The rainbow has a special place in legend because of its lovely beauty and the scientific difficulty in explaining its phenomenon. Many cultures and different religious and spiritual beliefs hold the rainbow in an honored place.
In the Greco-Roman mythology, the rainbow was considered to be a path made by a messenger between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a tear in the sky sealed by different colored threads. Among other legends is the Norse legend of the rainbow Bridge connecting the realms of god and human. And in the Dreamtime of Australian Aboriginal mythology, the rainbow "snake" is the deity governing water and bringing it to the world.
According to Genesis in the Bible, God put the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise to Noah after the flood that He would never flood the world again. At the other end of the spectrum, in the New Age Spiritual and Hindu philosophy, the seven colors of the rainbow represent the seven colors of the body chakras, from red to violet.
Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish scientist, philosopher and theologian, expressed in the 17th century that the radiant light emanated from rainbows equates to the light emitted by people through their good actions, such as telling the truth and expressing wise thought, and thus helping to abolish the darkness caused by negative thoughts and actions, such as doubt, despair and wrongdoing.
One of my favorite legends about the rainbow is the Irish legend of the leprechaun and his secret hiding place for his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Where does the rainbow end? He has hidden his pot of gold very well because we never seem to find it.
One evening just as a spring rain was ending, there was a beautiful rainbow right over our deck which seemed to sink right into the ocean beyond. As I enjoyed its soft brilliance in the evening light, I thought of what rainbows represent to me. They are a beautiful and unique natural phenomenon...and they are a promise of the calm after the rainstorms of life.
In the Greco-Roman mythology, the rainbow was considered to be a path made by a messenger between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a tear in the sky sealed by different colored threads. Among other legends is the Norse legend of the rainbow Bridge connecting the realms of god and human. And in the Dreamtime of Australian Aboriginal mythology, the rainbow "snake" is the deity governing water and bringing it to the world.
According to Genesis in the Bible, God put the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise to Noah after the flood that He would never flood the world again. At the other end of the spectrum, in the New Age Spiritual and Hindu philosophy, the seven colors of the rainbow represent the seven colors of the body chakras, from red to violet.
Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish scientist, philosopher and theologian, expressed in the 17th century that the radiant light emanated from rainbows equates to the light emitted by people through their good actions, such as telling the truth and expressing wise thought, and thus helping to abolish the darkness caused by negative thoughts and actions, such as doubt, despair and wrongdoing.
One of my favorite legends about the rainbow is the Irish legend of the leprechaun and his secret hiding place for his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Where does the rainbow end? He has hidden his pot of gold very well because we never seem to find it.
One evening just as a spring rain was ending, there was a beautiful rainbow right over our deck which seemed to sink right into the ocean beyond. As I enjoyed its soft brilliance in the evening light, I thought of what rainbows represent to me. They are a beautiful and unique natural phenomenon...and they are a promise of the calm after the rainstorms of life.
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