Eagle/Phoenix vs Serpent/Dragon: sacred vs unholy
I wanna talk about something that is central to my lore and story, and one of my favorite themes to work with: duality, in this case a very specific one.
In mythology around the world, the eagle and the snake represent the conflict of opposites. Predator and prey, interchangeable, locked in eternal dance.
They are the precursors to my whole concept of phoenix and dragon.
In most cultures, eagles are seen as visionaries and messengers of the gods, while snakes represent transformation, death and rebirth (growth). This dichotomy is very commonly found in imagery around the world and mirrors my own stuff with the whole rivalry between the primeval gods, the eternal dance of the cosmos and ultimately avians and draconians.
The meaning of the battling serpent and eagle found in western imagery ties directly with the symbolism of both animals.
The eagle is a logical choice for representing a group, or the power of god. It stands for admirable, intimidating power, which is why it appears in connection with so many political entities.
The serpent represents many things, including healing, fertility, poison and medicine.. whoever in the west its often associated with evil, vengefulness and vindictiveness because of the Bible story in which the snake offers Eve the fruit from the forbidden tree, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
However, as we’ll see next, the relation between both entities isn't fixed.
Egyptian falcon and snake:
Serpents weren't regarded as symbols of evil in Ancient Egypt, however, there’s still some animosity between the falcon god Horus and them.
Seth, the enemy of Horus is sometimes refereed as “the serpent”. Horus role as the opponent of Seth is assumed as the most sacred bird of the Egyptians, the falcon, attacking Seth whom takes refuge in a hole in the ground, like a snake. However they’re shown to cooperate at times and the primeval antagonism is clouded by the joining of Nekhebet the vulture goddess of upper Egypt and the Wadjet serpent of lower Egypt on royal diadems.
During the late period when Horus became a popular god he was sometimes represented as a naked child standing above a crocodile holding in his hands snakes, scorpions and lions. Therefore Horus became known as an entity that interceded to heal and soothe snake bites and scorpion stings.
Even more interesting is the role of the primordial Egyptian serpent, Apep:
Ra was the solar deity, bringer of light, and thus the upholder of Ma'at. Apep was viewed as the greatest enemy of Ra, and so was given the title Enemy of Ra, and also "the Lord of Chaos". In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus, he was associated with the falcon or hawk.
As the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile and Evil Lizard.
The Roman eagle also eats snakes:
Eagles killing snakes were popular subjects in Roman art. The sculpture was probably chosen to please the god Jupiter and depict the triumph of good over death and evil, but it was also a way for wealthy families to show off and commemorate their deceased loved ones.
Some other classical examples:
Mosaic floor from the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, showing eagle and serpent in battle:
A Homeric omen: A Greek wine cup with a scene of an eagle battling a snake. Homer’s description of a high-flying bird carrying a snake in its talons was an omen the Trojans saw as they attacked the Greek forces. Homer's snake was still alive and was dropped by the eagle before it could be eaten.
In the Persian mythology we have the Zahhāk (Avestan word for "serpent" or "dragon."), generally an evil figure, sometimes seen as enemy of the Simurgh (phoenix), adopted from a common source of cosmological knowledge.
The founding of Tenochtitlan, Mexico City:
The Mexican emblem shows an eagle devouring a serpent, which actually is in conflict with Mesoamerican belief. The original meanings of the symbols were different in numerous aspects, being the eagle a representation of the sun god Huitzilopochtli, who was very important to the ‘people of the sun’; and the snake a symbol of wisdom, with strong connotations to the god Quetzalcoatl.
The story of the eagle and snake was derived from an incorrect translation in which "the snake hisses", was mistranslated as "the snake is torn". Based on this error, the legend was misinterpreted and as a result the eagle represents all that is good and right, while the snake represents evil and sin, being used as an element of evangelism by the first missionaries to convert native people, as it conformed with European heraldic tradition and Christian lore.
The eagle and the serpent are both variant symbols for the astrological sign of Scorpio, whose basic level, that of the scorpion was depicted by the ancient zodiac as the serpent. Both are poisonous creatures that hide under rocks, always ready to attack, representing negativity and resentment, yet strongly related to initiation into the sacred mysteries.
The eagle is another, higher level of the sign, regarding strength and wisdom, incidentally, the highest level is the phoenix, a ‘transformed eagle’ whom soared as a higher expression of the nature of this sign: transcendence from the crawling scorpion/snake to the soaring eagle/phoenix, tying together the theme of destruction and renewal.
Now, going back a bit in time... The great nemesis of the nagas in the Mahabharata is the gigantic eagle-king Garuda.
According to Hindu and Buddhist stories, the giant, birdlike Garuda spends eternity killing snakelike Nagas. The feud started when both Garuda's mother and the Nagas' mother married the same husband. The husband then gave each wife one wish. The Nagas' mother asked for a thousand children. Garuda's mother wished for just two children who were superior to all of the Nagas. Their rivalry continued until Garuda's mother lost a bet and became the servant and prisoner of the Nagas' mother. Garuda was able to free his mother by stealing the nectar of immortality from the gods. But he swore vengeance for his mother's treatment and has been fighting Nagas ever since.
The Japanese version of the myth, called Karura, is said to be enormous, fire-breathing, and to feed on dragons/serpents, just as Garuda is the bane of Nagas. Only a dragon who possesses a special talisman, or one who has converted to the Buddhist teaching, can escape unharmed from the Karura.
Once more we witness the eternal rivalry between the eagle and the serpent.
Allegorical conclusion of the Christological cycle. The bird and the snake:
Early Christian writers used the phoenix bird as a symbol not only of resurrection in general but also of Christ himself. Here is an example of the Incarnation or a symbolic portrait of Christ overcoming the devil, depicted allegorically in the form of a bird fighting a serpent.
As we've been able to witness, the serpent symbol is decidedly more ambiguous than the eagle, so I’d like to focus a bit on it:
With a few allegories one is able to establish the dragon as an entity derived from the snake, and the phoenix as an entity derived from the eagle. Now, going from the root symbol of serpent to its representation as the dragon:
A serpent and a dragon are often interchangeable in some proses, including the Bible and Old Norse poetry. The poem Beowulf describes a dragon also as wyrm (worm, or serpent) indicating a snake-like form and movement rather than with a lizard-like or dinosaur-like body. In the Far East, few distinctions are made between them.
Having established the dragon as the synonym of serpent, with similar meaning in the duality theme I’m working here... its noteworthy that the dragon usually carries negative connotations, especially in its more popular form, just as the phoenix usually carries positive connotations.
The medieval dragon. In medieval symbolism, dragons were often symbolic of apostasy and treachery, but also of anger and envy, and eventfully symbolized great calamity. Several heads were symbolic of decadence and oppression, and also of heresy. An evil dragon is often associated with a great hero who tries to slay it.
But dragons aren't always related to evil in traditional representation, just as their prototype, the serpent. In some countries, it was said a good dragon would give wise advice to those who seek it.
In ancient Greece, the snake figure was associated with Asclepios, the god of medicine, and possessed benevolent properties, believed to be able to cure a patient or a wounded person just by touch.
Also, a serpent biting its tail symbolized eternity and the soul of the world, being sometimes described as part dragon.. it surrounds the world. The alchemical symbol of the Ouroborus often carries positive connotations.
Fenghuang and Dragon, a more balanced view:
The fenghuang is a mythological bird of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The males were originally called feng and the females huang but such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and they are blurred into a single feminine entity so that the bird can be paired with the Chinese dragon, which is traditionally deemed male.
Fenghuang ,the "Sovereign of Birds" came to symbolize the empress when paired with a dragon as a dragon represented the emperor.
In ancient and modern Chinese culture, the fenghuang can often be found in the decorations for weddings or royalty, along with dragons. This is because the Chinese considered the dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife, another common yang and yin metaphor.
Ancient & modern interpretations
Looking back its easy to see why those two archetypal symbols carry such antagonist interpretations... the eagle is easily a ‘good animal’. The eagle does not impact negatively human life (or it rarely does), quite the contrary. Birds of prey, including eagles, have been trained and used to our benefit, serving as companions and valuable hunting assets during our early history.
The eagle obviously has an impressive figure, and its always sky high.. human’s natural curiosity to see more of the world and have freedom has led us to naturally admire and envy animals able to fly. They are often carrying spiritual/divine connotations, on top of that, we’re both diurnal animals. An eagle is often seen or glimpsed under situations that are ‘positive’ to our primeval brains: its visage is often accompanied of imagery of large, open spaces, bright blue skies and sunlight, more or less comfortable scenarios that inspire feelings of freedom, awe and perhaps even religious reverence.
The soaring eagle rises above earthly limitations.
The serpent otherwise carries strong negative connotation to primitive humans, it is visually connected with the underworld and darker places, the unknown, the unseen... not only because it crawls on the ground, but because it can bring death, its easily a dangerous creature and its rather easy to see why it served as inspiration to so many mythological creatures as it inspired a lot of fear in our ancestors. Its almost like a primeval fear, imprinted in our brains...
However, as the lines between light and darkness become blurred and the definitions of symbolism gains new interpretations in our modern era, the ancient meanings still carry a lot of weight, still... in the recent history, the eagle, a supreme symbol of divine light has gained a certain negative connotation: imperialism and supremacy: claws grasping for power, wings outstretched, its shadow covering the world... while its counterpart, the serpent, has also emerged from the underworld and has been adopted as the symbol of the modern medical profession and the image of these animals has strongly improved with the knowledge of biology and of their nature.
The eagle and the snake are some of the symbols with the strongest presence in the history of mankind. Separately they have their presence widespread, while together we have a more interesting conflict.
In the modern view of most myths, these two symbols clearly express fundamental opposites: height/depth, heaven/earth, etc... however it wasn't always the case, and sometimes these symbols cooperate, or act as halves of the same whole. Specially regarding the serpent half, if you dig just a little its easy to start finding more sensible or sympathetic incarnations of this animal through the world mythology, with more benign variations such as the eastern dragon. It becomes clear that the dichotomy isn't so simple as ‘life against death’ or ‘good against evil’.
Together they are a pair of opposites: the soaring and the creeping.
I think that, concerning those aspects.. the far eastern mythologies offer the best incarnation of the primeval duo or eagle and serpent, the phoenix and the dragon.
I want to work my phoenixes and dragons for something in between, they’re capable of great destruction as much as they’re capable of great good.
The Eagle and the Serpent as One Entity
In my world, the phoenix and dragon have superficial and deep meanings. Its easy to overlook their more common representation as opposites, and delegate the phoenix with positive meaning while the dragon is surrounded by negative energy, and its easy to simply do the opposite.. I mean to find a balance between the two.
When the eagle and serpent are perfectly paired as opposites, and equals... as phoenix and dragon, the superlative form of these creatures... they represent not victory and defeat, not light and darkness nor good and evil, but dynamic cosmic completion, the union of spirit and matter, as shown in the common emblem of their cosmic dance:
United they are stronger, they are whole. This is the force that drives the universe as the celestial bird and the serpent wheel around each other forever, in perfect balance of opposite energies, or ideally it should be like this..
It is such an interesting and very ancient symbol.. like yin yang..or the masculine and the feminine.. it shows two powerful people combining forces to create something very dynamic or shape shifting.. being able to shape a new reality..
It’s left for the characters to find common ground and forge a better future.
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