by Steel Dragon

In late 2004, a practitioner known as Steel Dragon — posting from France, signing his name Henri — shared four vision journals with the alt.religion.shamanism community. He offered them not as spectacle but as "a humble participation towards a more living ARS." The sequence documents something unusual in the Usenet record: a sustained, intimate account of a shaman apprentice's relationship with a single spirit guide — a blue-green dragon — from first sighting through full companionship.

Steel Dragon's practice was rooted in core shamanism as taught by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, but the dragon guide placed him outside the more conventional fauna of that tradition. The visions unfold across four months (August through December 2004) and carry the hallmarks of lived practice: the frustration of a vision interrupted by a work deadline, the gradual mastery of transformation, the unexpected tenderness of a first real meeting. Part IV records the dismemberment of a companion spirit, witnessed and held by Steel Dragon and his dragon together.

These four journals were originally posted to alt.religion.shamanism between December 30, 2004 and January 3, 2005, generating engaged discussion from practitioners including Nick Argall and Brett. The author's name, the name of the dragon, and the identity of the companion spirit "N.O." are known to those in the original exchange; the code name is preserved here as Henri used it. One vision from the series — involving a "trip to some faraway place" — was intentionally withheld. What remains is complete in itself.

Part I — The First Glimpse

August 15, 2004 (afternoon)

[During the initial stages of this training, in order to reach specific places, I used a metaphor of doors. It's only gradually that I switched to a more instinctive "Let's go there" (Floo Powder style, without the powder) approach.]

I see a new door of steel, very strong, with large round humps, rather flat (three rows of two humps). The door opens.

I see a dragon from behind. Its color is a light, greenish blue, its belly is pale grey. I think he's waiting for me to fly off, probably in a night sky strongly lit by the Moon. In the background, I see a very large landscape lit by the full Moon, with a Middle-Agish castle on the left (looking like a genuine fairy-tales one, with all details), and on the right, a tower of an immense height.

[I had this vision a day where I had an awful lot of work with a tight deadline, and I stopped working at 4:00 AM. As I had to wake up at 7:00, I gave up trying to pursue what I had seen in another vision, despite the fact I was (obviously) thrilled. In the following days, I'll try in vain to come back to this door. It's only three months afterwards, after some training provided by a spirit Guide on how to master transforming myself under a dragon shape in the World Above and a dismemberment, that I'll be able to finally meet him.]

Part II — Learning to Fly

September 7, 2004

[This one deals with my training in the World Above about transforming spiritually into a dragon's shape.]

I meet my spirit guide [now gone, but she accompanied me during my initial training stages.]

I gradually transform myself into a dragon for the first time. I begin with the tongue, fleshy, long and with a forked tip, then the tail. I feel I have four legs with which I stand firmly on the ground. I begin to fly, it's groovy. Not far away, I see in the sky a group of dragons much more imposing than me (including one which color is a vivid, dark red) who are literally blocking the way, so I quickly come back on the ground.

I suggest we (my guide and me) have a drink, and then, foolishly, I drink another glass of [the drink I call] vitrioline — the one I had to drink under the mountain [it's when I experienced a most painful, second dismemberment]. After that, when I transform myself into a dragon a second time, I'm now able to spit fire.

My guide tells me I can do that as often as I want to, but that it's not necessarily the best thing to do. She gently rubs an onguent on my neck and chin in order to soothe the pain from the burns (I know they are there, but I'm glad I don't actually feel them).

Part III — The First Real Encounter

November 28, 2004

["N.O." is the code name of a very familiar feminine spirit.]

I go to the door of metal, and I meet my tiger spirit guide, as magnificent as ever. He brings me to a magical place, lit with a soft, slightly pink light, with a meadow covered with light pink flowers, and blooming trees near a small river. There, I meet N.O., and I introduce the tiger to her.

I then see a very beautiful woman, all dressed in white, with auburn hair and hazel eyes, and I ask her if she is N.O. I then understand that this splendid garden is her own inner universe, and I tell her it's a most wonderful place.

I then see a tiger with a considerable size, which then becomes as small as a baby tiger. After that, I see a giant size bear, which seems menacing. Eager to protect N.O., I use my sword to lightly gash the skin of the bear's belly, then the bear's size comes back to normal, and I recognize my bear spirit guide. I'm relieved I did not really hurt the bear.

I then tell N.O. "Beware, I now know which animal will be the next to show up, watch out!" And indeed, while I'm looking in all directions, a huge eagle bears down on her and takes her away in his flight. I transform myself into an eagle so as to be able to run after her, and I tell N.O. to cling to the eagle, whatever happens. After a frenzied pursuit, the eagle ends up dropping her on top of an incredibly high stone tower.

I then recognize the "landscape of the castle" (described in vision I) that I once saw through the door of metal. We are on the top of a small platform in stone, surrounded by a crenellated wall.

On the middle of it, I see a passage that leads to stairs. I'm thinking about taking N.O. with me down this way, when a huge, blue and green dragon comes out of it. He's so big there is no free space around his body. He tells me he's not happy to see I did not finish the sculpture yet [I had worked on a dragon in clay, with enormous technical difficulties, and a lack of free time.] I answer it's perfectly true, even though recently, I've been through many things that only just allowed me to breathe. I also tell him I'm really glad to meet him, since all the time I had been looking for him without finding him. I ask him his name, and he tells it to me.

N.O. and me then seat on the top of the dragon's back, I'm just behind her. I pat him gently on his back, and he answers me that he has a really bad temper, even for a dragon, and that what I just did was the limit he was ready to bear.

I tell N.O. to cling firmly to the dragon, whatever happens in terms of shapes changing or else. The dragon "takes off," and files during a rather long time. He ends up landing in a clearing near rather high mountains, with a gentle slope, and their tops hidden behind clouds. There, I meet the Wizard (another spirit I already met elsewhere). I hold him in my arms and tell him I'm happy to meet up with him again. I also tell him I'm wondering where we are now, I had never been so far away before.

[The vision ends after I meet somebody who pretends to be N.O.'s father — later on, I will learn that it was not true. The Wizard happens to be among the living human beings that I've met up above, and I will obviously not provide any further details.]

Part IV — Dismemberment

December 1, 2004

[I see this one as very interesting, if only because of the dismemberment part. My numbering ignores some visions that I could not include for various reasons. But this way of doing also leaves room for a certain somebody to provide her own accounts of the overlooked visions, so as to enable mutual identification without the shadow of a doubt, when the time will have come for that.]

In this evening's vision, I begin by meeting N.O. I have trouble establishing the contact, she has a feeble, faint voice. I try to be as gentle as I can, she admits she is worried, without telling me why. The atmosphere around us is dark. I decide I'll stay with her as long as necessary. I see other spirits with a dark attitude around her. While remaining under a human shape, I roast one of them on the spot with an accurate dragon-type flame, and I'm glad I succeeded in that.

I'm not really sure why, but at this stage, I believe I decide to allow us to float around freely, I follow her, and we go down really deep, in a wide and rather long room with a ceiling made up of a rather low vault, on all its width. The walls and vault are made up of regular, large, rectangular stones, with a rather light color. I can't find out what the spirits in there are busy doing, but the mood is definitely not festive. As I feel the scene as sluggish, frayed, without perspectives, I decide not to allow myself to get stuck in it, and with a loud voice, I say I want to see the boss. I also ask my dragon to send me my sword, which he does immediately.

Nothing specific happens. I then ask my dragon to make us leave the place, which he does. But where should we go? I ask him to bring us into a quiet place, and we find ourselves on some sea shore. I congratulate him. While grumbling as I pat his neck with my hand, he uses the word "master" in order to refer to me.

I then see N.O. (as far as I perceive) attempt a fire mastery exercise (which I believe is really not the thing to do right now), then falling over on her back while she was leaning over the balustrade, and fall over the sand on the shore, a few meters below. My dragon then eats half of her (including her head), not the least angry or aggressive, and I hear him tell me that my little rag doll will be much prettier afterwards.

[In the last part of this vision, I'll bring N.O. "back home" safely into caring hands.]

I know, I know... some people will say male dragons were not taught to behave with ladies. I'll let the plaintiffs with the task of educating them, if they dare. More seriously, the thing that relieved me the most during this vision is that I immediately understood it was about a dismemberment, and I'm glad I could be at N.O.'s side when it all happened.

Colophon

Written and posted to alt.religion.shamanism by Steel Dragon (Henri), December 30, 2004 – January 3, 2005. The four posts appeared in the following order: Part II (Message-ID: cr1mdj$jl2$[email protected]), Part I (cr1mpt$jl2$[email protected]), Part III (cr6ece$27gh$[email protected]), Part IV (crbfc9$129l$[email protected]). A fifth vision from the sequence was withheld by the author. The exchange drew responses from Nick Argall, Brett, and other practitioners.

Steel Dragon described himself as a shaman apprentice in ongoing training. His framework drew on core shamanism — the World Above, the World Below, animal spirit guides, dismemberment as initiation — while his dragon guide placed him outside the more typical fauna of that tradition. He wrote in English as a second language; French idiom and cadence come through in the phrasing, and have been preserved.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-IDs above.

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