God was talking to me yesterday morning—I have the most interesting conversations with Him—He was speaking of dragons. In the East dragons are seen as powerful portents of good luck. However, in the West dragons are pictured as greedy, hold up in the base of mountains jealously guarding their gold—both in East and West dragons are generally thought of being snake-like with the ability to fly. These polar-opposite associations of good and bad dragons in the East and the West reflect the changing imagery of snakes from the Old to the New Testaments.
In the Old Testament the snake is subtle and a source of temptation; the cause of the fall of mankind and the eviction of man and woman from the Garden of Eden. The dragon in the West is greedy, sitting alone on a pile of gold and if anyone challenges his riches he defends his keep with angry fire. Symbolically this snake-dragon of the West represents the lower forces in man: greed, lust and wrath. The dragon does nothing productive with his gold but only miserly sits on it. His fire is an aggressively destructive response to his greed. There is nothing good, nothing redeeming about this dragon.
St. George subdues his dragon; he does not kill it but is pictured with his spear projecting up from the mouth of the dragon. This has important meaning. St. George has mastered the lower forces of lust, greed and anger; the spear represents the spine and the lower energies are channeled upward to the higher centers. In the New Testament Jesus refers to the serpent as wise and that it must be lifted up, even as Moses did in the wilderness (John 3-14)—St. George has accomplished this difficult task.
In the East the dragon is in the positive, elevated state with the power to give boons to the deserving supplicant. The dragon’s ability to fly means it has uplifting power, and it has mastery over water, which symbolizes consciousness. We see the dragon in festive array during New Year celebrations being paraded down the street with the idea of bringing good luck for the new year.
However, once we understand the symbolic meaning of the dragon, we know it is not a mythical being to pray to or petition for good things but represents an active power inside of us that can act for good or for ill, depending upon how we direct our thoughts and life-energy. With pure intention we focus on lifting this powerful force up the spine—raising us into realms divine. What an opportunity we have in this lifetime to not simply grovel deep in the base of the mountain, sitting in the dark full of greed, lust and anger, but that we might take wing and fly amongst angelic stars of heavenly consciousness in the bliss of our heavenly kingdom.
I bow to the Divine Mind that has so taught me about these universal symbols—unfolding their meaning so that we might all learn to soar.
Travel Note: We are currently encamped near Moab, next to the Colorado River with over a hundred feet of a sheer wall of red stone rising out of the other side of the river. The days sunny, the nights cool. We will explore Arches National Park, Canyonlands, and nearby is Red Rock canyons where most of John Wayne movies were filmed, along with Indiana Jones and many other movies. Three years ago we were here and it was discovered that I was bleeding internally, so anemic the doctor wondered how I managed to walk in the door of the emergency room—not carried in! It was the beginning of quite a medical journey. It is interesting to note I have only positive associations with Moab, the medical past seems to be another lifetime ago now. Perhaps the dragon found me worthy and has blessed me. Surely, we are blessed by the Infinite, both within and without.