03 - 2008 - The Phoenix

[Female Guitar Players]

SOUTH -- THE SUZAKU (aka THE PHOENIX)
Red Bird, Big Bird, Suzaku, Phoenix
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Chinese = Zhū Qiǎo 朱雀 or Zhū Niǎo 朱鳥
Korean = Chujak 주작
Japanese = Suzaku, Sujaku, Shujaku 朱雀
Japanese = Shuchō 朱鳥 or Suchō, Akamitori, Akamidori; aka the Vermillion Bird. Shuchō was also a Japanese era name for a few months between 686 and 687 AD.

In Japan, the term “Suzaku” is translated as “Red Bird” or “Vermillion Chinese Phoenix.” In both Japan and China, the symbolism of the red bird seems nearly identical to or merged with that of the mythological Phoenix. At this site, I consider the Suzaku and the Phoenix to be the same magical creature, although I am not certain if this is entirely true. Scholar Derek Walters (see resources) says the Phoenix was supplanted (replaced) by the Red Bird, for the Red Bird more accurately reflected the astronomical iconography associated with the southern lunar mansions.

Corresponds to summer, red, fire, and knowledge; makes small seeds grow into giant trees (need to give source). Often paired with the dragon, for the two represent both conflict and wedded bliss; dragon (emperor) and phoenix (empress). Portrayed with radiant feathers, and an enchanting song; only appears in times of good fortune. Within the ancient Imperial Palace in Japan, there was a gate known as Suzakumon 朱雀門JAANUS for a few more details on this gate.

Modern cartoon of the Ho-oo, the Japanese PhoenixSuzaku’s seven seishuku (constellations) are: (Red Bird Gate). See

Chichiri Boshi (Chn. = Ching 井)
Tamahome Boshi (Chn. = Kuei 鬼)
Nuriko Boshi (Chn. = Liu 柳)
Hotohori Boshi (Chn. = Hsing 星)
Chiriko Boshi (Chn. = Chang 張)
Tasuki Boshi (Chn. = Yi 翼)
Mitsukake Boshi (Chn. = Chen 軫)

* Learn more about the Red Bird’s seven constellations (this site).
* See star charts for the Red Bird at this outside link.

Red Bird, discovered in tomb near Nara in early 1970s
The Red Bird of the South (Suzaku)
Found on tomb wall at Kitora Kofun
www2.gol.com/users/stever/kitora.htm
Photo courtesy Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Nara
Archaeological dating places its construction to the
Asuka period (7th to early 8th centuries)

Suzaku, The Red Bird, Modern Drawing, Available Online
Suzaku, The Red Bird, Modern Drawing.

Resource:
www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ssu-ling.shtml#redbird

[Female Guitar Players]

disappearing into the mystery



Hakim Sanai says:

Belief brings me close to You

but only to the door.

It is only by disappearing into

Your mystery

That I will come in.

Alright. I’ve wondered at that. There has been the deconstruction, the unlearning. There has been the going to the edge and there has been the dark night.

Then I come across this piece and feel as if Jacques Lacarriere is describing happenings inside my head:

Unlearning. Deconditioning your birth.

Forgetting your name. Going naked.

Sloughing away your last remains. Disrobing your memory.

Melting down your masks.

Ripping up your duties. Dismantling your certainties.

Disconnecting your doubts. Losing control of your being.

Unbaptizing your springs. Unmapping your roads.

Shearing your desires. Gutting your passions.

Desacralizing the prophets. Discrediting the future.

Defrocking the sacred. Sobering up from vertigo.

Defacing Narcissus. Delivering Gilead.

Deposing Moloch. Dethroning Leviathan.

Demystifying blood. Dissecting the monkey.

Disinheriting the ancestor.

Unburdening your soul. Unfailing your failures.

Disenchanting your despair. Unchaining your hope.

Delivering your madness. Defusing your fears.

Disencumbering your heart. Disappointing your death.

Debasing your basis. Shredding your acquisitions.

Unlearn. Become naked




dreamfortunetelling.com/animal-did-you-see-any-animals/bird/#comment-452

"Dream of birds symbolizes freedom, ideal or benefits. It basically is a good luck, and if you see birds flying around cheerfully, it indicates that your inspiration or creativity is becoming fertile. You should write down your ideas in order to make things turn out well. Also if you catch a bird in your dream it is a sign that you'll be able to get what you wanted. There might be a happy event especially in love or in money matter"



May 12th, 2010

[Female Guitar Players]

the caged bird



He was there in my room,
A wild bird in a cage,
But I was a guest and not for me
To open the gate and set him free
However great my gloom
And unrepenting rage.



And so great was your anger
Over an art that was a work in progress
A gift to never be completed
And never shared but you decided anyways

The meaning of that which you had never known
And quite blind, and so utterly unable to see
In the growing heap of your ignorance
And the never ending abysmal stench
Of your own ceaseless death
The only truth that ever mattered



But not to see and not to hear
Was difficult to try:
The small red bird burst into song
And sang so sweetly all day long
I knew his presence near
And his inquiring eye—



So we exchanged some words;
And then I scattered seed
And put fresh water in his pan
And cleaned the litter from the pen,
Wondering about caged birds,
What more this one might need.



But oh, when night came then
I started up in fear
At the fierce wing-beat of despair
Hurled at the bars, hurting the air,
And the heart wild within
As if a hawk were near.



The room was sealed and dark,
And all that war within
Where on the small cramped stage
The bird fought with his cage
And then lay beaten down,
Almost extinguished spark.



Those who are trapped do ensnare the others
And choosing the death of convenience
See not the greater cost of their own
Grotesque selfishness and ever moving onward
The time loop ceaseless and repeating

The same brand of lavish stupidity
That gave birth to the same in its rightful origin
You murdered me a million times but have me not
But just a photo taken from this place
To furnish your emtpy head with dreams of Life
Belonging to another man



And I went back to bed,
Trembling, who nothing could,
As if this scene had grown so huge
It ripped apart all subterfuge,
And naked now as God,
I wept hot tears like blood.

written by
May Sarton