Mythical Monday #72 - Kundalis Dragons and the Kundalini

Art work by: @Burntlaughter on Twitter

It seems there are many books influenced by or based on Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are many different Mythology's and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

Kundalis Dragons and the Kundalini

Living in the center of Washington State during fire season is like an invitation to write dragons. I come from the soggy, western part of the state originally, and the first time a wall of flame raced across my front yard it just about sent me right back to Seattle.

Now I spend my summers anxiously watching the windows, and even when my own life and limb are blissfully safe from incineration, the distant plumes of smoke are pretty much always a thing from May to Sept. Fire. Everywhere. Like clockwork.

Given the situation, I think it was pretty inevitable that I'd get around to writing dragons.

The Kundalis dragons in my Soulstar series, do their singeing and battling over the dry grasslands of the Columbia Basin. They aren't ordinary fire-breathers, though. I needed something a little different for a sassy urban fantasy with metaphysical overtones. I wanted dragons that stood for something, and also, that echoed the strengths and the flaws of the characters attached to them.

I found them in the Kundalini serpent.

Kundalini is the Sanskrit word used to represent personal energy. It has other names, of course, Shakti, Chi or Qui as well as many others. In traditions that focus on enlightenment through the raising of one's energy, this Kundalini is often symbolized as a big snake. Eureka.

The Kundalini serpent is said to be coiled at the base of a person's spine, in their "energy body," and through meditation techniques can raise up through the chakras toward the crown of the head. The higher the snake rises, in essence, the more evolved and blissful the person becomes.
This awakening and progression of the serpent rapidly became the idea for my dragons. What happens if the serpent gets free? What if the person isn't so enlightened, and the Kundalini awakens anyway? On a lighter note, what sort of trouble could a rampaging Kundalini serpent get its owner into in the middle of Eastern Washington.

It turns out, quite a lot.

Since I was writing chick-lit and hoping to keep it humorous, the invisible Kundalis manifested with a bit of an attitude. They remain affiliated with metaphysics, but also bring with them the hang-ups, flaws and personality disorders of their owners. They fully controlled dragon attaches to his host by means of a tail tip through the navel, and the chakras translated into the colors of each dragon, lending each the powers related to their particular flavor of energy.

I found out later that the word, Kundali, is also a reference to Vedic astrology. In parts of India, Kundali matchmaking is used to ensure the astrological compatibility of couples before marriage. This idea becomes the soul mate concept in the Soulstar books. The dragons' compatibility or discord translates into the inter relationships of their "anchor" characters.

The mythology of energy became the core of my dragons, complete with some pretty suspicious claims of enlightenment. The interaction between their owners became a statement on compatibility and the complexity of human interaction. From the Kundalini serpent, the Kundalis dragon took shape.

What do you get when you mix metaphysics, yoga, and urban fantasy? I got giant, invisible, belly button dragons... and a ton of metaphysical chaos.


About Author:
Frances Pauli writes across multiple genres. Her work is speculative, full of the fantastic, and quite often romantic at its core. Whenever possible, she enjoys weaving in a little humor.

Once upon a time she was a visual artist, but she’s since come to her senses. Now she fills her minuscule amount of free time with things like crocheting, belly-dancing, and abysmal ukulele playing.

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Twitter:  @MothinDarkness
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