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Symbolism
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| Depicted
in the firmament by one of the most beautiful and visible constellations
of the sky, the Swan is an ancient symbol, one of the most important
and rich in meaning ever. The Swan, elegant and majestic bird
is a symbol of complete achieving because it is found in both
the male essence (the long neck that leads to a phallic symbol)
and the female body white and round. The Swan is the absolute
androgynous, the perfect World Egg because it is condensed in
the two natures, the fruit of the effort aimed at alchemical
research. There are dozens and dozens of art works associated
with this symbol, not to mention the myths related to it, including
the renowned classic tale of Jupiter transformed into a swan
to seduce Leda. In Egypt, the Swan was the personification of
the Sky Goddess Nut, the mother of Isis and Osiris, Neftis and
the evil God, Seth. The symbol is present in the architecture
of Giza Plateau, across the heights of the three pyramids: here
Nut birth metaphorically the Solar Disk every morning and is
part of the Cosmic Order. In Alchemy the Swan is related to
the Albedo and is associated with constancy: the process of
calcination is the second stage of the Grand Opera, the alchemist
has discovered within himself the hermaphrodites nature of Man.
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The Spirit in fact is androgynous, as the differentiation
of the sexes is a purely material. Discovering his asexual soul,
the alchemist can find the inner nature and continue towards the
third phase. Associated to Venus, to Egyptian Cow-Goddess Hathor,
to the syrian Goddess Anat and to the Dawn, the Albedo teaches
us that we should continue in our inner journey. And also from
a symbolic point of view is so: for older people, who saw the
constellation point with his star Delta Cygni the North Pole (and
thus becoming the Polar) about fifteen thousand years ago, the
Swan is linked to birth and to perfection, the cyclicity of the
universe. Today, the Cygnus Constellation is far from the Pole,
but in about twelve thousand years will mark it again. The symbol
of the Stork carrying children, could be a deformation of the
Swan, as in the proto-indo-european language white lake bird was
called Cicnu, a term clearly associable, in the latin modern languages,
to the stork (cicogna). This connection explains how the fertility
in the Nordic countries to kill this bird bring misfortune (and
death within one year); in Britain is also a symbol of kingship,
for exemple is the emblem of the British king. The Swan, however,
is also a symbol of death. In Greece the Swan was also sacred
to Apollo, God of the Sun: the night was a swan to tow the Solar
Chariot, instead of the daily horses, thus assuming a connection
to the Underworld. Famous is the myth that tells how, before dying,
the bird normally provide to a clumsy cry, singing harmoniously.
The Singing of the Swan has become so a synonymous of the last
glorious act, of the honorable end of life, as with the achievement
of "perfect" man is ready to return "to the stars",
the Divine, the Duat by the Egyptians, the Third Degree of the
Grand Opera. For this reason, some authors, like Socrates, combining
funeral singing of the swans to something positive, a spiritual
evolution.
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