The Phoenix - Benu in the 33rd Degree

Creation and Renewal

Own Images
and from
Internet

33°
Music

I.·.P.·.H.·. Guillermo Calvo Soriano, 33rd

 The Gray Heron, Ardea cinerea, is recognized for its long
and straight double feather on its head, as well as the plume
of feathers on its neck in most representations. The majestic Wader
Bird was associated with the Flood; standing alone on isolated rocks
or on patches of high ground in the middle of the Waters,
it adequately represents the First Life appearing on the Primitive
Mound that emerged from the Aquatic Chaos of Original Creation.
At the moment when the Nile flooded the Land of Egypt, a wonderful
Bird with its head adorned with a pompadour could be seen.
As the Sun rose, it Risen out of the Primordial Waters,
as it had done on the First Morning of the World. Like the Sun,
the Heron Rose from the Primal Waters.
It was created from Himself in the Primordial Ocean.
 In hieroglyphic writing, it appears in
two different signs: in naturalistic scenes,
standing in a walking or symbolic position,
sitting on its characteristic perch, usually
with Solar connotations, and after Death.
It is the perch that extends from the Waters
of the Abyss. He is the Herald of all things
to come. It opens its beak and breaks
the Silence of the Primal Night with
the call of Life and Destiny,
which “determines what is
and what should not be”.
The Benu, Phoenix, therefore, embodies
The the Original Logos the Word or Declaration
Phoenix of Destiny that mediates between
Benu the Divine Mind and the Created Things.
He is essentially an Aspect of God,
self created, and not a lesser deity.
 The Benu is perched
on the top of a vertical Pyramid,
Benu inside a sign evoking
the Horizon bordered by
the Mountains of the East and the West.
Immortal bird, appeared
on the First Morning of the World,
He evokes the Luminous Abundance
of the Spirit.
 The Glare of the Sun
took the form
of a Sacred Bird,
the Benu.
It perched
on the Sacred Tree,
a Willow, or on
the First Stone
of Creation.
The chosen City is
the City of the Pillar,
“the City of the Sun”
The Benu, is the Sacred Bird of Heliopolis, Symbol of the Sun.
The Sacred Altar was probably the Ben Ben or an Obelisk on which
the Benu, the Soul, rested from the Sun. It indicated the coincidence
of the heliacal rise of Sirius with the first day of the Month of Thoth.
 The Benu was one
of the Primordial Forms
of the High God.
Shu's texts personify
the appearance of Light
and Life outside of Darkness
and Original Chaos as:
“That Breath of Life
that emerged from the Throat
of the Benu bird, Son of RA
in whom Atum appeared
in the Primitive Nothingness,
infinite darkness
and nowhere”.
Benu Bird and God Hapi
 This Mound was probably the origin of the Ben-Ben,
the Sacred Pyramidal or Shell-shaped Stone of Heliopolis
with which the Phoenix was associated, and which was represented
in the hieroglyph of the Perched Heron. This sign was used
as a determinant in the word bahi: “to be flooded”
and in many representations as a Symbol of Renaissance.
His Egyptian Name, Benu,
is related to the verb
“wbn” which means
“to arise”, or “to shine”
“to rise in Brightness”
“The Bright One”.
As a result
of his association
with the environment
and the Rising Sun,
he was regarded
as Lord of the Royal
Jubilee of Rejuvenation Benu
enacted after 30 years
of the Pharaoh's Rule.
 This association
in turn led to the
Greek tradition
of the Phoenix,
Bird that renewed
itself,
from its own ashes,
at regular intervals
many years apart.
Irynefer appears standing in an attitude of respect before a Great
Benu in a Sacred Boat. The Solar connotations are evident in the use
of the Solar Disc on the head of the Heron, and on the stern
of the boat. The Benu is the first and most profound Manifestation
of the “Soul” of the Sun God. Tomb of Irynefer - Dynasty XIX
 Benu

The Benu - Phoenix possesses the Dominion of Time.

It is aware of everything that exists, that is, Eternity and Perpetuity.
Eternity is the Day; Perpetuity, Night.
For Egypt, there were two forms of Eternity:
the first Male and Day, the second Female and Night.
These unite in the Benu.
 Behind all Egyptian speculation is the belief that Time is made up
of recurring cycles that are divinely appointed: the day, the ten-day
week, the month, the year, even more periods of 30, 400,
or 1460 years, determined according to the Conjunctions of the Sun,
the Moon, the Stars and the Flood. In a sense, when the Phoenix
gave the primitive call, he initiated all these Cycles, then he is
the Patron of all the Divisions of Time, and the Temple in Heliopolis
became the Center of the Regulation of the Calendar.
 Benu

Banner
of Osiris

As Herald of each new dispensation, he optimistically becomes

the Herald of Good News. During the Middle Kingdom,
the Benu bird became the “Soul” of Osiris, placing its origin
in the Burst of the Heart of Osiris, which is why it is represented
wearing the Atef Crown, flanked by two feathers of Maat as a Crest.
 Benu

Benu
In astronomical paintings the Heron can represent Dja:
“the Crosser” Name of the Egyptians for the planet Venus,
for the desire for Transformation referred to its changing Phases,
and for being the Morning Star that precedes the Sun outside
the Underworld, and it is the Herald of a New Day.
In other contexts the Bird is also occasionally used
as a Symbol of Upper Egypt.
 Despite these minor roles, however, the Benu bird is still
“The One Who Created Himself”, it is a form of the Supreme God.
In fact, Atum RA, Shu and OSIRIS
find the Bird as the Symbol of Divinity in Time.
 The Egyptians had two ideas about the Origin of Life. The first
was that God arose from the Primitive Waters; the other was
that that Vital Essence -Hike- was brought from a distant and
magical source. The latter was “the Island of Fire”, the place of
Eternal Light beyond the limits of the World, where the gods were
born or resurrected and from where they were sent to the World.
 The Phoenix
is ​the main Messenger of
this inaccessible land of Divinity.
In a Text of the Sarcophagi
the Victorious Soul says:
“I come from the Island of Fire,
filling my Body with Life, like
“that bird that came and filled
the World with that which had
not been known”.
My Purity is Purity
of the Great Benu,
Phoenix Bird that is
in the City of the Field of Peace
Benu in
Tutankhamun's Heart Scarab
 Then the Phoenix came from far away ...
from the World of Eternal Life, carrying the Message of Light
and Life to a World wrapped in the impotence of the Primal Night.

His flight is the width of the World: “Over Oceans, Seas and Rivers,
to Earth, finally, in Heliopolis, the City of the Sun,
the Symbolic Center of the earth where the New Era will
announce”.
 We are told that
“The watchers tremble with joy”
when they contemplate that
it is coming, with the assurance
that Creation is still active
and that the World is not yet
to be reabsorbed into the Abyss.
It is for this reason that Atum
can say, in Chapter 17
of the Going Out Book:
“I am that Great Benu Bird
in Heliopolis, who determines
what is and what is not ...”.

Benu in Heart Scarab

 The Benu brought Joy. He was shouting
Benu to himself everywhere: “The Phoenix
has returned”. He does not live on grains
or herbs but on the tears of the Incense
and the juice of the Amomo.
Benu

The Fertilization Power in its name as the Sacred Bird, Benu,

Renewed Life Force, which lives Beyond Death, is an expression
of the Solar Vital Power, Fertilizing Power, the last form of the Ba. It
is in all the Birth Matrices, which comes from Yesterday,
which comes in the Day. Blood of the Complete Eye, Uadjat.
Benu

In The Book of Going Out to the Day, the Initiate asks the Stars
to make a way for him, because, after having entered
the Underground Dwellings in the form of a Falcon,
he has emerged from them converted into a Benu-Phoenix.
 Benu

“I am the Benu bird, I am the Divine Phoenix Bird, the Ba,

the Soul of Ra, the Soul of the Sun, Guide of the Gods
in the Hereafter, the Duat, the Hidden Chamber
“The Book of Going Out to Day”.
 Benu at the Tomb of Nefertari

Benu Neftys ISIS

The Benu is the “Self-engendering Soul of RA”.

Alchemically it symbolizes the Renaissance by Fire. .
 This Great Symbol,
the most persuasive
in the Egyptian repertoire,
was misunderstood by
the Great Tourist Herodotus
who,
strange to the inner meaning
Benu of the Egyptian Religion,
reduced it
to the level of a Fairy Tale:

“There is another Sacred Bird called the Phoenix. I have never seen
him except in pictures, as he is extremely rare, he only appears,
according to the people of Heliopolis, once every five hundred years,
after the Death of his Father. His plumage is partially Red and
partially Gold, in shape and size it looks very much like an Eagle”.
 Chapel of the Tomb
of Paätenemhe.
Saqqara 133-1307 a. C.

Benu

“The Heliopolitans tell a story about this bird that I personally find
incredible: It is said that the Phoenix comes from Arabia,
carrying the Father bird encased in Myrrh; he arrives at the Temple
of the Sun where he buries the Body. He forms a Ball
as big as he can carry, emptying the ball, inserting his Late Father,
subsequently covering the opening with fresh Myrrh”.
 Benu
Encina

“When he has completed 5 centuries of life, when he feels death

approaching, in the branches of an Holm oak or in the crown
of a trembling palm tree with its claws and its immaculate beak,
a dwelling is built, a Nest”. “He Covers the Nest with Acacias and
with Spikes of soft Spikenard and with pieces of Cinamo and with
yellow Myrrh. A Nest with branches of Cinnamon, incense, and other
rare substances. He lies on top and ends his Life with Perfumes .”
 Benus

Benu

“At noon, when all the World can see him, he places his abode on
the Altar of the Sun. He strips off his feathers, kindles a Fire
and offers himself in Sacrifice. Then, from the father's body,
a little Benu, Phoenix, destined to live as many years, is reborn.
When he has strength and is able to carry a load, he frees from
the weight of the Nest the branches of the high tree and piously
carries his Cradle and Sepulcher of his father and deposits it
in front of the sacred doors of the Temple in the City of the Sun...”
 This is very different from the Hieratic Egyptian Figure
from Chapter 83 of the “Day-Out Book”:
“The Spell to become
in the Benu Bird”.
The Soul declares: “I became as
the Primordial God and assumed
Forms. I grew up in the Seed.
I am the Seed of every God. I am
the Yesterday of the Four Quarters
of the World, and the Seven Uraei
who came into Existence
at Twilight. I am Horus,
the God who gives Light through
his Body ... I come as the Day,
I appear in the Steps of the Gods. I
am Khonsu, the Moon, who
proceeds through the Universe".
Benu
Benu in Heart Scarab

Here the Phoenix

is ​the Principle of Life,
not in any particular way.
It is the constant Divine Power
in All the Supreme
Manifestations of it,
whether natural or mythological.

For the author of the Rubric of this text, the Phoenix

was a Synthesis of the Main Forms of Life, a general Symbol
to include all the particulars. “I am the Hidden Phoenix Bird”.
Wax Molds
 BENU

Phoenix

The Myth was adapted by the Greeks and later by the Romans,
calling it the Phoenix Bird and representing it as the Fire Eagle.
According to Pliny, there is only one Phoenix in the Whole World.
They knew him in the Middle Ages, in Islam, even in China.
 Benu

Honor his predecessor. The Phoenix is ​his own Son,

his Father, his Heir. He himself is other than himself.
Without being begotten by another,
he regenerates through his own Death.
He then takes the Nest to the City of the Sun
and places it on an Altar.
 The Phoenix spoke
to the Sages.
When they heard his voice,
they knew that
the Regeneration of Beings
was near.

We have
to use ourselves thoroughly
so that the Phoenix appears,
so that it speaks to us.
The Phoenix is ​a Guide,
for he opens a new path in Heaven.
Benu of the Temple of Hathor
Denderah
 Benu

The Mystery Stone of the Phoenix is ​the Cornerstone of the Temple.

By becoming a Phoenix, you will learn to recognize it.
You will be able to consciously play your Role of Builder,
you will no longer confuse the badly squared blocks
with the Stone of Light.
 The Christians themselves were
impressed by these strange
phenomena. The Roman Clement
does not cease to be astonished
that the rotting flesh of the
Phoenix is ​a means of Creation…
The great symbolic poem
that the Scribe Lactance
has transmitted says that,
in a place of Bliss in the East,
where the Gate of Eternal
Heaven opens, an abundant
Fountain gushes forth
that waters
the entire surrounding forest
Twelve times a year.

Benu in the Heart Scarab

 OSIRIS SOKARIS BENU

It is there where the Phoenix dwells, Priest of the Forests

and the only Initiate in the Mysteries of the Sun, the Only Being
who survives after being Regenerated by Death.
He marks the Hours with the wonderful Song of him.
At the Age of a Thousand years, he leaves said Sacred Places and,
through inaccessible deserts,
arrives at a Secret Forest where he chooses a tall Palm Tree.
 Phoenix

The Phoenix Bird and the Palm Tree bear the same name
in the Greek language. Our Essene Brothers lived in “the Society
of Palms”, whose secret meaning was the “Community of the
Phoenix”. In our Initiation, this Community is that of The Builders.
 The Phoenix announces a new Golden Age,
to emphasize the moment when the Year dies,
which is immediately reborn, Everything is Renewed ...

BENU ISIS

See the Light a Golden Age.

The Phoenix lives as long as the Stars,
he goes through Centuries always being reborn.
The Golden Age is precisely that : the Faculty of Rebirth.
 Fénix

Benu

The Phoenix was shown when the Fire descended from Heaven
and consummated the Sacrifice of Abel, also embracing the Phoenix
who, three days later, was born again ... King Alexander the Great to
the Phoenix manifested himself above the Tree-Cross.
He is the witness of Fire, he is the witness of spiritual events
that marked the Destiny of Humanity.
And, consequently, that of each one of us.
 Benu

On his departure from Egypt, the

Benu rose above
the Temple of Heliopolis.
And he burned Himself
in the Temple of Jerusalem
Phoenix at the time of the Birth of Christ.
 The Phoenix offers us a solution
to the Problem of Death.
As long as Man faces only
his bodily disappearance,
he remains outside the Temple.
By becoming a Phoenix,
it is possible for you to enter it
and participate
in the Rites of Resurrection.

Is it Dying and Reborn, the Secret of the Phoenix?

The Phoenix, having never been Born, also never dies.
All the Beings of the Universe can see him.
Orpheus and Phoenix in the Catacumba of Marcellinus
 At the moment of the Trial of Fire,
the Builders teach the New Initiate that the Ensemble of Creatures
Past, Present and Future is virtually in him.
Dürer

A Man can Live a similar Initiation on condition that he accepts

the Encounter with the Phoenix, despite the Flames that surround
him, you will be able to Know the Totality of the Human Adventure
if you Die in your “I” to be Born to the True Man.
 The Newborn Phoenix
and his “Father of him”
are One and Same Being.
The first concern
of the New Phoenix is ​to render
Funeral Honors to his Father.
He takes care of his Body
and offers it to the Light,
clearly illustrating
the Transmission of the Spirit
between the Brotherhood
of the Builders
and the New Adept,
identified with the Phoenix
that disappears and resurfaces.
 The following Words are addressed to him:
«Your Old Age perishes and you remain.
Your Eyes have seen Everything that has existed,
All Times have your Looks as Witnesses».
The Phoenix possesses a Secret Quality. He is Androgynous. But it
is no longer a carnal Androgyny. The Phoenix is ​neither Father nor
Mother in this World, because he is Father and Mother in Creation.

God creates in Genesis the Male and Female Man, before dividing
him into “Man” and “Woman”, in Adam and Eve.
Hermes Trismegistos does not express himself differently,
when he teaches us that True Intelligence is Male and Female.
 Every morning, the Phoenix accompanies the Sun
in his race to prevent him from setting our Earth on fire
with too fiery radiation. He tempers its heat and distributes it
according to the needs of each region.
 Thanks to the Fire the Phoenix is ​able to carry out
the Transformations of him. Fire is his true Father.
In an Apocalypse, an Angel makes Prophet Baruch read some
gigantic Golden Letters engraved on the Right Wing of the Phoenix:
«Earth and Heaven do not beget me, but the Wings of Fire».
An Alchemist Brother, Michel Maier, sang the Secret of the Phoenix
and its Fire, a mysterious flame with more powers than Heaven
and Earth: “I am going to sing to Nature and to the properties
of Fire that serve the Phoenix of Bonfire and Cradle, where regain
a New Life. That Fire is not the one that encloses Etna in its deep
chasms or the one that feeds the burning Furnaces of Vesuvius,
or the one that spews Mount Hecla ...”
 Elizabeth I
Queen of England and France
Quenn Christina of Sueden. 1631
1632
Divine Nut
The Phoenix from The Alchemical Tarot by Robert M. Place
 “The Principle of our Fire
is totally different.
It has its Origin in a Mountain,
the highest that exists
on the Face of the Earth,
which does not produce more
than flowers, cinnamon, saffron
and other fragrant herbs.
This Fire is the Source of all Light,
which Illuminates
this vast Universe”

“Mortalis moriar, sed, quo mihi vit a perennis,

Ecinere insurgam Morte redempta mea”.
“I will die mortal, but for my Eternal Life,
I will rise to sound the alarm of my redeemed Death”.
“It is the one that confers warmth
and life to all beings;
it is a permanently living Flame
that is never consumed.
It is this Fire that serves to form
the Bonfire in which our Bird,
who has been the one who has
prepared it, goes to seek
its End and its Death.
Oh, how carefully concealed
this Sacred Fire is kept!”.
“Oh, how perfectly known to the Sages is this Wonderful Flame!
When ignored, everything is ignored.
You who wish to drink from the Fruitful Fountains of Science,
do not allow this Sacred Fire to be Revealed ...”
 It is up to us not to confuse the apparent, material Fire
with the Spiritual and Hidden Fire, which allows us to carry out
the Work. Although it cannot be named or seen, it is everywhere.
To understand the Nature of this Fire is to experience the way
in which the Divine intelligences create the World.
 Christ deemed it necessary
for the World to burn to purify
it of its dregs
and reveal its beauty to us.
According to Santo Tomas,
the Patron of the Architects.
Jesus said: «I have cast Fire on
the World and I keep it Alive until
it burns.
He who is close to me
is close to Fire;
and he who is far from me,
he is far from the Kingdom».
That Kingdom is
the Initiatic Brotherhood
towards which
the Trials lead us ...
 Fire is the one that keeps
the Universe in balance,
the one that makes plants grow
and Men be born.
He is also the Divine Witness in us.
The Initiates would be “Martyrs”,
if you give the word Martyr
its original meaning of Witness.
The Flame of those Martyrs
does not destroy them,
but Rejuvenates them.
It is a Ladder to Heaven.
 The Master of Works uses the Fire recreating the Planes
by which the Celestial Forces build the Cathedral of the Universe.
The Fire produces the “Qualities”. The Fire that Shines
in the depths of our Consciousness determines our own Qualities.
 In the Charterhouse of Dijon
the “Facistol”, the Large Lectern
where the Song Book is placed,
was a Column topped by the Phoenix.
Reign over the Four Evangelists!
The Phoenix is t​ he Fifth Element,
the Celebrated Quintessence
of which Rabelais
and the Alchemists speak…

The Builder Turned into a Phoenix

Receives from the Master Builder
the Meaning of your Transformation:
«When you have seen the Formless
Sacred Fire Shine, leaping
From the Abyss of the Whole World,
“Facistol” of the Cathedral
listen to the Voice of Fire ... »
of Sevilla
Stained glass window of the Phoenix in London's Guildhall Building,
the Town Hall for several centuries.
Today it is the Ceremonial and Administrative Palace
of the City of London.
 The Words themselves contain some Wisdom.
In the Greek “Phoinix”, which has the meaning of «purple»,
«red in the color of Gold», «Intense Luminosity»,
they correspond perfectly with their symbolic colors.
 The Crowned Mercury,
receiving the influences of the Sun
and the Moon,
emanates the Phoenix
within the Symbol of Sulfur.
The Phoenix symbolizes
Sublimated Matter,
the Regenerated Being.
It is the Symbol of Sublimation.
 In the 18th Degree on the walls are represented Allegories
of the Alchemical Nigredo, Albedo and Rubedo,
and a Raven, a Dove and a Phoenix in the Angles of the Triangle.
 The Phoenix, for whom
the Flames are
a Principle of Life,
is the Emblem
of Nature perfected
by the Sacred Fire,
which enjoys limitless Power.
Red is the color of the Phoenix.
The color of the coal
from which the Fire is born
into which the Phoenix
is ​transmuted, is black.
 «De Cavernis Metallorum
Occultus est,
qui Lapis est venerabilis»
«In the Caverns of Metals
the Venerable Stone is Hidden»
«V. I. T. R. I. O. L.»
Hermes Trismegistus

«V. I. T. R. I. O. L.»
A Cosmological Allegory that
embodies
the structure of the Universe
by the action of Time
in the form of a naked Man
with three faces standing
on a Serpent and a Phoenix
Bird in an Oval surrounded
by Symbols of the Zodiac.
1569
Symbolic Astrological Illustrations.
 Banner
of Chap.·. RC.·.

Phoenix
Rose Cross
Shield of the XXV° Degree
«Everything will be Revealed in the Thirty-Third Degree»

A Phoenix with the Number 33 on its chest

Whit a Banner «Ordo ab Chao», and the words
«Everything will be Revealed in the Thirty-Third Degree»
“Tertius et Trigesimus et Sublimissimus Gradus”
“33 and more Sublime Degree” “the Sublime Masonry”.
The word I.·.N.·.R.·.I.·. means the Rebirth of the Phoenix.
Double-headed Phoenix
 I.·.N.·.R.·.I.·.
“Igne Natura Renovatur Integra”
“Nature is entirely renewed
by Fire”.
The Phoenix symbolizes
Sublimated Matter,
the Regenerated Being.
The Rebirth of the Phoenix,
Life Force Renewed,
that lives beyond Death.
The Christ as Phoenix
Ambrose Godfry Chymist 1717 William Bowyer
Moliere Thomas Reynolds
John Brown M.D. Giorgio Baglivi
 The Fire of the Phoenix organizes our Inner World.
Throw Light into Shadow Zones that Reason cannot reach.
In a sudden flash,
the Fire of the Phoenix leads us to the Unity of the Spirit.
 It is from the womb of Fire that the Initiates come out,
who no longer have the Spirit, the Soul and the Body divided.
That is why the Builders reveal during the Ritual:
«One cannot become Fire without resistance, sorrow,
agitation in time; but to be Fire is a timeless Joy
that escapes all determination of Time».
 Aumont, considered the first Templar Grand Master after
the death of Jacques De Molay, is called the «Restorer of the Order»,
he had on his Seal a Phoenix engulfed in Flames,
with the Badge «Ardet ut Vivat» “Burn to Live”
A similar motto «Perit ut Vivat» “Perish to Live”.
Fire Generates Rebirth, Symbolized by the Phoenix.
 Inseparable from the Tree of Life,
the Phoenix is ​the Soul of Light that illuminates the darkness.
This is the reason why the Man who becomes aware of it becomes
Luminous by himself, without any external assistance.
His Eyes radiate a secret glow,
a fiery glow surrounds his head,
his Clarity cleaves the Night.
 We have passed through the Fire.
This step is a Transmutation.
After that, we are no longer the same Men.
We have become “the Same” par excellence,
that we recognize the deep identity that unites all things.
 HAIL BENU – PHOENIX !!!

Priest
Imenemsaouf
worships Benu.
21st Dynasty

Bibliography
- Go Out to the Day Book (Book of the Dead)
- R. Van den Broel, The Myth of the Phoenix according to classical
and early Christian Tradition, Leiden, 1972
- L. Kákosy, Phoeniz, Lexikon der Ägyptologie IV, Wiesbaden, 1982
- G. Hart, Egyptian Myths, London, 1990
- Christian Jaq, Le Voyage Initiatique, Paris, 1996
- British Museum Images, 2019