Red Rose Dragon by Meilin Wong
There is no doubt that each and everyone of you that read this are familiar with the enormous bloodthirsty creatures that appear in fairy tales guarding vast hordes of treasure or holding distressed damsels prisoners in high towers and end up slain by a heroic figure, such as St George in the tale of George and the Dragon or the death of Icingdeath at the hands of Wulfgar and Drizzt Do'Urden in R.A. Salvator's Icewind Dale trilogy. These dragons are just cataylsts in the stories and in their deaths add to the Hero's valour and renown. A true dragon is nothing like these beasts of fairy tales, they are something entirely different.
Many cultures across the the globe have stories of dragons in one shape or another. Some of these dragons are depicted as huge wingless serpents while others are more like the traditional picture, we in the western world have of dragons: large heavy bodied beasts with a pair of wings. Dragons are shown to have two legs, or even no legs at all. Some dragons had arrowhead tipped tails, others have spiked club like shapes on the end of their's. Some dragons possed horns of some sort while others possed feathery moth-like antennae. However, no matter what form the dragons assume they have appeared in countless folk stories, regardless of the description attatched to it. The human race has a subconscious knowledge of the dragon and the powers that it posses that so-called civilisation and much of today's society cannot remove.
So what exactly are dragons? Are they real or just figments of our imagination. In the western world our word for dragon comes from the Latin word Draco and the Greek word Drakon. The word Drakon comes from a verb meaning 'to see', 'to look at' or even possibly from 'to flash'. Either way in most legends dragons spend most of their time watching, be it watching treasure, territory or the supposedly imprisoned maidens. The word "Dragon" is used in many fields, fields as diverse as astrology, alchemy, magick, heraldry, horticulture and the study of dreams to name but a few. Ever since the time humans could first record things dragons have been mentioned in some way or another.
In astronomy the constellation of Draco is in the northern heavens and curves a winding pattern between Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and Ursa Minor (The little Bear)ends in a trapezium of stars forming the dragon's head. Up in the northern heavens there is also a bright double star called Draconis, it is thought that this star was once the polestar to which the pyramid of Cheops was alighned. Turning now to astrology in times gone by astrologers called the north node of the Moon, Caput Draconis meaning the head of the dragon and named the south node Cauda Draconis meaning the tail of the dragon. These nodes are points which relate to the Moon's orbit to the actual Earth's orbit around the sun. In astrology the Caput Draconis symbolises intake and positivie aspects and Cauda Draconic symbolises release and negative aspects. these nodes are still considered to be important among today's astrologers.
Everywhere the legged dragon is assosiated with creation or life giving. Throughout the globe the Goddess or Great Mother is connected with serpents, dragons and spirals. As a great whale-dragon, the goddess Ishtar brought about the catastrophic flood which made it possible for a new order of humans to develope. The goddess Tiamat of Mesopotamia was the mother-creator-dragon whose body was shaped into the Earth and heavens. Worldwide, dragons and serpents are symbolic of the energy source of life, healing, fertility, oracular powers and maternal blessing.
The dragon became a symbol of evil and the Christian devil only after the church gained power. In an attempt to crush the ancient beliefs of Pagans, the Christians spread their propaganda of their devil, calling him the Dragon. By instilling deep fears, particularly of eternal punishments, the priests and church leaders managed to grasp control of rulers and governments. By becoming the controlling force behind governments, the church could control the people themselves, either by making their own Christian religious belief the state religion or by influencing the laws that were passed. Even then, though, there were truely individualistic people who refused to give up what they knew to be, for them, true spiritual paths. These Pagan people had to go underground, living in fear of persecution and death, for many centuries until they were once again granted the freedom to follow their ancient ways and freely speak of contacting the powerful astral entities who aided them. Even in these times of persecution the dragon did not fade away from sight. In European and Asiatic countries, China in particular, the dragon's image remained alive in stories. In Europe many families used the dragon in their coat of arms, families such as Drake and de Dragon, even the Prince of Wales has a red and gold dragon in his coat of arms.
These days true practical dragon magick and power are an almost forgotten art in the world of magick. Generally speaking it is only practioners and believers in the Faerie Tradition speak about the existence and validity of dragons. Very few know about the joy, companionship and spiritual knowledge that comes from working and dancing with dragons. It takes co-operation and great self-discipline to reach into another plane of existance and contact a dragon as a co-spell weaver. These dragons inhabit the astral plane of existence which co-exists with and interpenetrates this material plane. Astral beings are as real as we are, they just have a body that vibrates as a different rate compared to physical matter. Dragons can be everywhere and anywhere, who knows there may even be one reading over your should and you don't even know it.
Home