This illustrated reference page includes brief articles and citations from ancient Greek and Roman authors about the phoenix.

·         https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-phoenix/ à “The Phoenix” is an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) poem about the legendary firebird, preserved in the Exeter Book (10^th century CE).

·         https://archive.org/details/conference_of_the_birds-faridudin_attar à The Conference of the Birds is a classical Persian poem by Attar of Nishapur (1151-1221 CE), in which the simurgh (the Persian phoenix) plays a prominent role.

 

The Phoenix in Greek and Latin Versions of the Hebrew Scriptures

                Although the phoenix is not referred to by name in most modern English translations of the Bible, it is mentioned twice in the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, produced at Alexandria, Egypt, during the third century BCE) and in the Vulgate (a Latin translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the deuterocanonical books, and the Christian Testament, produced by St. Jerome at Bethlehem, Palestine, during the early fifth century CE). These references to the phoenix bird in widely disseminated translations of the Bible ensured its continuing popularity throughout the Middle Ages. In most modern English Bibles, the Hebrew term translated as “phoenix” in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate is rendered as “palm tree,” which makes very little sense within the context of the surrounding verses. J

 

“The just shall flourish like the phoenix: they shall grow up like the cedar of Lebanon.” (Psalm 92:12 [Hebrew] = Psalm 91:13 [Latin Vulgate])

Here, the psalmist seems to be assuring listeners/readers that the righteous will enjoy immortality like the legendary phoenix. (Cf. Psalm 23:6,)

 

“And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a phoenix I shall multiply my days.” (Job 29:18 [Latin Vulgate])

In this verse, the patriarch Job seems to be affirming a belief in his own immortality and/or resurrection. (Cf. Job 19:25-27.)

 

The phoenix is reborn from its own funeral pyre, as depicted in the 12^th-century CE Aberdeen Bestiary from Scotland. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

The Phoenix in Enoch’s Heavenly Journey:

Excerpts from the (Old Slavonic) Book of the Secrets of Enoch (2 Enoch – 1^st Century CE)

                In these passages from 2 Enoch, we can read of the ancient prophet Enoch’s legendary journey through the ten heavens, as envisioned by an unknown Judean author writing in the Holy Land under Roman occupation. Enoch learns that there are myriads of phoenixes living on, near, or in the Sun – along with mysterious reptilian creatures known as the Khalkydri.

 

Chapter 11

Here they took Enoch up on to the fourth heaven, where is the course of Sun and Moon.

                Those men took me, and led me up on to the fourth heaven, and showed me all the successive goings, and all the rays of the light of Sun and Moon. And I measured their goings and compared their light, and saw that the Sun’s light is greater than the Moon’s. Its circle and the wheels on which it goes always, like a wind going past with very marvelous speed, and day and night it has no rest. Its passage and return are accompanied by four great stars, and each star has under it a thousand stars, to the right of the Sun’s wheel, and by four to the left, each having under it a thousand stars, altogether eight thousand, issuing with the Sun continually. And by day fifteen myriads of angels attend it, and by night a thousand. And six-winged ones issue with the angels before the Sun’s wheel into the fiery flames, and a hundred angels kindle the Sun and set it alight.

 

Chapter 12

Of the very marvelous elements of the Sun.

                And I looked and saw other flying elements of the Sun, whose names are Phoenixes and Khalkydri, marvelous and wonderful, with feet and tails in the form of a lion, and a crocodile’s head, their appearance is empurpled, like the rainbow; their size is nine hundred measures, their wings are like those of angels, each has twelve, and they attend and accompany the Sun, bearing heat and dew, as it is ordered them from God. Thus the Sun revolves and goes, and rises under the heaven, and its course goes under the Earth with the light of its rays incessantly.

 

Chapter 13

The angels took Enoch and placed him in the east at the Sun's gates.

                Those men bore me away to the east, and placed me at the Sun's gates, where the Sun goes forth according to the regulation of the seasons and the circuit of the months of the whole year, and the number of the hours day and night, And I saw six gates open, each gate having sixty-one stadia and a quarter of one stadium, and I measured them truly, and understood their size to be so much, through which the Sun goes forth, and goes to the west, and is made even, and rises throughout all the months, and turns back again from the six gates according to the succession of the seasons; thus the period of the whole year is finished after the returns of the four seasons,

 

Chapter 14

They took Enoch to the West.

                And again those men led me away to the western parts, and showed me six great gates open corresponding to the eastern gates, opposite to where the Sun sets, according to the number of the days three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter. Thus again it goes down to the western gates, and draws away its light, the greatness of its brightness, under the Earth; for since the crown of its shining is in heaven with the Lord, and guarded by four hundred angels, while the Sun goes round on wheel under the Earth, and stands seven great hours in night, and spends half its course under the Earth, when it comes to the eastern approach in the eighth hour of the night, it brings its lights, and the crown of shining, and the Sun flames forth more than fire.

 

Chapter 15

The elements of the Sun, the Phoenixes and Khalkydri, broke into song.

                Then the elements of the Sun, called Phoenixes and Khalkydri break into song, therefore every bird flutters with its wings, rejoicing at the giver of light, and they broke into song at the command of the Lord. The giver of light comes to give brightness to the whole world, and the morning guard takes shape, which is the rays of the Sun, and the Sun of the Earth goes out, and receives its brightness to light up the whole face of the Earth, and they showed me this calculation of the Sun’s going. And the gates which it enters, these are the great gates of the computation of the hours of the year; for this reason the Sun is a great creation, whose circuit lasts twenty-eight years, and begins again from the beginning.

 

The Phoenix Cycle

Ÿ  The Phoenix Cycle is a historical era that lasts for 500 years; it derives its name from the 500-year lifespan of the mythical firebird. Every 500 years, Western civilization has to reinvent itself. Old ways die, and new ways are born.

Ÿ  The year 2034 marks the start of another Phoenix Cycle. The last Phoenix Cycle began in 1534, in the midst of the Renaissance and Reformation and the Age of Discovery. Before that, Phoenix Cycles began in 1034, 534, 34 CE (see below), 467 BCE, etc.

Ÿ  The advent of a new Phoenix Cycle is why we appear to have so much chaos – and progress -- in the world right now.

Ÿ  This is why we also have so many “rising stars” among our young people today. They are here for a reason – to light our way into a better future during the new Phoenix Cycle that is dawning right before our very eyes.

Ÿ  What we do today will have repercussions for the next 500 years (and beyond) – what an opportunity we have to change the world for the better! J

 

The Start of a Phoenix Cycle:

Excerpted from Book 6 of Tacitus’ (56-120 CE) Annals

                During the consulship of Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius [January-June, 34 CE], the bird called the phoenix, after a long succession of ages, appeared in Egypt and furnished the most learned men of that country and of Greece with abundant matter for the discussion of the marvelous phenomenon. It is my wish to make known all on which they agree with several things, questionable enough indeed, but not too absurd to be noticed.

                That it is a creature sacred to the sun, differing from all other birds in its beak and in the tints of its plumage, is held unanimously by those who have described its nature. As to the number of years it lives, there are various accounts. The general tradition says five hundred years. Some maintain that it is seen at intervals of fourteen hundred and sixty-one years, and that the former birds flew into the city called Heliopolis successively in the reigns of Sesostris, Amasis, and Ptolemy, the third king of the Macedonian dynasty, with a multitude of companion birds marveling at the novelty of the appearance. But all antiquity is of course obscure. From Ptolemy to Tiberius was a period of less than five hundred years. Consequently some have supposed that this was a spurious phoenix, not from the regions of Arabia, and with none of the instincts which ancient tradition has attributed to the bird. For when the number of years is completed and death is near, the phoenix, it is said, builds a nest in the land of its birth and infuses into it a germ of life from which an offspring arises, whose first care, when fledged, is to bury its father. This is not rashly done, but taking up a load of myrrh and having tried its strength by a long flight, as soon as it is equal to the burden and to the journey, it carries its father's body, bears it to the altar of the Sun, and leaves it to the flames. All this is full of doubt and legendary exaggeration. Still, there is no question that the bird is occasionally seen in Egypt.

 

The Phoenix in the Land of the Rising Sun:

Minor Poem #27 by Claudian (ca. 370-404 CE)

                There is a leafy wood fringed by Oceanus’ farthest margin beyond India and the East, where Dawn’s panting coursers first seek entrance; it hears the lash close by, what time the watery threshold echoes to the dewy car; and hence comes forth the rosy morn while night, illumined by those far-shining wheels of fire, casts off her sable cloak and broods less darkly. This is the kingdom of the blessed bird of the Sun where it dwells in solitude defended by the inhospitable nature of the land and immune from the ills that befall other living creatures; nor does it suffer infection from the world of men. Equal to the gods is that bird whose life rivals the stars and whose renascent limbs weary the passing centuries. It needs no food to satisfy hunger, nor any drink to quench thirst; the Sun’s clear beam is its food, the sea’s rare spray its drink – exhalations such as these form its simple nourishment. A mysterious fire flashes from its eyes, and a flaming aureole enriches its head. Its crest shines with the Sun’s own light and shatters the darkness with its calm brilliance. Its legs are of Tyrian purple; swifter than those of the Zephyrs are its wings of flower-like blue dappled with rich gold.

                Never was this bird conceived, nor springs it from any mortal seed, itself is alike its own father and son, and with none to recreate it, it renews its outworn limbs with a rejuvenation of death, and at each decease wins a fresh lease of life. For when a thousand summers have passed far away, a thousand winters gone by, a thousand springs in their course given to the husbandmen that shade of which autumn robbed them, then at last, fordone by the number of its years, it falls a victim to the burden of age; as a tall pine on the summit of Caucasus, wearied with storms, heels over with its weight and threatens at last to crash in ruin; one portion falls by reason of the unceasing winds, another breaks away rotted by the rain, another consumed by the decay of years.

                Now the Phoenix’s bright eye grows dim and the pupil becomes palsied by the frost of years, like the Moon when she is shrouded in clouds and her horn beings to vanish in the mist. Now his wings, wont to cleave the clouds of heaven, can scarce raise them from the Earth. Then, realizing that his span of life is at an end and in preparation for a renewal of his splendor, he gathers dry herbs from the Sun-warmed hills, and making an interwoven heap of the branches of the precious tree of Saba, he builds that pyre which shall be at once his tomb and his cradle.

                On this he takes his seat and as he grows weaker greets the Sun with his sweet voice; offering up prayers and supplications he begs that those fires will give him renewal of strength. Phoebus [Apollo = the Sun], on seeing him afar, checks his reins and staying his course consoles his loving child with these words: “You who are about to leave your years behind upon yon pyre, who, by this pretense of death, are destined to rediscover life; you whose decease means but the renewal of existence and who by self-destruction regain your lost youth, receive back your life, quit the body that must die, and by a change of form come forth more beauteous than ever.”

                So speaks he, and shaking his head casts one of his golden hairs and smites [the] willing Phoenix with its life-giving effulgence. Now, to ensure his rebirth, he suffers himself to be burned and in his eagerness to be born again meets death with joy. Stricken with the heavenly flame the fragrant pile catches fire and burns the aged body. The Moon in amaze checks her milk-white heifers and heaven halts his revolving spheres, while the pyre conceives the new life; Nature takes care that the deathless bird perish not, and calls upon the Sun, mindful of his promise, to restore its immortal glory to the world.

                Straightway the life spirit surges through his scattered limbs; the renovated blood floods his veins. The ashes show signs of life; they begin to move though there is none to move them, and feathers clothe the mass of cinders. He who was but now the sire comes forth from the pyre the son and successor; between life and life lay but that brief space wherein the pyre burned.

                His first delight is to consecrate his father’s spirit by the banks of the Nile and to carry to the land of Egypt the burned mass from which he was born. With all speed he wings his way to that foreign strand, carrying the remains in a covering of grass. Birds innumerable accompany him, and whole flocks thereof throng in airy flight. Their mighty host shuts out the sky wherever it passes. But from among so vast an assemblage none dares outstrip the leader; all follow respectfully in the balmy wake of their king. Neither the fierce hawk nor the eagle, Jupiter’s own armor-bearer, fall to fighting; in honor of their common master a truce is observed by all. Thus the Parthian monarch leads his barbarous hosts by yellow Tigris’ banks, all glorious with jewels and rich ornament and decks his tiara with royal garlands; his horse’s bridle is of gold, Assyrian embroidery embellishes his scarlet robes, and proud with sovereignty he lords it over his numberless slaves.

                There is in Egypt a well-known city [Heliopolis] celebrated for its pious sacrifices and dedicated to the worship of the Sun. Its temples rest on a hundred columns hewn from the quarries of Thebes. Here, as the story tells, the Phoenix is wont to store his father’s ashes and, adoring the image of the god, his master, to entrust his precious burden to the flames. He places on the altar that from which he is sprung and that which remains of himself. Bright shines the wondrous threshold; the fragrant shrine is filled with the holy smoke of the altar and the odor of Indian incense, penetrating even as far as the Pelusiac marshes, fills the nostrils of men, flooding them with its kindly influence and with a scent sweeter than that of nectar perfumes the seven mouths of the dark Nile.

                Happy bird, heir to your own self! Death which proves our undoing restores your strength. Your ashes give you life, and though you perish not, your old age dies. You have beheld all that has been, have witnessed the passing of the ages. You know when it was that the waves of the sea rose and overflowed the rocks, what year it was that Phaëthon’s error devoted to the flames. Yet did no destruction overwhelm you; sole survivor you live to see the Earth subdued; against you the Fates gather not up their threads, powerless to do you harm.

This illustration of the constellation Phoenix appeared in Johann Doppelmayr’s Atlas Coelestis (plate 19), which was published in Nuremberg, Germany ca. 1742. The celestial Phoenix is visible from mid-northern latitudes, just above the southern horizon, on early winter evenings. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)