*Lady Stearn Robinson & Tom Gorbett/The Dreamer's Dictionary:
The augury is dependent on how you reacted to the bat. If you were frightened by it, you should avoid indiscreet discussion of your affairs; but if you were not afraid of it, you will be offered a new proposition which will be profitable.
*Timothy Roderick/The Once Unknown Familiar:
Key Words: Overtly sexual, worrier, self-determined
Magical Influences: Clairaudience, psychic sensitivity, sex; creates lust in the hearts of others.
Personality: Bats are highly sexual in their personal dealings. Conversation can be laced with ribaldry. They are natural business persons. Since one of their governing heavenly bodies is the Moon, they have drastic mood swings in their everyday life--one minute happy-go-lucky, the next irratable.
*Denise Linn/The Secret Language of Signs:
Bats are creatures of the night and sometimes reside in dark caves. They can represent fear of the unknown, yet they also know how to navigate in darkness. If you are in a time of uncertainty in your life and the bat appears as a sign, remember that you can steer your way through uncertainty and not knowing. Trust your intuition. You do know what to do. Look deep inside yourself for the answer.
A bat can signify an old scolding woman. Are you acting like an old bat? Alternatively, someone who is batty is a little crazy or unconventional. Batting around an idea can mean that you are considering several alternatives. Sometimes this is the best way to come to a feeling of certainty.
To the Chinese, the bat is symbolic of long life and happiness. to the tribal peoples of the Americas, the bat is emblematic of shamanistic initiation and rebirth. The bat goes into the womblike darkness of the cave only to emerge again. This sign can appear when you are about to enter into the deep unknown and hidden fears that dwell inside you. After symbolic death, you will experience rebirth and renewal.
*Jamie Sams & David Carson/Medicine Cards:
Rebirth. Steeped in the mystery of Meso-American tribal ritual is the legend of Bat. Akin to the ancient Buddhist belief in reincarnation, in Central America, Bat is the symbol of rebirth. The Bat has for centuries been a treasured medicine of the Aztec, Toltec, Tolucan, and Mayan peoples.
Bat embraces the idea of shamanistic death. The ritual death of the healer is steeped in secrets and highly involved initiation rites. Shaman death is the symbolic death of the initiate to the old ways of life and personal identity. The initiation that brings the right to heal and to be called shaman is necessarily preceeded by ritual death. Most of these rituals are brutally hard on the body, mind, and spirit. In light of today's standards, it can be very difficult to find a person who can take the abuse and come through it with their balance intact.
The basic idea of ancient initiations was to break down all the former notions of "self" that were held by the shaman-to-be. This could entail brutal tests of physical strenght and psychic ability, and having every emotional "button" pushed hard. Taunting and spitting on the initiate was common, and taught him or her to endure the duress with humility and fortitude. The final initiation step was to be buried in the earth for one day and to be reborn without former ego in the morning.
This ritual is very similar to the night of fear practiced by natives of Turtle Island. In this ritual, the shaman-to-be is sent to a certain location to dig his or her grave and spend the night in the womb of Mother Earth totally alone, with the outh of the grave covered by a blanket. Darkness, and the sounds of animals prowling, quickly confront the initiate with his or her fears.
As the darkness of the grave has its place in this ritual, so does the cave of Bat. Hanging upside-down is a symbol for learning to transpose your former self into a newborn being. This is also the position that babies assume when they enter the world through the womb of woman.
If Bat has appeared in your cards today, it symbolizes the need for a ritualistic death of some way of life that no longer suits your new growth pattern. This can mean a time of letting go of old habits, and of assuming the position in life that prepares you for rebirth, or in some cases intitiation. In every case, Bat signals rebirth of some part of yourself or the death of old patterns. If you resist your destiny, it can be a long, drawn out, or painful death. The universe is always asking you to grow and become your future. To do so you must die the shaman's death.
Contrary: If Bat is still hanging upside-down in the cavve and immersed in darkness, you have met its contrary medicine. This position leads to stagnation of the spirit and a refusal to acknowledge your true destiny--which is always to use the talents you have to the fullest. Is there some area of your life that has damned up and therefore stopped your desire to create? If so, look at surrendering to the death of that stagnation.
Bat can also imply that in the reversal of your natural cycle of rebirth you are trying to go at life in a backwards mode. This is a breech birth, in a sense. This type of occluded understanding of how to go about freeing yourself can lead to a stillbirth if you struggle too long in the birth canal. The final outcome can be death of the body. Some people think themselves into a corner with obstacles that are illusionary. By the time they decide what to do, the opportunities are gone and old age is upon them. All of their dreams have passed them by. Reversed Bat says to use your mind, courage, and strength to insure an easy labor and quick delivery into your new state of understanding and growth. Surrender to the new life you have created from thought and desire, and bravely greet that dawn.
If you are concerned with today and tomorrow but not much further, you may forget to see further down the road. Tribal teachings say that you are responsible for future generations because you are the ancestors of the future. Whatever you do today will affect the next 7 generations. Every decision, every thought, is to create a state of stagnation or rebirth for those that follow you on the Good Red Road. If you are blocking yourself, you may be blocking the generations to come.
Bat flies at night, and in the night are born your dreams. These are the dreams that build future civilizations, so nourish them well.
*Mary Summer Rain/On Dreams:
The use of spiritual intuition in all aspects of life.
*D.J. Conway/Animal Magick:
There are 8 families of bats peculiar to the Old World, 6 to the New World, and 3 in common to both. The most common bat in North America is the little brown bat or mouse-eared bat. It lives as far south as Mexico and as far north as trees grow. It is quite comon around human habitations.
The bat is the only mammal with the power of true flight. Although they are found worldwide, bats are most abundant in the semi-tropical and tropical climates. Some bats hibernate during the winter months, while others migrate to a warmer climate. They feed during dark hours, usually spending the daytime hours in caves, hollow trees, or old buildings. Bats roost by hanging upside down, gripping a perch with their clawed feet. There are approximately 2,000 different kinds of bats. The majority of bats are harmless and beneficial as they eat large amounts of insects. Only the vampire bat feeds on blood, human or animal.
Some ancient cultures believed that bats were once a kind of bird that was changed into part human-looking in answer to their prayers. Finnish people believed that during sleep the soul often took the form of a bat, and that violent death turned the soul into a bat condemned to remain on Earth.
Contrary to superstition, bats do not become tangled in women's hair. Nor will they stay in the hair until it thunders. This idea is probably a collective unconsious memory of the connection between bats and the Great Mother Goddess. Their high-pitched squeeks nable them to avoid the tiniest strand of wire, even in total darkness.
Bats were considered to be unlucky and unclean in some cultures, fortunate and edible in others. Because they are creatures of the night and dark place, bats are often symbolic of desolation and the Underworld.
In China, the name for bat is fu, which means happiness; the Chinese believe that the bat brings happiness and good luck. A drawing of two bats represents Shou-Hsing, god of long life; this symbolizes good wishes. A drawing of 5 bats signifies the 5 blessings of health, wealth, long life, happiness, and peace.
In Japan, however, the bat symbolizes unhappiness, unrest, and chaos. To the Guddhists, it means incomplete and dark understanding.
The ancient Mayans worshiped a bat god whom they considered a very powerful deity. In Mexico, there was a city named Tzinacent Lan ("Bat City"). The bat was treasured medicine power to the Aztec, Toltec, Tolucan, and Mayan people.
In medieval alchemy, the meaning of the bat was similar to that of the dragon and the hermaphrodite.
Bats are fascinating creatures. It isn't, however, a good idea to allow them to roost in your house as their droppings can cause certain illnesses, but having bats nearby is a blessing if you are plauged by mosquitoes.
Superstitions: Early Christians believed that when the devil was idle, he turned into a bat to harass people. The bat was also considered to be a familiar that lent its shape to witches. Some people believe that ghosts can take the form of bats; therefore, a house with bats is haunted. Bats will deliberately tangle themselves in your hair and not let go until it thunders. There is also a superstition that if you carry the dried heart of a bat in your pocket it will turn a bullet or stop you from bleeding to death. Another belief is that if you wash your face in bat's blood you can see in the dark.
In Scotland, it is said that a flying bat, rising and then descending, does so near a witche's house. A certain tribe of southeastern Australia believe that to kill a bat shortens a man's life.One flying near you is a sign that someone is trying to bewitch or betray you. A bat hitting a building is a sure sign of rain. Carrying a bat bone will insure constant good luck. Carrying the right eye will make you invisible.
Magickal Attributes: The knowledge to avoid obstacles, barriers, and troublesome people. Undergoing a shamanistic death, which is leading to transform the old self into a new being. Releasing habits and personality patterns that keep you from progressing. Veiwing past lives in order to learn how death occurred each time; using this knowledge to make you more comfortable with the life and death cycle of all life. Especially helpful when facing the death of a loved one or close friend.
*Patricia Telesco/The Language of Dreams:
An ability to traverse "darkness" of a gigurative nature, but one that may not be recognized. Native Americans believe these creatures are guides because of their uncanny navigation abilities. See where the bat is taking you, and watch closely the path by which you go. If the bat is you, or you have bat wings, it's likely a type of flying dream. In Babylonia and South Africa, bats are thought to carry souls. So, this might be an Out-of-Body Experience, or a message from a departed person. In China, an emblem of good luck and happiness.
*Brad Steiger/Totems:
Most tribal shamans regard the bat as an evil omen. Perhaps the creature's very appearance suggests a kind of moral ambivalence, for it is difficult to ascertain if the swiftly flying, nocturnal beastie is a bird with a rodent's snout and teeth or a rat with a bird's wings.
A number of the plain's tribes have a tale in which the handsome and mysterious bat successfully woos his wives by night--only to have them run away in the light when they see how ugly he is.
"If you have dreamt of a bat," a Medicine practitioner once told me, "you must be prepared for bad quarrels and much unpleasantness to come at you right around the next corner."
However, I have heard other Native Americans place a positive connotation on the bat, for they regard him as a rainmaker who drives away drought. And there are African tribes that esteem the bat as a sign of wisdom, for behold how unerringly it can maneuver through the darkness.
In Christian folklore, perhaps especially in Central Europe, the bat is considered the bird of Satan, a night-flying, blood-sucking entity that can actually become a vehicle for the Master of Hell. Such beliefs stay with us, firmly anchored in the popular firght night figure of Count Dracula spreading his dark cape to transform himself into a bat.
Batman, another pop culture figure, also embodies the mysterious ambiguity of his namesake. A flawed hero, with a great many deep-seated psychic scars, the face of the rich and handsome Bruce Wayne is covered in a frightening mask when he becomes the dark knight of vengeance.
To the Chinese, the bat represents happiness and longevity. If 5 bats should visit one's home, one has been blessed with the 5 blessings of health, wealth, long life, peace, and happiness. On the other hand, the Japanese seem to perceive in the bat's ambiguous nature a symbol of chaos and unhappy confusion.
Among certain Australian Aborigines and other Pacific peoples, the bat is synonymous with the human soul; and to find a dead bat is to be made aware that someone has made his transition to the other world.
If the bat appeals to you as a totem guardian, you may very well be a very adaptable person who has little fear of the Dark Side. You have probably been blessed with a keen sense of wonder and the willingness to explore with zeal topics which others may consider "forbidden" or "too far-out."
As a totem animal, the bat will be every ready to guide you safely through the darkness of confusion and to lift you to higher realms of consciousness. It's built-in "radar" makes this totem guardian a skillful pilot through the darkest trials of the spirit. And it will always be a sure navigator as you enter the Silence and receive inspiration from Great Mystery.
More....
The augury is dependent on how you reacted to the bat. If you were frightened by it, you should avoid indiscreet discussion of your affairs; but if you were not afraid of it, you will be offered a new proposition which will be profitable.
*Timothy Roderick/The Once Unknown Familiar:
Key Words: Overtly sexual, worrier, self-determined
Magical Influences: Clairaudience, psychic sensitivity, sex; creates lust in the hearts of others.
Personality: Bats are highly sexual in their personal dealings. Conversation can be laced with ribaldry. They are natural business persons. Since one of their governing heavenly bodies is the Moon, they have drastic mood swings in their everyday life--one minute happy-go-lucky, the next irratable.
*Denise Linn/The Secret Language of Signs:
Bats are creatures of the night and sometimes reside in dark caves. They can represent fear of the unknown, yet they also know how to navigate in darkness. If you are in a time of uncertainty in your life and the bat appears as a sign, remember that you can steer your way through uncertainty and not knowing. Trust your intuition. You do know what to do. Look deep inside yourself for the answer.
A bat can signify an old scolding woman. Are you acting like an old bat? Alternatively, someone who is batty is a little crazy or unconventional. Batting around an idea can mean that you are considering several alternatives. Sometimes this is the best way to come to a feeling of certainty.
To the Chinese, the bat is symbolic of long life and happiness. to the tribal peoples of the Americas, the bat is emblematic of shamanistic initiation and rebirth. The bat goes into the womblike darkness of the cave only to emerge again. This sign can appear when you are about to enter into the deep unknown and hidden fears that dwell inside you. After symbolic death, you will experience rebirth and renewal.
*Jamie Sams & David Carson/Medicine Cards:
Rebirth. Steeped in the mystery of Meso-American tribal ritual is the legend of Bat. Akin to the ancient Buddhist belief in reincarnation, in Central America, Bat is the symbol of rebirth. The Bat has for centuries been a treasured medicine of the Aztec, Toltec, Tolucan, and Mayan peoples.
Bat embraces the idea of shamanistic death. The ritual death of the healer is steeped in secrets and highly involved initiation rites. Shaman death is the symbolic death of the initiate to the old ways of life and personal identity. The initiation that brings the right to heal and to be called shaman is necessarily preceeded by ritual death. Most of these rituals are brutally hard on the body, mind, and spirit. In light of today's standards, it can be very difficult to find a person who can take the abuse and come through it with their balance intact.
The basic idea of ancient initiations was to break down all the former notions of "self" that were held by the shaman-to-be. This could entail brutal tests of physical strenght and psychic ability, and having every emotional "button" pushed hard. Taunting and spitting on the initiate was common, and taught him or her to endure the duress with humility and fortitude. The final initiation step was to be buried in the earth for one day and to be reborn without former ego in the morning.
This ritual is very similar to the night of fear practiced by natives of Turtle Island. In this ritual, the shaman-to-be is sent to a certain location to dig his or her grave and spend the night in the womb of Mother Earth totally alone, with the outh of the grave covered by a blanket. Darkness, and the sounds of animals prowling, quickly confront the initiate with his or her fears.
As the darkness of the grave has its place in this ritual, so does the cave of Bat. Hanging upside-down is a symbol for learning to transpose your former self into a newborn being. This is also the position that babies assume when they enter the world through the womb of woman.
If Bat has appeared in your cards today, it symbolizes the need for a ritualistic death of some way of life that no longer suits your new growth pattern. This can mean a time of letting go of old habits, and of assuming the position in life that prepares you for rebirth, or in some cases intitiation. In every case, Bat signals rebirth of some part of yourself or the death of old patterns. If you resist your destiny, it can be a long, drawn out, or painful death. The universe is always asking you to grow and become your future. To do so you must die the shaman's death.
Contrary: If Bat is still hanging upside-down in the cavve and immersed in darkness, you have met its contrary medicine. This position leads to stagnation of the spirit and a refusal to acknowledge your true destiny--which is always to use the talents you have to the fullest. Is there some area of your life that has damned up and therefore stopped your desire to create? If so, look at surrendering to the death of that stagnation.
Bat can also imply that in the reversal of your natural cycle of rebirth you are trying to go at life in a backwards mode. This is a breech birth, in a sense. This type of occluded understanding of how to go about freeing yourself can lead to a stillbirth if you struggle too long in the birth canal. The final outcome can be death of the body. Some people think themselves into a corner with obstacles that are illusionary. By the time they decide what to do, the opportunities are gone and old age is upon them. All of their dreams have passed them by. Reversed Bat says to use your mind, courage, and strength to insure an easy labor and quick delivery into your new state of understanding and growth. Surrender to the new life you have created from thought and desire, and bravely greet that dawn.
If you are concerned with today and tomorrow but not much further, you may forget to see further down the road. Tribal teachings say that you are responsible for future generations because you are the ancestors of the future. Whatever you do today will affect the next 7 generations. Every decision, every thought, is to create a state of stagnation or rebirth for those that follow you on the Good Red Road. If you are blocking yourself, you may be blocking the generations to come.
Bat flies at night, and in the night are born your dreams. These are the dreams that build future civilizations, so nourish them well.
*Mary Summer Rain/On Dreams:
The use of spiritual intuition in all aspects of life.
*D.J. Conway/Animal Magick:
There are 8 families of bats peculiar to the Old World, 6 to the New World, and 3 in common to both. The most common bat in North America is the little brown bat or mouse-eared bat. It lives as far south as Mexico and as far north as trees grow. It is quite comon around human habitations.
The bat is the only mammal with the power of true flight. Although they are found worldwide, bats are most abundant in the semi-tropical and tropical climates. Some bats hibernate during the winter months, while others migrate to a warmer climate. They feed during dark hours, usually spending the daytime hours in caves, hollow trees, or old buildings. Bats roost by hanging upside down, gripping a perch with their clawed feet. There are approximately 2,000 different kinds of bats. The majority of bats are harmless and beneficial as they eat large amounts of insects. Only the vampire bat feeds on blood, human or animal.
Some ancient cultures believed that bats were once a kind of bird that was changed into part human-looking in answer to their prayers. Finnish people believed that during sleep the soul often took the form of a bat, and that violent death turned the soul into a bat condemned to remain on Earth.
Contrary to superstition, bats do not become tangled in women's hair. Nor will they stay in the hair until it thunders. This idea is probably a collective unconsious memory of the connection between bats and the Great Mother Goddess. Their high-pitched squeeks nable them to avoid the tiniest strand of wire, even in total darkness.
Bats were considered to be unlucky and unclean in some cultures, fortunate and edible in others. Because they are creatures of the night and dark place, bats are often symbolic of desolation and the Underworld.
In China, the name for bat is fu, which means happiness; the Chinese believe that the bat brings happiness and good luck. A drawing of two bats represents Shou-Hsing, god of long life; this symbolizes good wishes. A drawing of 5 bats signifies the 5 blessings of health, wealth, long life, happiness, and peace.
In Japan, however, the bat symbolizes unhappiness, unrest, and chaos. To the Guddhists, it means incomplete and dark understanding.
The ancient Mayans worshiped a bat god whom they considered a very powerful deity. In Mexico, there was a city named Tzinacent Lan ("Bat City"). The bat was treasured medicine power to the Aztec, Toltec, Tolucan, and Mayan people.
In medieval alchemy, the meaning of the bat was similar to that of the dragon and the hermaphrodite.
Bats are fascinating creatures. It isn't, however, a good idea to allow them to roost in your house as their droppings can cause certain illnesses, but having bats nearby is a blessing if you are plauged by mosquitoes.
Superstitions: Early Christians believed that when the devil was idle, he turned into a bat to harass people. The bat was also considered to be a familiar that lent its shape to witches. Some people believe that ghosts can take the form of bats; therefore, a house with bats is haunted. Bats will deliberately tangle themselves in your hair and not let go until it thunders. There is also a superstition that if you carry the dried heart of a bat in your pocket it will turn a bullet or stop you from bleeding to death. Another belief is that if you wash your face in bat's blood you can see in the dark.
In Scotland, it is said that a flying bat, rising and then descending, does so near a witche's house. A certain tribe of southeastern Australia believe that to kill a bat shortens a man's life.One flying near you is a sign that someone is trying to bewitch or betray you. A bat hitting a building is a sure sign of rain. Carrying a bat bone will insure constant good luck. Carrying the right eye will make you invisible.
Magickal Attributes: The knowledge to avoid obstacles, barriers, and troublesome people. Undergoing a shamanistic death, which is leading to transform the old self into a new being. Releasing habits and personality patterns that keep you from progressing. Veiwing past lives in order to learn how death occurred each time; using this knowledge to make you more comfortable with the life and death cycle of all life. Especially helpful when facing the death of a loved one or close friend.
*Patricia Telesco/The Language of Dreams:
An ability to traverse "darkness" of a gigurative nature, but one that may not be recognized. Native Americans believe these creatures are guides because of their uncanny navigation abilities. See where the bat is taking you, and watch closely the path by which you go. If the bat is you, or you have bat wings, it's likely a type of flying dream. In Babylonia and South Africa, bats are thought to carry souls. So, this might be an Out-of-Body Experience, or a message from a departed person. In China, an emblem of good luck and happiness.
*Brad Steiger/Totems:
Most tribal shamans regard the bat as an evil omen. Perhaps the creature's very appearance suggests a kind of moral ambivalence, for it is difficult to ascertain if the swiftly flying, nocturnal beastie is a bird with a rodent's snout and teeth or a rat with a bird's wings.
A number of the plain's tribes have a tale in which the handsome and mysterious bat successfully woos his wives by night--only to have them run away in the light when they see how ugly he is.
"If you have dreamt of a bat," a Medicine practitioner once told me, "you must be prepared for bad quarrels and much unpleasantness to come at you right around the next corner."
However, I have heard other Native Americans place a positive connotation on the bat, for they regard him as a rainmaker who drives away drought. And there are African tribes that esteem the bat as a sign of wisdom, for behold how unerringly it can maneuver through the darkness.
In Christian folklore, perhaps especially in Central Europe, the bat is considered the bird of Satan, a night-flying, blood-sucking entity that can actually become a vehicle for the Master of Hell. Such beliefs stay with us, firmly anchored in the popular firght night figure of Count Dracula spreading his dark cape to transform himself into a bat.
Batman, another pop culture figure, also embodies the mysterious ambiguity of his namesake. A flawed hero, with a great many deep-seated psychic scars, the face of the rich and handsome Bruce Wayne is covered in a frightening mask when he becomes the dark knight of vengeance.
To the Chinese, the bat represents happiness and longevity. If 5 bats should visit one's home, one has been blessed with the 5 blessings of health, wealth, long life, peace, and happiness. On the other hand, the Japanese seem to perceive in the bat's ambiguous nature a symbol of chaos and unhappy confusion.
Among certain Australian Aborigines and other Pacific peoples, the bat is synonymous with the human soul; and to find a dead bat is to be made aware that someone has made his transition to the other world.
If the bat appeals to you as a totem guardian, you may very well be a very adaptable person who has little fear of the Dark Side. You have probably been blessed with a keen sense of wonder and the willingness to explore with zeal topics which others may consider "forbidden" or "too far-out."
As a totem animal, the bat will be every ready to guide you safely through the darkness of confusion and to lift you to higher realms of consciousness. It's built-in "radar" makes this totem guardian a skillful pilot through the darkest trials of the spirit. And it will always be a sure navigator as you enter the Silence and receive inspiration from Great Mystery.
More....
