The Symbolism of the Unicorn
and the Constellation Monoceros
Introduction
A unicorn is a mythical animal typically represented
as a horse with a single straight but spiralling horn
projecting from its forehead.
By extension, the word unicorn has gone on to name
"a person or thing that is rare and highly valued".
"The Rise of the Unicorn" - Cassel's Magazine
There was a time - not so long ago - when the existence of the unicorn
was as implicitly believed in as the camel
or any other animal not seen in these latitudes;
the translators of the Bible set their seal upon the legend
by translating the Hebrew word re'em as "unicorn".
Thus the worthy Thomas Fuller came to consider the existence
of the unicorn clearly proved by the mention of it in Scripture! ...
It is said to be a "feminine symbol".
And was often seen with Virgins and High Priestesses
[see our video The Symbolism of Virgo, Virgins
and the High Priestess in the Tarot].
Symbolically it combines the symbolism of the Horse -
[see our video The Symbolism of the Horse]
and thus a means of ecstatic transport
with that of a single horn [see our video The Symbolism of Horns].
The horn is a symbol of having had your crown chakra opened.
And as the horn spirals there are links
with the kundalini experience.
In effect this person is a very competent enlightened being,
able to make Initiates into Adepts.
And these are the Arunta people of Australia
preparing a corroboree
and showing they are all enlightened.
Unicorn flight - the path of the female shaman
Hiah Park is a Korean shaman (mudang). A form of High Priestess.
This is an extract from the account of her Initiatory experience
recorded in "An Interview with Hiah Park,
Lover of the Mountain God".
By Lauren W. Deutsch, First published Kyoto Journal 1993.
In one of my unforgettable dream journeys,
a white unicorn with wings took me through the Milky Way
to an incredible, infinite space of deep, jet-dark indigo.
In that place, I heard a deep and resonant voice ask me:
"How are the people down there?"
I still remember clearly the conversation with that invisible voice
and the ecstatic feeling I had.
Then the voice told me I had to go back to teach the people love.
I felt boundless joy and, at the same time,
sadness that I had to go back.
Without any sense of waking up from a dream,
I found myself in my room.
For a while, I was obsessed by this visionary dream
and felt very connected with that other reality.
Although I couldn't understand it, the other space was so clear
that I now felt as if my waking state was the dream.
Coats of Arms and lions
Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Coat of Arms
has a Unicorn chained by its crown opposing a Lion
[see our video Symbolism of the Lion].
The Lion is symbolically "male", a solar animal
and represents the Intellect, and,
at its worst, ego and unrestrained power.
The Unicorn is symbolically "female" and in this context
is the source of wisdom and intuitive understanding
as opposed to intellect.
And this is why many coats of arms combine
the Lion and the Unicorn.
As those in power need to place the Unicorn,
tamed and managed, in the service of the State.
As such this Nursery rhyme is all about this
- the Lion and the Unicorn.
Traditional Nursery Rhymes collected by Michael Foss
The Lion and the Unicorn Were fighting for the Crown
The Lion beat the Unicorn All around the town
Some gave them White Bread And some gave them Brown
Some gave them Plum Cake
And drummed them out of town
The Constellation
We have often seen that important concepts or symbols
were often placed as constellations in the sky,
so that the ideas could be taught to those
who could neither read nor write.
And indeed the Unicorn has its own constellation
- called Monoceros. Its name is Greek for unicorn.
Monoceros is a faint constellation on the celestial equator.
Despite being faint, it has a triple star system,
which William Herschel described
as "one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens".
In Western astronomy, Monoceros is said to be
"a relatively modern constellation".
Its first certain appearance was on a globe created
by the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius in 1612 or 1613.
But the Constellation may be much older.
Joseph Scaliger, for example, claimed to have found Monoceros
on an ancient Persian sphere.
And French astronomer Camille Flammarion believed
that a former constellation, Neper, occupied the area of the sky
now home to Monoceros and Microscopium.
Coffin Text II.95 refers to Neper as the god
"living after he has died" and might be why the Unicorn
is also linked to Rebirth and Resurrection.
Unicorn depictions
A "Unicorn-like" creature was depicted in seals
from the Indus valley civilisation from c. 3300 - c. 1300 BCE.
And rhino bones have been found at Harappan sites
[see our video on the Symbolism of the Rhino].
But these images do not conform to the definition,
nor do they conform to the image found in Persepolis,
where a "horse" [or cow] with wings
[indicating divinity] and a horn is shown.
Persepolis was the capital of the Persian empire of Darius.
An Empire that included Mesopotamia and Babylonia.
Rather indicating that the Persian Empire
was the source of the Unicorn as we know it.
And here on a wall in Persepolis, the Lion attacks the "Unicorn".
But by the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 1,000 years later,
the Unicorn was described as an
"extremely wild woodland creature,
a symbol of purity and grace,
which could be captured only by a virgin",
which rather added to its mystique,
but did not help in understanding the symbolism.
Until one remembers that High Priestesses were "virgins"
who helped Initiates become Adepts
by leading them through the process of Rebirth
- symbolic "death" and Resurrection.
The Unicorn Tapestries
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,
USA has a set of tapestries, in The Cloisters,
that depict "the hunt of the unicorn".
The Unicorn Tapestries, as the group of seven is known,
were probably designed in Paris but woven in Brussels.
They are first documented in 1680, when they hung
in the Paris home of François VI de La Rochefoucauld.
By 1728 five of them decorated a bedroom
at the family's château in Verteuil, in western France.
The tapestries were looted during the French Revolution,
but were recovered in the 1850s; and restored
John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought the Tapestries in 1922
for about one million US dollars. Six of the tapestries hung
in Rockefeller's house until The Cloisters was built.
He then donated them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1938
and at the same time secured for the collection
the two fragments the La Rochefauld family had retained.
The Hunters Enter the Woods
A wood rather than a Forest is used meaning
that the emphasis is on Sacred Woods and Nature.
This is reflected in the beauty of the scene,
blossoming trees and 101 species of plants represented.
The "lush date palm in front of the sniffing hound"
is itself a symbol of enlightenment.
The Unicorn is found
In this tapestry the unicorn kneels before a tall white fountain
[see our video on the Symbolism of the Fountain].
Twelve hunters - some peasants and some nobility
- surround their quarry. A stag looks on unperturbed.
Only two have feathers in their caps
and only one gives the finger pointing sign.
The Unicorn is "attacked"
The Unicorn is driven over the Stream,
using the sound of hunting horns. Notice that no dogs attack.
Three men have lowered their spears,
but no spear touches the animal.
The postures are more those who wish to herd the animal not hurt it.
But the animal has received a tiny wound on its back.
The faces of the dogs display deep affection, not aggression.
The Unicorn defends himself
The number of hunters reduces to nine
and only one plumed hunter remains looking on sadly.
The terrified Unicorn reacts by kicking out
and attacking a greyhound before him,
almost tearing the dog's body apart.
It appears the Unicorn cannot be taken this way.
The Unicorn surrenders to a Maiden
In these two fragments of a single tapestry,
the unicorn appears to have been tamed.
He seems oblivious to the hunter blowing his horn
outside the rose covered enclosure
[see the video Symbolism of Roses].
Most of the standing figure is present, and her face is clear
and somewhat sinister. Is this really a trap?
But the missing tapestry [the result of damage incurred
after the tapestries were looted in 1793] shows a hand
gently caressing the mane, and an arm. And the Unicorn
is looking with love in the direction of this other person.
The Unicorn is killed and brought to the castle
Two episodes of the hunt narrative are brought together in this hanging.
At left, two hunters drive their lances
into the neck and chest of the unicorn,
as a third delivers the coup de grâce from the back.
At right the Unicorn's dead body hangs over a horse.
Its horn has been removed
and is held in the left hand of the man with the purple jerkin.
All the people in the picture now are "commoners" except for
the wealthy organisers of the hunt who receive the body impassively.
There are no feathers, just a very wealthy couple who have killed
[analogously], "the goose that could have laid them a golden egg".
Directly behind them is their castle. We can see the people
they have silenced behind bars or imprisoned on the tower.
But in the distance, the palace is still there, just visible,
a shining white beacon of what could have been.
The Unicorn in Captivity
But the final tapestry ends in hope. The unicorn is not really dead.
It may be tethered to a tree and constrained by a fence
in a flower filled meadow
but the chain is not secure and the fence is low enough to leap over:
The unicorn could escape if he wished.
And his horn has regrown to a much bigger size.
He is just biding his time.
His wait furthermore has been a happy one, to which the ripe,
seed-laden pomegranates in the tree testify.
The red stains on his flank are not blood,
they are juice dripping from bursting pomegranates above.
And the garden he is in is not confined as before,
it is full of beautiful plants such as wild orchid, bistort, and thistle,
indicating the idea he represents will spread and grow.
Cassells
the unicorn, seeking rescue from the force of the hunter,
yieldeth his head and leaveth all his fierceness, and
resteth himself under the virgin's protection,
... But although many were reported to be thus enticed
... only their horns, strange to say, ever reached Europe.
There is one [it is said] in King Edward's collection
at Buckingham Palace.