ah, unfortunately I hadn’t thought people would make that link; the (untrue) belief that pelicans fed their chicks on their own blood by injuring themselves with their beaks is a very ancient myth and was in common circulation in Europe during medieval times, which eventually ended up with people linking it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the religion became more dominant; consequently the imagery has been used by Christians but the myth, as far as I am aware, actually predates that association by a long way and is a common motif in many arcane scriptures, alchemy amongst them. TPoH draws on a lot of esoteric practices and has hidden ‘extras’ throughout, particularly to do with alchemy and tarot, but religious subtext isn’t my jam- I’m not against religions, but I’m very neutral on the subject and not massively interested or educated in them, so incorporating one in my story was never an aim (I’m not exactly qualified to do so…)

If you interpret it that way that’s cool, but that’s your own affair; it wasn’t put in on purpose! The story is just a wild creature that came out of nowhere, so there are no intentional parallels to any religions.