CHAPTER ONE

A constant image is that of the conflict of the eagle and the serpent. The serpent bound to the earth, the eagle in spiritual flight—isn’t that conflict something we all experience? And then, when the two amalgamate, we get a wonderful Dragon, a Serpent with wings.

(Joseph Campbell, 1988.)

INTRODUCTION

DRAGONS AND SERPENTS OF THE WORLD

The Great Dragon/Serpent of Ohio

It had been a long, hot and dusty drive in our recreation vehicle, passing through two States in the United States of America. As we entered the historic site of the Ohio Great Serpent Mound, the sun was sliding towards the green horizon of the Locust Valley trees. The mound’s profiles became clear as lengthening shadows stretched out across the awe-inspiring sight, exaggerating the shape of the huge effigy more than a thousand paces long.

Figure 1.1: Survey map (1858) by Squier and Davis (Squier, 1998)  of the Great Serpent Mound, Locust Valley, 
Ohio. It was strategically placed to command a view of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the east, 
and the open, fertile plains to the west.

Figure 1.2: The Great Serpent Mound of Locust Valley, Adams County, Ohio, USA (Courtesy: angelo.edu)

The writhing profile of a Serpent or Dragon holding a giant egg in its jaws, transfixed us with its tranquil beauty (Figures 1.1, 1.2). Overwhelmed by the still, greenness of the twilight-lit mound within its grove setting, the presence of that Great Serpent was almost palpable. Held by the atmosphere of the power of this site and completely forgetting our tiredness, we stood quietly as the setting sun gradually yielded to darkness. Above us the stars were beginning to appear. We waited and watched as the Constellation of Draco gradually revealed itself. In the sky directly above us, we were looking at the star pattern of Draco seen by the ancients as a great Dragon.

Draco is the name of the star group that winds between the constellations of the Great Bear and Little Bear in the northern Hemisphere. Its principal star, Thuban, located within the ‘body’ of the celestial Dragon, was once the Pole Star at the time when pyramids in Egypt were possibly being built possibly 4800 years ago. Draco’s strange, winding shape can be explained if Thuban and the rest of the sky are precessed back to their respective positions in the time of Ancient Egypt (Baggs & Baggs, 2005). This constellation’s name began in ancient Egypt (Chapter Four) and was carried into Ancient Greece (Chapter Seven) where it became the Drakon and then into North America where it was replicated on the ground as the Great Serpent Mound (see Cover and Appendix C).

There is a similar Dragon form in Scotland (and many smaller animal-effigy mounds

in the USA) but at 457 m long (1500 ft) and 1m high (3ft 3in.), this mound is the largest in the world. Also in Ancient Egypt, the Draco Constellation indicated north True North in the northern hemisphere skies of that time (Figure 4.1). This strongly suggests that the North American Serpent Mound Builders could have been contemporaneous with the ancient Egyptian civilisations that built the Great Pyramid because all appear to have used Thuban, in the Draco Constellation, as their North Star, to orientate their construction work.

Ancient Britons and the Serpent/Dragon

Since the Megalithic Period, a remote and mysterious time in prehistory (that has created much debate as to its dating) archaeologists have found petroglyphs of winding, serpent-like forms in various underground chambers throughout Europe. An excellent example is the case of the Bryn Celli Ddu chamber in Anglesey, Wales, England (Figure 1.3), Dr Robert Lomas of the University of Bradford, England, found the rising Sun created an effect within this chamber at the time of the winter solstice (Knight & Lomas, 2001). He discovered that a slot of sunlight fell on a stone pillar in the chamber, i.e., as the Sun rose and followed its daily path, its movement could be observed on the pillar. This process was the same as using a modern declinometer to measure the Sun’s angle above the Earth’s surface.

Figure 1.3: The Underground Chamber of Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey, Wales. The megalith at left is the original stone. (© S. Baggs)
Figure 1.4: The replica of the original megalith outside Bryn Celli Ddu underground chamber and its sectional plan. The profile of the zig-zag Serpent petroglyph on this north face bears a remarkable resemblance to the Ohio Serpent Mound (Figure 1.2). (© Maggie and Keith Davison)

An exterior stone found buried, was reerected outside the chamber (Figure 1.3) and subsequently replaced with a copy to prevent it being damaged (Figure 1.4). Probably once standing within the chamber, the original stone can be found in a Welsh museum. It is possible that paths taken by either Venus or the Moon were represented by the bends in the Dragon-paths carved into its surface (Figures 1.4, 1.5).

Perhaps the serpentine petroglyph carved into the stone may have symbolised the five life-stages of birth, childhood, adolescence and adulthood, as well as old age/death. These stages all have appropriate tribal ceremonies, and in some cases, there is an initiation ‘portal’ such as a hole in a sacred rock, through which a youth was passed during an initiation ceremony. (For example, some Indigenous Australian tribal members still undergo an initiation ceremony to symbolise the process of their passing into the next life-stage.) Possibly the five stages shown as a second zig-zag represented the afterlife. Perhaps the ‘descending’ five bends symbolised rebirth into a new body (Figure 1.5) (Baggs, 2006, Appendix E).

a: Sketch of rubbing for clarity.	b: Rubbing (with greasy crayon on rag-base paper).
Figure 1.5: My rubbing of the original standing stone showing the ascending and descending zig-zag Dragon-paths. The prone figure at the top of illustration does not appear on other presentations of this megalith. (© S. A. Baggs)

Many myths of the ancient world reflect the ‘killing’ of the Dragon or Serpent; this later became a symbol of new religions supplanting the old. From the Babylonian Dragon, Tiamat (the first creator) killed by her children, to Apollo killing the Dragon Python (father of the Earth) to the relatively modern St Patrick driving the Serpents out of Ireland (there never were any Serpents in Ireland), the old knowledge remains embedded in myth, symbolism and tradition.

The Dragon in Contemporary Psychology

Carl Jung’s (1997) approach to the Dragon/Serpent myth refers particularly to masculine psychology. Although the same stages of development apply to women, they are experienced in a different way. Relevant myths involving feminine psychology are those of Demeter and Persephone as well as Amor and Psyche. (Jung’s approach to the Hero and the Dragon, along with that of Erich Neumann, his pupil, are summarised in Appendix A.)

The Hero and the Dragon.

The ‘Integrative’ Transition Stage of psychological development has characteristic imagery. The typical myth is the Hero fighting the Dragon. In this archetypal story, a beautiful maiden is held captive by a Dragon. The maiden is the anima, the precious but neglected feminine principle deprecated in the previous Patriarchal Stage of development. The monster/Dragon represents the residual ouroboric state, i.e., the Great Mother in Her destructive, devouring aspect. The anima or feminine value is still attached to this dangerous element, and can only be freed by heroic action. The Hero represents the attitude whereby safety of the conventional patriarchal standards is willingly relinquished followed by exposure to the unconscious. His inner Dragon involves the dangers of regression and bondage to his inner female Dragon. Yet this is necessary to redeem the lost but necessary element, the anima. If successful, this feminine part of a man’s personality is raised to its proper value, modifying and completing a previous one-sided patriarchal attitude (Neumann & Manheim, 1972).

This final step is a decisive move towards psychological integration, and amounts to a reconciliation of opposites which are the masculine and feminine, law and love, conscious and unconscious, as well as spirit and physical nature. In the individual development of the youth, this phase corresponds to the emerging capacity to relate to girls during puberty. This is subsequently followed by love for a particular woman, and eventual marriage (Neumann & Manheim,

1972).

Although these phases of psychic development have been related to various periods in the development of the child and young man, their meaning is not confined to external events. The end of psychological development is not reached with the event of marriage. Such external happenings are only the external manifestations of an archetypal process of development of the necessary qualities awaiting inner realisation as the Hero. Jung (1997) and Neumann believed that by overcoming the Dragons within, the Hero is given full expression in the personality (Neumann & Manheim, 1972).

Furthermore, these series of psychological stages can be undertaken not once, but many times in the course of psychic development. They are the successive stations to which we return again and again in the course of our spiral journeys. Each time, we are on a different level of conscious awareness, and each time, we confront internal Dragons and overcome their bondage of the personality (Neumann & Manheim, 1972).

Later, we will see how ancient Dragon images are still present in all types of media in both serious and humorous vein. Currently, Dragons are much more inhibited in meaning than in the ancient past. This limitation of the Serpent/Dragon image to conform with the ‘Garden of Eden’ function as Tempter and agent of the Devil can be thought of as the rational mind (and religiosity) dominating the unconscious (Neumann & Manheim, 1972).

Because Dragons in myths were able to move through the sky, they were given wings. The early addition of wings to the body of the Dragon was a rational step. The archetypal Dragon has been repressed, although it has not lost its original meaning. It may be seen in the development of the guardian image, i.e., the Dragons as pets. The Dragon is consciously shown as something to be tamed and controlled. Neumann believes when this is exhibited in an extroverted person, it has the effect of reducing the possibility of a nervous ‘breakdown’ (Neumann & Manheim, 1972). As a result, the demands of the unconscious image force themselves into the consciousness. This may produce extremes of either interest or disinterest in everything.

In the case of the ‘introverted’ person, mythical Dragons would take on powerful and terrifying qualities. Perpetuation of the Dragon/Serpent as a fearful and powerful creature would then follow. The image of the fire-breathing internal Dragon (or Serpent) is something with which the introverted person must come to terms. If this confrontation is to be ignored, neuroses may follow. In coming to terms with the Dragon archetype, it is useful to explore its influences over the conscious mind. This can be achieved if an active imagination is used. Jung (1997) was convinced that play developed healing power from active imagining, i.e., acting as if one were to display the desired quality of character (Jung, 1997; Read, et al., 1990). The imagination may also work through various media.

Exposure to film or television puts people in touch with ideas that are ordinarily repressed. These ideas can take the form of the playful Dragons/Serpents, i.e., creatures acting in ways that do not conform to primordial images.