What kind of bird is phoenix

Thus, in China it is representative of the balance of Yin and Yang. In Hindu mythology, the phoenix is often compared to the avian deity Garuda. As the mount for the god Vishnu, like the phoenix, Garuda is a sun bird. He is also depicted as having the fiery coloring of red, orange, and yellow.

According to Hindu mythology, Garuda became immortal through an act of selflessness. His mother was enslaved by snakes. And to free her, Garuda had to go on an epic quest to capture a vessel filled with amrit, the potion for immortality.

Garuda would use the potion as a ransom with the snakes in exchange for setting his mother free. Vishnu was so impressed by his selflessness that he granted Garuda immortality anyway. A note about the phoenix in other cultures: The Native Americans also tell stories of a phoenix-like bird, whom they call the thunderbird. Look for a separate post on this mythical bird coming soon! This post would not be complete without mention of how the city of Phoenix, Arizona got its name.

As the story goes, sometime from — AD, the area that is now Phoenix was the home to a tribe of Pueblo Native Americans. The Pueblos built an irrigation system to bring water to their area from the Salt River. The canal system was extensive, spanning over miles. However, at some point during the 15th century, the population disappeared. Historians are unsure of what happened to the people who lived there.

However, they surmise that they left the area due ongoing drought or hostile tribes who drove them away. By the midth century, white pioneers began to settle in the area. They expanded the existing canal system, which enabled them to farm. Eventually, after some going back and forth for about a new name for the settlement, a pioneer named Darrell Duppa suggested Phoenix in honor the previous civilization that had been there and the new one that emerged. The phoenix spirit animal is a powerful archetype for new beginnings, self-regeneration, and healing.

You may already feel a strong connection to this mythical bird or one may suddenly appeared in your life in art, literature, or some other medium. Either way, the phoenix is always an auspicious sign for healing and renewal in an area of your life.

The phoenix symbolizes the eternal flame, which can mean faith, will, or passion in your life. No matter how many times you get set back, the phoenix reminds you that you have within you the fire and wherewithal to heal and be new again. In addition to the phoenix, you might have other spirit animals who can help to guide you on your life path. In fact, according to Native American traditions, you can have more than one spirit animal. As the name implies, a power animal can empower you with their most dynamic traits.

So, the phoenix power animal is a helpful symbol when you feel you need to regenerate an area of your life. This can mean your health, a relationship, a creative endeavor, your environment, or even your attitude and the way you view the world. At the heart of phoenix symbolism and meaning is faith and the knowing that you can begin again.

Animal totems are helpful talismans that embody the special gifts and protective powers of the animals they represent. Thus, a phoenix totem is a good luck symbol for healing, renewal, regeneration, and becoming new again.

If you have phoenix dreams, you are lucky indeed. While many of us have animal dreams, few of us dream of mythical animals. Dream meanings and interpretations are personal to every individual. Analyzing the emotions you felt in your dream can provide clues into what the dream is telling you. While dreams about animals can be interpreted in any number of ways, as a mythical animal, the phoenix has very specific meanings.

In general, a dream about a phoenix can be viewed as an opportunity for transformation, renewal, and continuity. A phoenix tattoo is a wonderful symbol that shows the world you have risen from the ashes in some way to be renewed again.

It demonstrates that no matter what you have experienced in your life, you are a survivor. Indeed, these experiences have led to a more enlightened version of yourself.

A phoenix tattoo can also symbolize that you have within you a fire that will never go out. The eternal fire can related to your faith, your love for another, or even a renewed love and respect for yourself. It can also symbolize your dedication to a cause, craft, or other enterprise.

Every tattoo has a personal story behind it. But hopefully understanding more about phoenix mythology and symbolism can bring even deeper meanings to your tattoo. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sausalito, CA kristen uniguide. The Phoenix would then take the egg to the temple of Ra , which Herodotus calls "the temple of the Helios," giving the Phoenix solar associations. The dying and rebirth of the Phoenix could by symbolic of the continual "dying" and "rebirth" of the sun.

The associations with the sun, the Egyptian god Ra, and the city of Heliopolis has lead scholars to believe that Herodotus may have been relaying the myth of the Bennu bird from Egyptian mythology to his primarily Greek audience.

The Phoenix can also be found in the writings of Roman historians and mythographers, who relied heavily on Greek sources. A Roman wall painting of a Phoenix, preserved from the city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 CE.

Ovid was a famous Roman poet who lived sometime around the first century BCE until sometime around the first century CE. His most famous work was his retelling of Greek myths, called " Metamorphoses ," since each story in the collection revolves around the idea of some sort of transformation. In the fifteenth book of Metamorphoses , Ovid relays a story of the Phoenix which is said to be from Pythagorus:. Ovid's account is fairly similar to the account given by Herodotus, but adds small details, such as the Phoenix's diet being composed of incense and sap, the tree that the Phoenix dies and then is reborn on being a tall palm tree, and the addition of cinnamon and other fragrant plants to the Phoenix's pyre.

Medieval bestiaries were not naturalistic or scientific descriptions of animals, like what one would expect from a modern encyclopedia. Instead, their purpose was theological. Bestiaries were collections of moral and symbolic stories about animals, plants, and sometimes stones which served to show how all of the natural world is part of God's creation. The Aberdeen Bestiary is a bestiary from 12th century England. The entry for the Phoenix begins as follows:. Within this bestiary, the Phoenix is considered to be a fantastical bird from Arabia, which may have seemed like a far off and exotic land to medieval Europeans.

The Phoenix is said to be purple in color based off of it's name. This is because the pigment Tyrian Purple, also known as Phoenician Purple, was first produced in the city of Tyre in Phoenicia. The Phoenix is considered to be a single creature, rather than being a species with multiple individuals, making the Phoenix unique and one-of-a-kind. It has an extremely long lifetime, living longer than five hundred years. When it's life cycle comes to an end, it gathers pleasant-smelling aromatic plants and creates itself a funeral pyre.

It then faces the sun- a nod to the Phoenix's ancient association with the Greek god Helios and the Egyptian god Ra - as it fans the flames of it's pyre and is consumed by flame. But then, after nine days, it regenerates. This cycle of death and resurrection caused medieval Christians to associate the Phoenix with Jesus Christ , with the author associating the aromatic plants with the Old Testament also known as the Hebrew Bible , and the New Testament of Christianity:. The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death, and in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology it is associated with the sun god.

According to the Greeks, the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well. Every morning at dawn, the sun god would stop his chariot to listen to the bird sing a beautiful song while it bathed in the well. Only one phoenix exists at a time, and so when the bird felt its death was near, every to 1, years, it would build a nest of aromatic wood and set it on fire. The bird then was consumed by the flames. A new phoenix sprang forth from the pyre.

It embalmed the ashes of its predecessor in an egg of myrrh and flew with it to Heliopolis, the "city of the sun," where the egg was deposited on the altar of the sun god.

In Egypt, it was usually depicted as a heron, but in classic literature as a peacock or an eagle. Over the years, Phoenix had more than 30 birds connected with the city. Many departments designed their own unique bird, which they displayed on municipal signs, stationery, city vehicles and employee uniforms. In the fall of , the city decided to establish a more contemporary, unified graphics program to present a clear image to the public, including having one phoenix bird symbol represent the city.

A citizen's committee was appointed to organize a design competition for a new graphic symbol for the city.