The Year of the Dragon

Our greatest fears are like dragons keeping our deepest treasures.

Rainer Maria Rilke

As mentioned earlier last month, with this new moon in sidereal Capricorn marking the beginning of the Chinese New Year, today we are leaving the Black Rabbit hole (water) to enter the Green Dragon's den (wood) – the terrifying fantastic creature found in all human myths and legends from time immemorial.

In Western mythology (Greek, Celtic, and Norse), it's a reptilian winged creature capable of breathing fire – a symbol of power of natural forces heroes or gods must fight to restore order on Earth. Christianity then turned it into a symbol of evil, the Beast of Revelation,  the embodiment of Satan and paganism.

On the other hand, in Eastern mythology, though likened to natural forces, dragons are dangerous yet not really hostile unlike their Western counterparts. They also look different, finer and airier and not always winged.

The Chinese dragon is a symbol of good luck, power, and noble soul.

Since ancient times, Chinese astrology, based on the position and movement of stars and heavenly bodies, had been the sole privilege of the Emperor. In order to prevent the populace from accessing the secrets of astrology that would allow revolutionaries or invaders to determine the most favourable times to attempt a coup or an invasion, alternative systems were created.

According to folklore as previously explained a couple of years ago, “the Jade Emperor wanted to pick twelve animals to join his inner circle. So a Great Race was organised to access the Heavenly Gate where each animal would be ranked according to their order of arrival”.

Much to the Emperor's surprise, since being the only winged animal, the Dragon only came fifth. Its generous heart allegedly being the reason for its arriving late as on the way, it took the time to make it rain to help humans irrigate their crops before blowing on a wood chunk on which the Rabbit had got stuck when attempting to cross the river, allowing the latter to reach the other side and come to the Emperor just ahead of the Dragon.

Xīn nián hào!

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