Dragon myths

Light Travelling

Light Travelling

It's a girl O lord in a flatbed Ford
Registered Senior Member
Dragon myths are common all around the globe from times when global communications did not exists. Dragons often appear in religious and spiritual contexts. One can find dragon stories in the old religions of South America, in Africa, In Scandinavia, in Celtic countries and of course China and Japan.

The symbolism of dragons is wide and varied, from spiritual omens, to destroyers and creators of worlds, to guardians of divinities, to symbols of sexuality and victory over sexual desire.

Why is the dragon such a powerful symbol found on every continent? Does it go back to contact with Dinosaur like creatures? Does the fire breathing dragon a reference to volcano or is it simply use of fire a well known symbol for spirit (in the ancient world)?

My main question is… even if the origin of Dragon myths is Dinosaur, large reptiles or snakes, what lends this particular myth to being taken as spiritual / religious symbol, that it should be common around the ancient cultures of the world?
 
I don't think dinosaurs and dragons are myths. Fear of our external world and deadly creatures is programmed into our DNA across all cultures.
 
dragons existed and still exist. They are spirits of power of will and honor. They dance within our hearts unison united.

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Possible, indeed I would say probable, explanation for ALL dragon myths is related to the consumption of halucinogenic substances which, until our more recent, enlightened!, times has been quite normal.

Very neatly explained by Graham Hancock in his book 'Supernature' and in a series of clips by him on the following:

http://grahamhancock.thd-web.jp/
 
Itseemstome said:
Possible, indeed I would say probable, explanation for ALL dragon myths is related to the consumption of halucinogenic substances which, until our more recent, enlightened!, times has been quite normal.

Very neatly explained by Graham Hancock in his book 'Supernature' and in a series of clips by him on the following:

http://grahamhancock.thd-web.jp/
Click to expand...

Graham Hancock has no imagination it seems. This world is just as real as any other to where souls like as travel.
 
Don't be ridiculous, Chinese dragons are completely different from their European counterparts.
 
OilIsMastery said:
I don't think dinosaurs and dragons are myths. Fear of our external world and deadly creatures is programmed into our DNA across all cultures.
Click to expand...
It's called an "archetype," an instinctive belief that is pre-programmed in our synapses. Jung catalogued hundreds of them, and religions are essentially nothing more than collections of archetypes. Many are inexplicable, either survival traits in response to a risk that existed in the past that we can't imagine, and those humans who didn't have it didn't live to reproduce; or random mutations that were passed down through a genetic bottleneck.

I've never seen a good hypothesis for fear of snakes as a survival trait in primitive humans. However as an aviculturist I know that it is almost universal in bird species and that is understandable. Snakes are the only predators that can follow them up into the trees and out to the ends of their branches where they're safe from everything else. If I drag a garden hose past the window where my parrots are watching, they go absolutely berserk.

Since the theory that we're all descended from a tribe of proto-humans in Africa is still holding up, maybe in those days there were some really big dangerous snakes in Africa. Only the people who got an adrenaline rush when they saw one lived to found our species. For that matter, our earlier primate ancestors were arboreal like birds and snakes were doubtless a problem for them like they are for birds. Our fear of snakes could be tens of millions of years old.

Look around you. How many of the people you know--heck, how many of you folks yourselves--go berserk when you see a snake? We're all rational, educated people and very few of us actually live in locations inhabited by dangerous snakes. Except in godforsaken places like Arizona, virtually every snake we're ever likely to encounter is our friend because he feasts on rodents. Yet we scream and run away.

The dragon is just the snake archetype writ large.
 
I think there might be some truth the old dragon myths.
Obviously, it's not some fire-breathing monster. That would be an example of grossly exaggerating something that possibly existed.
However, it is possible that they were based on surviving, relict, and isolated groups or populations of large reptiles that posed a danger to neolithic man. Not dinosaurs per se, but possibly related groups, or even large lizards.

These things would have probably died out before the chalcolithic age, but stories and legends about them would have been passed down from culture to culture, through many civilizations, with new cultural fixations and ideals being imprinted onto their interpretation of these original, old, and historically-based myths.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
Look around you. How many of the people you know--heck, how many of you folks yourselves--go berserk when you see a snake? We're all rational, educated people and very few of us actually live in locations inhabited by dangerous snakes. Except in godforsaken places like Arizona, virtually every snake we're ever likely to encounter is our friend because he feasts on rodents. Yet we scream and run away.

The dragon is just the snake archetype writ large.
Click to expand...

What you say undoubtably makes sense for snakes, but in many cultures the dragon is not something to be feared, it is a benificial omen.

In Taoism dragons often protect dieties, also the dragon is sybol of male sexual force.

In the English Isles, the leaders of clans were called Dragons and their kings were Pendragons
 
Yes, the dragon in Asia is a different symbol than in Western mythology. For one thing, it has no wings. But in the West it is an evil snake that kills people and burns down villages. For powerful men to use the dragon as their symbol is similar to using any fearsome creature such as a lion or a bear. It's a way of telling your enemies, your competitors, your subordinates and your captive peoples, "I'm big, I'm bad, I'm strong, and I show no mercy."
 
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