Occult Symbolism of the Phoenix

Sep 09, 2023

Introduction

In this post there are three posts about the symbolism of the Phoenix from Alexander Lawrence. They are from his website that is no longer available except on archive [2].

They are valuable and informative posts, which taught me some new information and I will extract a few items from these posts in due course but for now repost the three posts without comment. For most of Alexander’s original links and sources, visit the archive of his pages. Sentences in bold are Alexander’s formatting. Alexander Lawrence has also written books called Leviathan’s Ruse of which there are excerpts here Leviathan’s Ruse Excerpts [3]

Occult Symbolism of the Phoenix Parts 1, 2 and 3 by Alexander Lawrence

The Occult Symbolism of the Phoenix Part 1 [22]

The best-known occult writer and philosopher of the twentieth century, Manly P. Hall, titled one of his books The Phoenix. The fact that he would name it so suggests something about the importance of that mythical creature. The subtitle of Hall's book is An Illustrated Review of Occultism and Philosophy, which tells me that Hall viewed the phoenix as an appropriate symbol to represent the entirety of occult ideologies. That being the case, we ought to discover the full meaning of the symbol. The better we understand the iconography of the enemy, the more effectively we will be able to speak against it.

Not much of what you will find in this series is original. Several other authors and bloggers have already written about the mysteries of the phoenix. No single writer, however, has covered all the bases. My goal is to bring together scattered ideas into a small collection of posts which will guide the seeker methodically through a broad study of phoenix symbolism.

Credits

During this investigation I will be leaning heavily on the work of brilliant researchers Mark Flynn and David Flynn (who are brothers). I also stand indebted to my friend, Jean Nations, for her help in gathering research material.

Who or What is It?

The legend of the phoenix got its start in ancient Egypt, where the bird was known as the bennu. As with many Egyptian ideas, the tale of the bennu passed into Greece and was restyled. As the Greeks tell it, the phoenix is a striking, eagle-like bird with brilliant purple feathers, and plumes of alternating red and blue in its tail. It is extremely long-lived and essentially immortal because it can resurrect itself at its time of death. Some say that the bird's former body opens up to reveal its new form, whereas others say that the bird consumes itself with fire before its new body can rise from the ashes. After recreating itself, the phoenix takes its nest, still filled with its own remains, and transports it to the city of Heliopolis to be burnt on an altar to the sun god, Helios/Ra.

The fact that the phoenix makes an offering to Helios suggests an occult origin to this legend, because occultists are sun worshipers—more accurately, they worship the spirit of illumination. The priests of Egypt were master occultists, and famous for their veneration of the sun. They associated the bennu bird with the daily death and resurrection of the sun.

Let's see what modern occultist Allan J. Stover said about this bird in the January 1948 edition of The Theosophical Forum:

The legend of the Phoenix Bird, periodically reborn from the ashes of its consumed body, is a myth from the mystery language of the Ancient Wisdom, so old that no man knows the time or place of its origin.... [It is] not an image of fancy and superstition, but a symbol of eternal truth.

Take note of the language used here... mystery, wisdom, and eternal truth. The writer is impressing it upon us that this legend conveys deep meaning, and is not to be treated as pure fiction.

There is hardly any consensus on what entity the phoenix is supposed to represent. The majority opinion seems to be that it stands for Lucifer, by which they mean Satan. (Technically speaking, Lucifer is the Seed of Satan, the King of Babel, but very few people understand that).

Some Christian teachers imagine that the phoenix stands for the Antichrist, or the Occult/Mystery Brotherhood, or individual initiates of the Mysteries, or the once-and-future kingdom of Babel itself. Others see the bird as the representation of a concept rather than an entity, arguing that it stands for immortality through rebirth and resurrection.

In my opinion, it's all of the things listed above.

As we study the traits of the mythical fire-bird and related concepts, you will see how they can be applied to many aspects of Satan's kingdom.

The Connection to Hidden Wisdom

The bird is more than mythical; it is also mystical. In The Phoenix, Manly P. Hall provides the following explanation of the meaning of the myth:

The Phoenix is one sign of the secret orders of the ancient world and of the initiate of those orders, for it was common to refer to one who had been accepted into the temples as a man twice-born, or reborn. Wisdom confers a new life, and those who become wise are born again.

The secret orders to which Mr. Hall is referring are the various branches of the Mysteries, whose occult knowledge came from fallen spirits. (Occult means "hidden," as in occluded from view.) Initiated members of the Mystery religious cults and fraternities consider themselves to be "born again" into an enlightened state, freed from a profane existence by the hidden wisdom they've received.

These initiates are on a centuries-long mission, which is why they refer to themselves as the Order of the Quest or Brotherhood of the Quest. This quest is both an individual undertaking and a collective one, and it is very grand. They seek the deification of mankind.

Again from Allan J. Stover's article in The Theosophical Forum we read:

There is a thread of esotericism running through all these legends [of the phoenix], linking the thought of east and west, vitalizing the myth, until the truth it embodies shines forth like a many faceted jewel, a constant reminder that there is no death, but only endless change and evolution, as mankind progresses from humanhood to godhood.

Did you catch that? According to Mr. Stover, humanity is being raised to godhood through the esoteric knowledge. As I demonstrated in my book, Leviathan's Ruse, this mindset is no anomaly, but is in fact the standard philosophy of serious occultists. Men like Mr. Stover, who are initiates of the Mysteries, have bought the lie of the Serpent hook, line and sinker. It's the same lie that he told Eve in the Garden of Eden nearly six thousand years ago: take of the forbidden knowledge, and eat, and you all shall become as gods.

I could produce dozens of similar quotes from occultists like Allan Stover, all preaching the evolution of humanity to a godlike state through knowledge and self-will. They view death as a force of transition that is necessary for now but will eventually be overcome entirely through ingenuity.

To reiterate: In the philosophy of the Occult, the secret wisdom/knowledge (a.k.a. the Mysteries) leads to a spiritual rebirth, which leads to deification, which will lead to immortality.

Judeo-Christianity teaches a resurrection from death that will be conducted by the Creator, God Most High, and stresses dependence on him for eternal life. Occultism, on the other hand, teaches a resurrection accomplished through dependence on knowledge.

The phoenix is—at least in part—a symbol of this process.

From awakening to godhood. "Sacred Mirrors" by Alex Grey

Of Stars And Serpents

If occultists wanted to pick a creature to represent rebirth or resurrection, why choose a bird? There seem to be better options, animals with more obvious correlations to the concept of regeneration. The butterfly comes to mind, as does the skin-shedding snake.

The choice of an avian mascot actually makes perfect sense because birds are creatures of the in-between. They possess the traits of spirits and reptiles simultaneously, and they occupy the space between heaven and earth.

Traits in common with spirits

They traverse the heavens
They sing
They produce heat* (i.e., are warm-blooded)

* Scripture always describes spirits as fiery, and it calls them stars

Traits in common with reptiles

They have scales
They lay eggs
They have many reptilian skeletal structures

Birds are quite literally heavenly reptiles. When paleontologists claim that birds evolved from dinosaurs, they aren't terribly far off target. The evolution part is wrong, but Elohiym did engineer birds and reptiles to be quite similar. Go figure.

Think about how royal people were depicted in the artwork of ancient cultures. Everywhere in the world, great rulers were portrayed alongside birds and winged snakes (and other winged beasts, and even winged solar discs). Their royal insignia usually incorporated something avian. This kind of imagery reflected a concept known as the divine right to rule. Many people-groups of the past embraced this idea that a kingdom's patron god indwelt or anointed each ceremonially crowned king. In Egypt, for instance, each new Pharaoh became the living embodiment of the god Osiris.

The winged serpent was a symbol of the gods of Egypt, Phoenicia, China, Persia, Mesoamerica, and others. In all instances, bird imagery was used in these places to indicate both divine beings and human spirits. This makes even more sense if you know that the highest orders of heavenly spirits have the semblance of serpents.

In esoteric thought, birds represent the connection of the corporeal world to the divine or supernatural realm. We need not dig deep to discover that this symbolism holds true even in the Bible, for the Ruach ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit) descended on Y'shua in the form of a dove.

It may be interesting to note that during Creation Week, Elohiym created the great sea serpents and birds on the same day (Gen. 1:21). The two kinds just seem to go together.

Spiritual Alchemy

Since man was made in the image of Elohiym, we carry a divine imprint. This is still true despite the damaging effects of sin. Occultists recognize this divine aspect of mankind, and they seek to nurture it. It's not surprising, therefore, that they use avian imagery to represent not only heavenly spirits, but the process of spiritual upliftment in mortals. Hence the following quote by Adam McLean, from The Birds in Alchemy, Hermetic Journal No. 5, 1979:

The birds as symbols mediate between the physical and spiritual worlds, they reflect certain archetypal experiences encountered by the soul in its development through the alchemical process.

I know what you're thinking: "Alchemical process? What does alchemy have to do with it?"

It has everything to do with it, actually. Alchemy is the process of taking something base and transmuting it into something lofty. This was primarily a spiritual pursuit to the ancient alchemists; the physical component of the craft was secondary. The fabled Philosopher's Stone of alchemy is the end product of a philosophical and pyschospiritual quest—it has nothing to do with metalurgy.

During an alchemical process in a laboratory, the original state of a targeted material is irreversibly lost, but that's okay because it becomes something better. Likewise, the spiritual alchemical process changes an individual from a profane to an enlightened state, according to occultists. It's not possibly to reverse the process and return to naivety. The spiritual rebirth of the alchemist (a.k.a. the Mystery initiate) must necessarily proceed from the death of the former life. The alchemist abandons his prior state of being willingly so that the new and better being can ascend.

Thus we have our first explanation of the meaning of the phoenix, and we understand why Manly P. Hall could say that the self-immolating bird acts as the sign of the initiate of the Order.

Occult Symbolism of the Phoenix Part 2 [23]

To further our understanding of the mythical phoenix bird, we must look to the land of Phoenicia in Canaan, and to the flora and fauna of that region. Even though the myth of the resurrecting bird originated in Egypt, the Greeks, who affiliated with both the Egyptians and Phoenicians, married concepts from those cultures to create the phoenix myth that we know today.

The Color Purple

The origin of the word phoenix is uncertain, but we know that to the Greeks it meant "purple-red," or "crimson." The exact hue referenced by the name derives from a highly valued dye that was produced in—you guessed it—Phoenicia (a.k.a. Canaan). The name Phoenicia means "land of purple."

Here's what occult researcher Manly P. Hall had to say about the color of the phoenix on pg. 176 of his book, The Phoenix:

The body of the Phoenix is one covered with glossy purple feathers, and the plumes in its tail are alternately blue and red.

Manly Hall was extremely well-versed in ancient occult literature, including texts which are not available to the "profane" masses (i.e., those uninitiated into the occult). If he says that the phoenix is purple with red and blue plumes, I believe him. But I have to wonder why the color of the bird is of any consequence, since it's a mythological creature, not a real one.

Perhaps the exact hue of the phoenix is important because purple itself is special in some way. You might think that purple is just like any other color, but you would be wrong. Purple is not a "real" color at all, but an artifact of our way of perceiving light.

The Visible Light Spectrum

Do you know what really lies at the end of the rainbow? It's not gold. It's purple. Explaining what I mean will take a moment, but stick with me.

Light which is visible to the human eye exists as part of a greater electromagnetic spectrum of radiated energy. I know that might sound complicated, but it's actually pretty simple.

Energy travels around in waves of differing wavelengths (and field amplitudes, but that's not important to us). Humans have divided the total range of wavelengths into seven regions, and visible light is one of those regions (the others are radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays).

Visible light falls between infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) on the spectrum. The associated wavelengths range from about 740 nanometers to about 380 nanometers. The longer wavelengths of light are interpreted by the brain as red in color, while shorter wavelengths of light are interpreted as violet.

Where does purple lie on this spectrum? It doesn't. Purple is called a non-spectral color because there is no wavelength of EM radiation that produces purple.

Purple is the combination of red and violet, but since those colors are from wavelengths of photons on opposite ends of the visible spectrum, the two never meet to produce in-between wavelengths that would give us purple.

If we were to wrap the above representation of the spectrum into a circle to produce a "color wheel," it would have a gap in it, like so:

Of course, we do see purple, which means that our brains are programmed to perceive it, but how are we seeing a wavelength that doesn't exist? The answer is that we see purple when a material is made up of a mix of particles, some of which emit red, some of which emit violet. Our brains interpret the combination of low- and high-frequency photons as purple.

But so what?

If, while reading this, you've already made the association between purple and royalty, you're at the head of the class. Purple has long been considered the color of royalty, and in some nations it was illegal for commoners to wear purple clothing. Not that many commoners could even afford it. The color-fast purple of Phoenicia was very labor-intensive to produce, and thus very expensive to purchase. For the most part, only wealthy nobles could afford the stuff.

Being clothed in purple, like the phoenix, meant that you were really something special. Not necessarily a good kind of special, though, as demonstrated in St. John's apocalypse:

I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. (Rev. 17:3-4)

John was careful to describe the colors of the characters he saw, and for good reason. The beast kingdom on which the woman rides is the color of blood because it yields power through violence. The evil woman that rides the beast, however, is clothed with both scarlet and purple. The scarlet still represents blood, but in this case it's the color of sexual congress and childbirth. The purple identifies her as royalty, perhaps even thinking of herself as divine.

The symbolism associated with this woman identifies her as Isthar (a.k.a. Inanna), or perhaps the daughter of Ishtar. She was the much-venerated sex-and-love goddess of ancient Mesopotamia, a central figure in the Mystery religion that came out of Babel. For more information about her cult and her link to the Beast, read chapter thirteen of Leviathan's Ruse. The point I'm making at the moment is this: purple is a color used by principalities of the satanic world system.

That doesn't mean that purple is evil. Quite the opposite. Purple represents seeing what is unseen.

Purple is a sacred (i.e., set-apart) color that the Enemy has co-opted. But it was YHVH Elohiym who created it, and uses it to communicate a spiritual truth.

Do you remember what colors YHVH instructed the Israelites to incorporate into the Holy Place in the Tabernacle? In case you've forgotten, here's the relevant verse:

Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain. “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. (Exo. 26:30-31)

Notice the order given, with the purple in-between the blue and red (scarlet). This was the order of colors on the curtain that covered the Holy of Holies, where Elohiym's spirit manifest.

The encrypted message is that YHVH is hidden where the circuit is completed. This should make us think immediately about Messiah's declaration about himself: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Rev. 22:13).

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, an alphabet that came from the Phoenicians. In fact, the Phoenician language was a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. In the 22-letter Semitic alphabets, the first letter is aleph or alf, which is a pictograph of an ox head. It represents the providence and might of God. The last letter is taw or tav, which is a pictograph of a cross. It represents the covenant, which is why we still "sign on the X" when we autograph a legal document. By extension, the tav also represents the cross on which Messiah died for us.

Wow! Are you as blown away by this as I am? The Phoenician language is a spectrum of sound-markings whose first and last symbols represent the Son of God! If we were to compare this to the color wheel, it would look like this:

No wonder purple is the color of royalty. When you combine the first and last frequencies of the visible spectrum, you get purple. When you combine the first and last concepts of the sacred alphabet, you get the King of Glory.

Does the above graphic remind you of anything? If you ignore the writing, it looks like an iris and pupil. (I didn't design it that way; it's just coincidental.) But the fact is that the world is visible to us because of light rays traveling through the circles of our pupils.

The timeless Elohiym spoke, and there was light (Gen. 1:3). Language came first, then light. And what is speech? Waves of sound. It's not very different at all from electromagnetic waves, at least on the non-quantum level.

The circle is the most perfect and holy shape not only because it is infinite, having no beginning or end, but because it is the basis for all other shapes and forms. The simplest polygon, a triangle, can be constructed from the intersection points of overlapping circles. Then all other shapes can be formed out of triangles and circles combined. Thus, the circle is the prime unit of sacred geometry. Would it not make sense for arrangement of the sacred (Semitic) alphabet to be circular, as is the rainbow around the throne of God (Rev. 4:3), and the celestial bodies, and the paths they travel, and the eyes with which we view them, and even the womb wherein those eyes are grown?

Allow me to go off on a quick tangent. When Adam and Eve sinned, not only were they exiled as punishment, but a separating "curtain" or "veil" was put into place between the material realm and the spiritual realm for the protection of all parties. (According to Revelation, that barrier will be removed at the unveiling of the Messiah on the Day of the Lord.) The blue/purple/red veil in front of the Holy of Holies served the same function as the veil between the heavens and the earth—it kept unsanctified mortal flesh from coming into contact with the fiery presence of Elohiym. The Levites guarded the Temple veil, but angels guard the veil between dimensions:

He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:24)

Notice that the fiery sword of the cherubiym revolves. I find it interesting that the weapon used to maintain that separation is something that repeatedly moves in a circle.

The Tail-Munching Serpent

In the film Arrival, "aliens" communicate by writing in circles. [spoiler] Learning their language allows the protagonist to see time non-linearly. [/spoiler]

Speaking of circles, one of Satan's symbols is the ouroboros, a depiction of a serpent consuming its own tail.

I'm convinced that the ouroboros is Satan's way of calling himself the Beginning and the End. Even though the ouroboros has a beginning and end point, it is also eternal, for the end and beginning meet to create an infinite loop. Satan wants to be the Alpha and the Omega, the Aleph and the Tav. The phoenix is another way of saying the same thing, that Satan and his princes, the divine kings of the earth, will rise and rule eternally, for each end will lead to a new beginning.

It's not true. Scripture promises that Satan and his followers will all meet a permanent end in the Lake of Fire: "The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20:10).

King Y'shua would never use the ouroboros as a symbol for himself (in part because he isn't serpentine like the seraphiym, but that's beside the point). In the ouroboros, the head consumes the tail. The first part eats the last. That's exactly the opposite of Heaven's way, where the first must serve the last. Y'shua said, "So the last will be first, and the first last" (Matt. 20:16). And, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). And that's exactly what Y'shua did during his First Advent.

Satan couldn't stomach the idea of lowering himself to serve mankind. In his economy, those who are at the head chomp on those at the tail. That's why he rebelled and slandered YHVH—the preeminent immortal wasn't about to serve a clump of clay like Adam.

Purple Snails and Puppy-Dog Tails

According to the second-century A.D. Greek sophist, Julius Pollux, Phoenician purple was discovered by the pet dog of the famous hero, Hercules. As the pair were traveling by foot along the Mediterranean coast, the dog decided to make a snack of one of the shells that had washed onto the beach. It happened to be a murex shell. When Hercules saw what his dog was snacking on, and how it had colored his snout, he realized the worth of the sea snails and taught the men of Canaan to harvest them.

The dog of Hercules discovers murex dye.

As with most mythology, the events of the story probably did not really happen. Julius Pollux was a professor at the Academy of Athens, but he came from Egypt, where some of the most influential Greek minds were trained by the priests of the Mystery religion. He, like all occultists, learned to cloak (i.e., occlude) his wisdom in allegory.

We know that the purple-producing murex snails really do live along the Mediterranean coast, so that part is not allegory. The characters, however, are not what they seem. Hercules was a demigod son of Zeus who is most likely equivalent to Orion. Among others, the authors of a website called Constellation Guide make that speculation:

Orion is often shown as facing the attack of a bull, yet there are no myths in Greek mythology telling any such tale. When describing the constellation, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy describes the hero with a club and lion’s pelt, both of which are usually associated with Heracles, but there is no evidence in mythology books of a direct relation between the constellation and Heracles. However, since Heracles, the most famous of Greek heroes, is represented by the much less conspicuous constellation Hercules, and since one of his tasks was to catch the Cretan bull, there are at least hints of a possible connection between the two.

By the way, the Greek poet who chronicled the labors of Hercules was an initiate of the Mystery school of Pythagoras, who himself was initiated into the Mysteries in Egypt. Regarding this, David Flynn writes, "For the Pythagoreans and many other ancient Greeks, [Hercules] was the archetype of the spiritual hero, and the 'Imitation of Hercules' was the basic path of spiritual development" (The David Flynn Collection, 2012, pg. 414). You might rightly wonder what the exploits of Hercules have to do with spirituality. As it turns out, Hercules was the patron of the Mystery religion that arose in ancient Shinar. It was Shinar, or ancient Mesopotamia, where Nimrod used occult knowledge to grow an empire after the fall of Babel. Well, Nimrod is Orion, and Orion is Hercules.

Hercules and Orion both had a canine companion. Homer wrote that the hound of Orion was the dog-star called kunas, which we know as Sirius, brightest star in the constellation Canis Major. In the later Latin language, the word for dog is canis, and the phrase "of the dog star" (i.e., Sirisu) is canicularis. Also in Latin, a female dog is called canarius. This is etymologically similar to the Latin word for the Canaanites, Cananaei.

If you're familiar with Gospels, you may remember that Y'shua once compared a Canaanite woman to a dog. In Matthew 15:21–28, Messiah encounters a Canaanite woman while traveling near Tyre and Sidon (in Phoenicia). She begs him to cure her daughter, but he responds that it is not right to throw the children's bread to the pet dogs. Some people think that Y'shua was making a racial slur, but it wasn't that at all. The woman seeking help was from a land whose mascot was the canine, and she may very well have been the descendant of a man whose progeny were cursed to be the lowest of servants (Gen. 9:25).

Furthermore, there is the case of the infamous Queen Jezebel. She hailed from Phoenicia. She worshiped Beltis, another name for Ishtar. Like Ishtar, the whore of Babel, Jezebel taught both idolatry and sexual immorality (Rev. 2:20). At God's decree, that Phoenician queen fell to her death from a high window, and her mangled body was eaten by dogs in the street. If there is a connection between canines and Canaanites, then the manner of Jezebel's demise becomes incredibly apropos.

I propose that the descendants of Noah's cursed grandson, Canaan, were in ancient times known as the dog-people. I believe that the Canaanites were slaves of the mighty hunter, Nimrod, and probably slaves of his father, as well. Genesis 9:25 says that Canaan will be a slave to his brothers, specifically. Nimrod was a son of Cush, who was Canaan's brother. That is why, in the myths, Hercules and Orion have a pet dog.

There is little doubt that the constellation Orion represents Nimrod. The 7th-century Chronicon Paschale states that Nimrod was posthumously deified in the constellation of Orion, and that the Persians still call it Nimrod. Recently discovered Hungarian myths also equate Orion to Nimrod.

In Greek mythology, Orion was a handsome, giant demigod. In Muslim astronomy, Orion was known as Al-Jabbar, “The Giant.” The Egyptians called him Long-Strider because of his impressive height.

Egyptian Pyramid Text Utterance 477 reads, “You threw Osiris to the earth… when there came into being his name of Orion, long of leg and lengthy of stride, who presides over Upper Egypt.” This Utterance incontrovertibly links Orion to Osiris.

Osiris is a Greek word. The god's actual Egyptian name is Asr. In Leviathan's Ruse, I demonstrate that Osiris is the Egyptian version of Assur, god of Assyria, and that Assur is another name for Nimrod. Furthermore, it can be shown that the same Nimrod who established the first hubs of civilization in Mesopotamia also traveled along the Fertile Crescent and into Canaan, where he founded or helped build the first major cities, such as Byblos, Sidon, and Jericho. Some evidence suggests that Nimrod may have eventually made Canaan his primary residence.

It all boils down to this: the descendants of Canaan, who settled in the Levant, either discovered the purple dye of the murex, or became experts in its procurement and processing. Nimrod/Assur/Osiris, who was king over the Canaanites, probably lavished the precious dye on textiles made for his wife, Ishtar/Isis. Thus began the association of Phoenician purple with royalty.

Home of the Watchers

There is one other important fact that we must remember about Phoenicia if we hope to understand the Phoenix: The land of Phoenicia/ Canaan is home to Mount Hermon. According to texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, most notably First Enoch, Mount Hermon is where two hundred watcher angels descended and dwelt during the days of Jared (an antediluvian patriarch). These Watchers ended up rebelling against God, mating with human women, and giving mortal men heavenly secrets. Thus began what we now call the Occult (or polytheistic Mystery cults). In other words, the worship of gods and advanced knowledge began in Phoenicia.

YHVH destroyed the Watchers for their traitorous deeds, but the knowledge which they had shared was not entirely lost in the Flood. According to the Book of Jubilees, a man named Kainam rediscovered at least some of their teachings, which had been deeply carved into rock before the Flood. What became of Kainam is unknown, but the Watcher's secrets evidently fell into the hands of Nimrod/Assur, who used them to become ultimate king over the entire ancient world. As the phoenix rises from death to return to its former glory, so the Mystery religion returned to life during the reign of Nimrod.

The Occult Symbolism of the Phoenix Part 3 [24]

One of the aspects of the phoenix myth as told by the Greeks is the inclusion of the palm tree. The phoenix, it is said, builds its nest among the fronds of the date palm. This association persists, as certain types of palm trees have been given the name phoenix in modern taxonomy.

In this last installment of the series of posts about the phoenix, we will make an educated guess as to why the date palm became associated with the mythical fire bird. Then we'll consider shared characteristics between the phoenix and other mythological birds. Finally, we'll take a look at two examples of phoenix symbolism as utilized by modern occultists.

The Hunt for Clues

Phoenix is a taxonomic genus within the family Arecaceae, which are palms. The genus is divided into fourteen species, one of which is the date palm, and it is that species in particular which interests us. It is commonly believed that the date palm originated from within the Fertile Crescent, part of which became known as the land of Phoenicia. Even if it did not originate there, it was certainly prolific there, as evidenced by Acts 15:3, which calls Phoenicia "the land of the palms."

If Phoenicia was known for its abundant and delicious dates, then it would make sense for the date palm to be named after that place, "the Land of Purple" (read part two if you want to understand the importance or purple). That association may have been strengthened by the fact that dates take on an almost purple hue when ripe.

But was the resurrecting bird of myth named after the land, or the tree? Probably the tree, since that is supposedly the place where the bird nests, but then we must ask: What is the significance of the date palm to the phoenix myth? No one seems to have a solid answer. However, there are a few clues available to those who know their Ancient Near East religions.

Before the Greeks popularized the story of a dying and resurrecting bird called the phoenix, the Egyptians told of a dying and resurrecting bird known as the bennu. It's name derives from a root word meaning "to rise brilliantly" or "to shine"—appropriate considering that the bennu represented the spirit of the sun-god, Ra, and was worshiped at the city of the sun, Heliopolis. It was usually represented as a heron, having two long feathers protruding from the back of its head, which is likely why occultists still draw the phoenix with a crest behind its head. In a few later Egyptian legends shared with the Greeks, the bennu had red or purple wings.

Some Egyptian depictions of the bennu bird place the headdress of Osiris atop the heron's head. The bird was often shown atop a willow tree, which was the tree sacred to Osiris. Some scholars believe that the bennu was both the spirit of Ra and the manifestation of the resurrected Osiris, son of Ra. Osiris, the Egyptian god of death and rebirth, synchronizes at least in part with the Mesopotamian god Tammuz (a.k.a. Dumuzi). Tammuz was known by many titles, including Amaushumgalanna, meaning "The Great Source of the Date Clusters," and Baal-Tamar, meaning "Lord of the Palms." Therein we have our first connection between the resurrecting bird and the palm tree.

According to Egyptian mythology, the bennu played a role in the creation of the world. It flew over the waters of chaos that existed before the earth was created. As the waters receded, the bennu landed on a rock and issued a call which marked the beginning of time. Thus the bennu, like the ouroboros, was often associated with cycles of time.

By comparing that creation myth to the Book of Genesis, it becomes apparent that the rock on which the bennu landed was the primordial mound, the first dry land to appear after God separated the waters above from the waters below. That mound was sacred to the Egyptians, and they gave it a name: benben. The Egyptians made pyramid-shaped blocks of stone and called them benben stones because they represented not only the first mound of earth to rise, but also the sacred mountain of God surrounded by the waters of the third heaven. As above, so below. (The Egyptians capped obelisks with benben stones to signify the mountain in heaven.) Satan once walked upon that heavenly mountain (Ezek. 28:12-14), and he undoubtedly also alighted on the dry earth that arose on the third day of Creation (Gen. 1:9-13).

One of the titles of the bennu bird was "He Who Came Into Being by Himself." This could be interpreted to mean that the Bennu created itself, or it could mean that the bennu was created before any other beings. If the latter is true, it would create a strong link to Satan, who was the first immortal spirit made by God. Like the bennu, Satan probably played a significant role during Creation Week, as directed by the pre-incarnate Y'shua.

My apologies, because the last two paragraphs were tangential; let's go back to our discussion about cycles of time. The Egyptians used a heiroglyph of a palm branch to represent a 365-day year, an obviously important cycle of time. Horapollinis notes that fact in his Hieroglyphica (1595), where he writes:

When they would represent the year otherwise, they delineate a Palm Tree [branch], because of all others this tree alone at each renovation of the moon produces one additional branch, so that in twelve branches the year is completed. (1.03)

Whether it is true that palms put forth one branch per month, I don't know. I'm not a botanist. But if the Egyptians believed it, as Horapollinis claims, then it would be natural for them to associate the clock-like growth of the palm with the bird that began the ticking of time itself.

This logo shows the similarity between the feathers of birds and the fronds of palms. (You're welcome for the free advertising, F&F Events.)

Certain other features of the date palm may have contributed to its association with the bennu. Most notably, fronds are similar to feathers in their construction, with two symmetrical sets of many spiky leaves creating a chevron pattern like that found in bird feathers. This, of course, applies to all palms, not just date palms.

Here is a feature specific to date palms: When date palms first put out clusters of fruit, the clusters and the branches from which they hang are orange or red-orange in color. From afar, it almost looks like a fire has spawned atop the trunk. It isn't any wonder, then, that the self-immolating phoenix would be imagined to end its life in the crown of a fruiting palm.

The date palm is a plant which thrives in subtropical regions with little to no rainfall, but counter-intuitively demands constant moisture at its roots. One old saying describes the date palm as growing with “its feet in the water and its head in the fire.” This should lead us to think about the mythological World Tree, which connects heaven and earth. Fire is the primary element of the spiritual realm, while water is the primary element of the Underworld. With this perspective, the symbolism of the date palm tree may teach that the phoenix has its home in both worlds (like the bennu, the spirit of Ra, who traveled daily through both the heavens and the underworld of Osiris).

The trunk of the palm is straight and tall, connecting heaven and earth like Jacob's ladder, or the pillars of heaven (in fact, "pillars of heaven" may have in some contexts been an idiomatic expression for palms). A palm trunk is like the conduit or umbilical cord that the Greeks and Romans imagined coming down from heaven to meet the earth at the Axis Mundi ("Navel of the World").

It's not a leap to associate the palm tree and the axis mundi with human anatomy. When Y'shua healed a blind man at Bethsaida, he did so in two stages. After the first stage of healing, he asked the man what he saw, and the man responded, "I see people, but they look like trees, walking” (Mark 8:24). The human head, spine, and reproductive organs are a microcosm of the unseen realm: the head is the heavens (the realm of Mind), the spine is the channel between heaven and earth, and the reproductive organs are the underworld (which we keep covered, like Sheol). This is why eastern mystics who teach enlightenment speak of the Kundalini energy starting at the base of the spine (the level of the mundane/"mundi") and traveling up the spinal column into the head, where the inner eyes are opened in the ecstatic experience of spiritual birth. The funerary fire of the phoenix in its nest atop the straight trunk of the palm correlates to the mind-fire of the second birth of a spiritual man.

A drawing from Juan de Horozco's Sacra Symbola (1601). The phoenix nesting in the palm tree is singing to the sun god, who directs its rays at the bird.

Finally, the date fruit is not only nutritious, but honey-sweet. If for no other reason than that, the date palm is beloved in every corner of the world.

Palms in the Bible

Admittedly, I can't prove that any of the aforementioned features of the date palm are what led the Greeks to describe it as the place of the phoenix. However, the fact that the Bible puts a strong emphasis on palm trees suggests that they have deep spiritual significance. God must have designed the palm to teach us something about the spiritual realm, and I can find no better explanations than the ones given above.

Here are some of the Bible verses which treat palms with special significance:

(Exo. 15:27) They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
(Deu. 34:3) and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees [which is in Canaan].
(Jdg. 4:5) She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
(1Ki. 6:29) He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.
(Psa. 92:12) The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.
(Isa. 9:14-15) Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day. The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
(Eze. 41:20) Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.
(Joh. 12:12-13) On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”
(Rev. 7:9) After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

In Exodus 15:27, the Israelites come to a place called Elim. The root of that name means "strong chief." There must be some importance to the fact that there were exactly seventy palms at Elim, or why bother mentioning it? Seventy is indeed an important number: it is the number of Gentile nations created when the tongues were divided at Babel, and the number of the Kosmokraters (divine immortals) who were given charge over those Gentile people-groups.

Isaiah 9:14-15 connects palm fronds with men who are worthy of respect and who wield influence due to their wisdom. Likewise, Judges 4:5 connects the place of the palm tree with the wisdom of Deborah the Judge. The association of palms with wisdom exists also in the verses about Jericho, though not as blatantly. Several times throughout the Tanakh ("Old Testament"), when Jericho is mentioned it is called the City of Palms. Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world, having been originally built with cyclopean architectural techniques by the earliest occultists. Jericho was a city ruled by giants, and it was a hotbed for the practice of arcane arts. In other words, the people of Jericho were great in the wisdom of the Kingdom of Darkness.

From the verses listed above, we also see that the palm and the cherub together is an important motif in the Holy Temple. Not only did Solomon decorate the first Temple with palms and cherubiym (plural of cherub), but the Millennial Temple described in Ezkiel will also incorporate palms and cherubiym. In fact, Ezekiel contains no less than eleven verses detailing the role of palms in the Millennial Temple.

Perhaps the most telling verses of all are the last two that I listed. They show that the worshipers of Adonai wave palm fronds to praise him at both his First and Second Advents.

So what does it all mean? Taking everything into consideration, I propose that palm trees represent spiritual sight and the understanding of higher truths, the fruit of which is very sweet, and also the connection between immortal spirits and mortal men.

Ishtar's Tree

One more thing before we move on: The Sumerians may have called the date palm by the name huluppu. Scholars are not agreed on that point. It is worth mentioning, however, that the huluppu appears as a central element in a Sumerian myth about the goddess Inanna, "Lady of the Date Clusters." (Inanna, a.k.a. Ishtar, was the wife of Tammuz/Dummuzi, who, as already noted, was a lord of date palms.)

In the story, Inanna plants the huluppu tree in her garden, but the Anzu-bird, a fire-breathing storm bird, makes a nest in its boughs. Meanwhile, a serpent that cannot be charmed takes up residence at the roots of the tree, and a demon named Lilith makes her home in its trunk. The association between the palm tree, a divine bird, a serpent, and an unclean spirit is enigmatic but very intriguing.

Phoenix-Like Birds in Diverse Cultures

Birds are symbols of deity the world over. Many cultures believe that gods in the form of birds established their social orders and anointed their rulers.

Not every ancient culture told the story of a resurrecting bird like the phoenix, but some did. Fire and immortality are the traits most commonly assigned to mythological birds. Here are some notable examples:

EAST ASIA
The Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans all have legends about a bird who is immortal. It is red and has long, beautiful tail feathers. It features prominently in folklore about royalty.

PERSIA
In every period of Persian art, one will find representations of the simurgh, a huge bird of prey (sometimes shown with a human or dog face) possessing the knowledge of all ages. It has a tail like a peacock. In one legend which echoes phoenix lore, the simurgh was said to live 1,700 years before plunging itself into flames. It roosts in the Tree of Life in the middle of the world.

ARABIA
The Arabs tell of a fire-bird called ghoghnous which lives on a date palm in the desert. It lays only one egg.

TURKEY
The kerkes is the Turkish version of the phoenix and bennu. As the first creature to be created, it emerged from the primordial mud. It was at first represented as a wagtail but later took the appearance of a heron with red legs and two long feathers protruding from its head. It lived for 500 years, after which it would self-immolate and hatch again from a golden egg spawned in its own burning carcass. It then rose gloriously from the burning tree in which it had died.

RUSSIA
In Russian folklore derived from Slavic mythology, the firebird is a large, magical bird whose plumage glows in fiery colors.

NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA
A religious minority known as the Yezidis revere an angel who takes the form of peacock. They call him Melek Taus. He is the preeminent spirit among the seven archangels to whom the Creator entrusted the world. According to Yezidi lore, Melek Taus passed a test imposed by God by refusing to bow before the first human being, Adam. Pleased by the peacock angel's decision, God made Melek Taus his regent on earth.

Shortly after Adam was brought to life, Melek Taus made him face the sun and instructed him to pray to it daily, for it represented the Supreme God. The peacock angel spoke to Adam and Eve in 72 languages because their descendants would populate the 72 regions of the Earth. [For information about the number 72, see chapter three of Leviathan's Ruse.] He informed Adam that if he and his descendants remained steadfast in righteousness, they would eventually see and know the Supreme God personally. In the meantime, Melek Taus would be their protector and teacher even while residing in another dimension. He would be the king of the world.

Later, each of the 72 tribes took his image and teachings with them to their new homes. Over time, they forgot the angel's name and what he looked like. However, they retained a basic remembrance of his deeds, which is why, say the Yezidis, the creation myths of most ancient cultures allude to an ancient savior who taught infant humanity about agriculture, astronomy, civilization, religion, and the like.

Hopefully you've noticed the parallels between Melek Taus and Satan, "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), both of whom were the first created beings, both of whom were in the Garden of Eden, and both of whom taught mankind advanced knowledge and the worship of stellar bodies. The Yezidis have put a positive spin on what is in reality very negative. According to them, hell no longer exists because Melek Taus extinguished it with his tears (what wishful thinking!).

If there remains any doubt as to who the peacock angel really is, take a look at this Yezidi depiction of him:

If anyone can translate the cuneiform writing in the picture above, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

The peacock stands upon the sun disc as commonly depicted in religious art (i.e., a wheel with four spokes representing the equinoxes and solstices). The crescent moon in the position of ox horns and the eight-pointed cuneiform glyph for Venus accompany the sun. This is the primary triad of gods central to the practice of the Mystery religions that came out of Mesopotamia.

The scene is set within a wheel-like object, with the "eyes" of the tail feathers positioned around the rim of the wheel. We know from Ezekiel 28:14-16 that Satan was (or is) a cherub. Connect that fact to what Ezekiel reveals in chapters one, nine and ten—namely, that the cherubiym travel on living wheels encircled with eyes:

"Now as I looked at the living creatures [cherubiym], I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.... And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around" (Ezek. 1:15, 18).

Happenstance? Maybe. Maybe not.

Notice the inclusion of the sacred numbers 7 and 12 in the design of the plumage. Furthermore, the crest of the bird is a fleur-de-lis. I don't have the luxury of time to explain why that's important, but suffice it to say that the fleur-de-lis is a stylized trident—symbol of threefold sovereignty over heaven, earth, and the underworld—which shows up repeatedly in both old and new illustrations of the phoenix.

Here's another thing about Melek Taus: the Yezidis have made graven images of the peacock sitting atop a column. These idols are called sanjaks. According to one Yezidi website, the sanjak represents the Axis Mundi, or World Tree, with Melek Taus as Pole Star sitting atop it. The sanjaks are crafted from copper, which is significant because the Bible describes angelic beings as having the appearance of copper or brass, and the graven serpent which Moses affixed to a pole was made from brass (Num. 21:8-9).

The Yezidis do not teach that Melek Taus dies and resurrects like the phoenix. Instead, he is considered immortal, never subject to death. However, they do teach that our current world will be brought to ruin and followed by a golden age ushered in by Melek Taus. The theme of rising from the ashes is definitely present in the myth of the peacock angel.

Modern Occult Use of the Phoenix

Having read through this series of posts, I hope that it is clear to you now that the phoenix symbolizes Satan, as well as the Seed of Satan, and even the human initiates of the Mysteries. It's all three, depending on context. Each has been brought down from its perch but somehow rises again.

Although studying the Enemy's ancient symbols can be interesting, you may be wondering whether it holds any practical value for us today. Well, that depends on how serious we are about extraditing ourselves from the systems of this world which are led by satanic forces. I, for one, want to know exactly what Satan has he claws in, so that I can have nothing to do with it, if possible.

The satanic Mystery cults which used to rule the world were in large part killed off by the rise of Christianity, yet they didn't stay dead. Since the time of The Enlightenment in Europe, they've been emerging from the ashes and reasserting control little by little, mostly in the shadows and in the unseen courts of ultra-wealthy power players. Every now and then, they step out from behind cover and flash cryptic clues in the public eye, knowing that the profane masses will see but not see. I am going to show you a few instances of occult organizations publicly displaying their goals through the use of phoenix symbolism.

It's All About the Money

A fleur-de-lis tops the head of the phoenix on the cover of The Economist magazine.

In September of 1988, The Economist magazine published an issue containing an article about the inevitability of a global currency. The cover of that issue featured an image of a phoenix standing on a pile of burning bills from various countries. Around the bird's neck hung a gold coin emblazoned with the number ten, the word phoenix, an ellipse with a slash through it (ø), and the year 2018.

Without a doubt, the Economist holds a positive view of globalism, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that at least some of the magazine's leadership reveres the Mysteries. The push for globalism—the reversal of the fall of Babel—has long been a primary goal of the Occult. Still, it's shocking to see that they were prepping the public thirty years ago for a big step towards globalism. It's equally shocking to see that the Economist projected a 2018 launch date. Here's a pertinent excerpt from the 1988 article:

Thirty years from now, Americans, Japanese, Europeans, and people in many other rich countries, and some relatively poor ones will probably be paying for their shopping with the same currency. Prices will be quoted not in dollars, yen or D-marks but in, let’s say, the phoenix. The phoenix will be favoured by companies and shoppers because it will be more convenient than today’s national currencies, which by then will seem a quaint cause of much disruption to economic life in the last twentieth century.... Pencil in the Phoenix for around 2018, and welcome it when it comes. (Vol. 306, pp. 9-10)

And here we are in 2018, witnessing the rise of cryptocurrency. Sure, crypto is still struggling for viability, but I think it's safe to say that blockchain, the computer technology which makes cryptocurrencies possible, is here to stay in one form or another. We're on the precipice of a currency revolution. The question is, how did The Economist know? How could they possibly have projected thirty years ahead and been anywhere near correct?

I propose that they knew because the spirits which rule the Kingdom of Darkness told them about the plan. The cosmic rulers of this world (the fallen immortals) have an agenda and a timeline. They don't always get their way, of course, as they battle the Kingdom of Light, but sometimes they do, and all the more as we approach the end of the Age. As time goes on, YHVH intervenes less and less on a broad scale, allowing Evil to take its course so that we will soon reach the climactic conflict of history. The phoenix of occult world government, which Assur/Nimrod once briefly achieved, is being allowed to rise again.

Broadcasting their Intentions

In 2012, the Olympic Games were held in the UK. During the closing ceremonies, a firebird took flight. The torches forming the Olympic cauldron were partially lowered, becoming a hemisphere like the dying (setting) sun. Fireworks exploded behind it. When the smoke had cleared, a phoenix was seen in the air above the flames.

Then, musicians performed a song titled "Rule the World."

Another part of the closing festivities involved the construction of a two-dimensional pyramid. Furthermore, the stadium hosting the event was topped with clusters of lights in triangles.

Light was literally shining forth from the top of flat pyramids over the venue, just like the rays from the eye atop the pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States (or the logo of DARPA IAO, or the Luxor pyramid in Las Vegas, etc.).

The London Olympic Stadium

Not only were the stadium lights themselves arranged in triangles, but they were held aloft by pairs of metal arms which created a distinct compass shape. One of these giant compass-like structures was directly behind the phoenix during the ceremony. Add to that the fact that the entire stadium is built in the shape of a ring (think ouroboros), and we suddenly have a undeniable confluence of elements pointing towards Masonic (occult) beliefs. The graphic below shows how Masonic iconography was recreated in the Olympic stadium that night in 2012.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what occult elitists were saying to the world through this ceremony. The Olympics is the singular event in which all of the tribes of the world come together, so it is the perfect time for the Occult to declare its intentions to reunite the world under a single ruling body made up of "illuminated ones."

The Inner Sanctum

The United Nations Security Council Chamber in New York City prominently features a mural by Norwegian artist Per Krogh. The content of that mural is extremely telling.

The focal point of the mural is a bennu-like heron spreading its wings while standing upon its own discarded husk. It stands over a legged serpent which resides under the earth. Behind the bird, the gray souls of deceased people file through a portal into a starry heaven. Meanwhile, surrounding the bird are scenes of people of all types and cultures, unified in the practice of science and industry—in a word, civilization. Recall that most ancient civilizations had myths describing winged deities (or their demi-god sons) bringing civilization to mankind.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the central portion of the mural is overlaid with a large circle or halo. As in the art of all Mystery cults, the circle represents either the sun disc or the cosmic womb. In this case, perhaps both. We know that the bennu/ phoenix is associated with the sun god, but we also have reproduction represented here. The innermost scene is shown within a vertically-aligned almond shape which is intended to be a stylized vagina (believe it or not, yes, that's a common motif in occult iconography, as is the motif of the obelisk representing the male phallus). That shape may also be pulling double-duty as a representation of the pineal gland.

The scene presented within that almond shape at first glance seems nice, like a celebration of family, but it's not so innocent. The boy in the tree above is a simply a more likeable version of the nachash (cosmic serpent) in the earth below. Like the nachash in the Garden of Eden, this boy hands fruit to a young girl as a boy looks on. This is Satan continuing to hand the forbidden fruit to the next generation of humanity—he's still telling the same old lie, making what is evil seem good. Now look even closer: the baby boy positioned right above the phoenix, almost at the center of the sun-circle, cradles a dove in his arms. He will be the man who brings "peace." He is the son of the Sun, the Seed of the Serpent—the False Messiah.

I could go on for quite a while, unpacking all the meaning encoded within this mural, but I won't. Nevertheless, here's a quick list of the key items:

The serpent in the underworld, wrapped around the pillars of the earth, is stabbing himself to death. This reflects the belief that Satan sacrificed himself for mankind in the Garden of Eden. In the occult mind, the nachash helped free Adam and Eve from repression even though he knew it would cost him his place in heaven, and he would become cthonic.
The people in lit areas are pulling others out of dark holes in the rock. The prisoners are being rescued from their chains. This imagery represents "profane" individuals being taken out of the darkness of ignorance and enlightened.
Some people remain the caves, unwilling to leave. These are the ignorant Jews and Christians who want to remain under the rule of that oppressive God, YHVH. They will not be a part of the new world.

Remember, this huge mural is boldly displayed by itself in the decision-making room of the United Nations, an organization which wields great influence over the modern world. When the Bible calls Satan "the god of this world," it isn't kidding. He may have fallen from heaven, but he's rising on earth.

Thankfully, he'll only rise so high before YHVH pulls him down once and for all. The immortality of the phoenix is a lie.

My previous post about Phoenix - Beyonce and the Phoenix Agenda [6]

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