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Phoenix
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Chinese Phoenix
In China, the Phoenix is called either the "phuong" (male) or the "hoang" (female)
but it is commonly called feng,
and is represented by the feng-huang, symbolizing the union
of Yin and Yang.
Unlike other cultures, there can be two feng alive and they can live as a couple. This couple represents
marital
happiness and everlasting love.
The Feng lives in the kingdom of the wise to the east of China . It's body
is a composite of the five basic colors (green, red, yellow, white, black). It had a large bill, the neck of a snake, the
back of a tortoise
and the tail of a fish, and three legs. (Or in other versions, it has the crane's forehead, the fowl's
bill, the neck of a snake,
the shell of a tortoise, and the tigers stripes.) In it's bill it carried either the two scrolls
or a box that contains the sacred
books. The Feng is also sometimes pictured with a fireball. It's body is a composite
of the six celestial bodies, the head
symbolizes the sky, the eyes: the sun, the back: the moon, the wings: the wind,
the feet: the earth , and the tail:
the planets.
The feng only comes around in peaceful times , when there is trouble , the feng hides itself.
Therefore
it is both a sign of peace and a symbol of disharmony. The feng is said to have originated in the
Sun and is beautiful
and mysterious.
Egyptian Phoenix
Usually depicted as a heron , peacock , or eagle with beautiful red and gold
feathers. It had a long straight back
and two feathers on it's head. The Bennu (Phoenix) lived on the ben-ben stone or
obelisk within the sanctuary of
Heliopolis. The Bennu was said to have created itself from the fire that burned on the
sacred Persea tree in Heliopolis.
Or in another legend, it was the first life form to have appeared on the mound that rose
from the watery chaos of the
first creation. The mound was called the ben-ben and was the origin of the city Heliopolis.
(Also
said to have sprung from the heart of Osiris asa living symbol of the god. )The Bennu's true home however is Arabia. It only
comes back to
Heliopolis to die and be reborn. Osiris is said to have given the secret of eternal life to Bennu. The Bennu
symbolizes
rebirth and a period of new wealth and fertility, when the nile floods the earth each year. Bennu is a personification
of
creation and life force. According to Herodotus, Bennu flies to the sun temple in Heliopolis after 500 years, to
build
it's funeral pyre with incense sticks.
Then it climbed onto the pyre and waited for the sun's rays to ignite the pyre
while singing a song of rare and incredible beauty.
It is said that a new Bennu immediatly rises from the ashes to fly
it's parent's ashes to Heliopolis accompanied by
turtledoves. Pliny however says that from the ashes emerges a small worm
that becomes the Bennu at the end of the
day.
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Jewish Phenix
Jewish : "I shall multiply my days as the Hol, the phoenix" (Job 29:18)
The Jews call the phoenix the Milcham or Hol. After Eve ate the apple, she grew jealous of the other animals immortality and
innocence. So she persuaded all of the animals to eat the fruit and share her current state of disgrace. Only the Milcham
did not give into her. God rewarded the bird by putting him in a walled city to live in peace for 1,000 years. At the end
of every thousand year period, all of his feathers fall off and he shrinks to the size of an egg which he is then born from.
He is called the guardian of the terrestial sphere. He follows the sun in it's orbit, he catches the sun's rays by spreading
his wings. Without the Hol all life on earth would end. On his right wing there are words that say "Neither the earth produces
me, nor the heavens, but only wings of fire." He eats the manna of heaven. His excrement is a worm who in turn excretes a
cinnamen prefered by kings. Enoch describes the Hol as "Flying creatures with the feet and tails of lions, and the heads of
crocodiles" They are purple and are nine hundred measures long. They have twelve wings and attend the sun bringing heat and
dew as God ordains.
Japanese Phoenix
Japanese : The Japanese call the phoenix Karura, or The Ho-Oo (Ho being
male and Oo being female) and he is an enormous fire breathing eagle with golden feathers and magic gems crowning his forehead,
the karura or ho came to the earth to do good deeds for mankind. The appearance of the Ho-Oo represents the begining of a
new era. The Ho-Oo represents the sun, fidelity and obeidiance.
Clasical Phoenix
 The Classical Phoenix is perhaps the best known. The Phoenix's true home is in Arabia , near a cool well. At dawn every morning
the Phoenix would sing asong so beautiful that even Apollo would stop to listen. This Phoenix lives anywhere from 500-1461
years (according to different people) When it is near death it builds a pyre of myrrh and other spices , and sets it own fire
and is burned by the flames. The new phoenix from the ashes takes the remains of it's predicessor ., embalms them in an egg
of myrr and takes them to the city of the sun Heliopolis , to depoisit them on the altar of the sun god. There only exsists
one phoenix at any given time. A symbolic representation of the Death and rebirth of the sun or just the sun. Some legends
tell of the phoenix rising from the ashes after three days. It is also described as being either eagle like or heron like.
It lives on dew, killing nothing and crushing nothing that it touches. Generally considered the king of birds. It has alternativly
been called the bird of the sun, of Assyria, of Arabia, of the Ganges, thelong-lived bird and the Egyptian bird. The earliest
referance to the Phoenix was made by Hesiod in the 8th century B.C., but the most detailed acocunt is by Heroditus. The Phoenix
is associated with the sun god Apollo (who would've thunk!)
Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the
Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years,
it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon and spikenard,
and myrrh, and of these materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst
odors. From the body of the parent bird, a young Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor.
When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent's sepulcher),
and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the sun. -- Ovid
According to Hesiod the phoenix lives 972 generations of 33 years each. That would point the birth of the phoenix at the same
moment that all the stars return to their starting positions and begin a new orbit in an eternal cycle. This is spoken of
as the Great Year. Spoken plainly, the phoenix was a mirror of the universe.
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