The Salamander is a legendary beast who seems to have two identities, there are ordinary salamanders that are quite normal (for lizards) and then there are the mythical salamanders that erupt into flame, there is a long list of accounts of fire salamanders on wikipedia, but one of my favorites is by Leonardo da Vinci who wrote this about the salamander:
"This has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin. The salamander, which renews its scaly skin in the fire,—for virtue."
Today I made a piece of jewelery with wire and beads to represent the salamander:
A phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit it has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.
