Thursday, July 26, 2007

phoenix rising

I'm obsessed these days with the mythical phoenix. It's not just because of the Harry Potter books (though I love that JK Rowlings has tears of a phoenix as an agent of healing--great image/idea). It's because there's something wonderful about new life rising from the ashes. I know what it feels like to be just a lump of coal lying in the dirt, and I know what it feels like to grow new wings.

The legend of the phoenix is familiar in Arabic, Chinese and Egyptian mythology. In each, the bird is a sign of immortality. The version I know (probably a cultural mish-mash of all of them) is that the phoenix is a bird that lives 300-500 years. It then builds a funeral pyre of fragrant wood and burns itself up, only to be recreated, arising from the ashes as a brand new creature, which lives another 500 years. I suppose the Christian symbolism is obvious, right? In the first century, a wise bishop added the phoenix to the collection of resurrection images. Last year was a toughie for me, but I feel my new feathers fluttering even now.....