A Wisdom Archive on DRAGON SYMBOLISM

DRAGON SYMBOLISM
The dragon swallows up all souls that don't have Gnosis, to return them forthwith, via its tail, to begin a new struggle toward the Gnosis, which will save them from recurrence. In China the dragon is the Everything, the ruler of the East and of sunrise. It stands opposite to the Tiger, which is the West and death.
 

 
(See also: DRAGON SYMBOLISM, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,  )

For more dictionary entries, see » dragon symbolism dictionary

The dragon was a symbol for the emperor in many Chinese dynasties. The imperial throne was called the dragon throne. During the late Qing dynasty, the dragon was even adopted as the national flag. It was a capital offense for commoners to wear clothes with a dragon symbol. In some Chinese legends, an emperor might be born with a birthmark in the shape of a dragon. For example, one legend might tell the tale of a peasant born with a dragon birthmark who eventually overthrows the existing dynasty and founds a new one; another legend might tell of the prince in hiding fro ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Symbol of the emperor

Chinese dragon - Pig dragon. It has been speculated that the pig dragon is the first representation of the Chinese dragon. For an example see [1]. The character for "dragon" in the earliest Chinese writing has a similar coiled form, as do later jade dragon amulets from the Shang period. Chinese dragon - Nine Classical types. Tianlong (天龍), The Celestial Dragon Shenlong (神龍), the Spiritual Dragon Fucanglong (伏藏龍), the Dragon of Hidden ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Forms of the dragon

Chinese dragon - Number nine. The number nine is considered lucky in China and Chinese dragons are frequently connected with it. For example, a Chinese dragon is normally described in terms of nine attributes and usually has 117 scales - 81 (9x9) male and 36 (9x4) female. It is also said that the Dragon has nine children, all mythical creatures. Sculptures of these creatures can often be found on ancient relics and buildings: The first son is called bixi (贔屭 pinyin: bi4xi4), looks like a g ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Cultural Significance

Chinese dragon - Legend of the Yellow Emperor. Some scholars report the first emperor of China Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) used a snake for his coat of arms. Every time he conquered another tribe, he incorporated his defeated enemy's emblem into his own. Huang Di was immortalized into a dragon that looks like his emblem. That explains why the Chinese dragon has a body of a snake; the scales and tail of a fish; the antlers of a deer; the face of a qilin (a deer-like mythical creature with fire all over its body); an ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Legends associated with the Dragon

Chinese or Korean Imperial dragons have five toes on each foot; Indonesian dragons have four and Japanese dragons have three. To explain this phenomenon, Chinese legend states that although dragons originated in China, the further away from China a dragon went the fewer toes it had, and dragons only exist in China, Korea, Indonesia, and Japan because if they travelled further they would have no toes to continue. Japanese legend has an opposing story, namely that dragons originated in Japan, and the further they traveled the more toes they gr ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Dragon toes

Chinese dragons are strongly associated with water in popular belief. They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. They can show themselves as water spouts (tornado or twister over water). There are four major dragons, one representing each sea. For instance the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, Dragon King of the Western Sea, and so forth. Because of this association, they are seen as "in charge" of water-related weather phenomenon. In premodern times, many Chinese villages (especia ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Dragons and Water

The Chinese dragon (龍; pinyin: lóng; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng; Japanese: ryū; Korean: yong; Vietnamese: long) is a mythical creature. Long a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art, it is the embodiment of the concept of yang and associated with the weather and water as the bringer of rain. The dragon is sometimes viewed in the West as a national emblem of China. However, this usage within both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan is extremely rare, both because the dragon ... Including:

• Chinese dragon - Legend of the Yellow Emperor
• Chinese dragon - Legend of the Carp
• Chinese dragon - Pig dragon
• Chinese dragon - Dragon toes
• Chinese dragon - Number nine
• Chinese dragon - Chinese zodiac
• Chinese dragon - Chinese constellations
• Chinese dragon - Symbol of the emperor
• Chinese dragon - Dragons and Water
• Chinese dragon - Nine Classical types

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia - Chinese dragon

Miloš Obilić, a Serbian knight, had created the secret order of the Dragon of St George. His shield represented the sun with twelve rays and there were 12 knights, himself included, belonging to this order. As a distinctive sign, they wore a dragon on their helmet. The aim of the order was the death of the Ottoman sultan Murad I. On June 15, 1389,at the Battle of Kosovo, Miloš made his way into the Ottoman camp on the pretext of being a deserter, forced his way into the Sultan's tent and stabbed him to death. Miloš Obilic was later executed together ...

Read more here: » Order of the Dragon: Encyclopedia II - Order of the Dragon - Origins of the Order

The number nine is considered lucky in China and Chinese dragons are frequently connected with it. For example, a Chinese dragon is normally described in terms of nine attributes and usually has 117 scales - 81 (9x9) male and 36 (9x4) female. It is also said that the Dragon has nine children, all mythical creatures. Sculptures of these creatures can often be found on ancient relics and buildings: The first son is called bixi (贔屭 pinyin: bi4xi4), looks like a giant land turtle, and can be seen sometimes in carved stone ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Number nine

Some scholars report that the Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) used a snake for his coat of arms. Every time he conquered another tribe, he incorporated his defeated enemy's emblem into his own. Huang Di was immortalized into a dragon that looks like his emblem. That explains why the Chinese dragon has a body of a snake; the scales and tail of a fish; the antlers of a deer; the face of a qilin (a deer-like mythical creature with fire all over its body); and two pairs of talons of eagles; and the eyes of a demon. They fly in the sky among the clouds ...

Read more here: » Chinese dragon: Encyclopedia II - Chinese dragon - Legend of the Yellow Emperor