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The cycle of Elemental Dragons at Glastonbury began in 1992. At the top of the festival site , above the Green Areas, is Kings Meadow , a field that has become known as the Sacred Space, an area of retreat and reflection. It is the site of the Stone Circle, the Totem and many rituals, songs, dances and weirdness for many years. I was asked to create a Fire Dragon there. And so began the Dragoncircle. It has turned into a way of seeing, experiencing and celebrating the presence of Dragons in the World.
Each year for four years a dragon was built--a full turn of the wheel.
The Fire Dragon
She was built from welded steel and aluminium--60 feet in length. Inside her belly was space for twenty people to sit around a huge egg-shaped kiln. Seven slender shining chimney pipes, 20 feet high, carried away the smoke. The egg became a roaring furnace for four days and four nights. It contained a new, baby dragon, made from water and clay.
Eventually the fire faded and the egg cracked open and crumbled leaving the fired ceramic dragon amongst the ashes.
That night the Fire Dragon breathed gouts of flame across the field and herself burst into a mighty conflagration.
When all was cooled and the festival was over, people came and took away pieces of the fired clay Earth Dragon and so he was scattered and journeyed in many directions.
The Earth Dragon
He took the form of a huge clay kiln over 50 feet long. It was designed to fire itself from within. First, Hazel saplings were cut from the hedges and freshly coppiced withies brought from the lowland withy beds in West Zoyland. A large pit was excavated and the shape of the dragon woven in wicker over the frame. The whole was then covered in layers of paper, clay slip, and a mixture of clay and straw.
The Earth Dragon had returned.
He lay drying in the sun for many days. The fire was lit and soon he breathed smoke and flames into the Air.
Eventually the fierce fire hardened and scorched his skin. The a shock. The circle turned--in a storm of sparks and fire the Dragon collapsed, sank into the Earth , and left.
No trace now remains in the grass of the field.
The Air Dragon
The following year , spurred perhaps by a lick of flame the Air Dragon flew in from the East.
He was made from fabric, wood, and delicate Willow. 40 feet long and suspended high in a tall framework of treetrunks. He hovered thoughtfully in the Air throughout the festival, rising and falling gracefully in the wind, nudged into more erratic movement by passers-by.
As the people began to leave he too departed. His observations complete hecontinued on his journey to the East, carrying the breath of Autumn in his wings.
The Water Dragon
Then the Water Dragon, flying in from the North, chose a place to settle, a new pond on the stream. Over 80 feet long, built on a wood and welded steel framework, with thick layers of concrete and stone gathered from the farm, sliced rocks, crystals and gems.
She, of all four dragons , is the one to stay, blending herself in with the passage of time, a channel for the water, a home for the mosses and lichens and perhaps a refuge for small damp creatures
There has been great Power, Joy, Hard Work, Fear and Discovery in this journey. What it was all about I've still to discover. Lots of odd stories to tell.
Thanks to all the people who helped, especially Mark and Sarah who made the Air Dragon.
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