PURPLE FROG

The Olmec tribes created images of a frog god of rebirth, eating its own skin. It is reborn by consuming itself, caught in a cycle of death and rebirth, like people, and like the natural world itself. In many ancient Chinese tales and legends, the frog is a trickster and a magician, a master of escapes and spells. But he is also the keeper of the real, powerful secrets of the world, such as the secret of immortality. Many legends involve a wandering wise man called Liu Hai and his three-legged frog companion Ch'an Chu. The frog knows the secret of eternal life, and for his friendship reveals the secret to the wise man. In Japan a similar legend involves the Gama-Sennin, also known as Kosensei, a wise old man with a hunched body and a warty face. Kosensei wanders the land with his frog companion, who teaches him the secret powers of herbs, including the secret of immortality. Interestingly, many of these Asian tales refer to the secret of immortality as a fungus growing from the toad's forehead. It has been suggested that this may be a link to the many shamanistic traditions of the Americas, where hallucinogenic compounds derived from frogs are used for religious rituals of communion with the spirit world and self-transcendence. It’s not all good, with the Catholic Church denouncing frogs as the epitome of evil in the Middle Ages, hence my purple frog. What better way to mitigate the evil than to dress the frog in the colour of a Catholic Bishop. It may not cleanse the frog in Catholic eyes but it appeals to my sense of humour. Hence, the purple frog was born out of adversity and into the magic that it has for me. Why magic? Because there is also the ultimate transformation from frog to Prince. A fairy tale in many cultures, it is also seen as a symbol of the power of belief in one’s dreams. If we all believe in fairy tales and accept that transformation may be necessary to achieve those fairy tales then anything becomes possible. Frogs have inhabited this Earth for far longer than mere humans and will exist long after we are extinct. Their ability to adapt and transform, their mystical powers and their representation of the attainment of the impossible make them a magical icon. Believe in the power of the frog. Believe in the purple frog.