Black Witch Moth

 This summer in Florida is rainy, extremely hot, and as humid as a steam bath. The combination of elements tends to bring out some interesting critters and this summer, those critters have been large.

Tonight, I walked into Rob’s office to show him something, didn’t have my glasses on, and said, “Wow, you’ve got two frogs.”

Rob, who had his glasses on, said, “It’s a bat.”

By this time, I had retrieved my glasses and moved closer. “It’s a moth.”

He moved next to me. “Wow, you’re right.”

We couldn’t believe the size of this thing. We’ve never seen a moth this large around here. While it was resting against the windowpane, Rob got out  the tape measure. “A wingspan of seven inches,” he announced.

I stepped outside and snapped a couple of photos, then headed to Google to find out what sort of moth this sucker was and what the esoteric meaning might be.

After a bit of research, I believe it may be a Black Witch Moth, sometimes referred to as a bat moth. In Mexico and the Caribbean, they’re a symbol of death  – la mariposa de la muerte. The Mayans believed that if this moth enters the home of a sick person, the person will die. In other versions of the legend, this occurs only if the moth visits all four corners of the house. (By the way, its favorite haunt and food source is the acacia tree–yesterday’s topic here!)

This moth stayed outside on his window for hours. When Rob went to bed, it was still there, seemingly staring into the room. At this point, I wasn’t liking this esoteric interpretation very much. I continued Googling.

Like most esoteric symbols, this one has permutations. If the Black Witch Moth flies over your head – you lose your hair or you are cursed; in Hawaii, it’s believed to be the soul of a dead person who has dropped by for a final good-bye; and in Texas and the Bahamas, it’s believed that if the moth sticks around for awhile, you’ll win the lottery. However, in Jamaica, under the name duppy bat, the moth is seen as the embodiment of a lost soul or a soul not at rest. In Jamaican English, the word duppy is associated with malevolent spirits returning to inflict harm upon the living and bat refers to anything other than a bird that flies.

So, okay, this moth is on Rob’s office window and I’m reading about these interpretations, looking for some sort of time frame in its life cycle. I couldn’t find much at all for the Black Witch Moth, so I Googled its cousin, the White Witch Moth.  On this site, it looks as if three-to four weeks pass before the caterpillar becomes the transformed creature, the White Moth. So I’ll take that as the time frame.  I’ll also take the interp about winning the lottery!

What’s interesting about this appearance is that we recently had an altercation with our neighbor, a Jamaican man, about dogs. He keeps his underfed German Sheppard on a five-foot leash in his garage or tied up outside- in 90 degree-plus heat.  While our daughter, Megan, was visiting recently, her dog, Nika, raced along the fence in our backyard, barking at our neighbor’s dog, who barked back, of course, whenever he was tied up back there. One morning as our neighbor was jogging up the sidewalk in front of our house, Nika tore out the front door and chased him, barking ferociously. But she’s just hot air. Nika has never bitten anyone.

Yet, our neighbor claimed that Nika had bitten him. He dropped by minutes after the chase and demanded to know if Nika had had her rabies shots. Well, yes, she’s good for the next three years in that department. Then our neighbor – let’s call him Mick – shows us his leg and announces that he’s going to call Animal Care and Control on the dog.

Neither Rob nor I could see anything on his leg – no bite marks, no skin broken, nothing. And Rob slips into that Taurus area known as the Bull’s Rush. He gets pissed. This is so rare that I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen it manifest itself in 30 years.

But when you push his buttons, then clear the deck. He read Mick the riot act about how he treats his dog- it’s illegal in our county to keep a dog on a leash in the heat and that he’d better not call the animal control people because Rob  would report Mick for how he treats his dog. And just for your information, Mick, we also fed your underfed, scrawny orange tabby cat for years, treated its injuries, loved on it when you didn’t do any of the above.

Mick never called animal control.

Skip ahead to late July. Megan and Nika are visiting and one morning, Nika darts out the front door and races the length of Mick’s fence, barking at his dog, who goes nuts.  There’s never any face-to-face confrontation between the dogs. It’s just noise. But Mick’s head pops up over the fence and he starts yelling about our dogs and how he’s going to report us to the police and Rob marches over to the fence, his shouts as loud and abrasive as Mick’s. I quickly get Nika indoors.

Monday morning as Megan and I are packing up her car because she’s going back to Orlando, a cop car pulls into the driveway. Mick has made good on his promise. Really? I walk over to the cop, whom I’ve seen around here from time to time, and he goes through his spiel. Your neighbor…the dogs…some issues…

 “Our daughter’s dog darted out of the house, our dog followed, and they ran along the fence, barking at Mick’s dog, who barked back. How is this an issue?”

He stifles a smile. “I was obligated to investigate and talk to you because he called.”

Later that morning, at Rob’s instigation, he and Mick converse calmly over the fence that separates our properties. They shake hands. The rift is mended- sort of.  We’ll keep our distance and hope that Black Witch Moth means a lottery of some sort so that we can have a couple of acres of land between us and our nearest neighbor.

(Notice in the photo, a ceiling fan is visible to the right and below the moth and dangling from it is a dream catcher. Continue down to the bottom of the pic and you can see a slice of Rob’s head as he peers out.)

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For the fun of it, Rob decided to send the above to a couple of witches (or Wiccans, if they prefer) and see what they thought about the black witch moth. Happily, they both had positive things to say. Here’s from Connie C – mathmagick.

“I’ve seen them here more than once, and have had no negativity occur. I think its favorite food being the Acacia is very relevant, considering your blog post today about the Acacia Tree!

“More about the Acacia: In the Bible, God instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle of the Covenant from the Acacia tree, and also the Ark of the Covenant.

“So, I would consider this “visitation” by the black witch moth to be a highly spiritual, positive symbolic omen for you!”

A few minutes later, she added:

“P.S. I have a sense that the black witch moth and its connection to the magnificent symbolism of the Acacia Tree are important for you in some way relative to Immortaliity. Perhaps the visitation from a loved one who knew you’d be posting the Acacia wanted to drop by and say Hello!”

And from Jane Clifford – who has posted here as turbowitch:

“Very interesting & a bit spooky! My very first thought was  symbolic death/ rebirth, transformation & my first thoughts are usually the best. My second was there maybe a news of death but not I think so close as to be completely devastating . My third, when I read that it can symbolize winning the lottery, was I hope so, because there is a syncro here !

“This  week I learned a technique for healing finances, one that previously has only been available for corporations and they claimed their profits soared Now it has been offered to the public. So first I applied it to my eldest daughter’s finances ( married, 2 kids, struggling on one wage), then I applied it for the other kids, then I ran the technique for YOU & finally for others I know and care about or have healed.”

Interestingly, about the time Jane sent that comment, we received an e-mail from a TV producer who has expressed a strong interest in optioning Trish’s Tango Key books for a TV series. Our fingers are crossed.