Home Ownership and Death

Here’s a list of topics I want to write about: how exhausting, yet fulfilling it is to have so many holidays to celebrate in October and November; respond to Christine Kraemer’s article on working with the ancestors, respond to Jason Mankey’s response to Time Magazine’s disrespectful article on witchcraft, and those are just the ideas from the last 24 hours. That doesn’t take into account the list I keep of all the topics I have floating in my head.

But what I am going to write about today? Why am I stalling? Because I really don’t want to write about it. I don’t want to tell you something that I feel shameful and disgusted about, something that makes me feel conflicted in myriad competing ways. And if I feel this way, I probably need to write about it.

We have rats in our house.

We bought our house six months ago. According to the inspection it was old and funky, but in great condition. The previous owners put a lot of love into this modest home and its land – and it shows! I can feel it! The size and intensity of the yard has been daunting, but very educational for me. I am coming to develop a relationship with Blackberry. I am witnessing the lush, fertile, thriving beauty of land that has not seen a pesticide in over 30 years.

My education continues inside the house, too. All summer we’ve had issues with fleas and ants. Nothing horrific, just surprising, as I’ve never had issues like that before. Thankfully, we have no carpets or fabric couches. Still, we couldn’t figure out what was going on. At first I was grateful for the ants: they showed me exactly where I had missed in my cleaning. On top of that, ants are fascinating and I spent a fair amount of time watching them communicate to each other.

Fleas we dealt with by getting stronger flea medication for the cat and washing the bedding twice as often. For the ants…. we eventually chose poison. It was a decision that took us months to come to. The ants don’t spread disease and hadn’t gotten into our food. Why should I kill these creatures that are just gently living their lives and sometimes actually being helpful? The liquid ant traps were very effective.

Now we have rats. And possums. What we’ve discovered is that back exterior wall of the house is not secure. It is open to any and all. This the house inspection missed. The rats are living in the crawl spaces. I cannot hear them, thank the gods. We placed two traps outside and caught two possums. Our excellent cat caught a rat yesterday (and ate it). Funny, I don’t feel bad about the cat catching and eating a mouse. I do feel bad that we are about to kill an attic’s worth of rats.

Why should my comfort be of more value than the rats? Is this just human disregard for the non-human? Haven’t humans been avoiding rats for as long as we’ve a species? It’s not that I hate rat as a species: I once had a pet rat! These creatures also have a right to live their lives. These creatures are part of our ecosystem. These creatures, like us humans, want a warm, dry place to live. It’s naive to assume that other living creatures don’t share this land with us.

However, the reality is: we cannot have rats and possums in our house. They carry disease, and I have children. The Mama Bear in me is out and growling. This is my home, I did not invite them in; I get to set the boundaries.

So besides insurance companies and exterminators, traps and poison, what else am I doing about this? A witch doesn’t just ignore the living or the dead – and right now the rats are both.

I have been making daily prayers and regular offerings to Ganesh, whose trusty steed is the rat. Please lead them away. They are not welcome here. A friendly temple priest who prays over the rats he feeds his snakes has said prayers on our behalf. I have been advised to let the rats know that Death is coming, so there will be prayers and ritual this weekend as I circumnavigate the house, letting the rats know this. I will leave offerings at the crossroads at the corner of my street. I will make kala over all of my misgivings, fears, biases, and disgust. There will be a special meal for our cat, who helps protect our household.

Rats are brave, bold, wicked smart creatures. They will gnaw through the toughest of barriers. They can also be loyal and cuddly to those who treat them with respect. My continued prayer is that they will find a more appropriate and welcoming place to live.

I knew that owning a home would be an education. I never expected that home ownership would be such an education in witchcraft!