Last fall I found a Walking Stick bug on the ceiling over my stove. Now a Walking Stick is a pretty big bug, this one was about 5” long, so it was hard to figure out how it got into the house. Since there is a lamp above my stove I considered that maybe it was drawn to the occasional moth, but when I looked it up I found that it only ate vegetation. So obviously there was a message here for me.

My usual authors let me down on this entry, I found some references online, but they just didn’t seem to feel correct to me. So I had to do some investigation on my own.

My first thought was the rigidity of wood, its natural camouflage and my new found knowledge that it only ate plant matter. As I looked for more information the plot thickened.

They are found everywhere in the planet except Antarctica, and their camouflage varies, by where that species lives, adapting a look to match the local trees. They can also remain motionless for long periods of time and will fall to the ground and “play dead,” to take its mimicry to a whole new level, to outwit its predators. Another find the totally fascinated me was that the females of most species can lay unfertilized eggs that will mature and hatch more females, and they will only be females. If there are males in the species, you read that right IF there are males, that mate with these same females there is never more than a 50/50 chance that the eggs will hatch more males. Talk about Girl Power! While they have many predators the most successful is the bat because it uses its echolocation to find them so their excellent camouflage doesn’t help. This also brings up that they are primarily a nocturnal bug.

I know by now you are all wondering what all this has to do with, well, anything! Those that know me probably won’t believe me when I say this, but I do have a tendency to try to blend into the background when in new environments until I feel comfortable. I don’t know that I would claim to go so far as to “play dead” though. However, soon after this encounter I did acquired a “mild” case of COVID-19 that did keep me asleep for over a week; Dropped off my tree for a bit to shake that predator.  And I have had to employ a great deal of patience to allow my body to finish the long-term healing that is needed. I am not by nature a very patient person so this has been a challenge.

Next up is the Bat and its echolocation. When looking up animal’s energetic meaning it is always good to look at what it eats and what eats it. The part of Bat energy that comes into play here is yet another reminder about letting go of what no longer serves and open up to the changes that are needed. So I find myself reinvestigating different healing sounds techniques. As well as learning to trust my own inner voice more.

I have my own Girl Power and I need to not only claim it for myself, but perhaps get better at helping others find and claim their voice and bring their stuff out into the light. Sometimes we have to look into the shadows where we have hidden the stuff we weren’t ready to deal with then, by bringing it into the light now as well. Bet it’s not so scary now!

• Have you been spending too much time living in an illusion?
   
• When things seem scary do you fall down and “play dead”?
   
• Have you been way more patient or frozen in fear for too long?
  
• Or perhaps you haven’t taken some serious down time to rejuvenate?
  
• Maybe you need to spawn some Girl Power of you own?
  
• If you’re a guy do you need to give yourself the freedom to explore something that interests you that has traditionally been considered too feminine?

If you say yes to any of these questions call on the Walking Stick to help you on your path.