(Click image to enlarge)Yesterday I realized my altar was getting a bit dusty so it was time to remove everything and have a thorough clean-up. This was quite a long, involved process due to the crazy amount of stuff I have on the altar (yes, I like shiny things!)Ā …but I eventually got all the cleaning finished. š
I felt it was also time for a rearrangement so I put a “Flower of Life” grid cloth underneath the protective sheet of glass and arranged my Circle of Dragons plus the bowls representing the Dragons of Sea, Land, Sky and put the Sacred Flame in the centre. (The glass was added a while back as my altar cloths kept getting accidentally damaged from candle wax, other spills, stray sparks and ash etc.) The Air bowl contains an incense cone and the Land bowl contains rock salt. I decided to add a couple of drops of blue food colouring to the water in the Sea bowl to make it look “deeper” and more sea-like. š
As my altar was looking so clean and shiny it was a good time to take more photos of all the shininess! Did I mention I like shiny things? š
…and here’s a more “atmospheric” photo…
Dragon Dreaming 
Wow! I hope to someday organize mine š Sadly it will be long years until I will have my own house… Hopefully admiring yours and imagining mine will keep me on š
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Thank you Nufuwyr. š Even though you don’t have your own house perhaps you could still have an altar set up on a shelf inside a cupboard in your room somewhere. That way nobody else needs to see it all the time and you can enjoy it in private simply by opening the cupboard door. For ambience you could use battery operated electronic “candles” – they still look pretty but they won’t burn the place down. š
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Thank you for your intentions, but I’m afraid that won’t work out š¦ I share my room with a brother and it has virtually no door. Several years ago as I’m a student and my parents have a pretty nice tax return every year, I asked my mother (who became after a time quite positive with my faith in Dragons) to give me that money to import some nice Dragon figurines from the UK to Poland here. Even though I have Them on my half of the room and They’re mine, I’ve encountered some unpleasant comments from family. There isn’t any suitable place in the furniture, and I have no privacy to perform anything… Maybe that will change when my brother moves out (maybe in some years) and I will get parents to renovate the room and install the door. There was much pressure on me when I left spiritually roman catholicism and devoted myself to Dragons. You could imagine, this country is quite fanatic with christianity… As far as I know there is a Poland-specific in the world christian tradition. After christmas the priests are visiting every home. A database developer at IT school told me the churches have a file on every christian, he have seen it. Well I haven’t done it, but I’m going to make an apostasy in order to make myself officially non-christian. This may be quite risky, but I strive to stay under protection of Dragons. They seem to have tampered with Their claws a little with situation at my home since Their figurines are here. Every year since then “something happens” that my family isn’t prepared for the visit of the priest and we pretend we are absent. š Luckily it isn’t few centuries back… Would be dead already perhaps for joining and giving home to the “devil”. Now the government and international society even wouldn’t let that happen. But there are still fanatics who can attack… Please pray to Dragons for me sometimes, so I can stay safe here and the religious authorities stay out of my life…
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I had no idea the Catholic church was so strong in Poland! I wasn’t sure what the process of apostasy involved for you so I Googled and found a most enlightening article by someone who went through the process in Poland in 2011. I feel so lucky not having to worry about such things here. May the Dragons always keep you safe!
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Thank you, the same! š I’m wondering how easy is it in Australia, but for sure much easier. And also I could say we’re “even” š I always thought your country is a place, where such things can’t happen as you described here some time ago: http://wp.me/pGnWW-1Xf
Glad you have overcame it š
The position of the Church although has (or rather had) a positive side in history. If you would look up some basic history of Poland, in the end of XVIII century it has gone away from the maps. The land was occupied by Prussia, Austria and Russia. The christian faith gave people some strength and hope to restore the country. After many failures it ended up in success after World War I. Not a lot of time later, when the WW II started, it fell under Nazi German occupation. After WW II into the Soviet occupation. The Church helped people to preserve the nationality, culture. Until the Soviet Union broke apart. Virtually I was born at the beginning of new dawn of Poland. People here don’t trust NATO. In history the Poland was set up many times by so called alliances (the most painful by UK and France at beginning of WW II – if they helped, it wouldn’t break out). Although it seems that there isn’t any serious danger to the country nowadays, people fear Russia. Former Soviet Union put much effort to tear away the Christian faith from the society. So briefly speaking it is a historical background for “every true Polish citizen is a Christian Catholic”. People still react badly to anything different. Even if no one gets any harm. Although my Draconic faith doesn’t stop me in the eventual patriotism and will to defend this land – it is for people hard to understand, because it is such a different faith. A curiosity: some social groups here called/call the Soviet Union / Russia a Dragon. Of course this is in a very negative way.
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Ah yes, I see now how it came about from the history you outlined, and the name association with Russia/Dragon certainly wouldn’t make things any easier for you. “Official” Apostasy is not really necessary in Australia. In general if someone in Australia is no longer happy with their religion they just stop practising it, stop going to church etc and take up whatever other beliefs and practices they are drawn to, if any. The only obstacles are friends and family who might not be pleased with the change. In theory, religious discrimination and vilification is not “supposed” to happen in Australia and is technically illegal, but in practice it still happens a lot. People are naturally suspicious of anything they consider to be “different”. :::sigh:::
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Technically one can practice another path in “conspiracy” while officially “remain” a Christian. I’m still in such situation as I haven’t done apostasy yet. As you have found an article above, the Church does everything it can to “have” people in it. Although in reality over the years there are less people in churches, less become priests, and these who become them are more concentrated on getting donations from people, persuading them into doing so than a spiritual practice. Atheists and others wouldn’t care if the Church insists on recognizing them as Christian or not, despite the actual reality, but nowadays the Church uses fictional social support in political purposes. Here in Poland it can affect political decisions. It gets serious financing from governmental budget (everyone taxes). We have law, which prosecutes various forms of discrimination including religious, but what people do in reality is another thing (alike). The Church loses its authority and position in the society as being wrong in various cases and refusing to revise its statements. There is a serious question is it justified to get governmental financing for the Church, while a “Christian” can’t just that easily step out of it and in general how is it just with others? Even if I would gather with a hundred people and legally register Dragon Mages here as “religious association”, we wouldn’t get governmental support to build a shrine for example, or to operate at all, anything. This is quite unfair. Although still the Church gives some of its wealth to help the poor, so it isn’t “all that bad”.
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Hi Nufuwyr, I’m so sorry practising your chosen belief is so difficult. I myself was a Catholic, well I guess I still am in the sense that once you are you are. I live in the U.S. so I am fortunate to believe what I want. I am feeling the dragons in my life and am having diffaculty incorporation an alter myself, for very different reasons, but I found a few things that help. I live with my daughter , her husband and two small children and my two catsš. Like you , I have no privacy and when I do set up things , they get taken or broke or just lost. So I have a small drum actually I use to put candles, etc. Anyway I’ve learned to really use my imagination. I get up at 4:30 am before everyone else and just silently imagine an altar with candles, dragons, icons for earth, land and sky. I contact the dragons in a faint whisper and so far it’s working. Also , I plug headphones in my cell phone, iPod , and just listen to music and imagine myself journeying to the dragons. I hope life gets easier for you! Sam
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I think your altar is amazingingly beautiful!. I am new to your site, and would like to ask a question. I am new to paganism, I am a recovering catholic,lol. I have been meditating and doing my circle asking for a goddess or guide to help me on my path. I had a vision of a dragon and I went to it’s cave, I immediately starting crying, not for fear, but for sorrow. I was easily able to ride the dragon. But the dragon was white. I was reading that most likely it was a guardian and not a spirit to work with. I’ve been in a lot of physical and emotional distress. So I have continued trying to find a goddess or spirit to work with for a month. I have gotten no responses. On not sure what I should do at this point? Am I supposed to working with dragons? Thankyou
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Thank you for your kind words about my altar. Glad you like it. š Based on what you have said, I would think that yes, you should explore the idea of working with Dragons some more. Don’t worry so much about what you read about a Dragons’ colour or what type of Dragon somebody else says it is. Just go with your gut instinct – how did it make you feel? Try meditating on the white Dragon you saw and just go with the flow and see where it leads you.
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Thankyou! That helps a lot.I have found so much useful information here, I’m so glad I found your site! My daughter draws dragons and loves dragons . my grandchildren have been talking about dragons. I really always thought they were beautiful and magnificent, but never imagined I’d have an opportunity to have them in my life. Feeling very honored.
Thanks
Sam
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