the number of a dragon's legs, alchemy, and other misadventures

A little over a week ago I was confronted with a seemingly minor problem - an illuminated letter that I loved featured a serpent like dragon with two legs. Visually it looks complete but anatomically I was afraid it was glaringly erroneous in nature. The artist on my left shoulder said "leave it ... call it artistic licence" and the horrified academic on my right shoulder pleaded that I see sense and at least do a little bit of research first. After much squabbling the two temperaments reached a consensus. Digits might be added at the tip of the dragon's wings in lieu of a third and fourth appendage. Angels sang, the sun shone bright, and finally there was peace in the land ... until last night. The subject was reopened at the prompting of a friend and I was left to wonder why on Earth a dragon would have digits at the end of supposedly massive wings. What function could they possibly serve? Not only would they be too awkward to use for grasping anything; but due to their position , they would most likely be too fragile to support any significant amount weight. What's the point?

Here is where a great literary weakness must be admitted. No matter how infatuated with European and Celtic mythology I might be, very little time has been spent exploring myths of other cultures - especially that of the Orient. As a result, the dragons with which I am most familiar have four legs (the front pair sometimes smaller than the back) and that is that. Matt suggested that perhaps Chinese myth featured a two legged dragon, and even found such a specimen in Aztecan imagery. Thus began a search. Try Googling "dragon's legs" sometime. It returns a virtual plethora of subjects - diviantART, ill-advised leg tattoos, RuneScape armor, Chinese music CDs, Crayola Model Magic ideas, art how-to tutorials - but nothing that is terribly useful. "Dragon leg numbers" results are pretty much the same. A spur-of-the-moment search for "wyverns", however, returned numerous heraldic examples of two-legged serpentine creatures.

According to Merriam-Webster, wyvern (an altercation of the Middle English word for "viper") is "a mythical animal usually represented as a 2-legged winged creature resembling a dragon." the keyword here would be "resemble." Not an actual dragon, but close enough in appearance that I would be able to get away with using it represent one. Further digging through The Alchemy Website (which I highly recommend for a fun filled afternoon) revealed a number of engravings from a volume by Abraham Eleazar that I believe is from 1735. I don't read German, so maybe you can figure it out. Alchemically, the dragon was a very powerful allegorical symbol as it represents a dual natured mercurius in the first stage of creating the philosopher's stone. Chaucer approached the subject very poetically ([Hermes] seith, how the dragoun doutless,/ Ne deyeth nay, but-if that he be slayne,/ With his brother; and that is for sayn,/ By the dragoun, Mercurie and noon other/ He understood) but leaves me scratching my head going "huh?" Thankfully good ole' Nicholas Flamel comes to our rescue in his work Hermetic Museum with his disciption if the dragon's symbolism. Looke well upon these two Dragons, for they are the true principles of beginnings of this Phylosophy ... The first is called Sulphur, or heat an driness, and the latter Argent-vive, or cold, and moisture. These are the Sunne and Moone of the Mercurial source." Flamel later reveals that the winged dragon represents Argent-vive (the female aspect of Mercurial) because it is borne away through the air ... because in a certain degree it flies away or evaporates. One should also note that the magical mercurial waters produced in this process were called dragon's blood. I have a number of thoughts concerning the alchemical role of the dragon in Yeats' Elemental Powers, but they need to be clarified just a little bit more before posting.

This blog certainly ended up in a completely different place than it started, but it has presented me with a new symbol to investigate. All that is to say, both the artistic and academic me are presently quite happy with the two-legged dragon.

Image 1: Illuminated letter "the" from The Poet Pleads with the Elemental Powers - 2008, Hilary Lindler. all rights reserved

Image 2: 142x94mm engraving from pg. 8 from Abraham Eleazar's book