Dragon

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Illustration of a winged, fire-breathing dragon by Friedrich Justin Bertuch from 1806
Set spearing the serpent Apep as he attacks the sun boat of Ra. Illustration from an ancient Egyptian papyrus
Carved imperial Chinese dragons at Nine-Dragon Wall, Beihai Park, Beijing

The dragon (Latin: draco, Greek: δράκων drákon "dragon"), usually depicted as a lizard-like creature with flying skins or also as a serpentine lindworm (Old High German: lint "snake", is usually an imagination of those human forces that are under the influence of the Luciferic or Ahrimanic adversary powers. In this sense, one can speak of a Luciferic dragon - usually referred to as the serpent - and an Ahrimanic dragon. Because of the primordial nature inherent in the Luciferic forces, these forces are also interpreted positively, namely in Eastern cultures ("lucky dragon"). However, they are no longer compatible with the alert self-awareness that man should develop today. An essential task of our time is rather to deal above all with the ahrimanic forces and to use them in a positive sense, just as culture was once founded and fertilised by the luciferic forces.

The dragon has the most diverse form

„When the moon went out, man stood in relation to his lower nature at the level of a large newt. This is what the Bible calls the serpent, which is called the lindworm or dragon. Man had below an animal-like, ugly form; but above were the last remains of a figure of light, into which the powers of the sun flowed from without.“ (Lit.:GA 106, p. 90)

The lower nature of man, which, as the lesser guardian of the threshold, prevents man from entering the spiritual world immaturely, usually appears in dragon-like form:

„Now, as the then reptilian human being rose up in the Lemurian period, a head formation became visible which was completely open to the front and from which a fiery cloud gushed forth. This gave rise to the tale of the lindworm, the dragon. The guardian of the threshold, the lower nature of man, usually also appears in such a form.“ (Lit.:GA 93a, p. 141)

„The dragon has the most varied forms; the dragon has all kinds of forms. Those that come from human emotions are harmful enough, but they are not as harmful as the form that the dragon takes from the dead, from the killing knowledge of the present. There the dragon becomes particularly hideous, and one would actually like to say that the actual symbol of today's higher educational institutions should be: a thick black cloth, and that should basically hang on the wall somewhere in every lecture hall. You would know that there is something behind it, but it must not be shown to anyone, because it would throw a strange light on what is being done there. And behind the black cloth should be the picture of Michael's fight with the dragon. The fight with the killing intellectuality.“ (Lit.:GA 302a, p. 145f)

„The physical body is a temple which the lower gods built for us, and what is defective and bad in it, that we alone have done. And when we then look at ourselves, the inhabitants of this temple, we become aware that we, that is, our spiritual part, have the form of a dragon, a worm. Like many a person who imagines that he lives unselfishly, only for his fellow-man, the clairvoyant looks at the far-forward jaws and the receding forehead of the worm as a sign of his egoism. Our soul still has this worm shape, and so that we do not always see it, good gods have placed the guardian of the threshold in front of it. Now, however, we should undertake to bring this dragon transformed towards and up to the upper gods. This shall be our ceaseless work. When the ancient Egyptian, at his initiation, walked through the temple, through the rows of sphinxes, he said to himself that this temple was the physical image of the perfect dwelling of the god and that he had to attain this divinity in order to dwell worthily in the temple of his body.“ (Lit.:GA 266b, p. 328)

Great Red Dragon

William Blake: The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (c. May 1803)

The great red dragon in the Apocalypse of John is the serpent of old who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The great red dragon has seven heads and ten horns, and pursues the woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. That which is predisposed by the etheric in man is called the "head" in the occult language of the Apocalypse, and appears so also to the clairvoyant eye. That which is physically effected in man by a member of the etheric body, on the other hand, which is the physical expression of an etheric, is called "horn". All physical organs of the human being are to be understood in this sense as "horns". (Lit.:GA 104, p. 188f)

He is thrown down to earth by Michael and his hosts. The great red dragon is also shown on the fifth apocalyptic seal, which was made by Clara Rettich according to Rudolf Steiner's design.

„1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” 13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.“

In the Apocalypse, the great red dragon is characterised as a diabolic-satanic entity, that is, as a Luciferic-Ahrimanic figure. In the actual sense, however, according to Rudolf Steiner, this refers to the Luciferic dragon, while the beast with ten horns and seven heads, which subsequently rises from the sea, is an imaginative depiction of that part of humanity which, through the Ahrimanic and Asuric influence, has become the slave of its animal instincts. Those people, however, who have fully consciously devoted themselves to black magic, make possible the earthly incarnation of the sun demon Sorat, the beast with two horns.

„When the sun will have reunited with the earth, then man, by having purified his urges, desires and passions, will redeem the luciferic beings. The Luciferic beings who do not go with him to the sun remain in the state in which they were; they then appear as ejected into the evil lower astral world. This is then the old serpent and the first of the dragons emerges. So when the earth enters the sun, a dragon appears. But there are other retarded things: such people who cannot quite help being retarded in animalism, who remain slaves to their animal instincts. While the other people go to the sun, they form an evil power towards the others. They form the second monster, and the apocalyptic says in his exact manner: the Luciferic dragon appears in the sky because he comes from higher worlds; the second beast rises from the sea - these are the retarded animal men. (Cf. Revelation 12:3–17 - 13:1–10)

Now we have a third appearance: these are the black magicians. They do not remain in animalism, they develop spiritual abilities within themselves. They have turned away in full consciousness and give up the carnal incarnation for Sorat; this will be the carnalisation of the Sun-demon.“ (Lit.:GA 104a, p. 120f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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