Appreciate A Dragon Day! January 16 2015
How wonderful to have such a day in our lives! Dragons are much neglected beings in our world! Even after seeing Smaug in the recent Hobbit movies, it’s hard to sympathize with the dragon. Awe might be possible but hardly appreciation!
“Puff” the magic dragon of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame, had a better chance at appreciation, even compassion! But no one really thought much about who Puff was, really. And he slipped away to never be seen again. Dragons are more mercurial than this and mostly manifest in less cuddly ways
Dragons are real, very real, and they come to help us to be better people. Dragons are not only mythic beings but live inside of us and are expressed in pictures that characterize properly the magnitude and uncontrollable reality of their essence. We all have dragons in us. These nourished by fear and hatred, They remain hidden and sleeping for long periods of time, but, violate their territory and they awaken in a ferocious display of angry protectiveness and fiery out-lashings.
In Medieval paintings and sculptures, this is portrayed vividly. In one cathedral’s sculpture a knight is half-swallowed by a dragon and his hopes look very dim! Michael the Archangel is depicted as slaying the Dragon. His sword of light often goes through the mouth of the Dragon. Speech is the tool of the Dragon which makes the impeccable British articulation of Benedict Cumberbatch simply perfect for the voice of Smaug in the Hobbit movies. It is with speech – words – that the inner Dragons tear us down, erode our confidence, convince us to give in because we are not worth standing up to resist!
To stand against our Dragons and to resist ever letting them out to do damage is a work of mighty effort and great ennobling merit. Without Dragons, we could not seek a better way, a less burning and destructive way. Dragons help to muster inner strength, careful discipline, discernment and uprightness.
In Donald Samson’s Award winning Dragon Boy trilogy, (Waldorf Publications, 2007) the Star, the “Luck Dragon,” trains his keeper, a young boy, to fight for the right. He not only expects the boy to protect him, the Dragon, he wishes for the boy to know who he is and learn the craft of upright self-protection for the good of everyone, including the Dragon. Later on in the series, we see the dark side of the Dragon and the beast’s yearning to be redeemed. It’s a beautiful story with true pictures for the young to understand easily the meaning behind our Dragons.
Michael the Archangel instructs us to find our own courage as he does and tame or slay the outer expression of inner Dragons: right speech, overcoming gear, casting aside doubt, resisting the urge to hate another. Once we practice these things, Michael’s strength comes up behind to enhance our own. Without our own, he cannot help. Without our Dragons we cannot find that inner resolve, courage and strength. Thanks to Dragons, we strive, we conquer our lower selves, we find our inner hero!
