The Phoenix (Mythology)

THE PHOENIX (Mythology)

The phoenix is an immortal bird which, though mythical, was once believed to be real. Her "natural history" claims that she would cyclically regenerate: dedicated to the sun, when she reached extreme age, she would build a spectacular nest of cinnamon bark, herbs, and myrrh in a special tree  in her desert abode, and the sun would cause her to burst into flame. From the ashes of her destruction a new phoenix was born. This act caused the phoenix to become a symbol of renewal: the sun's return, the cycles of the seasons, the rise and fall of empires, life in heaven, and resurrection itself.

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Merlin (Mythology)

MERLIN (Mythology)

Merlin is famed as the wizard/advisor to King Arthur, but there's so much more to his story. Born of a "demon" and a nun, as a boy he advised another king, Vortigern, and was on his way to greatness: he built Stonehenge; was driven mad by the horrors of war and wandered the forest until cured of his madness by a saint; spirited away the infant Arthur to be fostered far from the court; tutored the boy in the ways of nature and royalty; set the sword in the stone to make Arthur King of all England--and allowed a student (some say Arthur's half-sister) to use his own magic to seduce and eternally imprison him in a grave, cave, large rock, magic tower, or tree.

• Many sources discuss Merlin (also called Myrddin, Ambrosius, and others), including books of serious history (Geoffrey of Monmouth, Nennius) and romances (Robert de Boron, Thomas Malory) and more, including poems in Welsh, French, and other languages.
• Gandalf, Dumbledore, and even Obi-Wan Kenobi owe their existence to Merlin.

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