Tag: dragons

Odin riding Sleipnir in a detail on the Tjängvide stone

5,668 words

1. The Language of Birds

In our last installment, we explored the idea that Sigurd bathing in the dragon’s blood is a symbol for the achievement of the “spiritual corporeality.” In order to complete this alchemical transmutation, however, Sigurd must also consume the dragon’s blood, and its heart. (more…)

Siegfried bathes in the dragon’s blood in Fritz Lang’s 1924 epic Die Nibelungen.

3,726 words

1. Why Does Sigurd Slay the Dragon?

In How to Kill a Dragon, the linguist Calvert Watkins explores the common structure of the dragon or serpent slaying myths that are found throughout the Indo-European tradition. Midway through the book, he asks a crucial question, “Why does the hero slay the serpent? What is the function of this widespread if not universal myth, what is its meaning?” His answer employs language that must immediately remind us of Evola’s account of the “heroic path”: “The dragon symbolizes Chaos, in the largest sense, and killing the dragon represents the ultimate victory of Cosmic Truth over Chaos.”^[1] (more…)

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

1,189 words

Everybody has heard of the Oberammergau Passion Play that has been performed almost continuously every ten years since 1634. But there is a lesser-known, even older German folk play: the Drachenstich, or “spearing of the dragon,” in Furth im Wald, a small Bavarian town located near the Czech border. (more…)

Mircea Eliade

187 words / 2:00:22

The eclectic scholar Kathryn S. was host Nick Jeelvy‘s guest on the latest broadcast of The Writers’ Bloc, where they discussed Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane and answered viewer questions, and it is now available for download and online listening.

Topics discussed include:

00:04:54 Mircea Eliade’s background and influence
00:06:56 Parallels to Jung and Freud
00:12:01 Influence on Camille Pagllia (more…)