posted April 28, 2006 06:56 AM         

Thanks Happy Dragon!!!!

posted April 28, 2006 07:00 AM         

A complex and universal symbol. The dragon, the winged serpent', combines the serpent and the bird as matter and spirit. Originally it was wholly beneficent as the manifestation of the life-giving waters (serpent) and the breath of life (the bird), and was idenified with sky gods and their earthly delegates: emperors and kings. Later it became ambivalent as both the fertilizing rains, following thunder, and the destructive forses of lightning and flood. Generally the dragon, in the Orient, is a beneficent, celestial power while, in the Occident, it becomes chthonic, destructive and evil. It can be solar or lunar, male or female, good or evil. In the far East it symbolizes supernatural power; wisdom; strength; hidden knowledge; the power of the life given waters; it is the emblem of the Emperor as sun of heaven and, following him, the wise and noble man. The monotheisic religions depict the dragon as evil, except in isolated instances, when it can be the Logos, the vivfying spirit, or omnipotent divinity, the Pleroma. The DRAGON and SERPENT (q.v.) are usually interchangeable in symbolism as representing the unmanifest; the undifferentiated; chaos; the latent; untamed nature; also then life-giving element of water. Its hurling of the thunderbolt or striking by lightning, is the change from the unmanifest to the manifest-creation, form, matter. Here also the dragon can be two-sided, either as a rain god or an enemy of the rain god, preventing rain from falling. It is associated with the sea, the great deeps, also the mountain tops and clouds ana with the solar eastern relions.
Dragon, as monsters, are autochthonuos 'masters of the ground', against which heroes, conquerors and creators must fight for mastery or occupation of the land; they are also guardians of the teasures and of the portals of esoteric knowledge. The struggle with the dragon symbolizes the difficulties to be overcome in gaining the treasures of inner knowledge. Killing the dragon is the conflict between light and darkness, the slaying of the destructive forces of evil, or man overcoming his own dark nature and attaining self-mastery. Rescuing the maiden from the dragon is the releasing of pure forces after killing evil powers. The dragon is often the opponent of the dying god. Alchemic: The winged dragon depicts the 'volatile'; without wings it is the 'fixed'. In Chinese alchemy the dragon is mercury, the blood and the semen. Celtic: Sovereignty; a chief. The Red Dragon is the emblem of Wales. Chinese(Taoist, Buddist): The Dragon and serpent are not separated in Chinese symbolism. The dragon represents the hightest spiritual power; the supernatural; infinity; the spirit of change; the divine power of change and transformation; the rhythms of nature; the law of becoming; supernatural wisdom; strength. It is 'Celestial Stag'; the sun; light and life; the heavens; sovereignty; the masculine yang power. The dragon of the clouds is also thunder and the ferilizing rain, the waters of the deep and Spring. The Azure Dragon, lung, the highest, lives in the sky and is the vital spirit; celestial power; infinite supernatural power and , on earth, the delegated imperial power, the emperor. The lung, or Imperial Dragon, has five claws abd its head is to the south and its tail to the north. it aslo represents the east and fertilizing rain. The common dragon, mang, has four claws and is temporal power. The three clawed dragon was an early Chinese form, later to become the Japanese dragon. Li, the hornless dragon, lives in the sea and controls the deeps; he also symbolizes the scholar. Chiao lives in the mountains or on land and represents the statesman. The 'nine resemblances' of the dragon are, according to Wang Fu; 'His horns resemble those of a stag, his head that of a camel, his eyes those of a demon, his neck that of a snake, his belly that of a clam, his scales those of a carp, his claws those of an eagle, his soles those of a tiger, his ears those of a cow.' The two 'contending dragons', facing each other, are the yin-yang forces of dualism, all opposites and complements, celestial and terrestrial power; they usually have either the sun or the 'night-shining pearl', the moon, between them; backing each other they symbolize the yin-yang and eternity; chasing each other's tails they depict the two-way creative action of the yin-yang powers. The dragon is often portrayed with the 'dragon ball' or flaming pearl' and this has been variously suggested as rolling thunder or the moon as rain-bringer with the dragon swallowing the pearl as the wane of the moon and belching it forth as the waxing moon, but in Taoism and Buddhism it is the 'pearl which grants all desires', the pearl of perfection, that is to say, wisdom, enlightenment and the spiritual essense of the universe.

There is still more, but feel like I may be boring some and need to take a break from typing for a little while. WOW!!!!

This was taken from my Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols book, By J.C.Cooper

Great Book!!!!

posted April 28, 2006 07:03 AM         

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Do you think that we can get it up to 50 posts by noon????
LOL!!!!

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posted April 28, 2006 07:04 AM         

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Only kidding!!!!

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