Symbolism of the Mythical Phoenix Bird: Renewal, Rebirth and Destruction

Ancient legend paints a picture of a magical bird, radiant and shimmering, which lives for several hundred years before it dies by bursting into flames. It is then reborn from the ashes, to start a new, long life. So powerful is the symbolism that it is a motif and image that is still used commonly today in popular culture and folklore. This is the majestic phoenix.

The legendary phoenix is a large, grand bird, much like an eagle or peacock. It is brilliantly colored in reds, purples, and yellows, as it is associated with the rising sun and fire. Sometimes a nimbus will surround it, illuminating it in the sky. Its eyes are blue and shine like sapphires. It builds its own funeral pyre or nest, and ignites it with a single clap of its wings. After death it rises gloriously from the ashes and flies away.

Phoenix rising from the ashes in Book of Mythological Creatures by Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (1747-1822). (Public Domain)

The Phoenix Bird Symbolizes Renewal and Resurrection

The phoenix symbolizes renewal and resurrection, and it has been used to represent many themes, such as the sun, time, resurrection, consecration, an empire, metempsychosis, Paradise, Christ, Mary, virginity, and exceptional humans. Tina Garnet writes in The Phoenix in Egyptian, Arab, & Greek Mythology of the long-lived bird: