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The Dragon of Fleet Street

This dragon (actually a griffin) stands in the middle of Fleet Street 100 yards from the Temple Church.  The Templar Knights built the church in the 12th century to serve as their headquarters in London, and England's legal and financial institutions grew up around it.  Two Inns of Court (Inner Temple and Middle Temple) presently use the church.

British Pound Coin

The dragon on Fleet Street was erected at the western boundry of the City of London.   This entrance to 'The City' was known as the Temple Bar, and prior to 1878 it was dominated by a large stone gate.  In medieval times this boundry may have been marked by a chain or bar, and some believe that the legal phrase "passing the bar" derives from the act of entering the City at this location. Whether that's true or not, certainly the "bar" in 'International Bar Association' (whose buildings are all in this neighborhood and to which all Bar Associations around the world are franchises) and the "bar" in the 'Temple Bar' are the same.  I suspect that this "bar" is also hidden in words like 'bar-bar-ian' and 'Ba-by-lon', 'Kab-ba-lah' and 'Ba-al'. It might even be the "ba" in 'Ka-ba', the Japanese word for hippopotomus.  Why do I think so? Because the hippo was sacred and connected with the mother goddess (for its "pregnant" appearance) in Egypt, where 'ka' and 'ba' were the two aspects of the soul or spirit. And who knows, considering the religious rites of the secretive mother-goddess cults of the Black Sea region in antiquity were drunken orgies, maybe that other "bar", our word for a place to get drunk in, ties into this too. (I'm half joking :p)

  Coat of Arms: The City of London

Two dragons grace the arms of the City of London.  The City, or "Square Mile" as it is sometimes called, is one of the primary financial centers of the world and is a sovereign state much like the Vatican. Once a year the City hosts the Lord Mayor's Show, a parade in which the Lord Mayor swears his allegience to the crown.  In attendence are 2 wicker floats representing the ancient figures of Gog and Magog, the traditional guardians of the City.

Gog and Magog

These two giants are quite the enigma … they were defeated in myth by the first King of England, Brutus 'the Trojan', but are more commonly connected with ancient Scythia and the Caucasus, with the nomadic Turkic tribes of Asia, and are mentioned in the book of Revelations in connection with the 'end-times'.  Magog was the biblical son of Japheth (and grandson of Noah) and can be equated with Magor, the mythical patriarch of the Magyar-Huns.  Gog on the other hand is thought to have modified into names like St. George (the dragon slayer) and the Caucasus country of Georgia.  (I hope to do a piece on Gog and Magog … that may take some time.)  

Skull and Crossbones

What do the Knights Templar, Freemasons, pirates, and alumni of the Yale University Skull and Bones fraternity have in common?  This symbol for one …

Chi-Rho

The Skull and Crossbones appears to derive originally from the Chi-Rho, an ancient symbol connected with the concept of rebirth and which became the monogram of the resurrection in Christianity.  Concepts of fertility and rebirth are also woven into the Templar Knights' own (somewhat morbid) legend of the symbol and its origins.  See 'Skulls, Scales, Cups and Shells'.  

Morgan la Fey

Green and Gold

The figure at the left is Morgan la Fey, sorceress (or witch if you like) of the Arthurian legends.  She is commonly represented in paintings wearing green and gold.  The Morgan family coat of arms also happens to be green and gold.  And one conspicuous flag is green and gold as well, the flag of Jamaica.  Is there a connection here? Jamaica was the base of operations for Henry Morgan the buccaneer (whose likeness graces bottles of Captain Morgan Rum).  Henry Morgan and his uncle Edward Morgan both served as early Lieutenant-Governors of Jamaica and apparently someone (one of them to be sure) thought that the Morgan family colors would look nice on the island nation's flag.

Flag of Jamaica

Additionally, Jamaica's flag, like that of Scotland, is configured in a saltire cross.  This is, I believe, shorthand for the skull and crossbones symbol.  Not such a stretch when you consider that Henry Morgan was, essentially, a pirate. Are there any other Morgan "pirates"?  Sure, J. P. Morgan. J. P. Morgan didn't start the Morgan banking empire, his father inherited it from George Peobody who was a close associate of the Rothschild banking house of London during the mid-19th century.  The coat of arms of Pollock, another important family with ancient roots, is also green and gold and is configured in the saltire cross.  

Magen David

The Magen David is not natively a Jewish symbol.  It is ancient, ubiquitous and can be found used in conjunction with religions and sects ranging from Kabbalism to Hinduism to Buddhism to Mormonism, and decorates countless Freemasonic lodges around the world.  It has only been universally regarded as a symbol of Judaism for a little over a century, corresponding roughly with the emergence of the Zionist movement.  This is no accident, its adoption by Jewish communities worldwide followed its adoption first by early Zionists and the growth in popularity of a movement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

West Toronto Masonic Temple

The Magen David is sometimes called the 'Seal of Solomon', and as Solomon was a King of Israel it's understandable that people would connect the symbol to Judaism via its association with Solomon … but Solomon wasn't your typical  god-fearing monotheist. He was obsessed with the occult and magic, and in fact the symbol is found in medieval Kabbalist grimoires (books of magic) in tables of 'Sigils' (occult seals or signs).  The best known grimoire is the 'Lesser Key of Solomon', a 17th century book of demonology. The true meaning of the Magen David is pretty obvious – even in the 'Da Vinci Code' we get an explanation of the correllation between upward and downward pointing triangles and the aspects of male and female … but it goes further, the two triangles of the Magen David symbol are interwoven.  This is a representation of the inter-connectedness of dualistic concepts such as light and dark, male and female, good and evil and order and chaos.  

Dragon and Phoenix

In China, the dragon and the phoenix are paired and represent the epitome of balance between aggression and nurture, strength and pacifity, yin and yang and perfect 'Feng Shui'. I'm sure the Chinese don't call it a 'Phoenix', but it is the same bird that rises from the ashes nonetheless.  The theme of resurrection connected with the Phoenix is obvious, and this bird, like Phoenicia, was named by the Greeks for Phoenix the brother of Cadmus.  Cadmus in turn famously (albeit mythically) slew the Ares dragon, planted its teeth in the ground from which sprang the soldiers of Sparta, and founded the city of Thebes. Thebes of Greece was certainly named for another Thebes, the capital of New Kingdom Egypt.  In Egyptian Thebes was rendered 'niwt-imn', or "City of Amun."  The Greeks in turn called it 'Diospolis' meaning "City of Zeus", for they equated Amun of Egypt with their own king of the gods. (The dragon-bred cultures of antiquity share so many parallels and similarities it's a wonder they were ever percieved as having been separate and isolated … as we are all led to think).

I'lll continue to add to this as I get inspired and/or have time.