It has already been discussed on this forum that throughout the world there has been a likeness in the serpent and the dragon in nearly all cultural paradigms. It The dragon is usually an entity that guards something or causes an uprising of a threat. It is usually overcome and defeated to attain something sacred or to preserve it, though in some cultures it is revered as a supreme divine entity such as those of the Chinese or the Central American cultures.
What’s interesting is how this applies to the Kundalini concept or the Caduceus concept. Even as for some mystery traditions throughout the Greek and Roman eras concerning Phanes, Dionysus, even the Roman Mithras traditions, these all involve the serpent as a cause of new beginnings and growth. Even I some Gnostic Christian traditions such as the Ophites, the serpent is being revered as the symbol for spiritual initiation into the growth and wisdom of Christ.
Certain authors known in this forum attribute the Qliphoth to Draconian powers while that was never a concept in Jewish Theology outside of there being great monsters the Yahweh defeats, which are much later translated as dragons in early English versions. The dragon is seen more so in the New Testament which was main circulated through Greece, which both reveals where the concept of the biblical dragon came from as well as its role: a chaotic being that is suppressed or banished.
The serpent in Gnostic spiritual traditions is often associated with the movement of forces to create new phases or the ‘gateway’ to attainment of enlightenment/wisdom. So if the serpent is has a different role in the occult than the dragon, then what is the true nature of the dragon’s energy? By its historical place, it would seem to be an entity that hoards energy for the purpose of exerting it for its own power-sake, but no organized intelligence to it. Purely Primal, thus destructive to spiritual growth.
Any thoughts?