Fearing Shadows ~ A closer look at a familiar Halloween Creature Teacher

“Flying blind,
shaping the world with our song,
We can change your perspective
when everything seems to have gone wrong.
New life only comes after death.
Fear holds no power after it has been faced.
Little details will show you the big picture, so
Listen closely or these subtle signs will go to waste!
The hidden chambers of Mother Earth
serve as our shelter and womb,
yet you fear our transforming bite
as we flutter round your tomb.

Wrapped within our leathery embrace,
you may be reborn with us as we greet the setting of the sun.
No need to wander lonely and lost!
We will guide you through every change for we know… we are already one.”

Who Sings Now?

“People living deeply have no fear of death.” Anais Nin

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.”~Anne Frank

“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive—the risk to be alive and express what we really are.” Don Miguel Ruiz

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Bat fossils date back to about 50 million years, and these fascinating flying mammals have changed very little over time. At one time, their numbers were such that they filled the night skies much as the passenger pigeons did across the eastern U.S. during the day prior to the 19th century. There are still over 1000 different types of bat in the world today. Unique as the only true flying mammals, bats have been placed in their own group, Chiroptera, which means “hand-wing”.

All living bat species fit into one of two major groups, the Microchiroptera or the Megachiroptera. Megachiroptera are commonly referred to as flying foxes, and are found only in the Old World tropics. Microchiroptera vary widely in appearance and can be found almost anywhere in the world except the extremes of polar or desert regions. Some forty-seven species live in the United States and Canada alone. The majority inhabit tropical forests where, in total number of species, they sometimes outnumber all other mammals combined!

Like us, bats give birth to undeveloped live young which they nurse from pectoral breasts. Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, was so struck by the similarities between bats and primates that he originally put them in the same taxonomic group! Today it is generally agreed that while primates and bats share a common shrew-like ancestor, they do belong to separate groups. Recently there as a rather heated debate which was triggered by the discovery that flying foxes, primates and flying lemurs share a unique brain organization.

This raised the question, “Did both Micro and Megachiroptera evolve from a single shrew-like gliding ancestor or did the flying foxes evolve separately from primates?” They may find themselves being re-categorized yet again! This issue remains unresolved at the moment although most scientists agree that bats are much more closely related to primates than to the rodents people so often mistake them for.

The world’s smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand which weighs less than a penny! Some flying foxes found in the tropics have wingspans up to 6’ wide! Some bats have long soft fur which ranges in color from bright red to jet black, yellow to pure white. Some species are fur-less, one species has pink wings and ears and a few are so brightly patterned that they are known as butterfly bats! For our purposes here, I’d like to look at three different bats: the little brown bat, Flying Foxes, and the common vampire bat, one of only three species of bat which drink blood!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?

You are a child of God, small games do not work in this world. For those around us to feel peace, it is not example to make ourselves small. We were born to express the glory of god that lives in us. It is not in some of us, it is in all of us. While we allow our light to shine, we unconsciously give permission for others to do the same. When we liberate ourselves from our own fears, simply our presence may liberate others.” Marianne Williamson

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert Dune

The Little Brown Bat is the most common species found in North America. It’s glossy fur is dark brown on the back and upper part of the body with a grey/silver fur coloration underneath. Their dark brown wings typically span 8 1/2 to 10 1/2”, and adult bodies are typically only 4 to 5 1/2” long. These little insectivores weigh only weigh 0.19-0.46 ounces, and they can completely fill themselves up on their chosen prey (moths, mosquitoes, wasps, beetles, gnats, midges, mayflies, etc) in as little as 15 minutes!

Larger prey will be caught with a wingtip, transferred to a cup formed by their tail and then eaten. Smaller prey is simply caught by mouth. They typically prefer to roost near water as this is where their chosen prey is most likely to reproduce and appear in abundance. The Little Brown Bat often uses the same routes over and over each night, flying 3-6 meters above water or through trees. This bat echo-locates to find prey, and if they do not catch any food, they will enter a torpor very much like hibernation only to awaken again the next night to hunt fresh.

Most temperate bats either hibernate or migrate during the cold season, but this bat does both. In summer the males and females liver separately while the females raise the young. During the fall, both genders fly south to winter den where they will mate and then hibernate. Over the winter, the sperm is stored inside the female’s body to conceive an infant in spring. Gestation is 50-60 days and they usually only have one baby at a time, although twins are not unheard of, and young are born from late May to early July.

At rest, bats typically hand head down, but females giving birth reverse their position. Born blind, their eyes open on their second day and they cling to a nipple constantly with incisors, thumbs and hind feet until they are two weeks old. Their hearing begins to develop around day two and will be fully developed by their 13th day. Mothers nurse only their own young for about 18-21 days, and they distinguish their own from other pups by odor and sound. At three weeks they learn to fly, and by four weeks they have reached their adult size and capabilities.

It is still not clear if mother’s bring insects to their young or if they teach them how to hunt during the weaning period. However, many female and young pairs are captured together which suggests that there is some period of teaching before they achieve independence. Males do not appear to play any role in the parental portion of bat life. Half of all females and almost all of the males will breed in their first autumn, a necessary survival trait considering that half of all little brown bats die during their first year. They can live up to 33 years though, and males tend to live longer on average than females.

The same winter and summer dens are used each year by the same colony. Preferred daytime roosts have little or no light, provide shelter and typically have southwestern exposures to provide stable temperatures to arouse them from their daily torpor. Night roosts are chosen for their confined space where large numbers of bats can cluster together for warmth. Night roosts typically differ from day roosts to avoid accumulative signs of a bat colony which would attract predators and such roosts are primarily used when temperatures dip below 15 degrees Celsius.

Such roosts might be found in trees, woodpiles, buildings, caves, rock crevices, abandoned mines or even under a simple pile of rocks!Nursery roosts are similar to day roosts, but warmer. They are only occupied by females and their young and the females of the colony will use the same nursery each year. Nocturnal creatures, their main hours of activity are two to three hours after dusk and just before dawn. Most bats have returned to their roost by four or five in the morning.

“Although we have this precious human rebirth, it is only precious if we use it in a beneficial way.” Ani Chodron

“Twinkle twinkle little bat, how I wonder what your at! Up above the world you fly, like a tea-tray in the sky!” Lewis Carroll

“To conquer fear, you must become fear. You must bask in the fear of other men. And men fear most what they cannot see. It is not enough to be a man. You have to become an idea… a terrible thought… a wraith.” Batman Begins

Domestic cats, owls, martens, fishers, snakes, raccoons, weasels and hawks are all common predators of the bat, making them potential Balancing Energy. Active bats eat half of their body weight per night and lactating females eat more than their body weight each night! Imagine how many more insects there would be if Creature Teachers like the Bat did not consume them in such quantity! According to Fenton and Barclay’s Mammalian Species(1980), rabies transmission from bats to humans is extremely low and only a very small percentage are infected with the disease, although this is a common fear amongst humans. Other parasites like fleas, mites, tapeworms and bed bugs are a far more realistic concern if you find bats roosting in your home.

Encouraging the Little Brown Bat to roost elsewhere in your community would be wise however, as they eat great quantities of the pests that do transmit a wide variety of diseases (like flies and mosquitoes) or eat away at our agricultural efforts. How to build an appropriate bat roost and attract these tiny Teachers is easily found on the Internet.

The Rodriguez Flying Foxes are critically endangered fruit bats that inhabit Rodriguez Island in the Indian Ocean. These interesting mammals squeeze the juice and pulp out of various fruits leaving behind tough skins and seeds.The Rodriguez flying fox grows to lengths of up to 14 inches and weights of about 10 ounces. This is one of the species of megabat commonly referred to as flying foxes or fruit bats. Most such bats have large eyes with excellent low-light vision, definitely superior to human sight, and keen olfactory senses. Unlike microbats, like the Little Brown Bat, megabats do not use echolocation.

The Egyptian fruit bat is the exception to this rule as it uses high pitched clicks to navigate in caves. Echolocation is the ability to use high-frequency sounds to see and accurately navigate even in utter darkness. Most Bats, like dolphins, can use this ability to detect obstacles as fine as human hair! The sophistication of their unique echolocation systems surpasses current scientific understanding and on a watt-by-watt, ounce-per-ounce basis has been estimated to be literally billions of times more efficient than any similar system developed by humans! It is a common misconception that all bats are blind and they all use echolocation. Not True!

Most bats have a low-light vision far superior to that of humans and many bats, like the Rodriguez Flying Fox, do not use echolocation at all! While it is remains a mystery just how bats find their way to and from their hereditary seasonal roosts, it has been observed that some navigate visually by landmarks and others have found their way even after they have been deprived of sight through some accident. It appears as though the information on how to navigate to and from these obscure nesting sites is passed directly from generation to generation!

Megabats, like the Rodriguez Flying Fox, are frugivorous (a term I had never heard until investigating this amazing Creature Teacher), meaning simply that their diet is made up of fruits or flower nectar! Teeth are adapted to bite through hard fruit skins, and fruit is typically squashed to separate the edible from the inedible bits. Larger megabats have to land to eat, but smaller varieties may actually hover while eating their fruit or nectar. Nectar eaters typically have specially adapted tongues with which to reach and sip at their sustenance, and many species of megabat are important pollinators.

This relationship between plants and bats is called chiropterophilly and this is important to note when looking at this Creature Teacher’s Totemic lessons. A balancing energy for this type of Bat might be something more rare or exotic like the Baobab Tree or Saguaro Catcus. The keen sense of smell is of far more importance to this type of bat than the more commonly referred to bat-sense of echolocation.

“Maybe that’s what Hell is. You go mad. And all your demons come and get you just as fast as you can think them up.” Anne Rice Memnoch the Devil

“People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil. I don’t know why. No, I do indeed know why. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult. ” Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire

“Softly the light shines in through
The gates of grace on me and you.
Deceiving our restless hearts
A flickering flame so serene
Devours the night so we could see
The fear we hold on to so strong
But i know where i belong
...” H.I.M lyrics from “Endless Dark”

“Come into these arms again and lay your body down
the rhythm of this trembling heart
is beating like a drum
It beats for you
it bleeds for you
It knows not how it sounds
For it is the drum of drums
It is the song of songs ” Annie Lennox Love Song for a Vampire

Of the many species of bats, only three are considered vampiric: the common vampire bat, the hairy-legged vampire bat, and the white-winged vampire bat. Yet, many people today still believe that bats are highly motivated to bite them! Also nocturnal, these bats hunt at night using low-frequency sound pulses more like the fruit-eaters than the insectivores, and specially adapted infrared sensors on their noses. Study has revealed a nucleus found in the brain of vampire bats that has a similar position, and similar histology to the infrared nucleus of infrared sensitive snakes. This allows them to locate areas where blood flow is close to the surface. Unlike other bats, each colony typically sports one breeding male and a harem of about 20 females.

They must intake blood once every few days to survive and if they are unable to acquire some, they will approach another roosting vampire bat and request a “transfusion”! Passed from mouth to mouth in what appears very like a kiss, the life-sustaining blood is passed. Their front teeth are specialized for cutting and their back teeth are much smaller than in other bats. They have specialized digestive systems adapted for a liquid diet and their saliva contains a substance, draculin, which prevents the victim’s blood from clotting. Vampire bats tend to lap blood rather than suck it out of the victim as is commonly imagined, however these rare bats have an undeniable connection to the many Vampire legends that continue to thrive in modern civilization.

Those drawn to this blood-drinker should make a special study of both the Bat, and the Vampires of legend as well as modern culture. The Common Vampire Bat is highly specialized and rather complex. It is also one of the few known bats capable of walking, jumping and hopping, necessary techniques developed to approach their prey on the ground quietly, and this is accomplished by folding its wings in such a fashion that the animal literally walks on its thumbs! Likewise, Vampires themselves have a very complex and evolved persona in popular culture. From the infamous Dracula to the incoririgle Lestat sprung from Anne Rice’s vivid imagination, Vampires have fascinated and terrified people for generations. I could suggest plenty of excellent fictional sources for enjoyable reading, but Vampires in Their Own Words: An Anthology of Vampire Voices is perhaps the only modern non-fictional work of recent note to address this topic from a multiple-perspective, insider’s point of view. I highly recommend it as a first stop for those interested in the topic.

“It’s an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, given a greater luster to our colors, a richer resonance to our words.” ~ Lestat (Anne Rice)

“I’ll always be here,” he said softly, “You can never fill my need, never drive me away, no matter how much you give me. The good or the bad. I’ll always be hungry for emotion, always and forever and I can feel you hurting. I can turn it to joy. If you’ll let me.” Kisten from Kim Harrison’s Every Which Way but Dead

“There are far worse things awaiting man than death.” Dracula (1931 film)

“They had forgotten the first lesson: that we must be powerful, beautiful, and without regret.” Armand from the film Interview With the Vampire

Personally, I am far more familiar with what is typically termed a psychic vampire (those that feed on non-tangible energies) than those known as sanguine(those that feed on tangible blood-based energies). Perhaps the most common example of a vampiric give and take of energies occurs during musical concerts! The performers visibly feed off the energy raised by the crowd, who in turn feed off of the energy created and given freely by the performers to their willing audience. However they feed though, the relationship between a balanced Vampire and their donors is a mutual and complex relationship no less complicated than between an unbalanced Vamp and their chosen source. Such relationships would be impossible to cover in a (hopefully) article-length body of work which is primarily geared to discuss the Bat Totem in general! Vital to the image of the Bat, it has been noted however and left open for those interested to pursue as an area of special study.

As a very young child, under the age of two, I snuck from my bed to steal strawberries as my parents hulled them and watched a late-night classic horror marathon featuring Bela Lugosi as Dracula. I was instantly fascinated with the power, irresistible charisma and potent strengths of the vampire. Much to my disappointment, it was explained to me that I could not be a vampire when I grew up, nor could I be a werewolf, my second choice. My third choice developed a bit later, “someone the Addams Family would have as a friend”’, has been achieved with relative ease and definitely illustrates the powerful hold these specialized Teachers took on my life at a young age! I am most comfortable, most at peace, at night, especially under a full moon, opening myself to Nature and the World around me in a symbiotic give and take of energy, experience and wisdoms.

“The rain on my chest is a second baptism. I’m born again.” Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

“People think it’s an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It’s never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I’m doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn’t that day. And tomorrow won’t be either.”- Identity Crisis

“Y’see, my life is really complex.” Bruce Wayne (1989) Batman

“Ah, the direct approach. I admire that from a man with a mask.” The Penguin from Batman Returns

Because of this vampiric connection, the Bat has inspired fear in a great many people. Yet the good that they do is so often dismissed or completely overlooked! The 20 million free-tailed bats from Bracken Cave in Central Texas, eat more than 200 tons of insects in a single mid-summer night. Throughout the tropics the seed dispersal and pollination activities of fruit- and nectar-eating bats are vital to the survival of rain forests. Bats frequently act as “keystone” species in the lives of plants crucial to entire ecosystems. In fact, we already know that more than 300 plant species in the Old World tropics alone rely on the pollinating and seed dispersal services of bats, and additional bat-plant relationships are constantly being discovered. A favorite symbol of the Goth sub-culture, Bats are beginning to beat the bad rap they’ve carried for years.

Bat Totem often appears to alert us to a necessary “death” in our life, signaling a time of transition, change and transformation. The old and familiar will no longer work for us and we are being challenged to shed the old to discover new methods. Bat focuses on the metaphorical deaths in our selves or situations that are needed for these life-altering and powerful transformations. Life is filled with many moments of death and rebirth. Bat successfully navigates these powerful changes on a regular basis and can help us to follow his excellent example.

Bat is an especially helpful Teacher who thrives on helping us to accurately locate, identify, and then move through the fears in our lives that are keeping us from our necessary spiritual evolution. Until we face the darkness within that so frightens us, we cannot move through it and beyond to the enlightenment that awaits. Fear left unexamined and unchecked, like Rabies, will poison our lives, cause us to run mad, and ultimately self-destruct. Bat also asks us to pay particular attention to our environment, what we allow into our lives on a regular basis. If, for example, we have an over-abundance of destructive and negative people in our lives, we must examine why we are choosing to allow them access to us.

While we may love the person or people in question, we must also be willing to admit to their destructive effect on our lives and be willing to let them go, or actively act to remove this influence from our life if it is adversely effecting us. Only by truly understanding our chosen environment will we see ourselves, our world and our specific needs clearly, and only then will we truly understand how best to adapt to the situation and receive the bounty being offered to us.

“You know what, I mistook me for someone else.” Bruce Wayne Batman Returns

“Nothing really dies,” I told him. “It just turns into something else. Everything is always changing form. Do you remember the pumpkin that rotted into the earth in your garden? Tomatoes sprouted where it used to be. This bird will go back to the earth and turn into lavender flowers and butterflies.” Anne Cushman

“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.” Maya Angelou

Bats are highly adaptable and agile creatures who can lend us these strengths in navigating our spiritual growth. Microbats who use echolocation emphasize the importance of both silence and sound in our transition. Megabats emphasize the sense of smell as an important memory trigger and environmental element, and ask us to enjoy the sweet bounty of life without taking more than we need. Vampire bats speak of a complex exchange of energies, either harmful or beneficial. They also speak most loudly about the nature of our personal fears, how they rule us, how we face them, those called by this Teacher and will be required to dedicate some time to intense personal examination and study. When a Bat is out of balance, they are easily confused and will flail about crashing into everything. If you are feeling off balance, directionless, or hopelessly confused, Bat may be telling you that it is time to take a step back and get your bearings. Bat says if things don’t make sense, if it feels like everything has been turned upside down… stop and change your perspective! Sometimes simply looking at things from another angle will free you from a self-imposed limitation.

Bats are very social creatures who depend upon the colony for survival and companionship. Are you feeling isolated? Bat might be carrying a message to you that it is time to open up your social network, exchange ideas and energies, share the warmth of your fellow humans to instigate your next round of spiritual transformation. Bat people have an eldritch ability to pick up on subtle signals and hidden messages. It is important for Bat people to remember this, as not everyone is so keen to pick up on these elusive clues, and it is all too easy for such people to be accused of over-reacting or jumping to conclusions. While darkness, real or metaphorical, is no source of fear or even a real obstacle to a Bat person, it is important for them to remember that not everyone is so well equipped.

D.C. Comics’ Batman is a wonderful example of Bat medicine. Batman moved through many painful transitions and fears over the years, beginning with the death of his parents. Isolation was always a big problem for this pop culture hero, but he was also well noted for being highly adaptable, motivated towards spiritual growth and dedicated to the greater good of society. Batman spent much of his life in training and deliberately used fear as a weapon against his enemies. All very fine examples of Bat behavior! Batman’s struggle not to let darkness consume him, his constant transformations from Bruce Wayne to Batman, from dispenser of Justice to the creator of criminals, from hero to wanted man, beautifully illustrate both the triumphs and the pitfalls of the Bat Totem. Reborn more times than the Phoenix, this graphic novel hero gives us clear indications of what drives or destroys a Bat person. I have even noted with great interest, modern film adaptations paying particular attention to Bruce Wayne’s eternal quest for spiritual refinement and enlightenment.

“We die every day……A thousand times an hour. Anyone who does this…work…sees it. Death. Their own….their partners…their loved ones. We go to work anyway. Death is…powerless against you…if you leave a legacy of…good behind. Death is powerless against you if you do your job. My father…saved the lives…of over four thousand people, one at a time…with his bare hands and his mind. Death was with him the entire time.” ~ Batman from Justice League Avengers “The Obsidian Age”

“You see, I’m both Bruce Wayne and Batman, not because I have to be, now, because I choose to be. ” Batman Forever

“Without an understanding of myth or religion, without an understanding of the relationship between destruction and creation, death and rebirth, the individual suffers the mysteries of life as meaningless mayhem alone.” ~ Marion Woodman

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all my relations, bat, creature, entwife, fear, lessons, native, nature, pagan, poem, poetry, spirit guide, spirituality, teacher, totem, who sings now and wisdom