I was staying at this fancy house because I was helping someone's family move or something, and I had the whole nice house to myself. In their front yard was a dragon that, when it was sleeping, looked like it was covered by the grass and dirt. Other people weren't scared of it but I was terrified - I thought it was stupid for people to not respect the power of this dragon. It was enormous, probably 80(?) feet long when it was laying down. So sometimes people would go up to it and wake it up so they could play with it, but I thought this was rather dangerous and not a good idea in general, so I hid inside every time they woke it up.
When night came, a lot of people left, and the rest of us went downtown. I was at a bar with a few friends, drinking whatever, until it dawned on me that I was dying for a bloody mary. So I went to the bar and ordered one, and the bartender was this girl I work with, who for some reason couldn't figure out how to make a bloody mary (she kept making a bahama mama or not putting alcohol in it). So I decided to leave and explore, and ended up on a rooftop somewhere even though it was drizzling. There was some guy photographing a girl who was doing crazy yoga poses off the side of the building and on the fire escape like it was no big deal.
After they were done I offered to buy the girl a drink for her skills, so we climbed down the fire escape, and when we got to the ground, the streets were more maze-like than I remembered and it took us awhile to find the main street again. I saw Sean, my boyfriend, around a corner, and he looked so angry, and I knew it was because I had disappeared for quite awhile without warning. As soon as I introduced the girl and explained what happened he calmed down, and we all went back to a bar. For some reason I was going to go in and buy the girl's drink, so she gave me her passport so that I could get 2 drinks. She had an accent but I can't recall where she was from, possibly Russia? But at this point the bartender had figured out how to make a bloody mary and made me 2 delicious ones.
After this the girl said farewell, and I had to head back to the house, and I was making a big deal about how fancy it was because I was a little bit drunk. I snuck past the sleeping dragon and started the water for a huge, steaming hot bath, and then woke up.
Seeing a girl in your dream, represents your playful, innocent, and childlike nature. Perhaps you have been behaving prematurely. Dreaming about a girl that you just met, represents your anxieties and thoughts of whether you had made a good impression on her and what she thought of you. If she told you that she disliked you in the dream, then it may be an excuse for you to dismiss her and not pursue a relationship that is beyond friendship. For a man to dream that he is a girl means that he aspires to be an actor and play female parts.
A fabulous animal and a universal, symbolic figure found in the
majority of the cultures of the world—primitive and oriental as well as classical.
A morphological study of the legendary dragon would lead to the conclusion that it is a kind of amalgam of elements taken from various animals that are particularly aggressive and dangerous, such as serpents, crocodiles, lions as well as
prehistoric animals (38). Krappe believes that the amazement occasioned by the
discovery of the remains of antediluvian monsters may have been a contributory
factor in the genesis of the mythic dragon. The dragon, in consequence, stands for
‘things animal’ par excellence, and here we have a first glimpse of its symbolic
meaning, related to the Sumerian concept of the animal as the ‘adversary’, a
concept which later came to be attached to the devil. Nevertheless, the dragon—
like all other symbols of the instincts in the non-moral religions of antiquity—
sometimes appears enthroned and all but deified, as, for example, in the standards
and pennons pertaining to the Chinese Manchu dynasty and to the Phoenicians
and Saxons (4). In a great many legends, overlaying its deepest symbolic sense,
the dragon appears with this very meaning of the primordial enemy with whom
combat is the supreme test. Apollo, Cadmus, Perseus and Siegfried all conquer
the dragon. In numerous masterpieces of hagiography, the patron saints of knighthood—St. George and St. Michael the Archangel—are depicted in the very act of
slaying the monster; there is no need to recall others than the St. George of
Carpaccio, or of Raphael, or the St. Michael of Tous by Bermejo. For Dontenville
(16), who tends to favour an historicist and sociological approach to the symbolism of legends, dragons signify plagues which beset the country (or the individual
if the symbol takes on a psychological implication). The worm, the snake and the
crocodile are all closely linked with the concept of the dragon in their own particular way. In France, the dragon is also related to the ogre as well as to Gargantua
and giants in general. In Schneider’s view, the dragon is a symbol of sickness (51).
But before going further into its meaning, let us quote some examples to show
how widespread are the references to this monster. The classics and the Bible
very frequently allude to it, providing us with detailed information about its
appearance, its nature and habits. But their descriptions point to not one but
several kinds of dragon, as Pinedo has noted: ‘Some give it the form of a winged
serpent; it lives in the air and the water, its jaws are immense, it swallows men and
animals having first killed them with its enormous tail. Conversely, others make
it a terrestrial animal, its jaws are quite small, its huge and powerful tail is an
instrument of destruction, and it also flies and feeds upon the blood of the animals
it kills; there are writers who consider it to be amphibious, in which case its head
becomes that of a beautiful woman with long flowing hair and it is even more
terrible than the previous versions.’ In the Bible, there are the following references to the dragon: Daniel xiv, 22, 27; Micah i, 8; Jeremiah xiv, 6; Revelation xii,
3, 7; Isaiah xxxiv, 13, and xliii, 20. There are further mentions by Rabanus Maurus (Opera, III), Pliny (VIII, 12), Galen, Pascal (De Coronis, IX), and among other
characteristics which these writers ascribe to the dragon are the following particularly interesting points: that it is strong and vigilant, it has exceptionally keen
eyesight, and it seems that its name comes from the Greek word derkein (‘seeing’). Hence it was given the function, in clear opposition to its terrible implications, of guarding temples and treasures (like the griffin), as well as being turned
into an allegory of prophecy and wisdom. In the Bible, it is the negative side of
the symbol which receives emphasis; it is interesting to note that the anagram of
Herod in Syrian—ierud and es—means ‘flaming dragon’ (46). Sometimes the
dragon is depicted with a number of heads and its symbolism then becomes
correspondingly unfavourable, given the regressive and involutive sense of all
numerical increase. ‘And behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten
horns, and seven crowns upon his heads
(’)
, in the words of Revelation (xii, 3). On
other occasions, the dragon is used in emblems, in which case it is the symbolism
of the form or shape which takes precedence over that of the animal, as for
example, the dragon biting its tail—the Gnostic Ouroboros, a symbol of all cyclic
processes and of time in particular. The dragon figured quite frequently in alchemy; for the alchemists, a number of dragons fighting with each other illustrated the state of putrefactio (separating out the Elements, or psychic disintegration). And the winged dragon represented the volatile element, while the wingless
creature stood for the fixed element (according to Albert Poison). It is perhaps in
China that this monster has been most utilized and has achieved its greatest
degree of transfiguration. Here it becomes an emblem of imperial power. Whereas
the Emperor numbered the five-clawed dragon among his ornaments, the officials
of his court had the right to keep only the four-clawed (5). According to Diel, the
generic dragon of China symbolizes the mastering and sublimation of wickedness
(15), because the implication is that of a ‘dragon conquered’, like that which
obeys St. George once he has overcome it. Frazer tells how the Chinese, when
they wish for rain, make a huge dragon out of wood and paper and carry it in
procession; but if it does not rain, then they destroy the dragon (21). Chuang-tzu
maintains that this arises from the fact that the dragon and the serpent, invested
with the most profound and all-embracing cosmic significance, are symbols for
‘rhythmic life’. The association of dragon/lightning/rain/fecundity is very common in archaic Chinese texts (17), for which reason the fabulous animal becomes
the connecting-link between the Upper Waters and earth. However, it is impossible to generalize about the dragon of Chinese mythology, for there are subterranean, aerial and aquatic dragons. ‘The earth joins up with the dragon’ means that
it is raining. It plays an important part as an intermediary, then, between the two extremes of the cosmic forces associated with the essential characteristics of the
three-level symbolism, that is: the highest level of spirituality; the intermediary
plane of the phenomenal life; and the lower level of inferior and telluric forces. A
related and powerful part of its meaning is that of strength and speed. The oldest
Chinese images of the dragon are very similar to those of the horse (13). In
esoteric Chinese thought, there are dragons which are linked with colour-symbolism: the red dragon is the guardian of higher science, the white dragon is a lunar
dragon. These colours derive from the planets and the signs of the Zodiac. In the
Middle Ages in the Western world, dragons make their appearance with the throat
and legs of an eagle, the body of a huge serpent, the wings of a bat and with a tail
culminating in an arrow twisted back upon itself. This, according to Count Pierre
Vincenti Piobb, signifies the fusion and confusion of the respective potentialities
of the component parts: the eagle standing for its celestial potential, the serpent
for its secret and subterranean characteristic, the wings for intellectual elevation,
and the tail (because the form is that of the zodiacal sign for Leo) for submission
to reason (48). But, broadly speaking, present-day psychology defines the dragonsymbol as ‘something terrible to overcome’, for only he who conquers the dragon
becomes a hero (56). Jung goes as far as to say that the dragon is a mother-image
(that is, a mirror of the maternal principle or of the unconscious) and that it
expresses the individual’s repugnance towards incest and the fear of committing
it (31), although he also suggests that it quite simply represents evil (32). Esoteric
Hebrew tradition insists that the deepest meaning of the mystery of the dragon
must remain inviolate (according to the rabbi Simeon ben Yochai, quoted by
Blavatsky) (9). The universal dragon (Katholikos ophis) of the Gnostics is the
‘way through all things’. It is related to the concept of chaos (‘our Chaos or Spirit
is a fiery dragon which conquers all things’—Philaletha, Introitus) and of dissolution (The dragon is the dissolution of bodies’). (The quotations are taken from the
Pseudo-Democritus.) Regarding symbols of dissolution, Hermetic doctrine uses
the following terms: Poison, viper, universal solvent, philosophical vinegar=the
potential of the undifferentiated (or the Solve), according to Evola. He adds that
dragons and bulls are the animals fought by sun-heroes (such as Mithras, Siegfried,
Hercules, Jason, Horus, or Apollo) and—bearing in mind the equations
woman=dragon, mercury and water; and green=’what is undigested’—that ‘if the
dragon reappears in the centre of the “Citadel of Philosophers” of Khunrath, it is
still a dragon which has to be conquered and slain: it is that which everlastingly
devours its own self, it is Mercury as an image of burning thirst or hunger or the
blind impulse towards gratification’, or, in other words, Nature enthralled and
conquered by Nature, or the mystery of the lunar world of change and becoming as opposed to the world of immutable being governed by Uranus. Böhme, in De
Signatura rerum, defines a will which desires and yet has nothing capable of
satisfying it except its own self, as ‘the ability of hunger to feed itself’ (Plate VI).
To see a dragon in your dream, represents your strong will and fiery personality. You tend to get carried away by your passion, which may lead you into trouble. You need to exercise some self-control.
In the eastern cultures, dragons are seen as spiritual creatures symbolizing good luck and fortune.
To dream that you are a dragon and breathing fire, suggests that you are using your anger to get your own way.
To dream of a dragon, denotes that you allow yourself to be governed by your passions, and that you are likely to place yourself in the power of your enemies through those outbursts of sardonic tendencies. You should be warned by this dream to cultivate self-control.
This large, mystical creature may represent large and mystical forces inside of you. In the Far East it is believed that the dragons are spiritual creatures that navigate through the air and through the sky. In the West, dragons are considered to be dangerous creatures that need to be destroyed. As far as dream symbols go, the dragon may represent the enormous power in your unconscious. It could symbolize repressed unconscious material, including fear. However, the dragon in our dreams is generally a positive symbol. It may represent a period of time when the dreamer will confront his fears and empower himself to effectively cope with negative emotions, extreme materialism, and be able to obtain greater inner and outer freedom.
A Dragon totem is one of the most powerful totems, representing a huge range of qualities, emotions, and traits. When Dragons come to us, it could mean many things.
The most common message a Dragon totem carry to us is a need for strength, courage, and fortitude. Dragons are also messengers of balance, and magic - encouraging us to tap into our psychic nature and see the world through the eyes of mystery and wonder.
More specifically, Dragons are the embodiment of primordial power - the ultimate ruler of all the elements. This is because the Dragon is the master of all the elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind.
As a totem, the Dragon serves as a powerful guardian and guide. Encourage communication with your Dragon, and acknowledge your Dragon's presence as often as possible.
In Chinese culture, the season of the Dragon is mid-spring, its direction is east-southeast, and its fixed element is wood. See Chinese Dragon page for more inforamation on the Dragons within the Asian culture.
There are many ways to strengthen your bond with your Dragon totem. Here are a few suggestions:
Meditation upon your Dragon totem.
Begin collecting Dragon images that resonate with you. Keep these images close, and easily available to you. Look upon these images whenever you wish to communicate with your Dragon totem.
Better yet, begin drawing while communicating with your Dragon. Ask your Dragon to reveal itself to you through your drawing. Check out my friend Barbara's webpage offering free tips on how to draw dragons here!
Begin a Dragon totem journal
Read everything you can on Dragons. This will broaden your horizons, and expand your imagination. A warning though: By all means, never be limited by the scope of what you read. Ultimately, it is you and your Dragon that will create the perfect understanding. There is never a limit in matters of spirit - that includes matters concerning our totems (especially strong totems like the Dragon!).
A Dragon totem can be a powerful ally in our daily effort to live our lives. When we call upon the amazing restorative and potent qualities of the Dragon, we are able to effectively live our lives with the honestly, courage, and strength of a peaceful warrior.
Utilizing the symbolic power of the dragon totem is an internal process cultivated by contemplating the attributes of the dragon we admire and meditating upon these.
We can also honor the dragon totem externally by little actions like including dragon imagery in our lives. It solidifies my connection with the magic the dragon offers.
Whether you are an artist who looks to dragons for inspiration, or a business mogul identifying with a solid symbol of strength or luck - it's clear dragons speak to those special places within us, stoking the fires of our hearts.
The Dragon represents prosperity. This may be of spiritual (intuition) rather than materiaal riches, because the dragon was regarded as the guaridian of treasure that lay hidden deep within the unconscious and was hard to obtain.
(Ancient, most world culture) A legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile but with wings, huge claws, and fiery breath. In the Mesopotamian creation myth (Enuma Elish), dating from about 2000 BC, a dragon was considered a symbol for destruction and evil. So it was also considered in the writings of the ancient Hebrews. The Bible (Revelation) also so considers it. Dragons became more benign in later mythologies. The Greeks and Romans believed that they had the ability to understand and to teach mortals the secrets of the earth. Because of this duality, destruction and positive influence, it was often adopted as a military emblem; the Roman legions used it thusly as early as the first century AD. The folklore of northern Europe contains a similar interpretation of the dragon. Norsemen carved the prows of their ships with likenesses of the dragon. The ancient Celtic considered the dragon a symbol of sovereignty. The Teutonic invaders of Britain had dragons depicted on their shields. The dragon also figures in the folklore of Japan.
In China it is traditionally considered as a symbol of good fortune, and was the national emblem of the Chinese Empire. Unlike Middle Eastern or Western dragons, the Lungs (Chinese appelation for "dragons") were benevolent and brought rain, guarded sacred dwellings and such tasks.
There were four types:
1.The T'ien Lung, or Celestial Dragon
2.The Fu Tsang Lung or Treasure Dragon
3.The Ti Lung, or Earth Dragon
4.The Shen Lung, or Rain Dragon (also called Kung Kung)
The latter two Lungs are together known as the Wang Lung, and are propitiated as water deities, dwelling in the Seas. (This information is derived from the 17th century Ming classic San-ts`ai t`ui-hui or Threefold Picture Book. This was an illustrated encyclopedia.)
Mystics have always traditionally considered the feminine aspect of
the universe as a chest, a house or a wall, as well as an enclosed garden. Another
symbolic association is that which equates the house (and the above, related
forms) with the repository of all wisdom, that is, tradition itself (4). In architectural symbolism, on the other hand, the house carries not only an overall symbolism but also particular associations attached to each of its component parts.
Nevertheless, the house as a home arouses strong, spontaneous associations with
the human body and human thought (or life, in other words), as has been confirmed empirically by psychoanalysts. Ania Teillard explains this by pointing
out that, in dreams, we employ the image of the house as a representation of the
different layers of the psyche. The outside of the house signifies the outward
appearance of Man: his personality or his mask. The various floors are related to
the vertical and spatial symbols. The roof and upper floor correspond to the head
and the mind, as well as to the conscious exercise of self-control. Similarly, the
basement corresponds to the unconscious and the instincts (just as sewers do, in
symbols pertaining to the city). The kitchen, since this is where foodstuff is
transformed, sometimes signifies the place or the moment of psychic transmutation in the alchemical sense. The intercommunicating rooms speak for themselves. The stairs are the link between the various planes of the psyche, but their
particular significance depends upon whether they are seen as ascending or descending. Finally, there is, as we have said, the association of the house with the
human body, especially regarding its openings, as was well understood by
Artemidorus Daldianus (56).
To see a house in your dream, represents your own soul and self. Specific rooms in the house indicate a specific aspect of your psyche. In general, the attic represents your intellect, the basement represents the unconscious, etc. If the house is empty, then it indicates feelings of insecurity. If the house is shifting, then it suggests that you are going through some personal changes and changing your belief system. To dream that a house has no walls, represents a lack of privacy. You feel that everyone is looking over your shoulder or up in your business.
To dream that you are cleaning your house, signifies your need to clear out your thoughts and get rid of old ways. You are seeking self-improvement.
If you live with others in your waking life, but dream that you are living alone, suggests that you need to take new steps toward independence. You need to accept responsibilities and be more self-reliant.
To see an old, run-down house in your dream, represents your old beliefs, attitudes and how you used to think or feel. A situation in your current life may be bringing about those same old attitudes and feelings. Alternatively, the old house may symbolize your need to update you mode of thinking. To dream that your house is damaged, indicates your waking concerns about the condition of your house.
To see a new house in your dream, indicates that you are entering into a new phase or new area in your life. You are becoming more emotionally mature. If you are locked out of the house, then it represents rejection and insecurity. You feel you are being left behind.
To dream that your house is broken into, suggests that you are feeling violated. It may refer to a particular relationship or current situation in your life. Alternatively, it indicates that some unconscious material is attempting to make itself known. There are some aspects of yourself that you have denied.
To dream of a haunted house, signifies unfinished emotional business, related to your childhood family, dead relatives, or repressed memories and feelings.
To dream that a house has disappeared, indicates that you are not feeling grounded. You feel uprooted by a particular circumstance or relationship in your life.
To dream that water is rising up in your house, suggests that you are becoming overwhelmed by your emotions.
To dream of building a house, you will make wise changes in your present affairs.
To dream that you own an elegant house, denotes that you will soon leave your home for a better, and fortune will be kind to you.
Old and dilapidated houses, denote failure in business or any effort, and declining health.
Seeing a house in your dream, represents your own soul and self. Specific rooms in the house indicate a specific aspect of your psyche. In general, the attic represents your intellect, the basement represents the unconscious, etc. If the house is empty, then it indicates feelings of insecurity. If the house is shifting, then it suggests that you are going through some personal changes and changing your belief system. Dreaming that you are cleaning your house means your need to clear out your thoughts and getting rid of old ways. You are seeking self-improvement. Seeing an old, run-down house in your dream, represents your old beliefs, attitudes and how you used to think or feel. A situation in your current life may be bringing about those same old attitudes and feelings. Alternatively, the old house may symbolize your need to update you mode of thinking. Dreaming that your house is broken into, suggests that you are feeling violated. It may refer to a particular relationship or current situation in your life. Alternatively, it indicates that some unconscious material is attempting to make itself known. There are some aspects of yourself that you have denied. Dreaming of a haunted house means unfinished emotional business, related to your childhood family, dead relatives, or repressed memories and feelings. Dreaming that a house disappeared, indicates that you are not feeling grounded. You feel uprooted by a particular circumstance or relationship in your life.
It is common to dream about houses. They usually symbolise our emotional and psychological selves. All of your experiences, stages of development, and parts of your conscious and unconscious life may be represented by that house. The house may be representing issues concerning a particular dilemma in your life, or it may be more general and comprehensive. Either way, if you pay attention to the details in this dream, you may learn a thing or two about yourself.
To see people you know in your dream, signifies qualities and feelings of them that you desire for yourself. If these people are from your past, then the dream refers to your shadow and other unacknowledged aspects of yourself. It may represent a waking situation that is bringing out similar feelings from your past relationships.
To see people you don't know in your dream, denotes hidden aspects of yourself that you need to confront or acknowledge.
Seeing people you know in your dream means qualities and feelings of those people that you desire for yourself. Seeing people you don't know in your dream indicates hidden aspects of yourself that you need to confront. Seeing people from your past in your dream, refers to your shadow and other unacknowledged aspects of yourself. It can represent a waking situation that is bringing out similar feelings as your past relationships.
To dream that you are in downtown, represents your material concerns and possessions. It may indicate the hustle and bustle of your life.
Dreaming that you are in downtown, represents your material concerns and possessions. It may indicate the hustle and bustle of your life.
To dream that you are at a public bar, signifies your desire to escape from the stresses of your daily life and retreat into a light-hearted environment where pleasure abounds. Alternatively, you are seeking acceptance in some aspect of your daily life. The dream may also be a pun on being "barred" from some place or something. You are feeling excluded or held back by circumstances beyond your control.
To see a metal bar in your dream, represents your own inner strength. You have the ability and tools to build a solid foundation and future. Alternatively, metal bars symbolize defiance and aggression.
To dream of tending a bar, denotes that you will resort to some questionable mode of advancement.
Seeing a bar, denotes activity in communities, quick uplifting of fortunes, and the consummation of illicit desires.
Dreaming that you are at a bar means your desire to escape from the stresses of your daily life and retreat into a light-hearted environment where pleasure abounds. Alternatively, you are seeking for acceptance in some aspect of your daily life.
Dreaming about being in bars and drinking may symbolise a need that you have for some type of a meaningful transformation. On the other hand, this dream may be a form of wish fulfilment, and you are escaping into a pleasurable environment where daily cares and concerns are meaningless. If you rarely allow yourself to relax and socialise, this dream may be compensatory in nature.
To dream that you are sleeping, denotes peace of mind. Alternatively, it means that you are ignorant of the conditions and circumstances around you. If you are sleeping with a stranger, then it suggests that you are avoiding some issue or situation that is being symbolized by the stranger. Perhaps you are refusing to recognize a negative or hidden aspect of yourself. Sleeping may also be synonymous with death in that it beckons renewal and new beginnings.
To see someone sleeping in your dream, is a reflection of yourself and your own unconscious mind. It is telling you that you may not be alert or informed about a particular situation.
Dreaming that you are sleeping indicates peace of mind. Alternatively, it may also mean that you are ignorant and not fully aware of the conditions and circumstances around you. If you are sleeping with a stranger, suggests that you are avoiding some issue or situation that is being symbolized by the stranger. Perhaps you are refusing to recognize a negative aspect of yourself. Seeing others sleeping, is often a reflection of yourself and your own unconscious mind. It is indicative of how you may not be alert or informed about a particular situation. Sleeping may also be synonymous with death in that it beckons renewal and new beginnings.
To dream that you are a bartender, suggests that you want to escape from the demands of your daily life. The dream may also be a pun to indicate that you are creating a barrier for yourself or that you are "barring" yourself from doing something.