It must dawn on one who studies the works of Schwaller de Lubicz that the immensity of the marvels of ancient Egypt have not yet been fathomed in our time, nor shall they be so long as our quest remains only in the realm of matter.⁷⁵ The importance of this realization cannot be overemphasized when we contemplate Steiner's revelation that we must both retraverse (i.e., reassimilate) and transform all that we came through on our descent.

With that we come to the significance of certain terms and concepts as they relate to the Bible, namely, the phoenix, the palm and the one hundred forty-four thousand.

The Phoenix and the Palm Tree

Starting with modern Bible literature, we read in 5 ABD 363, "Phoenix (Bird and Poem)":

In the ancient world, the phoenix was a bird whose symbolic power proved international and durable. Although its long history, including occurrences in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, exhibits significant and interesting variety, several constant factors define the boundaries and establish the identity of the phoenix: bird of the sun, an immensely long life, the capacity for self-renewal or self-regeneration after its death, and a sign of the human soul and its destiny.

The account then traces the Egyptian version back as early as 2500 B.C. "to the Heliopolitan mythology of Atum/Re … [a] creation account [which] portrays the emergence of land and life from the primeval waters," at least back to the time of "the origin of the inhabited world." It is hard to escape the comparison of this beginning with that of the beginning of reincarnation in humanity's evolution in Lemuria, as related in the Gen 3 creation myth of Moses, himself an Egyptian initiate (see I-2). It is hard not to notice the similarity in sound between "Atum" and "Adam," or even between "Atum" and "Aum" (see the discussion of "Aum/I Am" at pp. 268-270 in The Burning Bush).

The first paragraph under "phoenix" in 9 Brit 393 reads:

In ancient Egypt and in classical antiquity, a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phoenix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any time, and it was very long-lived—no ancient authority gave it a life span of less than 500 years. As its end approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which after embalming its father's ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis ("City of the Sun") in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re. A variant of the story made the dying phoenix fly to Heliopolis and immolate itself in the altar fire, from which the young phoenix then rose. . . . Probably the phoenix story originated in the Orient and was assimilated to Egyptian sun worship by the priests of Heliopolis. The adaptation of the myth to an Egyptian environment helped to bring about the connection between the phoenix and the palm tree (also called phoinix in Greek), which was long associated with sun worship in Egypt.

There is something very significant in this particular description—the "nest of aromatic boughs and spices" that is "set on fire, and … consumed in the flames" from whose "pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which after embalming its father's ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew to … Egypt." Or, in the other version, it immolates itself in an "altar fire, from which the young phoenix" arises. We will see below the significance of the palm tree.

Surely we must see that Matthew's Gospel incorporates this myth in regard to the Zarathustra Individuality reborn as the Solomon Jesus child (see "The Nativity" in The Burning Bush). The spiritual students of Zarathustrianism, the magi (wise men) of Mt 2,1 bring the infant child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Mt 2,11). Gold has always been recognized as the metal of the Sun.⁷⁸ Myrrh is "a fragrant, bitter-tasting gum resin exuded from … plants of Arabia and East Africa, used in making incense, perfume, etc." (WNWCD). Frankincense is a combination of two root words, "frank" and "incense," the first being an archaic term meaning "free in giving; generous," and the second, deriving from a root meaning "to burn." It is a gum or resin substance producing a pleasant odor when burned (WNWCD; see also 4 ABD 940, "myrrh," and 2 ABD, "frankincense"). Not only are these three symbols of the phoenix myth grouped together as gifts from the Zarathustrian magi, but immediately after their appearance the parents of the Solomon Jesus child are told to take him into Egypt (Mt 2,13-15). It is this Individuality, the Zarathustrian Ego, that emerges in Luke's Gospel in the twelve-year-old Jesus of Nazareth who is the "suffering servant" of Second Isaiah, surrendering itself for the entry of the Christ Spirit at the Baptism.⁷⁹ Then at the end of his Gospel, as do all the Evangelists, Matthew gives the equivalent of the ancient bird's self-immolation in the "altar fire from which the new phoenix rises."

WNWCD says that the phoenix is "a beautiful, lone bird which lives in the Arabian desert for 500 or 600 years and then sets itself on fire, rising renewed from the ashes to start another long life: a symbol of immortality." RHCD calls it, "a unique mythological bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years, to burn itself to death, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth, and live through another life cycle."

The Encyclopedia Britannica tells us, "A mosaic at Antioch represents the Phoenix—the solar bird who died and resurrected from its own ashes and who was its own father and son at the same time—with sunrays encircling its head" (24 Brit 713, "Mystery Religions; Religious Art and Iconography; Mosaics").

The time cycle of the phoenix is of interest. It coincides very closely with the average cycle of reincarnation, according to Steiner.⁸⁰ And just as the majority of that time period is spent on an Individuality's journey between death and rebirth (see I-33), we note that the life of the phoenix also illustrates the path of the soul (the Ego, "I Am," or Individuality) between lives rather than during an earthly life. Aside from the relatively short time of its purification in the astral world, the soul's sojourn in spiritland (devachan) in the company of the heavenly host must be described as incredibly beautiful (like the bird) in comparison with life on Earth. The fashioning of a nest as its pyre (fire) portrays what the Ego does as it approaches physical birth, selecting appropriate parents and circumstances in accord with its destiny, then entering the birth canal through the narrow isthmus where the etheric fire meets the earthly fire in a newly born human body. But the fire itself must rage during the entirety of the earthly life and perhaps even through the "purifying fire" of the ensuing astral world before birth into spiritland is again accomplished. Time itself is not a major factor for the fire, for the life of the bird is measured by the period in spiritland. This reversal of the normal way of looking at the myth also takes into account the nature of the bird as an allegorical symbol relating to the more spiritual nature, whereas the ashes more properly reflect the flesh of earthly life. That the bird is both its own father and son (parent and child) tells us that the earthly life fashions the soul's life in spiritland, while the latter in turn fashions the next earthly life, all as a part of the karmic cycle leading to "perfection," the gold as a symbol of the Sun (or Heliopolis, the City of the Sun; cf. Rev. 21,15,18,21,23). Anthroposophy does not adopt the Oriental cyclical view of ever repeating lives, but rather the Western linear view of progress toward such perfection (Mt 5,48), but in this it lays the basis for reconciliation between the religions of East and West, for Christianity had Eastern parents and was born on the border between the two.

Notably, even in later times (ca. A.D. 1600), a constellation (Phoenix) visible in the southern hemisphere was named for the mythical bird; see 28 Brit 225, "Stars and Star Clusters."

Early Christendom also accepted the myth as a symbol of human resurrection. Surely Paul must have been among those from whom it came. The author of The First Epistle of Clement is probably the one Paul calls his "fellow worker" in Phil 4,3.⁸¹ Chapter XXV of the letter reads:

Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm[⁸² ] is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed. (1 NICENE-1, p. 12)

There is an editorial footnote at the end which reads, "This fable respecting the phoenix is mentioned by Herodotus (ii,73) and by Pliny (Nat. Hist., x,2), and is used as above by Tertullian (145-220 A.D.) (De Resurr., sec. 13) and by others of the Fathers." Tertullian's "On the Resurrection of the Flesh," Chap. XIII (3 NICENE-1, p. 554), reads as follows:

FROM OUR AUTHOR'S VIEW OF A VERSE IN THE
NINETY-SECOND PSALM, THE PHOENIX IS MADE A
SYMBOL OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR BODIES.

If, however, all nature but faintly figures our resurrection; if creation affords no sign precisely like it, inasmuch as its several phenomena can hardly be said to die so much as to come to an end, nor again be deemed to be reanimated, but only re-formed; then take a most complete and unassailable symbol of our hope, for it shall be an animated being, and subject alike to life and death. I refer to the bird which is peculiar to the East, famous for its singularity, marvelous from its posthumous life, which renews its life in a voluntary death; its dying day is its birthday, for on it it departs and returns; once more a phoenix where just now there was none; once more himself, but just now out of existence; another, yet the same. What can be more express and more significant for our subject; or to what other thing can such a phenomenon bear witness? God even in His own Scripture says: "The righteous shall flourish like the phoenix;" [here editorial fn 1 below the quote] that is, shall flourish or revive, from death, from the grave—to teach you to believe that a bodily substance may be recovered even from the fire. Our Lord has declared that we are "better than many sparrows:" well, if not better than many a phoenix too, it were no great thing. But must men die once for all,⁸³ while birds in Arabia are sure of a resurrection?