The Myth of Narcissus: A Mirror For Our Modern Life
Love, Soul, & Guardian Angels
The dove has been a profound religious symbol for thousands of years 🕊️
From goddesses of love to divine spirits, this unassuming bird has been a messenger of love, peace, and the soul. Here's how this symbol has been used, and why the dove is such a deeply ingrained icon in our collective consciousness.
Innocence, beauty, and simplicity. These are the virtues we attribute to the docile, sweet bird that is capable of bonding with humans. The complete opposite of the predatorial hawk and scavenging vulture, the dove has come to be the symbol of peace, love, and purity.
So natural is our association of the dove with these qualities that modern brands have used it to great effect.
Goddesses of love and fertility like Aphrodite (Greek), Ishtar (Babylonian), and Atargatis (Phoenician) had the dove as their symbol.
These birds are monogamous and have a unique courtship ritual, and they have been associated with the mystical eroticism and devotion that bring about fertile unions––in both humans and the cosmos.
This alchemical image depicts a dove descending into dark waters, activating processes that bring high and low together. Here, as in many places, the dove symbolizes the soul.
It is titled Purgatio because Purgatory offers the similar idea of bringing the imperfect human soul into union with the perfection of Heaven. Dante imagines Purgatory as a tall mountain reaching into Heaven––like Jacob's ladder.
Just as the descending dove unites the sky and waters, so the soul climbs Mount Purgatory to unite high and low.
As Noah waited for the primal flood waters to subside, he sent out a dove which returned with an olive branch, a sign of peace and renewal after destruction. Thus, the image of the dove has also become one of glad tidings.
The Babylonian Gilgamesh flood myth also tells of a dove that was sent out over the flood waters. It evokes the image of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters of Chaos in Genesis.
In all these stories, the dove embodies the spirit that both heralds and draws out renewed life from our darkest places.
Speaking of the Spirit of God...
The idea for the dove being a symbol of the soul makes sense of its use for the image of the Holy Spirit.
And just as the alchemical dove unites sky and sea to bring forth transformation, so the Holy Spirit impregnates the Virgin Mary (the feminine waters) with Christ who is both divine (high) and human (low), and who is the figure of transformation himself.
The pattern is repeated at Christ's baptism. When Christ emerged from the river Jordan (watery chaos), the Spirit descended "like a dove" upon him, marking him with God's approval (heaven).
Thus, the baptism of Christ shows us that the life that is approved by God is marked by a death and rebirth into a life aligned with the Spirit.
Doves and their relatives, the pigeons, possess extraordinary navigational skills.
They carried the names of Olympic winners from Athens to other city-states, were aerial messengers in Egypt and China, and have saved thousands of lives in WWI and WWII, often arriving grievously wounded at their destinations.
These experiences contributed to our projections on them as angelic intermediaries and the saving inspiration that arrives at a critical time.
The spirit of the dove is highly relevant and much needed in societal turmoil.
We need the dove to hover over chaos and bring divine inspiration, peace, and renewed life.
Multi-passionate creative and cultural philosopher. I love talking psychology, culture, education, and anything else that deals with living as better people.