MacKenzie - Dragons for beginners: ancient creatures in a modern world

About the Author

Shawn MacKenzie (North Bennington, VT) had her first Dragon encounter when she was four years old, when she happened upon an a copy of The Dragon Green by J. Bissell-Thomas. A sci-fi/fantasy writer, she is an avid student of myth, religion, philosophy, and animals real, imaginary, large, and small.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Dragons for Beginners: Ancient Creatures in a Modern World 2012 by Shawn MacKenzie.

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First e-book edition 2012

E-book ISBN: 9780738731230

Book format by Bob Gaul

Cover art: Dragon Linda Bucklin/Shutterstock.com

Cover design by Adrienne Zimiga

Editing by Nicole Nugent

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

For my father,

who taught me to see with wonder.

Contents

: Welcome to Dragon Country

Part I: Dragon Basics:
What They Are and Why We Need Them

Facts, Figures, and Defining Terms

Oriental Dragons

Occidental Dragons

Feathered Dragons

Pseudo-dragons

Part II: Dragons in
Faith, Magic, and the Arts

Dragons in Religion and Philosophy

Dragons in Magic and Alchemy

Dragons in Literature and the Arts

Part III: Living with Dragons

In the World

In the Family

: Pondering the Unthinkable:
A World Without Dragons

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to my fellow writers on both sides of North Branch. With patience, fresh eyes, and open minds, they followed me into Dragon Country and kept me on track when I was tempted to stray.

In the beginning,
The Great Cosmic Dragon kissed the sun.

Her fiery wings held close the earth.

The air shook with Her thunderous smile.

Shawn MacKenzie

introduction

Welcome to
Dragon Country

S omewhere between the craggy mountains of modern science and the forested lowlands of primordial myth, thunder rolls across lapis skies and the air is fragrant with spice and fire.

This is Dragon Country.

Its a land Ive known since I was no more than knee-high to a kickle snifter. Through the years I have explored it, cardinal point to point, growing gray among its residents. I have gone Dragon-watching from Europe to the Pacific Northwest, from desert sands to glacial floes. Ive seen enchantments bathe in Icelands thermal pools and tail-dance along Vermonts Green Mountains.

Ah, I sense a whiff of incredulity in the air. Dragons? Youve seen Dragons?

The poet Ralph Hodgson was fond of saying, Some things have to be believed to be seen. In the realm of weyr (Dragon community) and wing, this is as close to gospel as it gets. And why shouldnt we believe? From prehistory to the present, Dragons have informed our species ties with a mix of wonder, skepticism, dread, andultimatelymighty leaps of faith. Of course, being open to the rare and unusual and to the hidden all around us is a subjective thing, even more so when it comes to beings who sail the eternal winds between reality and myth. That said, the range and power of Dragons is such that they have fared far better than a host of lesser creatures, capturing the imagination so that, whether we love them or loathe them, even when out of sight, Dragons are never out of mind.

Personally, I prefer to love them.

My first Dragon sighting occurred in 1963, in Devonshire, England, on the rural fringes of Dartmoor. Prime Dragon Country. Moor and woodland, the wilderness was a playground for me! One particular haunt of mine was a dense beech and rhododendron forest surrounding a deserted mica mine, which I explored whenever I could. On one such trek, out of the corner of my eye, I spied somethingsomething largequietly weaving in and out of the woods. I turned, but there was nothing there. A play of my imagination, I figured, continuing on my way. Then I saw it againon the other side of the lane! I stopped and stared hard, trying to pick out a creature from the camouflaging bands of shade and filtered sun. Something had moved, I was sure of it.

Suddenly, with a roar and a whoosh that knocked me flat, a young emerald green Dragon flew out of the woods, swooped over my head, circled the mine, then zoomed straight up through the canopy and disappeared.

I was dumbstruck. Not scared, just wowed! Even in England, I knew you didnt see Dragons every day. Yet I had. For some reason, the Great Dragon had smiled on me that day, and blessed me with my first real live Dragon encounter.

Of course, how we think of Dragons has a lot to do with our initial contacts. The first Dragons I met all those years ago were not frightful monsters but fiercely loyal guardians against the terrors of the dark. Over the decades, they changed as I did. They became larger, more intelligent, and more complex. More wild. Striving to keep up, to be the best Dragon person I could, and to understand them as best I could, I threw myself into their history and ways, both natural and mystical. I discovered tales and wonders along the way, and all sorts of Dragons. They never asked much, never demanded parades or unconditional approval (though weve given them the former and, as for the latter, well, anyone whos spent an afternoon around a weyr knows were none of us perfect). No, they simply wanted to be seen in all their elaborate, sometimes-messy truthfrom horned brow to spiky tailand respected for the beings they are, like every other traveler on the planet.

From respect comes appreciation; from appreciation, love. What could be simpler?

Unfortunately, I discovered there is little simple about our long history with Dragons. A lot of bad blood lingers on both sides. For our part, its further complicated by fictions, superstitions, and outright lies, tumbling headlong into blind disbelief. In the face of all that, there is only one answer: the truth. In Wales, land of many Dragons, there is a saying: Y gwir yn erbyn y bydd! Truth against the world! And nothing imparts truth like a tte--tte with a Dragon. It is an experience guaranteed to beat back the darkest night like Dragonfire, and to remind us that, across leagues and eons, Dragons remain the one universal, familiar bit of magic we carry with us. And in return they carry our awe. Surely theirs is the weightier burden!

For that reason alone, these great ancient creatures are as necessary today as they ever were. And yet there is so much more to love about Dragons. They teach us to keep connected with the planet, which is critical these days when Earths delicate balance is in danger of being shattered. The more we lose touch with the wilderness and the damage weve done to the world, the more we need Dragons to remind us of our place in the natural order of things and the responsibility we owe to each other and to the planet. By consorting with Dragons we are able to tap into the better parts of ourselves, to be inspired by their courage, loyalty, justice, and family devotion. Even their humilityyes, Dragons can be humblecan teach us. The study of Dragons is little less than the study of the world: zoology, biology, physics, chemistry, toxicology, aeronautics, mythology, cosmology, religion, ontology, ethics, sociology, even Dragon lore the list goes on and on, in short, encompassing what it means to be human.