My first encounter with this mythical creature was seeing a photo of a carved marble panel from the 10th century in Istanbul, Turkey. It was very appealing, so I painted it. Research on the web said that its origin was Persian, and that it was a benevolent flying creature with the head of a dog, claws of a lion and tail of a peacock. It was described as “unambiguously female” and that it nurtures its young, purifies the land and waters and bestows fertility. The Simurgh nests in the Tree of Life and is a mediator/messenger between earth and sky.

The other beings are my own.

See also: Creatures of Air, Buraq, Lilith and the Simurgh and Dancing with the Simurgh