The Rosicrucian Symbolic Pelican Feeds Spiritual Wisdom to its Brood Pillow

The pelican feeding its young from a self-inflicted wound of its own breast is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both sacrifice and resurrection. To the Christian mystic the pelican signifies Christ, who saved humanity (the baby birds) through the sacrifice of His own blood. In the Mysteries the pelican may also be considered as representative of the sun, who rays (blood) are the life of the seven philosophical planets depicted as the pelican’s brood, and the pelican represents the resurrection of the candidate from the dead. The mother bird signifies those divine institutions which possess the secret doctrine which is the spiritual life of man.