"There is often mention, in different traditions, of a mysterious language called "the language of the birds". The expression is clearly a symbolic one since the very importance which is attached to the knowledge of the language - it is considered to be the prerogative of a high initiation - precludes a literal interpretation.
The Qur'an for example says (XXVII, 15): "And Solomon was David's heir and he said: O men, we have been taught the language of the birds, and all favours have been showered upon us". Elsewhere we read of heroes, like Siegfried in the Nordic legend, who understand the language of the birds as soon as they have overcome the dragon, and the symbolism in question may easily be understood from this. Victory over the dragon has, as its immediate consequence, the conquest of immortality which is represented by some object, the approach to which is barred by the dragon, and the conquest of immortality implies, essentially, reintegration at the centre of the human state, that is, at the point where communication is established with the higher states of being.
It is this communication which is represented by the understanding of the language of the birds and, in fact, birds are often taken to symbolise the angels and thus, precisely, the higher states.
That is the significance, in the Gospel parable of the grain of mustard seed, of "the birds of the air" which came to lodge in the branches of the tree - the tree which represents the axis that passes through the centre of each state of being and connects all the states with each other. In the medieval symbol of the Peridexion (a corruption of Paradision) one sees birds on the branches of a tree and a dragon at its foot."
The Qur'an for example says (XXVII, 15): "And Solomon was David's heir and he said: O men, we have been taught the language of the birds, and all favours have been showered upon us". Elsewhere we read of heroes, like Siegfried in the Nordic legend, who understand the language of the birds as soon as they have overcome the dragon, and the symbolism in question may easily be understood from this. Victory over the dragon has, as its immediate consequence, the conquest of immortality which is represented by some object, the approach to which is barred by the dragon, and the conquest of immortality implies, essentially, reintegration at the centre of the human state, that is, at the point where communication is established with the higher states of being.
It is this communication which is represented by the understanding of the language of the birds and, in fact, birds are often taken to symbolise the angels and thus, precisely, the higher states.
That is the significance, in the Gospel parable of the grain of mustard seed, of "the birds of the air" which came to lodge in the branches of the tree - the tree which represents the axis that passes through the centre of each state of being and connects all the states with each other. In the medieval symbol of the Peridexion (a corruption of Paradision) one sees birds on the branches of a tree and a dragon at its foot."
... Fundamental Symbols, Rene Guenon - taken from The Eleventh Hour, Martin Lings
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