Phoenix is a mythical bird having many legends about.The phoenix bird is a symbol of death and immortality, combustion and constant rebirth. This image has become entrenched in the minds of people as the embodiment of the dream of endless existence. The phoenix, the “liberated soul” in the words of C.G. Jung, has become a symbol of human rebirth. In all traditions, the phoenix appears to symbolize the Sun. One legend says that when the phoenix feels the approach of death, it builds a nest of fragrant wood and resins, which then exposes to the scorching rays of the Sun until it burns to ashes in their flames. Burning in fire, it undergoes purification from various difficulties, false values that prevented it from moving on. The fire bird is considered a symbol of constant improvement that occurs in a spiral, taking into account the experience already lived – its life consists of 500-year cycles or one Platonov years (12954 – 26000 years). In cosmology, the phoenix is a sign of the rebirth of the universe.
In the Christian world, this bird symbolizes Christ. This is the victory of life over death.
In China, he is one of the patronizing animals – unicorn, turtle, dragon and phoenix.
In Japan, it is a symbol of justice, straightforwardness, obedience and loyalty.
In the Slavic culture, the Jar-Bird and the Finist Clear falcon act as a fiery bird. The Firebird for the Slavs is a symbol of achieving a dream that brings immortality.
In Egypt, the phoenix as a symbol of the solar principle, resurrection and immortality was associated with Ra. The ancient Egyptians represented the sun in the form of a bird, its movement across the sky during the day was compared to flight. In Heliopolis, the center of the sun god Atum, who later merged with Ra, there was a myth about the appearance of a star in the form of a phoenix. The phoenix was considered the ba (soul, spiritual force) of the god Ra, as well as a form of manifestation of Osiris: “Like a phoenix, I will pass through the regions of the other world” (“Book of the Dead”).
Jewish tradition claims that the phoenix bird was the only one to resist the temptation to taste the apple from the tree of paradise, which she treated everyone who met her gaze. This bird symbolizes purity, humility, infallibility.
And another Jewish tradition says that during the Great Flood there was a bird on Noah’s ark that did not require food from people. Noah wondered why the creature was starving itself, and he asked the feathered creature about it. To which he received the answer that she did not want to bother people over trifles and cause inconvenience with her requests. Noah was deeply moved and surprised by this response. For this modesty, he asked God to grant immortality to the being.