2012: The year of the Dragon
Angélica dos Santos Simone

May we enjoy the year of the Dragon and renew our ideas and perceptions of the world and of people; a soil is only fertile when fire gets rid of the weed and water removes the rubble

The year 2012 will be, according to the Chinese horoscope, the lunar year of the Dragon. Its periodicity is of 23 years and for the Chinese culture this animal represents the water: seas, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., and its rule over them. The Chinese Dragon is the opposite of the western Dragon, this is known for its ability to manipulate the fire that it carries within itself and is belched through its mouth. We may be speaking of an earthly mythology, for although there are many manifestations spread around the globe, there is one idea which is basic in all territories and ages, whence one concludes the mythological stem is the same, but not in the branches where local particularities occur, with every culture adding its form to a content that is universal. For instance, in pre-Colombian America and in some Amazon cultures we find the winged or feathered serpent, which matched the Dragon and possesses the same ability to transform the surroundings where it’s been.      

Planetary change 

We reached the overwhelming landmark of 7 billion inhabitants (or more), and in some countries the shortage of raw materials and natural resources (with only two centuries of excessive industrialization) is visible, Space programs invest in research on growing vegetables in zero gravity whilst planet earth transforms itself from its rocky layers shaping new landscapes, where at the first stage look like destruction but throughout the centuries acquiring new facies, new elements and new dynamics.

We are at a moment of readjusting the lower layers of the earth, which are moved by magma, or at the first phase, where landscapes of destruction are produced. Geological and geographical studies performed until now and the technology developed for the prediction of earthquakes, tidal waves, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc., do only forecast, as avoiding these events is not within human reach. 

The element Fire 

The western Dragon, therefore, represents fire. This element, which allowed for the birth of human societies thousands of years ago, remains almost unknown to human beings for its properties and manifestations in different environments. We know about fire’s capability to transform landscapes and the speed at which it does; in some places, its presence is necessary to maintain the balance of the environment, as in the case of the biome ‘Cerrado’.

Fire, as we know it, is matter in combustion. To create it in earthly environments it is necessary the presence of organic chemical components (wood, paper, fuel, etc.) which, in contact with an oxidizing substance (such as the atmosphere), added to energy set in motion (such as the act of rubbing kindling on a piece of wood), results in the liberation of heat and light originating from the gases that are in combustion. The color of the flame is like the combination of the chemical elements present in this process. Heat, as well as light is an energy source generated from the same element.

This process and everything it generates would not happen without an intrinsic and special movement that allows for that transformation to happen.

The element fire is, therefore, found in every corner of the universe, as long as the divine will demands its manifestation in order to fulfill its function of creating, destroying and creating again. Thus, without destruction there’s no creation, as the law of Lavoisier (18^th Century) blatantly points out: “In nature (in matter) nothing is gained, nothing is lost, everything is transformed”. This postulate shows us that within matter, the incarnated being must understand that nature moves in cycles from which he is also an important part of, for he is a force also capable of changing the landscape from its core, resulting in new forms of space.

The only non-created is God.

We must remember that life begins way before the formation of a complex planet, in the celestial nurseries, where stars sleep and wake up, giving continuity to the formation of galaxies and solar systems, such as our Milky Way and our Solar System, ruled by a star – the Sun. A very young star, it possesses a red-colored flame, while collapsing stars and their remains give off a blue colored one.  

Works of the 19^th Century 

We began the 19th Century with few certainties and many doubts. Let’s say that, apart from our pessimism, our planet hasn’t yet started the current Century on the “right foot”, for international politics are still based on wars and financial economics. The works of the great thinkers of the 20^th Century, despite their priceless contribution for the development of the human race, unfortunately remain in the archives of libraries, visited more by moths and dust than by world leaders.

In this way, we may think about such a dreamed change of paradigm for which scientists and the clergy have called for ever since the great World Wars and which the generation of the 1980’s of the previous Century, the same generation who is today in their 20’s and uses technology without instruction manuals, but still carries the moral flaws of the inherited generations.

We deem catastrophe any event that possesses a big enough scale to impress us, human beings: environmental, social, natural catastrophes, etc. Those created by the planet itself have a purpose, for we forget to tell our students on the first day of a Geography class, that the Earth is a living being, and as such, is in perpetual motion. This motion creates changes in the landscape and in the social organization of populations that live on its surface. André Luiz, in the book – Obreiros da Vida Eterna (2003), shares with us the experience of using fire in the spiritual realm, which through magnetic shocks triggered by specialized apparatus compete in order to promote the purification of consciousness in the dense plans of the planet. While André experienced the study in a transitory healing home located in the earth’s crust, a team of magnetic disintegration accomplished the periodic work of cleansing the area where the post was located:

“[...] A glare of astonishing beauty crossed the haze from top to bottom, offering, for an instant, an amazing spectacle. It was not the kind of lightning bolt known on the earth’s Crust whenever there is a storm, for natural electrical discharges, on a dense ground, are less precise in their visibly precise orientations. It was then observed the contrary: a fire storm was about to begin, methodically and mechanically”. (p.161)

In order to ease the anguish originated from the doubts that haunted Andre’s mind, his preceptor offered him a few brief appointments:

“The work of the ethereal disintegrators, invisible to us, because of environmental density, avoids the emergence of magnetic storms that appear, always, when the inferior residues of mental matter pile in excessively on the plan”. (p.162)

The result of such attempt from the skies startled the inhabitants of the dense area, who at times claimed for urgent help, because the golden light, a sign of the truly repentant, was dark and dense in most who claimed forgiveness and mercy: “Massive waves of grounded sufferers began to reach our defenses [from the healing post]. It was painful to watch the expectant and fearful mob”. (163)

This interesting picture comes to our imagination when reading about this experience. Countless texts developed by notable writers describe the “cry and clenching of teeth”, in this ultimate “final judgment”, where the presence and feeling of fire takes us back to the hell of Dante Alighieri in his divine comedy, something from mythology, rooted in something unquestionable. 

“Almost four difficult hours went by, demanding fierce attention in the task. And now, the environment was even more suffocating, more terrible… Fire serpents [salamanders] unraveled from the skies and into the ground, which started to tremble beneath our feet. The heat was asphyxiating. Feeling the unsteady elements that surrounded us, I remembered the old description of the seaquake of Messina[1], in which, in the heat of terror, in the face of a disturbed nature, the victims did not know how to proceed in order to save themselves, because everything around, the earth, the sea and the sky had been merged in a horrendous and synchronous devastation.” (p.166) 

The description made by the author is materialized in the shape of the fires that happen on the surface of the earth, drawing away every kind of life where it goes: “Drains of fire appeared nearby and such crying was heard all around, that we saw before us the perfect image of a vast forest fire, dislodging monsters and beasts from unknown caves.” (p.167)

We confirm with the experiences in the after-life the constant use of this element in cleansing and renewing the areas that are flooded with the densest plaques of low vibrations. We may think or imagine how our planet would be if the invisible spirituality did not take care of a world that many still don’t believe in.  

Fire promotes renewal 

Fed by the spark of the element fire, which destroys the old and makes room for the new, the Dragon presents itself bringing the flames of Renewal.

Renewal is an individual as well as a collective proposition.

2012 is the year of Renewal, because when fire eliminates all that is idle, there is a fertile ground for plantation. Even knowing that the use of fires in agriculture, for subsistence (slashing), is deemed outmoded, especially when it’s done many times, causing exhaustion of the soil (after all, the time of man is different from the time of nature). Such situation is defined in a different manner in the context of the ‘Cerrado’, as mentioned above, where fire is a key factor for the renewal of vegetation and food for the animals and moves according to the exact measured time and needs of this environment.

The etymology of the term renew comes from the Latin language: re = again and novare = make new.   

The proposition for the year of the Dragon is to utilize its renewing fire and burn everything that became idle in us. As we know that nothing is lost, even what is burned produces other substances, which we can perceive, like ashes, and others that only lab equipment can detect, such as gases given off by the material in combustion.

The remaining ashes of the memories of anguish, revolt, sadness, self-punishment and anger will be cleansed by the element water, also under the guidance of a Dragon, but this time the eastern one. The body shapes of both the Dragon and the winged serpent have a winding characteristic that represents the waviness of water and fire, both elements dance endlessly in waves. These waves have a useful function in the system, whether is to preserve what is necessary (represented by the valley in the body), or to transport what is not necessary for the individual (represented by the crest). The same principle occurs in the natural morphology of rivers that are designed in meanders (whereas man straightens them out, through the destructive drainage), because filtering water from highlands and valley tops as well as maintaining and containing rivers and their margins is the ideal dynamics in which we can sustain the ideal and intrinsic balance in every step of the watershed thus making sure the water dumped in the sea is clean.

The salamanders, personifications of the elementals who guard the element fire, also possess the same winding characteristic of the winged serpent and work out fire through a dance that moves matter, giving it the right use.

Thus, fire, as an agent of fracture, as well as water, as an agent of cleansing, are at the disposal of all who need to feel more relieved of the inappropriate burdens that keep the Spirit from growing.

May we enjoy the year of the Dragon and renew our ideas and perceptions of the world and of people. A soil is only fertile when fire gets rid of the weed and water removes the rubble.