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13 years ago
Introspection
Lately I've been very interested in the mythology/symbolism of the phoenix. A while back I posted about the four sub-characters I've created. (see: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/6785597/) I guess they're similar to totems. Totems are supposed to be archetypes, and these are specific, individual characters. I guess you could call them just that, I suppose. I don't see myself AS them, like I used to with otherkin-ness and whatnot, it's kind of like inner-world facets or personalities. Whatever.
Funny enough, I actually found another 'character' out there that embraces the four celestial creatures of Eastern mythology! With some modifications, of course :P. His name is Paragon, but his website hasn't been updated in over 11 years. http://www.avians.net/paragon/ Just thought that was neat, since I've been considering designing a single character that incorporates the markings/features from the other four.
Originally the character I designed, Zohaki/Zoe, was based off of the second of the celestial critters, a vermilion bird, or a phoenix. To me, the character represented warmth, energy, passion, intensity, ambition, performance, and success. For one reason or another, this character was more in the background, and I never really thought about it much.
I've felt more of a connection to pa-ho-nickses lately for some reason- probably due to certain live events lately. I've been trying to become more communicative and organized, and recently made the decision to change jobs. I see this is as my chance to start fresh in a new 'life', overcoming the adversity of a really incompatible work environment, possibly moving residences. A lot of major life changes, all for the better. It seems like it's all focused on my situation at work, but man if you had to listen to me for the last 2 years, that's seriously all I complain about. Now that I'm doing something about it, instead of just putting up with it, I feel this incredible sense of psychological liberation.
So I've been doing research on the flamey-bird, and what I found was really neat!
"the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration."
http://www.mythicalrealm.com/creatu.....s/phoenix.html
"The Phoenix is symbolic of rebirth, hope, purity, chastity, marriage, faith, constancy, summer, eternity, immortality, and light."
http://monsters.monstrous.com/phoenix.htm
"There is only one Phoenix at a time"
http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/phoenix.htm
(There can be only one!)
"Feng-Huang- (Chinese version) In this version, the bird is sent to earth to perform extraordinary works and to help the development of man. It appears in different stages of the world's progress, and then returns to heaven."
http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/phoenix.htm
"The Fenghuang has very positive connotations. It is a symbol of high virtue and grace. The Fenghuang also symbolizes the union of yin and yang... In some traditions it appears in good times but hides during times of trouble, while in other traditions it appeared only to mark the beginning of a new era."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
"Both male and female birds can sing the sweetest melody in the five Chinese harmonic notes, and it is said that their tune was the basis for the Chinese musical scale"
http://www.avians.net/paragon/fenghuang.htm
I've been kinda redesigning the character. First, I'm tinkering around with the colors. Instead of a red and orange, it'd be a more red-orange-yellow gradient. And instead of being a phoenix-gryphon, it'd be more of a phoenix proper, but maybe with gryphon ancestry, just so the body structure can stay the same :P. And then instead of a regular gryphon/lion's tail, its tail would be long and feathery, with lots and lots of colors, representing a fiery sunset! Also, I want to change the character to be androgynous, as legends say there can be only one at a time, and that the Fenghuang is the union of male and female (let's just interpret that as "halfway between"), also asexual, since it reproduces on its own. The character is soft and fuzzy, but also has the ability to set itself on fire (naturally) and extinguish itself as needed. Also want to change the name ever so slightly, to Zoharim. It's the plural of the Hebrew "zohar", which means bright, brilliant, light, glow, radiance, etc. One source translates it as "sparkling". Interesting. Might adjust it later, who knows.
Lately I've been very interested in the mythology/symbolism of the phoenix. A while back I posted about the four sub-characters I've created. (see: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/6785597/) I guess they're similar to totems. Totems are supposed to be archetypes, and these are specific, individual characters. I guess you could call them just that, I suppose. I don't see myself AS them, like I used to with otherkin-ness and whatnot, it's kind of like inner-world facets or personalities. Whatever.
Funny enough, I actually found another 'character' out there that embraces the four celestial creatures of Eastern mythology! With some modifications, of course :P. His name is Paragon, but his website hasn't been updated in over 11 years. http://www.avians.net/paragon/ Just thought that was neat, since I've been considering designing a single character that incorporates the markings/features from the other four.
Originally the character I designed, Zohaki/Zoe, was based off of the second of the celestial critters, a vermilion bird, or a phoenix. To me, the character represented warmth, energy, passion, intensity, ambition, performance, and success. For one reason or another, this character was more in the background, and I never really thought about it much.
I've felt more of a connection to pa-ho-nickses lately for some reason- probably due to certain live events lately. I've been trying to become more communicative and organized, and recently made the decision to change jobs. I see this is as my chance to start fresh in a new 'life', overcoming the adversity of a really incompatible work environment, possibly moving residences. A lot of major life changes, all for the better. It seems like it's all focused on my situation at work, but man if you had to listen to me for the last 2 years, that's seriously all I complain about. Now that I'm doing something about it, instead of just putting up with it, I feel this incredible sense of psychological liberation.
So I've been doing research on the flamey-bird, and what I found was really neat!
"the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration."
http://www.mythicalrealm.com/creatu.....s/phoenix.html
"The Phoenix is symbolic of rebirth, hope, purity, chastity, marriage, faith, constancy, summer, eternity, immortality, and light."
http://monsters.monstrous.com/phoenix.htm
"There is only one Phoenix at a time"
http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/phoenix.htm
(There can be only one!)
"Feng-Huang- (Chinese version) In this version, the bird is sent to earth to perform extraordinary works and to help the development of man. It appears in different stages of the world's progress, and then returns to heaven."
http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/phoenix.htm
"The Fenghuang has very positive connotations. It is a symbol of high virtue and grace. The Fenghuang also symbolizes the union of yin and yang... In some traditions it appears in good times but hides during times of trouble, while in other traditions it appeared only to mark the beginning of a new era."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
"Both male and female birds can sing the sweetest melody in the five Chinese harmonic notes, and it is said that their tune was the basis for the Chinese musical scale"
http://www.avians.net/paragon/fenghuang.htm
I've been kinda redesigning the character. First, I'm tinkering around with the colors. Instead of a red and orange, it'd be a more red-orange-yellow gradient. And instead of being a phoenix-gryphon, it'd be more of a phoenix proper, but maybe with gryphon ancestry, just so the body structure can stay the same :P. And then instead of a regular gryphon/lion's tail, its tail would be long and feathery, with lots and lots of colors, representing a fiery sunset! Also, I want to change the character to be androgynous, as legends say there can be only one at a time, and that the Fenghuang is the union of male and female (let's just interpret that as "halfway between"), also asexual, since it reproduces on its own. The character is soft and fuzzy, but also has the ability to set itself on fire (naturally) and extinguish itself as needed. Also want to change the name ever so slightly, to Zoharim. It's the plural of the Hebrew "zohar", which means bright, brilliant, light, glow, radiance, etc. One source translates it as "sparkling". Interesting. Might adjust it later, who knows.
Ahem. So, I still find this search or whatever for a "totem" sort of creature to be really curious. For example, how much emphasis you seem to put into 'researching'. I realize that we are approaching things from different angles, but in my case I determined that 'researching' dragons was ridiculous and a waste more than 11 years ago. Not to criticize, but I wonder why you place so much emphasis on what other people think a phoenix should be.
Actually, I am a bit more interested in your 'psychological liberation', and was actually recently thinking of asking you how you dealt with such issues. I can't point to a single thing like "job" or anything else that bothers me so much, but I still seem to have a lot going through my mind all the time, even if I think it may be a bit better than before. But I'm not here to complain about myself!
Anyway, I would be willing to talk about any of this if you wanted, haven't chatted with you in a while.