George and the Dragon
George and the Dragon
The Traditional Witchcraft of Britain became part of the written record through the practice of guising. This includes the Mari Lwyd, the Bucca of Cornwall and what was known until 1880 as the Hooding tradition, which operated in East Kent. The descendants of the Hooding tradition perform mumming plays every year. These tell the story of George and the Dragon.
George is typically seen as a Christian knight. The question of why those traditions derived from Witchcraft would use a Christian character would prompt a second look at the legend to see whether it holds deeper meanings. The legend itself does not seem to be particularly Christian. The story deals with a dragon that is killed whilst threatening a lady dressed for a wedding does appear at first sight to have Christian origins.
In order to understand these origins we need to look at the original text to understand the elements of the story and to see what the underlying meaning could be. The original tale is held in a version called 'The Golden Legend' and includes many details that help us to understand its meaning. Key sections are underlined to help draw out the hidden meaning
S. George was a knight and born in Cappadocia. On a time he came in to the province of Libya, to a city which is said Silene. And by this city was a stagne or a pond like a sea, wherein was a dragon which envenomed all the country. And on a time the people were assembled for to slay him, and when they saw him they fled. And when he came nigh the city he venomed the people with his breath, and therefore the people of the city gave to him every day two sheep for to feed him, because he should do no harm to the people, and when the sheep failed there was taken a man and a sheep. Then was an ordinance made in the town that there should be taken the children and young people of them of the town by lot, and every each one as it fell, were he gentle or poor, should be delivered when the lot fell on him or her. So it happed that many of them of the town were then delivered, insomuch that the lot fell upon the king's daughter, whereof the king was sorry, and said unto the people: For the love of the gods take gold and silver and all that I have, and let me have my daughter. They said: How sir! ye have made and ordained the law, and our children be now dead, and ye would do the contrary. Your daughter shall be given, or else we shall burn you and your house.
When the king saw he might no more do, he began to weep, and said to his daughter: Now shall I never see thine espousals. Then returned he to the people and demanded eight days' respite, and they granted it to him. And when the eight days were passed they came to him and said: Thou seest that the city perisheth: Then did the king do array his daughter like as she should be wedded, and embraced her, kissed her and gave her hls benediction, and after, led her to the place where the dragon was.
When she was there S. George passed by, and when he saw the lady he demanded the lady what she made there and she said: Go ye your way fair young man, that ye perish not also. Then said he: Tell to me what have ye and why weep ye, and doubt ye of nothing. When she saw that he would know, she said to him how she was delivered to the dragon. Then said S. George: Fair daughter, doubt ye no thing hereof for I shall help thee in the name of Jesu Christ. She said: For God's sake, good knight, go your way, and abide not with me, for ye may not deliver me. Thus as they spake together the dragon appeared and came running to them, and S. George was upon his horse, and drew out his sword and garnished him with the sign of the cross, and rode hardily against the dragon which came towards him, and smote him with his spear and hurt him sore and threw him to the ground. And after said to the maid: Deliver to me your girdle, and bind it about the neck of the dragon and be not afeard. When she had done so the dragon followed her as it had been a meek beast and debonair. Then she led him into the city, and the people fled by mountains and valleys, and said: Alas! alas! we shall be all dead. Then S. George said to them: Ne doubt ye no thing, without more, believe ye in God, Jesu Christ, and do ye to be baptized and I shall slay the dragon. Then the king was baptized and all his people, and S. George slew the dragon and smote off his head, and commanded that he should be thrown in the fields, and they took four carts with oxen that drew him out of the city.
Then were there well fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children, and the king did do make a church there of our Lady and of S. George, in the which yet sourdeth a fountain of living water, which healeth sick people that drink thereof. After this the king offered to S. George as much money as there might be numbered, but he refused all and commanded that it should be given to poor people for God's sake; and enjoined the king four things, that is, that he should have charge of the churches, and that he should honour the priests and hear their service diligently, and that he should have pity on the poor people, and after, kissed the king and departed.
The first clue that the legend has a hidden meaning comes with the choice of the name Silene to describe the town. In Greek mythology Selene, is the goddess of the moon. She is the sister of the sun god Helios, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. From this we can understand that in the legend the city of Silene is a mythical place, the realm of the moon goddess.
Since the city is represents the domain of the moon we need to understand the role of the dragon. This is seen in Babylonian mythology as being linked to the sun. It relates to the movement of the sun through the astrological signs. The Babylonians associated the dragon with Marduk who is originally the bull calf of the sun god, representing the Age of Taurus which is the start of the Babylonian era. The dragon is with Marduk but separate from him. The dragon is the sun in the age of Pisces in this story.
In order to understand this legend further we need to understand it's relation to the precession of the eqinoxes. Witchcraft allows for the distribution of occult and arcane knowledge that is held outside the church. A key element of this is that the world experiences a change of astrological sign approximately each 2000 years. The astrological age that preceded the Christian era was that of aries the sheep. This was followed by the era of Christianity, which is pisces. Finally the new age will occur, which is the Age of Aquarius which is the age of the spring or fountain.
When we look at look at the legend in detail there are many elements that indicate that it is describing the precession of the astrological ages. It does not describe these in a way that is positive towards Christianity. The first issue is that it is described that the dragon is a creature of the sea. The legend says “And by this city was a stagne or a pond like a sea". This indicates that for the core of the story the dragon is in the lake, the realm of pisces.
At the start of the story it states that the dragon was offered two sheep a day. “The people of the city gave to him every day two sheep for to feed him” This is a reference to the Age of Aries the sheep, the first of the ages in the story. In the temple at Jerusalem sheep were sacrificed to God to satisfy his requirements.
The next stage is that a sheep and a man are sacrificed. The legend states “and when the sheep failed there was taken a man and a sheep”. This represents the turning of the age from Aries to Pisces where according to Christian traditions a man, Christ, was sacrificed at a time that sheep were also being sacrificed.
Next there is a stage where the children are sacrificed. “Then was an ordinance made in the town that there should be taken the children and young people of them of the town by lot”. This legend is describing the current situation of the Age of Pisces where children are given up to the church which is controlling the dragon's power as it goes through the zodiac. For those seeking a direct connection with the azoth, or transforming power of the divine spirit, this is a troubling situation. Hence this is seen as the dragon of the Age of Pisces consuming their children.
When George comes to the dragon he makes the sign of the cross. This is not the cruxifix, however, since George has his own cross, which is a red cross on a white background. This cross is derived from the original equal length cross of Babylonian magic which is seen in the cross of the Cathars, which is also red. George is making the timeless sign of mystical practice and not that of Christianity.
George realises that the dragon can be pacified by the power of the divine feminine represented by the king's daughter. She is dressed as a bride an alluring figure that has the power to control the urge to authoritarianism through desire. A sash from her body is used around the dragon and this causes the dragon to no longer be a threat to the people of the city. He then brings the dragon to the city. At this point the people run to the hills and mountains. When he destroys the power of the dragon the people are able to return to the city.
George then takes over the churches not for the Christianity of the Pisecan Age but for the new spiritual practice of the Aquarian Age. The people come to a church which is a church of the spring and not of the sea or lake. The implication is that the people have been baptised not into Christianity but into the spiritual practice of the New Age. George acts as a messianic figure saving the people of the town from the power of the dragon.
Once the true meaning of the legend is made clear it is understandable why those following traditional witchcraft would find the legend of George and the dragon important since it represents the coming of the New Age, an age where the fountain is important and the beasts of the lake lose their power.
The legend is reflected in the Book of Revelation. In this a great beast appears from the water. It is killed and then there appears a fountain of water for the Aquarian Age. This is the same basic story as George and the Dragon.
The story as told in the book of revelation introduces the beast. The beast has two forms. One represents the sun below the horizon and the other above the horizon, however they are the same animal. Revelation 13 state
“And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns, and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.”
Revelation 19 verse 20 states that the beast and the others that support it are killed with the aid of a man on a horse.
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone: and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse.”
Finally, at the end of the story in Chapter 21 verse 6 there appears the fountain of the water of life representing the Aquarian Age
“And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
This is the story that is being represented in the story of George and the Dragon, however the version from the Golden Legend deals not only with the end of the Piscean Age but also the beginning.
There is further depth in the mumming play. The reason why the dragon is reviled by mystics and gnostic witches alike is that the control of astrology is seen as giving power to organised religion. In its extreme form, as experienced in the middle ages, people were required to go to priests authorised to contact the divine. Gnostics, who sought a direct connection with the divine outside the power of the church, were often persecuted. This ongoing conflict between powerful hierarchies and groups of gnostics has led to the continual embedding of subversive messages in stories, cards, rituals and other practices related to this practice.
The story of deliverance from the power of magicians is seen in another text, beloved of and probably created by, gnostics. This tale, the grail legend, also tells the same story of deliverance around the day of judgement. The fool's journey, itself simply a telling of the grail legend, refers to this explicitly in card 21, Judgement, which illustrates the Day of Judgement. This is the last day of the Piscean Age.
In different versions of the mumming play George battles the dragon or a Turkish knight or both. George's conquest of the dragon is the conquering power over those 'magicians' who would work their astrological magic on the people. The heart of the Parzival legend this is tied to Gawain's trip to the Magic Castle where he conquers Klingshor. After defeating the power of Klingshor he leaves the castle and fights the Turkish knight. From this point he travels to the tree where he talks to the tree and seeks to understand what it needs.
The story of the Turkish knight is vital to the integrity of the Hooding tradition It allows for the combination of the three elements of the Hooding tradition, hooding, mumming and yowling. These three represent the passage of Gawain through the magic castle and on to the tree. The tree is fundamental to the old tradition since it is the firing through the tree which occurs at the end of the yowling that represents the bringing of the azoth, the transformational power of the divine spirit, to the earth.
A detailed understanding of the meaning of the St George legend allows us to understand that it is not an awkward adjunct but rather a vital and central part of the traditions spiritual connection with the divine. This is a gnostic practice which allows all of those connected with it to experience the physical manifestation of the azoth when the guns are fired through the tree at the end of the celebration of the yowling, itself the most dramatic and spiritual representation of the Old Religion.
The Traditional Witchcraft of Britain became part of the written record through the practice of guising. This includes the Mari Lwyd, the Bucca of Cornwall and what was known until 1880 as the Hooding tradition, which operated in East Kent. The descendants of the Hooding tradition perform mumming plays every year. These tell the story of George and the Dragon.
George is typically seen as a Christian knight. The question of why those traditions derived from Witchcraft would use a Christian character would prompt a second look at the legend to see whether it holds deeper meanings. The legend itself does not seem to be particularly Christian. The story deals with a dragon that is killed whilst threatening a lady dressed for a wedding does appear at first sight to have Christian origins.
In order to understand these origins we need to look at the original text to understand the elements of the story and to see what the underlying meaning could be. The original tale is held in a version called 'The Golden Legend' and includes many details that help us to understand its meaning. Key sections are underlined to help draw out the hidden meaning
S. George was a knight and born in Cappadocia. On a time he came in to the province of Libya, to a city which is said Silene. And by this city was a stagne or a pond like a sea, wherein was a dragon which envenomed all the country. And on a time the people were assembled for to slay him, and when they saw him they fled. And when he came nigh the city he venomed the people with his breath, and therefore the people of the city gave to him every day two sheep for to feed him, because he should do no harm to the people, and when the sheep failed there was taken a man and a sheep. Then was an ordinance made in the town that there should be taken the children and young people of them of the town by lot, and every each one as it fell, were he gentle or poor, should be delivered when the lot fell on him or her. So it happed that many of them of the town were then delivered, insomuch that the lot fell upon the king's daughter, whereof the king was sorry, and said unto the people: For the love of the gods take gold and silver and all that I have, and let me have my daughter. They said: How sir! ye have made and ordained the law, and our children be now dead, and ye would do the contrary. Your daughter shall be given, or else we shall burn you and your house.
When the king saw he might no more do, he began to weep, and said to his daughter: Now shall I never see thine espousals. Then returned he to the people and demanded eight days' respite, and they granted it to him. And when the eight days were passed they came to him and said: Thou seest that the city perisheth: Then did the king do array his daughter like as she should be wedded, and embraced her, kissed her and gave her hls benediction, and after, led her to the place where the dragon was.
When she was there S. George passed by, and when he saw the lady he demanded the lady what she made there and she said: Go ye your way fair young man, that ye perish not also. Then said he: Tell to me what have ye and why weep ye, and doubt ye of nothing. When she saw that he would know, she said to him how she was delivered to the dragon. Then said S. George: Fair daughter, doubt ye no thing hereof for I shall help thee in the name of Jesu Christ. She said: For God's sake, good knight, go your way, and abide not with me, for ye may not deliver me. Thus as they spake together the dragon appeared and came running to them, and S. George was upon his horse, and drew out his sword and garnished him with the sign of the cross, and rode hardily against the dragon which came towards him, and smote him with his spear and hurt him sore and threw him to the ground. And after said to the maid: Deliver to me your girdle, and bind it about the neck of the dragon and be not afeard. When she had done so the dragon followed her as it had been a meek beast and debonair. Then she led him into the city, and the people fled by mountains and valleys, and said: Alas! alas! we shall be all dead. Then S. George said to them: Ne doubt ye no thing, without more, believe ye in God, Jesu Christ, and do ye to be baptized and I shall slay the dragon. Then the king was baptized and all his people, and S. George slew the dragon and smote off his head, and commanded that he should be thrown in the fields, and they took four carts with oxen that drew him out of the city.
Then were there well fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children, and the king did do make a church there of our Lady and of S. George, in the which yet sourdeth a fountain of living water, which healeth sick people that drink thereof. After this the king offered to S. George as much money as there might be numbered, but he refused all and commanded that it should be given to poor people for God's sake; and enjoined the king four things, that is, that he should have charge of the churches, and that he should honour the priests and hear their service diligently, and that he should have pity on the poor people, and after, kissed the king and departed.
The first clue that the legend has a hidden meaning comes with the choice of the name Silene to describe the town. In Greek mythology Selene, is the goddess of the moon. She is the sister of the sun god Helios, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. From this we can understand that in the legend the city of Silene is a mythical place, the realm of the moon goddess.
Since the city is represents the domain of the moon we need to understand the role of the dragon. This is seen in Babylonian mythology as being linked to the sun. It relates to the movement of the sun through the astrological signs. The Babylonians associated the dragon with Marduk who is originally the bull calf of the sun god, representing the Age of Taurus which is the start of the Babylonian era. The dragon is with Marduk but separate from him. The dragon is the sun in the age of Pisces in this story.
In order to understand this legend further we need to understand it's relation to the precession of the eqinoxes. Witchcraft allows for the distribution of occult and arcane knowledge that is held outside the church. A key element of this is that the world experiences a change of astrological sign approximately each 2000 years. The astrological age that preceded the Christian era was that of aries the sheep. This was followed by the era of Christianity, which is pisces. Finally the new age will occur, which is the Age of Aquarius which is the age of the spring or fountain.
When we look at look at the legend in detail there are many elements that indicate that it is describing the precession of the astrological ages. It does not describe these in a way that is positive towards Christianity. The first issue is that it is described that the dragon is a creature of the sea. The legend says “And by this city was a stagne or a pond like a sea". This indicates that for the core of the story the dragon is in the lake, the realm of pisces.
At the start of the story it states that the dragon was offered two sheep a day. “The people of the city gave to him every day two sheep for to feed him” This is a reference to the Age of Aries the sheep, the first of the ages in the story. In the temple at Jerusalem sheep were sacrificed to God to satisfy his requirements.
The next stage is that a sheep and a man are sacrificed. The legend states “and when the sheep failed there was taken a man and a sheep”. This represents the turning of the age from Aries to Pisces where according to Christian traditions a man, Christ, was sacrificed at a time that sheep were also being sacrificed.
Next there is a stage where the children are sacrificed. “Then was an ordinance made in the town that there should be taken the children and young people of them of the town by lot”. This legend is describing the current situation of the Age of Pisces where children are given up to the church which is controlling the dragon's power as it goes through the zodiac. For those seeking a direct connection with the azoth, or transforming power of the divine spirit, this is a troubling situation. Hence this is seen as the dragon of the Age of Pisces consuming their children.
When George comes to the dragon he makes the sign of the cross. This is not the cruxifix, however, since George has his own cross, which is a red cross on a white background. This cross is derived from the original equal length cross of Babylonian magic which is seen in the cross of the Cathars, which is also red. George is making the timeless sign of mystical practice and not that of Christianity.
George realises that the dragon can be pacified by the power of the divine feminine represented by the king's daughter. She is dressed as a bride an alluring figure that has the power to control the urge to authoritarianism through desire. A sash from her body is used around the dragon and this causes the dragon to no longer be a threat to the people of the city. He then brings the dragon to the city. At this point the people run to the hills and mountains. When he destroys the power of the dragon the people are able to return to the city.
George then takes over the churches not for the Christianity of the Pisecan Age but for the new spiritual practice of the Aquarian Age. The people come to a church which is a church of the spring and not of the sea or lake. The implication is that the people have been baptised not into Christianity but into the spiritual practice of the New Age. George acts as a messianic figure saving the people of the town from the power of the dragon.
Once the true meaning of the legend is made clear it is understandable why those following traditional witchcraft would find the legend of George and the dragon important since it represents the coming of the New Age, an age where the fountain is important and the beasts of the lake lose their power.
The legend is reflected in the Book of Revelation. In this a great beast appears from the water. It is killed and then there appears a fountain of water for the Aquarian Age. This is the same basic story as George and the Dragon.
The story as told in the book of revelation introduces the beast. The beast has two forms. One represents the sun below the horizon and the other above the horizon, however they are the same animal. Revelation 13 state
“And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns, and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.”
Revelation 19 verse 20 states that the beast and the others that support it are killed with the aid of a man on a horse.
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone: and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse.”
Finally, at the end of the story in Chapter 21 verse 6 there appears the fountain of the water of life representing the Aquarian Age
“And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
This is the story that is being represented in the story of George and the Dragon, however the version from the Golden Legend deals not only with the end of the Piscean Age but also the beginning.
There is further depth in the mumming play. The reason why the dragon is reviled by mystics and gnostic witches alike is that the control of astrology is seen as giving power to organised religion. In its extreme form, as experienced in the middle ages, people were required to go to priests authorised to contact the divine. Gnostics, who sought a direct connection with the divine outside the power of the church, were often persecuted. This ongoing conflict between powerful hierarchies and groups of gnostics has led to the continual embedding of subversive messages in stories, cards, rituals and other practices related to this practice.
The story of deliverance from the power of magicians is seen in another text, beloved of and probably created by, gnostics. This tale, the grail legend, also tells the same story of deliverance around the day of judgement. The fool's journey, itself simply a telling of the grail legend, refers to this explicitly in card 21, Judgement, which illustrates the Day of Judgement. This is the last day of the Piscean Age.
In different versions of the mumming play George battles the dragon or a Turkish knight or both. George's conquest of the dragon is the conquering power over those 'magicians' who would work their astrological magic on the people. The heart of the Parzival legend this is tied to Gawain's trip to the Magic Castle where he conquers Klingshor. After defeating the power of Klingshor he leaves the castle and fights the Turkish knight. From this point he travels to the tree where he talks to the tree and seeks to understand what it needs.
The story of the Turkish knight is vital to the integrity of the Hooding tradition It allows for the combination of the three elements of the Hooding tradition, hooding, mumming and yowling. These three represent the passage of Gawain through the magic castle and on to the tree. The tree is fundamental to the old tradition since it is the firing through the tree which occurs at the end of the yowling that represents the bringing of the azoth, the transformational power of the divine spirit, to the earth.
A detailed understanding of the meaning of the St George legend allows us to understand that it is not an awkward adjunct but rather a vital and central part of the traditions spiritual connection with the divine. This is a gnostic practice which allows all of those connected with it to experience the physical manifestation of the azoth when the guns are fired through the tree at the end of the celebration of the yowling, itself the most dramatic and spiritual representation of the Old Religion.