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Chapter 15 St George and the Dragon
In the last chapter, we saw that Hercules fought and conquered
the dragon at the entrance to the garden of Hesperides. He was then able
to enter and find the Apple tree that produced golden apples of felicity.
There are many other representations of this same symbolism.
For example, in the Treasury of the Residence in Munich a magnificent
statuette dated 1586-1597 shows St George on a white charger plunging
his crystal sword into a winged emerald green dragon (see frontispiece).
The rubies over his enameled agate charger suggest blood and show the
red cross of St George. This magnificent equestrian statue, fifty
centimeters high, is the most gloriously jeweled object of its kind and the
greatest achievement in late sixteenth century goldsmith work. 832 It
originally housed a relic of St George given to Duke Wilhelm V, the
Pious, by his brother Ernst, Archbishop of Cologne. They concealed this
statue for thirty years, until 1617.
Another famous literary representation of St George killing the
dragon is Edmund Spencer's Faerie Queen. 833 Here the lovely woman
Una brings her Knight of the Red Cross to the House of Holiness in which
he finds Faith, Hope and Charity. Charity is the principal nature of the
House. It is brotherly love, the Charity of God or manna. 834 The name
Una means oneness and, co-incidentally, the three principles or neters are
important clues in the rituals in the House of the Pharaoh Unas, described
in Chapter 16.
Prima facie, the killing of the dragon is simply the victory of
good over evil. To the Church it was also the symbol of overcoming
Tiamat, the Triple Goddess in her aspect as the destroyer Hecate or
Demeter. The Pope uses the same allusion at a Consistory where the he
elevates bishops, archbishops and priests to the College of Cardinals. As
the Pope receives each candidate at his golden throne, he and hands the
new cardinal a red biretta, the silk square-ridged hat that symbolizes his
new rank as a prince of the church. The color red symbolizes a cardinal’s
willingness to shed his blood for the faith usque ad effusionem sanguinis.
On a more mystical level, the legend of St George represents the
personal victory of an individual's purity and virtue over the hundred evil
heads of his own base nature, ignorance and moral vice. 835 In alchemical
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