Also called Benu, the Phoenix (in Greek writers), Ba of Ra.
The tale
The bennu was a great heron who, at the first dawn, alighted on the benben stone, the first hill to rise from the waters of chaos, and cried out, beginning time itself. It was linked to the rising sun and honoured at Heliopolis as the soul of Ra. The Book of the Dead includes a spell for the dead to become the bennu, so they too could rise with the sun. The Greek historian Herodotus heard of it as the phoenix, which came every five hundred years carrying its dead father in an egg of myrrh, and later writers added the fiery rebirth.
When they are met
- sunrise
- the new year
- after a loss or ending
Staying on their good side
- incense, especially myrrh or frankincense
- water poured at dawn
- a new start
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Rise early once and watch the sun come up, welcoming a new beginning.
- Burn a little incense for new starts after a hard time.
- Read spell 83 of the Book of the Dead, for transforming into a bennu.
- Keep a heron feather image or picture as a symbol of renewal.
What their tales teach
- renewal after loss
- new beginnings
- hope
- the cycles of life
Symbols
- a grey heron with a double crest
- the benben stone
- the persea tree
- the rising sun
From Egyptian funerary texts and temple lore; the burning phoenix is a later Greek and Roman legend.
More Egyptian folklore
- Ammit The Devourer at the scales of judgement
- Apep The serpent of chaos who swallows the sun
- The Akh The shining spirits of the blessed dead
- The Serpent of the Island The golden serpent of the phantom isle
- Djedi The hundred-and-ten-year-old magician