Water Dragon ~ Druid Animal Oracle Part I

Note ~ The Druid Animal Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm is a tarot that works with the sacred animals of the Druid tradition. The Druids were very early psychologists whom used animal behavior to try and understand the human psyche. By understanding and making a connection with our animal brothers and sisters, we can use these animals as guides, and by doing so we can better understand ourselves.

I have broken the four Elemental Druid Dragons (which represent earth, fire, air, and water) into four blogs. It is much easier to digest these four elemental dragons one at a time.

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One Sunday morning Lambton went
A-fishing in the Wear,
And catched a fish upon his hook
He thought looked verry queer,
But whatten a kind of fish it was
Young Lambton couldn’t tell;
He wouldn’t fash to carry it home,
So he hoyed it in a well
~From “The Lambton Worm”

Water Dragon (gaelic name – Draig-uisge)

The dragon began its life as a Worm – a large snake or eel-like creature, sometimes with horns, that lived in the wells, lochs, or the sea. During its mythological development, the Worm grew small wings and two feet and became known as the Wyvern. In its final development, into a mythological creature, the Worm became a Dragon with four feet, larger ribbed wings, and a barbed tail.

These dragons were said to sometimes leave the water and terrorize the hills and country they settled in. The ones that remained in the water were depicted as sea monsters, the most famous living in Loch Ness. The first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness Monster tells of St. Columba saving a friend who was crossing Ness. The monster broke the water behind the swimmer and opened its mouth with a mighty roar. It was stopped when Columba declared, “Go thou no further nor touch the man. Go back at once.” The creature obeyed.

The water dragon has been sighted in the whirlpool of the River Taff at Cardiff, located in the capital city of Whales, and Llyn-y-Gader Lake in Snowdonia, located in the National Park of Whales. Legend states, that anyone whom is unlucky enough to fall into either body of water is quickly consumed by the water dragon leaving nothing but swirls of blood (EGAD).

Gateways to the Otherworld

In most all dragon stories, the dragon originates from a body of water whether it be river, well, pool, lake, marsh, bog, and/or sea. Water sources were considered sacred to the Druids whom believed it a gateway to the Underworld or Otherworld. The Otherworld is the Celtic version of heaven where the domain of the Celtic deities and mythological creatures such as the Fae Folk and Dragons exist. Since the dragon is an Otherworldly creature it is fitting that it would come from the water or gateway of the Otherworld.

As I noted above, Druids were early psychologist whom linked the sacred animals to the human psyche. Monsters of the sea and their emergence can represent the Unconscious realm of the human psyche. Breaking this down further, the sea represented unresolved desires, repressed and distorted drives that well up into awareness. The destructive water dragon symbolized the damaging nature of certain contents of the mind. To heal one’s self, these hidden drives must be brought to the light and dealt with. These hidden drives may at times overwhelm an individual with emotion, but in time the individual can achieve a sense of balance as the desire is integrated from the unconscious to the conscious. By doing this a metamorphosis of the psyche is required that can be seen as a symbolic death.

Earth and air dragons are rarely destructive if left undisturbed. But the elements of fire and water can be dangerous, the water dragon can overwhelm one with emotion and drown one is self-pity. If befriended the water dragon can invoke compassion, passion, depth of feeling and a connectedness with life. Basically, the Druid believed that instead of burying our hidden desires and allowing these desires to overcome us; we should confront them immediately and deal with the desire to create a balance. Further more, I believe this interpretation of the water dragon could be used in times of depression by making the water dragon a totem or spirit guide.