Rooster, Cock

The rooster is, of course, a masculine symbol. It is a guardian, representing vigilance and alarm. It watches over, maintains order among, and fertilizes the hens.

It heralds the light and drives away the dangers of the night; it is a solar symbol. Because it is red and associated with light, it is also "fiery." (The color of the rooster in a dream, for example, carries symbolic significance that should be considered—white, black, red, and so forth.)

In the Germanic world, the rooster is an instigator of conflict; it is the animal of Athena, the goddess of war, in Greek mythology, and is associated with combativeness and sexuality.

The rooster is not only a positive symbol but can also carry a sense of foolishness. Proverbs worldwide highlight the rooster's vanity and hot-headed temperament. It is aggressive, pompous, crows loudly but achieves little. The rooster in "The Town Musicians of Bremen" is typical in this regard: all the other animals attack the intruders, while the rooster merely crows.

Characteristic of roosters and chickens is that they are winged creatures yet remain earthbound, and—as Jung notes (Psychology and Religion, par. 361)—still "in need of improvement."

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