Its a peculiar thing but it is absolutely true.
If you have been reading this blog you know that I have just recently returned from a trip to Japan. It was a wonderful trip and I had a lot of reasons for going. And I am not even going to get into the peculiar thread of circumstances that created my adventure and trip to the land of the Rising Sun.
But I do want to talk about one particular event.
It was my very first night/day in Japan. I had just finished a marathon of planes, trains, airports, buses and what not. The whole thing from doorstep to doorstep was about 31 hours. I started my journey at 5am and finally reached my first resting point in Japan at about 11pm Japanese time which made it noon time the next day back home.
Anyway, On that first night, I went outside to enjoy the beautiful tropical evening (Quite a contrast from New England at the time because it was 35 degree when I left and felt like it could snow)
And I was just enjoying the smell and feel of Japan. I was basking in the wonder of how quickly I had traveled all the way around the world and in the wonder of how very different Japan was - even in the little things.
Well, to the point here. I looked up at the sky to verify that the moon, ever constant, was still the same regardless of where I was on the Earth. And I was taken aback in almost shock.
Before my very eyes a large cloud formation was in the shape of a big Japanese/Chinese Dragon, complete with horns and a long undulating body. And its mouth was open and I watched in utter disbelief and shock as this dragon swallowed the moon.
Now wait just a second here. What I saw was not a cloud that kind of looked like the shape of a dragon. It was the most remarkable thing I have ever seen. The darn cloud looked like a dragon. I am earnest here. I simply could not believe my eyes and I had to wonder if I was hallucinating from the long and arduous journey I had just completed.
But it took its time and it gave me plenty of time to verify and re-verify what I was seeing. It was a big ole dragon with its mouth wide open and it just slowly swallowed the moon. It took a couple of minutes and I just stared at it in rapt awe.
Was this some kind of a message? Was there a meaning in this? It's been bothering me ever since and I have thought about this incident many times since I got back. And while I was there I gave it a lot of thought.
Now Onto the Quest for a Sword
One of the things I really wanted to do while I was there was to buy an actual samurai sword that was made there. It was a very personal quest and I had a lot of trouble at first. I had no clue as to where to go to get one and it took me over a week just to figure things out. Anyway, I was in this one particular shop (the picture below is of the shop, the evening before I had arrived just a half hour after they closed)
Anyway, I was in the shop, and it wasn't the first one I had been in to look at the swords - and there it was, a beautiful Samurai sword with a hand painted dragon on it; and it looked to me like there was something near the head of the dragon that was either the moon or a cloud of smoke. Nevertheless, it struck me pretty hard. Was this the reason for my vision? Was this sword a manifestation of what I had seen? Was the vision of the dragon swallowing the moon a message to me to buy this particular sword? Whatever was going on it was uncanny and well, I bought the sword and had it shipped home.
If you have been reading this blog you know that I have just recently returned from a trip to Japan. It was a wonderful trip and I had a lot of reasons for going. And I am not even going to get into the peculiar thread of circumstances that created my adventure and trip to the land of the Rising Sun.
But I do want to talk about one particular event.
It was my very first night/day in Japan. I had just finished a marathon of planes, trains, airports, buses and what not. The whole thing from doorstep to doorstep was about 31 hours. I started my journey at 5am and finally reached my first resting point in Japan at about 11pm Japanese time which made it noon time the next day back home.
Anyway, On that first night, I went outside to enjoy the beautiful tropical evening (Quite a contrast from New England at the time because it was 35 degree when I left and felt like it could snow)
And I was just enjoying the smell and feel of Japan. I was basking in the wonder of how quickly I had traveled all the way around the world and in the wonder of how very different Japan was - even in the little things.
Well, to the point here. I looked up at the sky to verify that the moon, ever constant, was still the same regardless of where I was on the Earth. And I was taken aback in almost shock.
Before my very eyes a large cloud formation was in the shape of a big Japanese/Chinese Dragon, complete with horns and a long undulating body. And its mouth was open and I watched in utter disbelief and shock as this dragon swallowed the moon.
Now wait just a second here. What I saw was not a cloud that kind of looked like the shape of a dragon. It was the most remarkable thing I have ever seen. The darn cloud looked like a dragon. I am earnest here. I simply could not believe my eyes and I had to wonder if I was hallucinating from the long and arduous journey I had just completed.
But it took its time and it gave me plenty of time to verify and re-verify what I was seeing. It was a big ole dragon with its mouth wide open and it just slowly swallowed the moon. It took a couple of minutes and I just stared at it in rapt awe.
Was this some kind of a message? Was there a meaning in this? It's been bothering me ever since and I have thought about this incident many times since I got back. And while I was there I gave it a lot of thought.
Now Onto the Quest for a Sword
One of the things I really wanted to do while I was there was to buy an actual samurai sword that was made there. It was a very personal quest and I had a lot of trouble at first. I had no clue as to where to go to get one and it took me over a week just to figure things out. Anyway, I was in this one particular shop (the picture below is of the shop, the evening before I had arrived just a half hour after they closed)
Anyway, I was in the shop, and it wasn't the first one I had been in to look at the swords - and there it was, a beautiful Samurai sword with a hand painted dragon on it; and it looked to me like there was something near the head of the dragon that was either the moon or a cloud of smoke. Nevertheless, it struck me pretty hard. Was this the reason for my vision? Was this sword a manifestation of what I had seen? Was the vision of the dragon swallowing the moon a message to me to buy this particular sword? Whatever was going on it was uncanny and well, I bought the sword and had it shipped home.
Now, for the rest of my trip a sense of relief had come over me. It seemed right that the vision of the dragon lead me to this particular sword and everything had fallen into place. But something has been nagging at me. I have been wondering if there is something more to this?
If you have any thoughts on this I would be glad to hear them. And if you have some expertise on Japanese/Asian folklore or fables I would love to hear what your opinion and thoughts are about my vision, the dragon, the moon and my samurai sword.
Here are two pictures of the actual sword I bought:
East Meets West
I get the sense that us westerners tend to scoff at stuff like this. - bah , you saw a shape of a cloud that looked like a dragon, big deal? and it happened to pass over the moon, whoop tee doo. You were thinking about it all week and the first thing you saw with a dragon on it made you think it was a messaage bah! Just read your Jung, its plain old synchronicity without any hidden meaning.
But, the eastern philosophies, and a heck of a lot of other philosophies for that matter, wouldn't agree with this scoffing. The mysteries and the messages abound, we usually just don't pick up on them.
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2 comments:
Recently while doing research I ran across your blog and read your story of the Dragon Swallowing the Moon.
If this were my dream I would note that both the dragon and the moon represent different aspects of the feminine. The moon may be the symbol of your inner life, your soul while the dragon may symbolize the overbearing aspect of the Great Mother archetype.
In your dream one is consuming the other. Because the sword represents in many dreams the "doing of Battle" even your "waking dream" may be making a statement that you need to deal with the conflict portrayed in your sleeping dream.
I love your symbolism and would like your permission to use it anonymously on my both my website and blog. Would you be willing?
To help you decide: MY websiteis www.thedreamingwizard.com and the blog is thedreamdragon.blogspot.com
Hi, my name Natasha I live in Canada, Manitoba. Anyways I had the same experience that you had. Seeing a cloud, shape as a dragon eating the moon, but that was a long time ago. When I was 10 years old walking home from the store at night with my big sister chastity. It was pretty cool sight to see I wish I had a camera at the time.
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