Description of the Phoenix

Title of Work: L'Histoire et description du Phoenix, etc

Author: de la Garde, Guy

Place + Date of Production: Paris : R. Chaudière, 1550.

Translated from Early Modern French (17th-century style):

Description of the Phoenix.

A mixture, and of the happy place of its residence, of its long life, pure discourse, excellent beauty, the renowned brightness of its colors, and of its wondrous death and resurrection.

The Sovereign Architect of the world wished to erect this round structure, as a perfect and grand amphitheater.

As we approach the Cross of the Sleeping Phoenix (55/59, 20/34) in 2027, and since the Sleeping Phoenix is my personal incarnation cross, I am growing more interested in the symbol of the phoenix throughout history.

The description in this piece really stood out to me, as it presents many of the same keynotes we find associated with the Sleeping Phoenix incarnation cross in Human Design:

pure discourse,

In the old French context, “pure discourse” or “pure conversation” (pure connerfation) doesn’t mean “chatting politely” the way it would today. Here, conversation comes from the Latin conversatio, which in the 16th–17th centuries meant way of life, conduct, or manner of being, not verbal speech.

So “pure conversation” means something like:

“a pure way of living,” or “a life of pure conduct.”

To me, this perfectly captures the essence of Gate 20 (one of four gates in the Cross of the Sleeping Phoenix). "Being in the Now."

Being-ness as the way in which we have a conversation with Life itself.

excellent beauty, the renowned brightness of its colors,

This makes me think of Gate 55, Spirit Abundance. When at the high end of the emotional wave, Gate 55 perceives the beauty and "brightness" in things.

and of its wondrous death and resurrection.

Ra highlights that before a Sleeping Phoenix undergoes its death and rebirth process, it must first wake up. It needs to wake up to the reality that it hasn't been living in its true, pure, self-empowered essence. Once it wakes up, it dies to its old life, its conditioned not-self. Collectively, this process will unfold in humanity over the span of 400 years.

The Sovereign Architect of the world wished to erect this round structure, as a perfect and grand amphitheater.

Our individual myths, and our collective one, play out for us to watch in this "grand amphitheater."