The fabled phoenix is a gold and purple bird with sweeping tail and jeweled eyes. When it grows old, the bird builds a nest of spices, herbs, and resin in a date palm. The heat of the sun ignites the twigs, and the phoenix stands in the flames with outspread wings. The bird burns to ashes, and a young phoenix develops from the remains. Reborn, the bird rises with the sun and spreads its bright new wings to greet the day. Therefore its life continues, dying and being reborn over and over again for all eternity.
According to legend, the phoenix appears only in peaceful and prosperous times, hiding when there is trouble. It is therefore a sign of peace by its presence and at the same time a symbol of disharmony by its absence. Yet this prosperity symbol chooses, at the end of its long life, to deliberately immolate itself in the sacred fire in order that it might be born anew. The lesson here is that even in the midst of prosperity, we need a renewal stage, a recycling, an interruption of the status quo, a letting go of angels in order that archangels might appear. Furthermore if things have been less than prosperous, less than harmonious, then more than ever, we need the purifying fire, the renewing process.
