The Phoenix

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Happy Mondo Missy Monday!

I hope you all had a fun-filled and relaxing weekend.  I know the weekends fly by quickly, but on the bright side, Mondays give us a new opportunity to start the week off right, and make it even better than the one before; and what better way to kick off your Mondays in May, than with a month full of Mythical Beasts?

So, let's not delay any further... 

Today's Mythical Beast is the Phoenix.  I've always loved the story behind the phoenix and how it relates to starting fresh.  Just the grand idea of rising from your own ashes, only to be born anew, should be inspiring to us as humans--that despite how bad things can seem, we can potentially transcend our circumstances and come back better than we were before.

Okay, I'm jumping ahead of myself.  First you need to know what the phoenix is, and the story behind the mythology.  To help us out in those areas, we'll enlist the help of Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology)

In Greek mythology, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again.
Associated with the Sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again.[1] There are different traditions concerning the lifespan of the phoenix, but by most accounts the phoenix lived for 500 years before rebirth.[2] Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif.
In ancient Greece and Rome, the phoenix was associated with Phoenicia, (modern Lebanon), a civilization famous for its production of purple dye from conch shells.
In the historical record, the phoenix "could symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun, time, the Empire, metempsychosis, consecration, resurrection, life in the heavenly Paradise, Christ, Mary, virginity, the exceptional man, and certain aspects of Christian life".[3]
In ancient Greece and Rome, the phoenix was sometimes associated with the similar-sounding Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), a civilization famous for its production of purple dye from conch shells. A late antique etymology offered by the 6th- and 7th-century CE archbishop Isidore of Seville accordingly derives the name of the phoenix from its allegedly purple-red hue. Because the costly purple dye was associated with the upper classes in antiquity and, later, with royalty, in the medieval period the phoenix was considered "the royal bird".[5]

Appearance:
The phoenix is sometimes pictured in ancient and medieval literature and medieval art as endowed with a halo, which emphasizes the bird's connection with the Sun.[9] In the oldest images of phoenixes on record these nimbuses often have seven rays, like Helios (the Greek personification of the Sun).[10] Pliny the Elder[11] also describes the bird as having a crest of feathers on its head,[9] and Ezekiel the Dramatist compared it to a rooster.[12]
Although the phoenix was generally believed to be colorful and vibrant, sources provide no clear consensus about its coloration. Tacitus says that its color made it stand out from all other birds.[13] Some said that the bird had peacock-like coloring, and Herodotus's claim of the Phoenix being red and yellow is popular in many versions of the story on record.[14]Ezekiel the Dramatist declared that the phoenix had red legs and striking yellow eyes,[12] but Lactantius said that its eyes were blue like sapphires[15] and that its legs were covered in yellow-gold scales with rose-colored talons.[16]
Herodotus, Pliny, Solinus, and Philostratus describe the phoenix as similar in size to an eagle,[17] but Lactantius and Ezekiel the Dramatist both claim that the phoenix was larger, with Lactantius declaring that it was even larger than an ostrich.[18]

Black and White rendition of a phoenix
Now that you know more about the phoenix, what do you think?
Here's my take:
By no means would I say that I believe the phoenix was a real creature, (but then again I also say that one can never be 100 percent certain about anything), but as stated earlier, though a bit of a romantic notion, I love the concept of reinventing oneself--of coming back from adversity, to be even better than before.  For us as humans, the phoenix's rebirth can also sybolize "dying" to old behaviors or people that no longer serve us, and starting over new with a different attitude and a better philosophy on life.  
So, even if the Phoenix never existed in real life, I still love the symbology of its death and rebirth, and how we can apply that to bring hope to our own lives, (but in our case, we only mean figuratively--no real fires, or dying, please).
For more reading on the Phoenix, check out these articles:
Encyclopedia Britannica:

Ancient Origins:

Rise of the Phoenix:

That's it for now!  See you guys back here next Monday for our next May Mythical Beast.

Until then, 

This is your host J,
signing off...

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