"Dragonfly medicine is of the dreamtime and the illusionary façade we accept as physical reality. The iridescence of Dragonfly's wings reminds us of colors not found in our everyday experience. …Some legends say that Dragonfly was once Dragon, and that Dragon had scales like Dragonfly's wings. Dragon was full of wisdom, and flew through the night bringing light with its fiery breath …Coyote tricked Dragon into changing form. "Dragonfly is the essence of the winds of change, the messages of wisdom and enlightenment, and the communications from the elemental world."

"In a great many legends the dragon is seen as "the primordial enemy with whom combat is the supreme test." The Bible contains many references, and the dragon appears in classical texts as well. "Broadly speaking, present-day psychology defines the dragon-symbol as 'something terrible to overcome', for only he who conquers the dragon becomes a hero. Jung goes as far as to say that the dragon is a mother-image (that is, a mirror for the maternal principle or of the unconscious), but he also says it merely represents evil."

 One might think that a species such as dragons, which had no predators would naturally become dominant and therefore numerous; but the dragon's way of life was so extreme as to be quite precarious enough without predators, and in many areas of the world, competition from more efficient life-forms would have made it impossible. Facts about dragons:
1. they can fly because most of their huge bodies are hollow, filled with a lighter-than-air gas.
2. Dragons needed an enormous body to hold enough gas to provide lift.
3. Dragons did not need enormous wings because they used them only for propulsion and maneuvering.
4. Dragons breathed fire because they had to. It was a necessary part of the specialized mode of flight.

  Dragons are a mythic depiction of many of the less conscious feelings we sometimes feel. When we feel small, we create giant partners to protect us. When we feel powerless, we allow power to manifest in the form of dragons or other fabulous creatures. But generally dragons are not as clever as we are - they don't have the knack for deductive reasoning, for example. It is one of the most elegant qualities of intelligence that we can project our inner feelings onto the world. Certainly the aerodynamic qualities described above explain the flights of fancy represented by dragons. The world would be a poor place without them.

 Bibliography

 Andrews, Ted, Animal Speak. St. Paul, Llewellyn 1995.
Bennet, E. A. What Jung Really Said. New York, Schocken Books, 1966.
Cirlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols. New York, Philosophical Library, 1971.
Meadows, Kenneth, Earth Medicine,. Rockport, Element, 1991.
Sams, Jamie and David Carson, Medicine Cards. Santa Fe, Bear & Company, 1988.

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