The falcon represents vision, freedom, and victory. Hence, it also connotes salvation to those who are in bondage whether moral, emotional, or spiritual.
In Christian symbolism, the wild falcon represents the unconverted, materialistic soul and its sinful thoughts and deeds. The tamed bird symbolizes the Christian convert pursuing his lofty thoughts, hopes, and aspirations with courage. Uuu In Egyptian hieroglyphs the falcon glyph was used in words and phrases such as "god," "pharaoh," "greatness," "year," "sovereign," "star," "hour," "prayer," "land," and "world." It was associated with the deity of the sky, of kingship and of the sun, Horus, who was depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon's head. In early dynasties, the king’s ascension was known as the “Flight of the Falcon”. The Eye of Horus, the Egyptian symbol for the Sun, depicts a stylized falcon's eye and face markings. It signified royal power and protection from danger, evil, and ill health. A human-headed falcon served as a symbol of the human soul on its flight from this world to the afterlife. Similarly, the crossed arms of Egyptian mummies were intended to symbolize the folded wings of a falcon at rest.
The sport of hunting with falcons was associated with nobility in Europe, Japan, and China, where falcons symbolized keen vision, boldness, and power.
The falcon was seen as the bird of Princes, the gyrfalcon the bird of Kings, and the eagle the bird of Emperors. At the funerals of Roman Emperors, a golden eagle was released to carry the departed Emperor's soul to the Gods, as a falcon was at the funerals of Pharoahs. This illustrates the ancient view of raptors as intermediaries between the divine and eternal heavens and the mortal earth, as does the eagle's role as the supplier of Zeus' thunderbolts and hence the instruments of his will on Earth.
In astrology, falcons with the other birds of prey are symbolized by Jupiter (and Uranus) in their spiritual ascension and freedom, by the Sun in their majesty and vision, and by Mars in their boldness and courage.
Further, falcons are represented by the constellation Aquila, as are all raptors. This constellation is said to confer the qualities of boldness, ambition, courage, liberty, generosity, penetrating vision and a noble spirit, along with a gift for martial arts and the fabrication of weapons. This contrasts with a vulnerability to and enmity toward reptiles and their symbolic qualities of deceitfulness, underhandedness (venom), vindictiveness and baseness of spirit. Reflecting this opposition, the battling eagle and serpent has been a motif from ancient times, common to Western, Eastern and New World civilization. See: classical Roman statuary, the ancient coat of arms of Mexico and the Garuda emblems of Indonesia, Thailand and Ulan Bator. The dichotomy can also be seen in the eagle and the rattlesnake competing to be symbols of the Revolutionary United States in the 18th century.
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