Esoteric Symbolism

Peacocks (Pavo cristatus/Pavo muticus/Afropavo congensis) are large, colorful land birds famous for the male's brilliant fan-like tail feathers. Males are Peacocks, females are Peahens, and babies are Peachicks. Together, they are called Peafowl.

The large display of feathers on the Peacock is called a "train", not a tail, and features iridescent "eyespots". They are omnivores that eat seeds, fruits, insects, plants, and small reptiles like lizards.

They are endemic to India, Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan, also China through Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, down to the island of Java in Indonesia and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa.

Before we begin to look into the mythology entwined around this most magnificently coloured bird let us first understand how the Peacock gets its iridescent colours. Unlike most animals who's colour is created by pigment the Peacock's colour is actually an optical illusion painted by light.

These beautiful iridescent colours in a Peacock's train are caused by structural coloration. The surface of each feather has microscopic structures that bend and reflect light like a prism, creating a metallic, shimmering effect that changes depending on the angle you look at it. Scarab Beetles and some Berries also gain their radiant iridescent colours in this same way.

So now we understand what makes the Peacock so unique let's look to see how our Ancient Ancestors encoded this glorious creature with the knowledge about the Divine Race.

We will begin with the Chinese and thier Legend of Kong Xuan: The Five-Coloured Light.

It's interesting to note that historical models like François d'Aguilon's 16th-century scheme proposed five primary colours of (White, Yellow, Red, Blue, and Black).

These are exactly the same five traditional Chinese colours: White, Yellow, Red, Cyan (Blue-Green) and Black. The Wǔzhèngsè (五正色)—translated as the "Five Orthodox Colors" or "Five Primary Colors"—held divine, cosmic status in ancient Chinese philosophy and mythology. It seems Francios d'Aguilon's work was alluding to something deeper than just their hue.

In Chinese mythology and culture, the Peacock is viewed as the earthly manifestation of the heavenly Fenghuang (Phoenix). One of the most well known and culturally significant myths involving a Peacock comes from the classical Chinese epic novel Fengshen Yanyi (The Investiture of the Gods), featuring the legendary figure Kong Xuan.

The Legend begins: Kong Xuan was not just any ordinary bird; he was a powerful first-generation Peacock spirit born at the beginning of the universe. Kong Xuan possessed an ultimate magical ability known as the Five-Coloured Divine Light (Wuse Shenguang). These five shimmering rays of light shone brilliantly behind him like a Peacock's fan.

During battle, Kong Xuan could sweep his five-coloured Light across the battlefield. The Light acted like a cosmic vacuum, instantly capturing any opponent, weapon, or magical treasure thrown at him into an internal void, created by his signature innate ability: the Five-Colored Divine Light (五色神光, Wǔsè Shénguāng). Kong Xuan is known to have defeated entire armies of immortals and gods, rendering the opposing forces completely helpless.

The student should ask, what would be the result of the reverse polarity of Light? Would it be a shadow that acts like a void absorbing Light?

Eventually, a high-ranking deity named Zhunti Daoren arrived to stop his rampage. Realising that Kong Xuan's true spiritual form was a magnificent Peacock, the deity managed to bypass the Light and subdue him. Kong Xuan surrendered, transformed into a giant Peacock, and became the god’s sacred mount, making him the Peacock Wisdom King (Kongque Mingwang).

Zhunti Daoren is a priomordial god, designated as a Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian (混元大罗金仙), which translates to a "Great Awakened Golden Immortal of the Primordial Chaos." In the Texts's tier system, this rank is reserved strictly for gods who achieved their divinity before the universe's order was even structured.

Primordial gods symbolise divine operation within the Universal fabric. These operations have been personified as a way to denote the different Divine Universal Laws. In Ancient Greek mythology the Primordial gods are known as Titans, in Norse, the Frost Giants.

This myth is relaying that Zhunti Daoren is the god personifying the divine operation within Universal Law embodying the waxing and waning Light, which moves with the aether, like a tide, and brings with it knowledge and enlightenment or darkness and ignorance.

When the Light is fully present mankind are in the Higher Ages and the Divine Soul has full access to knowledge and their skills and abilities. When the Light wanes, humanity are in the Lower Ages, this is a more material part of the cycle where the Divine Soul becomes as a mortal in appearance, and not only lose access to their divine nature, they forget themselves completely.

There is yet another Chinese Legend that gives us an example of this divine operation symbolised by the Peacock Feather, it is the Legend of Peacock Princess.

The story begins, 7 beautiful fairy princesses from heaven, who could transform into Peacocks by wearing magical feather cloaks, flew down to earth to bathe in a secluded lake. A young prince fell in love with the youngest and most beautiful sister, Princess Manohara, and secretly hid her Peacock cloak so she couldn't fly away.

They married and loved each other deeply, but when war broke out and the prince left for battle, evil plotters in the court accused the princess of being a demon. To save her life, she reclaimed her feather cloak and flew back to heaven.

Heartbroken upon his return, the prince embarked on a perilous, magical quest across mountains and rivers to reach the heavenly realm and prove his devotion, eventually reuniting with his Peacock princess forever.

The symbolism is very apparent in this Legend, when the princess no longer has possession of her Peacock cloak, it is symbolising the Light has waned, and eventually the Underworld becomes corrupted and violent separating the divine couple.

However, she reclaims her Peacock cloak symbolising she once again has possession of her divine abilities, the prince and princess then reunite and return to their athereal homeland.

Now if we look to Indonesian mythos of the Island of Java, we see this Muslim mythology embracing the symbol of the Peacock to weave a tale into also.

Among the Muslims of Java, there is an ancient cosmological myth regarding the fall of man. In this tradition, the Peacock was originally a magnificent, pure white bird tasked with guarding the gates of Paradise (Jannah).

When Iblis (the Devil) sought entry into Paradise to tempt Adam and Eve, he was rejected by the other animals. However, he managed to charm the Peacock by promising to teach it a secret prayer that would prevent old age and death.

Captivated by vanity and the desire for immortality, the Peacock helped sneak the Devil past the gates (in some versions, by eating him or hiding him in its beak). As a punishment for this betrayal, God expelled the Peacock from Paradise alongside humans.

Its voice was stripped away to a harsh shriek, but its feathers were turned into a shifting, multi-colored iridescence—representing the blending of good and evil and serving as a permanent cosmic reminder of the temptation it succumbed to.

I do not think this symbolic telling of the fall of Divine Man, due to waning Light in the Lower Ages, is lost on the well studied student. Being expelled from Paradise is the symbolic fall of the Divine Souls into the Lower Ages when the Light has waned and their divine nature is now hidden. We see the Christian theological equivalent in the story of Adam and Even being expelled from the Garden of Eden.

Now let us delve into what our Ancient Greek writers have relayed about this beautiful plumed bird.

The story begins, Hera’s jealousy was triggered when she noticed a sudden, unnaturally thick cloud blanketing the earth, which she correctly suspected was a cover for her husband Zeus’s latest infidelity. Hera is the Female aspect of the Creator, as the well studied student understands the Creator is androgynous.

When she descended to investigate, Zeus quickly transformed his lover, a priestess named Io, into a beautiful white Heifer to hide her. Io is the daughter of the river god Inachus so we already see a connection to the aether with Io.

The story continues, Hera was not fooled by the disguise, but she played along and demanded the cow as a gift. Unable to refuse without giving away his secret, Zeus handed Io over to his wife.

The serious student will know the white Cow and the Bull symbolize the divine portion within the Divine Soul. Disguising Io as a White Heifer is also disguising her divinity.

It is interesting for the student to note that the Hindu have a similar mythology involving the Bull.

There is a Puranic story where Lord Brahma became enamored by the goddess Shatarupa and began to pursue her. To hide from him, she transformed into a cow, and Brahma (The Creator) correspondingly assumed the form of a bull to pursue her.

Shatarupa then morphed into a mare, a female deer, a lioness, and every other female creature on Earth. Each time, Brahma transformed into the corresponding male animal. Through this divine shape-shifting chase, all the animal species of the world were born.

The student would do well to contemplate on the symbolism of the divine animals paired together on Noah's ark with a deeper understanding. If Divine Man is the blueprint for mortal humans, then applying the Law of Correspondence means there must be a divine blueprint for every species of animal too.

This would also explain the animals not being afraid of their divine counterparts as often relayed in many cross culture mythologies. We can explore this further in a future post.

The Greek Legend goes on, to ensure Io could never be turned back or escape, Hera entrusted the White Heifer to Argus Panoptes, a monstrous giant famed for having one hundred eyes scattered across his body. Argus was the ultimate watchman because he never slept fully; only a few eyes would rest at a time while the others remained wide awake and vigilant.

Argus is the symbolic divine operation of the Creator knowing all. As the well studied student knows, the Raven is also a symbol of God's knowledge of all.

Argus bound Io to an Olive Tree and watched her day and night, forcing the transformed priestess to graze on bitter grass and drink muddy water. Distressed by Io’s suffering, Zeus ordered his son Hermes, the messenger god and master of knowledge, to rescue her.

Hermes disguised himself as a wandering shepherd and approached the giant, playing sweet melodies on his reed pipes and telling long, winding stories to pass the time.

Again we see the theme of the hiding of one's identity or true nature.

The Olive tree is a symbol directly related to the Divine Race ie: Children of God, and their resilience throughout their tests in the Lower Ages. This success of overcoming their tests was also symbolised with Olive branches and wreaths (kotinos) crowning the champions of the ancient Olympic Games and Panathenaic Games.

It is not surprising that the Olive Tree is chosen to denote the Divine Race. It is unmatched in how long it can continue fruiting into antiquity, there are Olive Trees still fruiting after thousands of years. The longevity of the Olive tree is one of it's most defining and unique qualities, and has what is known as the "immortality" gene.

Olive Trees possess a high concentration of meristematic cells, which act like stem cells. If a trunk is destroyed by frost, fire, or disease, these cells allow the tree to completely clone and rebuild itself from the roots up.

Psalm 52:8 – "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever."

The story continues, the soothing music and monotonous tales of Hermes' reed pipes wore Argus down until, for the first time in his life, all one hundred eyes closed in a deep sleep. Seizing the moment, Hermes drew his sword and struck off the giant's head, freeing Io.

When Hera discovered the death of her loyal servant, she was heartbroken and furious. To ensure Argus's eternal vigilance would never be forgotten, she gathered his one hundred eyes and placed them onto the tail feathers of her sacred bird, the Peacock.

Though Argus was dead, Hera's wrath against Io continued, as she sent a relentless stinging gadfly to pursue the White Heifer across the earth, making her suffer and her life a misery.

Io's long, exhausting flight from the gladfly finally came to an end when she reached the banks of the River Nile in Egypt. There, Zeus met her and, with a gentle touch of his hand, cured her relentless anguish and restored back to her true divine form. The is denoting Light has returned and Io is now once again in her aetheral home.

Lastly, let us look to the Hindu mythology surrounding the magnificently and radiantly hued Peacock.

According to one myth associated with Kartikeya, the Skanda Purana, the Peacock came into being during the great battle between Lord Kartikeya and the powerful asura (demon) Surapadma.

When cornered by the Kartikeya, the demon Surapadma transformed himself into a massive mango tree to escape destruction. Recognizing the deception, Lord Kartikeya split the mango tree in half using his magical divine spear, the Vel.

Instead of perishing, the two halves of the transformed demon took new forms out of respect for the deity's power: one half became the magnificent Peacock that Kartikeya claimed as his vehicle, and the other half became a Rooster (Seval) that was placed upon his battle flag.

We see not only the Higher and Lower Ages denoted here but the two sides of the Divine Soul being symbolised as well, they are represented by the Peacock in the Higher Ages, the Rooster in the Lower Ages (hence he is connected to battle). Specifically the Divine Male.

We will delve into the symbol of the Rooster in future posts, however it is important to note in the Lower Ages the Rooster also symbolises the break of dawn, waking the world from the darkness of the Kali Yuga (Iron Age), its crowing symbolizes the destruction of the darkness of ignorance (Agyana) and the arrival of the Light of divine knowledge and the Satya Yuga (Golden Age).

The Hindu Texts relate that when the Seval crows, it announces that the "dark night" of ego, deception, and ignorance has been vanquished by Kartikeya's Vel, paving the way for the "dawn" of enlightment ie: the Satya Yuga/Golden Age.

In Hindu cosmology, every major epoch does not begin abruptly; it is preceded by a Yuga Sandhi (the dawn or twilight period of an age). The Seval Kodi (Rooster Banner) is said to act as a living emblem of this cosmic dawn—the precise moment when the destructive forces are purified and the world is reset into an era of righteousness.

And we will end with this delve into the archetypal symbol of the Peacock with the Myth of Saraswati and the Peacock.

While the Uttara Ramayana details how Peacocks originally received their "thousand eyes" from Lord Indra, the primary myth linking the bird directly to the goddess Saraswati stems from an allegorical assembly of the gods.

According to the legend, Chitramekhala was a bird consumed by its own vanity, constantly obsessed with its vibrant plumage and breathtaking dance. It believed that external beauty was the ultimate form of expression.

One day, Saraswati began playing her Veena (the divine stringed instrument). The cosmic melody was so pure, profound, and universally moving that it completely mesmerised the bird. Listening to the divine music, Chitramekhala experienced a sudden rush of humility; it realised that its external, flashy beauty was superficial compared to the deep, internal, and spiritual beauty of divine knowledge and art.

Surrendering its ego, the Peacock bowed before Saraswati and begged to be near her always to absorb her wisdom. Saraswati accepted the bird, choosing to keep it on her right side as a symbol of the human ego that must be kept in check by knowledge and intellect.

Interestingly the right side of the Kabbalah Tree of Life is Chokmah. In Kabbalah, Chokmah is the conception of "Yesh mi-Ayin", and receives the absolute, unknowable divine will from Keter (God/Creator). It is the seminal spark of pure, raw information however it lacks structure.

Chokmah holds the knowledge as pure, compressed potential, and Binah acts as the process of understanding and analyses the raw data, and gives it structure so it can actually be accessed and understood. However without Chokmah, there is no raw data or knowledge to process.

Saraswati's lesson: When the Light returns and a Divine Soul awakens, it finally understands it's true beauty and greatness has always been within, however to whom much is given, much is also expected.

Please feel free to add any additional confirmations in cross culture mythos that you find to the comments below.

Notice when the Peacock is laying his train down the Divine Man has fallen, note how he is not wearing his divine robes of red however the Divine Female stands next to him in the red dress. You can also see his foot is touching the Chariot Wheel denoting the Cycle of the Ages.

This Hindu Iconography is depicting the Divine Race with the return of the Light, symbolised by the Peacock. The First Born Divine Male is denoted at the foot of the Peacock, Shiva is symbolised by the Serpent in the Hindu Mythos, the Serpent is the archetypal symbol for the First Born Divine Male, as is Shiva.