In our mind’s eye, before us looms a fearsome dragon with green scales, glistening teeth and wings that batter the air. In this reality, it is currently a pile of PVC piping and chicken wire. It’s July, and before mid-October, this creature needs to come to life - and neither one of us has ever done anything like this before.

My name is Riley Sweeney, and together with my wife Bryna, we are one of the totems for this Hekate’s Sickle Festival held by the ATC. It is our first festival as cast and we are bringing the spirit of Dragon to life.

As soon as we confirmed our role, we began sketching out designs. We wanted the dragon to be big, intimidating, and fierce. However, as we added requirements (it had to be able to move and it must be recognizable from behind), we quickly realized this was an immense engineering challenge. Although both of us lack experience with power tools, we dove in, undaunted.

It’s August, and a strange skeletal creature has been formed by fastening the piping together with wire. In between building sessions, we are gathering tidbits, myths and legends about dragons; snippets of Fafnir from Siegfried, quotes from our beloved Tolkien, translations of Beowulf. If you asked someone to describe a dragon, anyone could do it, but our goal is to discover the original source, the core of Dragon.

It seems impossible. Dragons are creatures of magic and of transformation. They shed their skin and call on deep powerful sorcery – so powerful that keeping them contained to a single idea was proving to be too much.

Draka, as she is now called, has a fully formed head and glorious cloth skin. Our hopes of making her move have plummeted with the brutal laws of gravity. As her head droops, we argue back and forth, trying to figure out a solution. This project has been dragged out to the end of August, time is of the essence and tempers are running hot. It feels like we can never overcome this obstacle.

But that’s it! That’s the breakthrough – Dragon is the totem of transformation BECAUSE she is that obstacle. She is the deadly challenger. The guardian at the gate. She is staring you in the eyes; daring you to enter her cave and face her. To screw your courage to the sticking point and fight, for in doing so, you will transform into a better person.

It’s now September, and her head is properly mounted and moving. We are working smoothly as a team – drilling, wiring, measuring, and cutting materials together. Her scales shine bright and her eyes glint as they follow our movement about the garage. We hurry to perfect the finishing touches on her wings and tail because we’ve already begun to hear the drumbeat of Hekate’s Sickle. Cerridwen stirs her cauldron, and Cernunnos calls us to the forest.We are ready to answer Them.

We are Dragon and there is nothing that can stand in our way.