The older I get, the more deeply I recognize my frailties and innumerable areas of ignorance.
I am a knave of many trades and master of none.
I am a will-o-the-wisp and a merry wanderer of the night
Or, more truthfully, in my Maineiac months, a wanderer of the wee hours
Of the early morning.
Rising with the birds. as I follow their migratory patterns
and general bird-like lifestyle.
Please prepare for me to mix my metaphors.
It may be one of the things I do best. Who's to say?
I ought not. I've learned this much, at least.
A teaspoon of humility may go a long way.
Now that's all out of the way.
I'm going to say some things about being an Earth Dragon.
These are based purely on my own poetic understanding of this zodiac sign for the year I was born, 1988.
There are twelve animals in the Chinese / Asian Zodiac. The Dragon comes in the fifth position, and is considered to be the most powerful sign. In addition to the twelve animals, there are also five elements associated with different years in the calendar (Fire, Water, Earth, Metal and Wood). So, although the animals repeat once every twelve years, the same combination of animal and element only occur once every sixty years.
I apologize if I have now lost you in that mathy minefield. Let's press on. Every twelve years, it is the Year of the Dragon, but of a different type. When I turned twelve, in the Year 2000, it was the Year of the Metal Dragon. Metal is the most volatile of the elements. If you can recall that far distant time, it did feel like a time of major upheaval. I'm sure the main reason I felt that way was being twelve-- going through puberty (which seemed like the worst thing that could possibly happen, at the time), and all the hormones and middle school and all the other darkest emotional depths I try mostly not to revisit any more--that year was also crazy in general. From the Y2K-disaster prep that kicked it off, to the rather destabilizing and extremely disappointing election results in November, basically 2000 was a big, steamy, molten metal mess.
But then another twelve years elapse, and we have 2012, the Year of the Water Dragon.
Now, this year is a completely different tale. For one thing, my family completed an "aunt-ilineal" dragon chain. My Aunt Penny is a Water Dragon, born in 1952. My niece Alice was born in 2012, and is also a Water Dragon. I am the Earth Dragon in the middle.
In 2012, I was a spry and lithe twenty-four years done. I had more or less survived adolescence, made lifelong friends with amazing people from all over the world, gotten into a pretty decent college, joined a pirate a cappella group, graduated from said college, and then launched into the world, kicking off my first stint of gainful employment in the "real world" with a truly phenomenal (and exhausting) gig as a bartender on a glass-domed train in Alaska. I had some false starts here and there to be sure, but Water teaches us to Go With the Flow, and that philosophy dominated my approach to life around that time.
I pledged my love to the Moon in January 2012, a poetical courtship that offers me solace in moments of loneliness and doubt. I also became a tall-ship sailor on the coast of California that year! My first ship, forever imprinted on my soul, is the Hawaiian Chieftain. I lived and worked aboard her for three and a half months, before I went back to Providence to frolic in the flowers of May and enjoy my closest friends' graduation time, and then returned to the Bay Area again to participate in a Shakespeare theater apprenticeship program June-October. I was, as oft before and since, absolutely brimming with potential, but still unsure how or where to best apply it.
And now we find ourselves in another Year of the Dragon! 2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon. So, what does that mean? Well, again I'll admit, I don't really know. But as it pertains to me...
Wood is representative of Nature. Trees, plants, animals, etc. Wood dragons tend to be a bit more reclusive or hermit-like than others. And I certainly find myself spending more time in the woods, out in nature, being feral, every year. Although I guess I've always been that way. I am leaning in and embracing it more than ever. I am working for Maine State Parks. And Maine is one of the woodiest places I know! Everything is green, glorious and growing like gangbusters. In my free time, you can usually find me near a body of water, playing my woodwind (pan flute), watching the leaves and blades of grass sway, the birds flit and twit, and summoning the snapping turtles. This may sound like magical realism, but it is solid fact.
Come join me in the woods sometime. We'll raise a tune together. Or perhaps this year will teach me to more actively reflect. With great power, responsibility, you see. As the cycles stack up, Dragon Wisdom powers up too. At least, I like to think so. For now, this dragon will continue to hold her fire.
Until the opportune moment.
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