THE DRAGON WITHIN

A tale of Self-Discovery and Healing

      CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ROAD OF RESPONSIBILITY

Avalon awakened the next day with great excitement.


"That's it!" she exclaimed. "I've found my fire, my will! With the help of my friends I was able to confront my own dragon of doubt, take action and move beyond my fear and apathy. By helping the dragon I mobilized my own sense of responsibility."


Whoot explained, "Will is the point on the path to health, the crossroads where you move towards health, or hopelessness and death. Will is the place on the path where you must transform thinking into positive action. If the dragon had succumbed to hopelessness he would have actually died, along with his hound. If you yourself had not taken the risk of this adventure, you too would be dying."


The truth of this concept shook Avalon with its meaning - that she actually possessed the power to choose, to relate, to bring about change in her personality, and in others.

The troupe continues onward and discovers the signpost reading RESPONSE-ABILITY. Avalon realizes that she is responsible for her destiny, whereas before she had believed that the King and Queen would feed her all the answers

Avalon is overcome by that familiar affliction - guilt - feeling that if she is responsible then did she also play a part in becoming ill?

Whoot speaks. "Listen my little Princess, guilt is an almost useless emotion. You didn't get sick intentionally, you don't catch a cold on purpose." Whoot ruffled his feathers impatiently. "To accept responsibility does not imply an acceptance of guilt. If you decide to feel guilty you are choosing a negative, passive, apathetic stance. Taking responsibility is the opposite: it is positive and energetic."


Cleo suggests that if Whoot would spice that philosophy with a little catnip she might be able to swallow it. She enjoys indulging herself in feelings of guilt, and loves blaming others for her misfortune.

A discouraged Avalon replies that the Road of Responsibility is confusing and difficult, that she understands why some would choose the alternate path of self-pity, blame, and dependency.

Fortunately they meet up with Maheegun, the pathfinder, the forerunner of new ideas, the white wolf. He explains his presence.


"In the beginning when the world was formed, the Great Spirit sent out wolf cubs to explore and measure the firmament. Wolves were the first teachers. Ever since my species have experienced anger toward us, anger born of fear. It is the same with illness. The two-leggeds act in foolish ways because they fear illness. Let me show you that you are your own greatest resource for healing."  

      CHAPTER EIGHT: STRATEGIES FOR HEALING

Maheegun teaches them about nature. "The cycle of life takes care of itself without interference from the two-leggeds."


He teaches them the importance of movement and exercise to promote breathing and circulation. "Walking strengthens your immune system by increasing your white blood cell count. Walking offsets the psychological effects of stress and relieves depression. It helps you see your problems in a different light: It gives you hope."


He instructs them in the use of imagery, massage, and how dreams bring the unconscious into the light. "As you can see", said Maheegun, "The image of the harp has allowed Avalon an opportunity to be in touch with her soul. Illness may actually be the result of not being able to reach your soul. The Dragon of Despair did not know how to reclaim his fire. You and your friends helped him find his way. You had an image of his potential. Imagery is your journey to health, made visible."

      CHAPTER NINE: SECRETS OF AESTHETICS

Maheegun discusses the importance of creativity, and how this emotional freedom to expand has been curtailed or blocked. Avalon remembered how many times the King and Queen trashed her paintings, and how communal creativity led to the dragon's recovery. Under Avalon's initiative the group create a splendid collage in the sand, explaining the restoration of the Dragon's fire, using twigs, grass and stones.

Maheegun teaches. "This all comes down to an understanding of aesthetics. Our notions of truth, goodness, and beauty inform and structure our experience of the world and ourselves. Avalon's creative endeavor will beget her aesthetic growth, and that in turn, will engender creativity. Aesthetic growth is essential for clear thinking, feeling, perceiving, expression and assimilation."


Maheegun continues to talk about the inspiration of music, visual, performing, and literary arts. Olive, the gray dove arrives, reminding the group that lack of spiritual growth can play a definitive role in the development of illness. "Most of you don't even realize that this dimension is even lacking from your lives until some crucial experience demands that you wake up to a more dynamic existence."


Maheegun describes spirituality as any activity that lifts the spirit, expands awareness, or purges the soul. Feelings of wonder, surprise, awe, joy - these experiences are spiritual. These events leave you feeling more complete, whole, connected with the universe, and in some mystical way, quite changed.


Avalon questions that if she becomes more aware of her spiritual life, will that help her to become more conscious of herself in relation to the world.


Maheegun affirms that the more conscious you are of yourself, the more spontaneous and creative you can be.


Before she slipped off to sleep, she thanked Maheegun for his crucially important healing lessons, and then turned her face to the night sky. The silver moon sailed above on a runaway breeze and the little Princess slept with its majesty in her dreams, content with the knowledge that she would never be the same again.

      CHAPTER TEN: THE SACRED FOUR: FOUR FRIENDS; FOUR ELEMENTS; FOUR DIRECTIONS

Avalon was surprised to feel a pull from home. Her body was lithe and toned and she even felt optimistic about her return. She waved goodbye to Maheegun and she and her group began their descent from the Mountain of Meaning.

Shiny, thick, black seaweed lay strewn here and there, and through her Royal, flared nostrils Avalon could smell the very scent of life itself....By dusk they had arrived at a place where the river spread out and blended with the sea..........Suddenly Daniel barked, startling everyone. Avalon blinked in astonishment.


Emerging from the marsh was a small, gnarled man, dressed in banana leaves, leaning on a cane covered with seaweed. Avalon was rocked with emotion


"Avalon, I am Neptune, the old man of the sea. Yemaya the Goddess of the ocean, has decreed that I should instruct you concerning the sacred nature of the four elements and the four directions."


He begins immediately to describe the edge of the great sea as a place where conscious (earth) and unconscious (ocean) meet. The ocean is the beginning of the earth. The world is round and your life is a circle. We all need and influence each other.


He then invokes each direction and then turned to face the West and raised his cane. "Powers of the West, home of the Great Bear, place of intuition, come into the circle. Teach Avalon to go inside herself, to dream and to listen. Teach her to go into darkness without fear, to learn to hear her inner voice, and to distinguish it from the false voices of fear, doubt and indecision. You, Avalon have felt the spray of the ocean and watched the forcefulness of the surf. All life comes from the sea and to her we shall return, like a drop of water flowing to the ocean." Powers of the West, come in."


He ends by requesting that the Great Spirit allow the powers of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, to shine through, enlighten, and teach peace, joy and wisdom. He explains that these are interconnected systems; that we cannot live without them. Only ecological balance can maintain our freedom, and only in freedom can Spirit flourish in diversity. He asks that all the power of all elements and directions guide us and keep us.

Avalon is filled with wonder, magic and the mystery of nature and its potency for healing. She feels herself falling into a deep sleep, filled with gratitude that she has finally been handed the talisman or key which could open the door to the rest of her life.

      CHAPTER ELEVEN: RETURN TO THE CASTLE FOR CHANGE

Avalon wakes up in her bed in the castle, distressed as to whether she dreamed her journey, simply made it up, or did it really happen.

She calls for help from Hermes. Avalon looked at Hermes solemnly and asked a very scary question. "Hermes," she stuttered, "have I been away from the castle for a very long time?"


Hermes remained silent. Then looking deeply into the far-away eyes of his Princess he gently asked her to tell him where she had been.


Avalon shares her journey with Hermes, her eyes blazing with health and energy. "If I believe all this happened to me then it did. Right Hermes?"


Hermes flashed her his smile of recognition, repeating, "We who believe in magic, humour, imagination, and dreams know that possibilities are limitless."


Avalon remembers to breathe deeply, and with that breath comes the certainty that however, and wherever her journey has taken her she is, in many ways, forever transformed. But the renewed Avalon has to make her changes known to the King and Queen.


The little Princess heard the familiar click of the Queen's high heels approaching her room. She waited for the old familiar feelings of dread to freeze her body, and was surprised to find herself breathing deeply, bending her knees and reminding herself that she was connected to Mother Earth.

Her mother, the Queen, turned the large knob on the outside of her door and entered without a knock.

"Good morning Mother," said Avalon, " This morning I am going to inform the Royal carpenter that I need a doorknob on the inside of my door, and a sign that says please knock before entering."


Avalon continues to tell her 'truth' to her parents who are annoyed and confused. The court physician describes her behaviour as unexpected and unpredictable, and calls her condition a 'remission' for which there is no medical explanation.

Avalon understands their dilemma. She knows her health is no accident, and the result of a great deal of learning and hard work. She explains that her healing is a combination of mind-body-spirit healing, involving all physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health.

The King and Queen retire in dismay to their sitting room, sipping martinis, and swallowing down their feelings of envy of their daughter's blatant display of unmitigated health and happiness.

Avalon and her parents gradually progress toward a kind of reconciliation.

They acknowledge that something profound has happened to their little Princess, that she has made an astounding physical recovery, but they are quite confused and at a loss for an explanation. She realizes that she will never be able to explain all of what she has experienced.

She informs them that while she realizes they are strong, they use their strength destructively. Thanks to the experiences on her journey, she has now learned how to use this same strength in a constructive and creative manner. She gets down from her chair and gives them each a hug.

The King and Queen retire in a state of dejection only to awaken from a restless, sweat-soaked sleep to discover Alwyn, the Wish Fairy, wearing her cranberry gown, reclining in the crescent moon, patiently waiting.

Epilogue

The winds of change blew over the kingdom and the Royal family. Economic uncertainty, environmental and social problems and ever-demanding subjects were taking their toll on the King. His temper began to flare at inappropriate moments and he was frequently depressed. One morning he could not get out of bed because of extreme pain.

The court physician was summoned, and ordered many tests and immediate surgical procedures.

When she heard this, the distressed Queen gazed forlornly into the midnight sky and wondered what alternatives there might be.

The Queen knocked on Avalon's bedroom door and waited for permission to enter. With hope in her warming heart, she looked into her daughter's eyes and in all sincerity asked a surprised and ecstatic, but not-so-little Princess for a valued second opinion.

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