The Salamander is the fire-dwelling elemental creature of classical and medieval European legend: a lizard-like being so cold of nature that it can live in, pass through, and even extinguish fire unharmed, born of and dwelling in the flames — the elemental spirit of fire in the alchemical and occult tradition, and a great symbol of faith enduring the flames and of the soul untouched by the fires of passion. It is the fire-lizard, the elemental of the flame.
The Creature That Lives in Fire
The Salamander of legend takes its name and its kernel of truth from the real amphibian (the spotted fire-salamander), which, hiding in damp logs, would sometimes crawl out when the wood was thrown on the fire — seeming to be born of the flames — and whose cold, moist skin and secretions might briefly resist or quench small flames. From this the classical authors (Aristotle, Pliny) built the legend of a creature so intensely cold that it could not only survive in fire but extinguish it by its very chill, passing unharmed through the flames and even putting them out as ice would.
The Elemental of Fire
In the medieval bestiaries the salamander became a wondrous fireproof beast, often depicted as a lizard or a small dragon amid the flames, and its supposed fire-resistant skin gave rise to the legend of “salamander wool” or cloth that could not burn (in reality, asbestos, which was sometimes called salamander-wool and said to be cleaned by being thrown in the fire). But the salamander’s greatest role came in the alchemical and occult tradition: in the system of the four elements and their elemental spirits (set out by Paracelsus), the Salamander became the elemental being of Fire itself — as the undine is of water, the sylph of air, and the gnome of earth — the very spirit and personification of the flame, dwelling within and embodying fire.
The Symbol of the Flame
The salamander became a rich symbol. As the creature that lives untouched amid the fire, it stood for the righteous soul or the faithful Christian enduring the flames of tribulation, temptation, or even martyrdom without being consumed; for chastity untouched by the fires of lust; and, in alchemy and emblem, for the transformative and purifying power of fire and the spirit that masters it. King Francis I of France took the salamander in flames as his royal emblem, with the motto of nourishing the good fire and extinguishing the bad. Distinct from the [european-dragon] and the [phoenix] (the bird reborn in fire), the salamander is the cold elemental that lives within the flame. In the Salamander, classical and medieval Europe gave form to the fire-dweller — the cold lizard-creature that lives in and quenches the flames, elemental spirit of fire and symbol of the soul untouched by the burning, the elemental of the flame.