A story about dragons

Spiral Reflection: Watch Out For Dragons

 (originally written for a class assignment)

Concrete Experience:

This Spiral Reflection is a second round based on the first reflection I completed at the June 2012 LDM. In that assignment I reflected on a vision I had in a meditation while on a weekend retreat in Naramata BC. It happened in November, the retreat was called “Thinking about Ministry”.

During that meditation we were invited to ‘step into our future’ and see where our ministry path would take us. We visualized a door and after stepping through that door we were asked to look around, talk to anyone present and receive a gift or a message from them before returning to the present.

For me, my door was the door to Bag End, Bilbo Baggins’ house in The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf met me inside Bag End and he handed me a seashell. He told me to “Watch out for Dragons.”

I live a rich symbolic life and to me, all of these things have meaning. Some of the metaphors were very clear to me after the meditation ended. Bag End, in both The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings, is where Bilbo’s and Frodo’s journey begins. It is where they are asked to take on a task they are unsure they are capable of accomplishing. They are reluctant journeyer’s but in the end see that that they have no choice and they go. I can relate to this.

The seashell was a harder symbol for me to understand, at first. It has not been in my personal lexicon of symbols in the past. After some research and talking with people I came to understand that the scallop shell is also a symbol of journey.

The Way of St. James, a major Pilgrimage route in Northern Spain is marked with scallop shells. Pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela often wear a shell on their bag or clothes to mark them as pilgrims.

The warning about dragon’s however left me feeling stumped. What were the dragons; People who would challenge me? Events to overcome? In The Hobbit, Bilbo has to slay the dragon to gain the treasure. What might I need to slay in order to gain my treasure?

That was a large part of my first reflection in June. During the presentation of our reflections at the LDM one of my group members asked the question, “I wonder what your past relationship with dragons has been? What were dragons to you when you were a child?”

Then at lunch that day someone said, “Maybe you are to befriend the dragons and ride them.”

This changed everything.

Reflective Observation:

It actually made me physically uncomfortable to have these thoughts suggested to me. Not because I thought they were wrong, but that they were so very, very right and that frightened me. It is much easier, in my mind, to see the dragons as foes; put up my guard and be ever vigilant to the things or people who may hurt me. While slaying a dragon might be hard; befriending one, taming one and riding it is downright terrifying. I would need to let down my guard and allow myself to be vulnerable; scary stuff. 

And yet this was the truth of it; the uncomfortable, undeniable truth. I remembered during lunch that as a child my invisible friend was a dragon. He lived under the deck and was there to protect me.

When had I forgotten about him? How could I have forgotten him? Could I get him to come back? What would it mean to have a dragon as a friend and protector while on this journey?

Abstract Conceptualization:

It seemed to me that I needed to do a little more research and reading into dragons as friend not foe; I began with biblical research. I quickly learned that dragons in the bible are not friendly creatures.

The Hebrew word ‘Tan’, translated in the Authorized Version [as] Dragon, is always used in the plural and is applied to some creatures inhabiting the desert. The Revised Version translates it always as Jackals. The Hebrew word ‘Tannin’ seems to refer to any great monster of land or sea, usually a serpent or reptile. In the New Testament it is only found in revelation and is applied metaphorically to Satan. (Cruden’s Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testament)

Not a lot of help here.

During my wandering research on the internet I was led from looking up Dragons in the Bible to serpents in the Bible, which invariably leads one to the Serpent in the Garden.

Alternative interpretations on this story suggest that the snake is not the evil creature that it often seen as. Joseph Campbell in “The Power of Myth” says, ‘the snake is the symbol of life throwing off the past and continuing to live.’ (pg.52) He goes on to say, “Life lives by killing and eating itself, casting off death and being reborn, like the moon [like the snake]. This is one of the mysteries that these symbolic, paradoxical forms try to represent... The serpent represents the power of life engaged in the field of time, and of death, yet eternally alive. The world is but its shadow - the falling skin.” (pg.53)

“Formerly you had a dreamtime paradise there in the Garden of Eden - no time, no birth, no death - no life. The serpent, who dies and is reborn, shedding its skin and renewing its life in the lord of the central tree, where time and eternity come together. He is the primary god actually,” writes Campbell. “Yahweh, the one who walks there in the cool of the evening, is just a visitor. The garden is the serpents place.” (pg.54)

“The principal divinity of the people of Canaan was the Goddess, and associated with the Goddess is the serpent. This is the symbol of the mystery of life. The male - god-oriented group rejected it. In other words, there is a historical rejection of the Mother Goddess implied in the story of the Garden of Eden.” (pg. 55)

While this is all fascinating stuff, what does it have to do with me and my story?

I am not just Christian; I am also Pagan. I am continually faced with the challenge of reconciling my own faith in Goddess based traditions and Christianities male centric ones. For me to understand the dragon as friend, not foe, I realized I needed to base it within a faith tradition that also views the dragon as friend.

In Pagan traditions (in fact, in most traditions outside Judaism and Christianity) Dragons and Serpents are symbols of wisdom. Dragons are akin to the Phoenix and renewal through fire and destruction. Serpents shed their skin and are renewed, reborn and dare I say it: resurrected.

This research into dragons and serpents led me to Ouroboros; the image of the serpent eating its own tail. In Norse mythology he is Jormungandr, the monstrous child of the mischievous god Loki. At Ragnarok (Armageddon) Jormungandr, who surrounds the world, will eat himself, crushing the earth as he does, destroying everything.

And yet, it is not necessarily a literal death, but a metaphorical one. A death of old ways, old thinking and an opportunity to begin again. Dragons, in many myths, guard the entrances to caves, tunnels, castles and mountain tops. They are protectors of secret treasures and sacred places. Getting past the dragon is getting through the gate, stepping over the threshold to some place new. When one steps over that threshold to the sacred place they are forever changed. Who they were dies and who they will be is born.

In Hermetic and Gnostic traditions Ouroboros is a symbol of the unity of spirit, soul and body - One the All. It is also the symbol of the never-ending cycle of life, death and rebirth. Ouroboros represents coming full circle.

For me, I grew up going to church, but then I left for awhile. I studied different traditions and took a different path. While on that path I had a vision. A vision that brought me back to the church with new insight and understanding in my faith and the importance of respecting where I have been. I feel that, in that way, I have come full circle.

The image of Ouroboros reminds me of the labyrinth. The spiral inwards to the center, which when you first walk the labyrinth appears to be the goal. Upon reaching the center it quickly becomes clear that, really, you are only halfway there and you have to go back the way you came. The way out is the way in. One can step over the threshold into the sacred, but they also have to return. The end is the beginning. As above, so below. One the All.

One of the biggest criticism I have ever heard about The Lord of the Rings is that the ending of the 3rd book takes too long. After Frodo destroys the ring, there’s all this boring stuff about his return to the Shire and it’s just too long. But that part is vital to the story. Destroying the ring is central to the story yes. It is the centre of the labyrinth and Frodo still needs to walk back out. Being in the center changes you and it takes walking back out for those changes to become a part of you.

We don’t often take the time to reflect on the return journey. By not doing so we lose meaning and understanding. For me I am just beginning my journey, I’m not even sure I’ve left The Shire yet. The dragon is not the goal, it is the journey full circle and Ouroboros serves as a reminder to stay conscious of the whole journey, wherever it takes me.  

My Major Assignment goes further into this as all of the symbols in that vision from Naramata have pointed me towards pilgrimage and the concept of sacred journey. Bag End, the shell and the dragon are all (to me) symbols of a sacred path. As I continue to discern my own path towards ministry I see that I must, in some form, make a pilgrimage.

I believe that the message from Gandalf, wasn’t a warning. It wasn’t “beware of dragons”. It was “be aware of dragons” and the passage through time and space that they represent.

Active Experimentation:

It is up to me now to honour that message and remain mindful of it as I create something new from it.

I have found this part to be the most difficult aspect of the spiral. During the course it was my lowest number. I am a dreamer, not a doer, so this part is challenge to me.

As mentioned previously I am currently working on the major assignment and the concept of sacred journey. I am developing a workshop that I am planning on running in the fall at my church. It will be an exploration of pilgrimage and spiritual practices that accompany it.

I call it Backyard Pilgrimage. It will focus on finding the sacred in everyday places and appreciating that you don’t have to go half way around the world to go on pilgrimage. With the mindset of a pilgrim a walk around the block, or sitting in the backyard will take you where you need to go.

Talking with me science minded husband, he asked the question, “So you have the theory that your meditation means this and you have created the experiment (the workshop) to test your theory, but how will you measure, for lack of a better word, its success? Not the success of the workshop necessarily, but a measure that your interpretation of the meditation correct?”

I honestly don’t know how I’ll know. Okay, that’s not exactly true. I will know. But I don’t have to words to explain how I’ll know. It will likely show up in some symbolic form and possibly when I least expect it. As that appears to be how it works for me.

After the completion of the workshop, it will be important for me to complete another round of the spiral with the workshop itself as the Concrete Experience and revisit my interpretation of all these symbols.

As I mentioned I find this aspect of the spiral the most difficult, especially in this case, because at this time it doesn’t feel like there is a clear conclusion to the ‘experimentation’ and I am unsure how then, to conclude this Spiral Reflection.

And yet, this is where I am at in the spiral and I’ve reached my page limit for writing. So I must conclude. I am looking forward to continuing this work and presenting the workshop in the fall. I am grateful to the education and insight I gained at the June LDM and how much it will benefit me in creating this workshop. Thank you for that.

Gnostic Notes:

1. Meyer, Marvin. 2007. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: Secret Book of John. New York, Harper Collins.

In the Secret Book of John, Jesus is present in the Garden, he says:

“But I [Jesus] was the one who induced them to eat.

I [John] said to the Savior, “Lord, was it not the serpent that instructed Adam to eat?”

The Savior laughed.” (pg.126)

Although not stated, it is implied that it was the Savior who was instrumental in Adam and Eve gaining knowledge of Good and Evil, Live and Death in the Garden. Earlier in the story Jesus says, “I shall teach you what the secret of Life is.” He then describes the Tree of Life as having bitter roots, blossoms of bad ointment and fruit of death. (pg.126

2. Meyer, Marvin. 2007. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Nature of the Rulers. New York, Harper Collins.

                                            

In this Gnostic work a female Spiritual Presence comes in the shape of a serpent, she is referred to as ‘instructor’.

The serpent, the instructor, said, “You will not surely die, for he [Samael] said this to you out of jealously. Rather, your eyes will open and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. (pg. 193)

The name Samael appears earlier in the story as the ruler who breathes into Adams face and gave him a soul.

Bibliography:

• Cruden, Alexander.1963. (Edited C.H. Irwin, A.D. Adams, S.A. Waters)  Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testament. Toronto: G.R Welch Company Limited.
• Campbell, Joseph. 1991 (with Bill Moyers) The Power of Myth. New York: Anchor Books.
• Tolkien, J.R.R. 1995. The Lord of the Rings. London: Harper Collins.
• Tolkien, J.R.R. 1999. The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. London: Harper Collins.

Images:

• Shell Marker: http://www.womentravelblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/camino-de-santiago-130.jpg
• Ouroboros: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros 

Website Research:
Snake/Ouroboros Symbolism: http://haunty.hubpages.com/hub/Snake-Symbolism-and-the-Serpent-Ouroboros
Hermetic/Gnostic: http://www.crystalinks.com/ouroboros.html