Naga Encounter

(This image came from www.cranedance.net)
I grew up on the American-Canadian border, in the St. Lawrence river valley. My child hood was very isolated, and I spent most of my time alone with nature, the woods, and the river.
My very first experience with otherworldly beings happened when I was less than 2 years old. One night, I woke up in the arms of an immensely muscular being. He was cradling me as he, and others like him, were gliding through the field towards the woods behind my home. I remember how hard his arm and chest muscles were, yet I also knew I was safe. I dosed off briefly, and awakened to a luminously glowing room that seemed to be in a cave, or under the ground. That is when I saw that the beings I was with were half human and half serpent. In my child mind I called them the dinosaur people. I had no other context for what they were. They were tending to my battered and bruised body after an incident of severe abuse. One of them said to me "This is going to be a very difficult life for you. But- you do not have to repeat the behavior that you witness." I knew he meant for me not to hurt others the way I was being hurt. I also knew that this life was an assignment that I had to complete. I felt very precious in the presence of these beings, like I was a jewel. I did not feel that way among my birth family. I awoke the next morning and tried to explain to my mother that the dinosaur people had visited me. I told the story to my beloved grandmother as well. They both thought I had a vivid imagination!
Life was very hard for me, but I never forgot what these beings had told me. I never saw them again face-to-face, but I felt them near me often. It wasn't until I was 35 that I finally found the name for what these beings were: Nagas and Naginis. I discovered a beautiful tale about and 8 year old Naga Princess who had attained enlightenment under the tutelage of the Bodhisattva Manjurshri. There were many years of naga synchronicity following my discovery that my dinosaur people were nagas. (That is another story for another day.)