The Language of Birds: Alchemical Symbolism Part 3, The Peacock's Tail
In part 2, I described the Nigredo Stage and explored the symbols related to it. The Peacock Stage, Rainbow Stage, or the Peacock's tail isn't considered its own stage, but a subset of the Nigredo stage that happens as it transitions to the Albedo (White) Stage.
The Peacock's Tail is the phase in the alchemical process where many colors appear from the darkness. In the case of physical alchemy, it's the iridescent shimmer that can come from a greasy, black solution, like the rainbow shimmer of a puddle of oil reflecting the sun. It preludes the Albedo Stage, which a lunar stage, so there's an interesting connection that the moon is also illuminated by the reflection of the sun.
The peacock was chosen by alchemists because of it's colorful feathers, of course, but that's not the only reason. Peacocks will fight and eat poisonous snakes. So, in the case of alchemy, the peacock is turning deadly poison (a representation of the Nigredo Stage), and turning it into the beautiful Rainbow colors of its tail. Another well-known instance where a colorful array comes after death is found in the Hebrew Bible, when the rainbow appears to Noah after the great flood that wiped out humanity.
The peacock is also significant as it appears in Greek mythology, a source for many alchemical symbols, in the story of the goddess Hera and the many-eyed giant Argus. In the tale, Hera's philandering husband Zeus fell in love with Io. He turned his mistress into a white cow and shrouded the earth with clouds in order to hide her from Hera. Hera discovered the cow, and in her suspicion asked Zeus to give it to her as a gift, and recruited Argus to watch over the cow.
Zeus, unable to stand being away from his now cow lover Io, recruited Hermes to kill Argus. Hermes appeared to Argus as a peasant who played music on a flute. When the flute music didn't put Argus to sleep, Hermes resorted to telling boring stories for hours until every one of Argus' one hundred eyes closed in slumber. Once Argus was asleep, Hermes killed the giant and set Io free. As a punishment to Io, Hera plagued Io with gadflies that drove her to madness. As a tribute to her fallen watchman Argus, Hera gave his eyes to the colorful Peacock, her favorite bird.
So what can we take from this story in relation to alchemy? First, Hermes is also known as Mercury, a physical ingredient commonly used in alchemy and a planetary symbol that represents transcendence of death, and when appearing in alchemical art with a dot in the middle, it represents The Philosopher's Stone. Argus is guarding the white cow, which corresponds to The Albedo (White) Stage. In order to reach that stage, the alchemist must channel Hermes to kill Argus (death, The Nigredo Stage), and once killing Argus, his eyes will transfer to the Peacock who will reveal themself with many colors.
There is more to ponder about the myth of Argus and the alchemical process, but I'll leave the rest up to your deduction and imagination so that this article doesn't go on and on. I hope you enjoyed part 3 of the series. In part 4, we'll be exploring the symbolism behind The Albedo (White) Stage.
