What Bat Medicine Teaches Us

Bat Medicine is no joke. Two weeks ago at dusk I headed up the stairs to my bedroom to grab my reusable water bottle. I was tired from a long work day and a little checked out from my surroundings. So when I turned to enter the bedroom and saw bat wings, I assumed that I was mistaken. I thought to myself, “that must have been a shadow on my window shade,” until I walked further into the room and bat wings swooped in front of my face. I’m not too proud to tell you that I ran out of the room, shouting for my husband. The light switch to our bedroom is outside of the door, so I flipped the light on before creeping back into the room. The bat had goldilocked it right on my side of the bed.

My husband carefully and safely scooped the bat up and and removed it to the outdoors where it promptly flew away. I was both shaken and delighted at first by the visit. I felt confident that it hadn’t been in the house for very long, because my cats would have spotted it, and I had also been upstairs an hour prior and there was no indication of it’s presence. So I posted on my social media about some of the typical messages that bat spirit can bring, and didn’t think much of it. Then I posted the picture (featured below) in one of the wildlife groups I’m in on Facebook, and it was great until numerous people commented about rabies.

Stalked By Bats

Here’s the thing about being me: I am naturally an anxious person, and when it comes to health matters that anxiety easily and quickly amps up into phobia. The less likely I am to actually contract a disease, the worse the phobia actually is. It is the definition of irrational. This bat didn’t touch me or my husband. There was no way either one of us could have contracted rabies from it. And yet, I couldn’t stop myself from imagining the symptoms and the death that accompanies rabies.

It took me over a week to calm down and stop torturing myself. Meanwhile, I’m still seeing bats everywhere. They’re obvious in the cards I’m reading, posts on social media, in artwork I’m viewing in real life, in my dreams. Then another bat got into our home. Again, my husband safely and quickly removed it to the outdoors. All this time I’ve still been dealing with low-key anxiety and repetitive thoughts. I even contacted my doctor to determine if shots were recommended (they’re not). I did a cleansing on my home and my husband sealed the attic.

Bat Medicine is Tough Love

There are many messages that bat spirit brings when visiting us. For me, bat spirit entered my life to force me to face my fears. I definitely would have preferred it if the message were about communication or community, or if the little guy was a harbinger of wealth to come. Bats are guardians of the night and of transformation, there’s a lot they can tell us. Prior to these encounters I’d been doing a lot of journeying work. I believe that bat came into my life to show me where I still need to heal. On the deepest levels these fears and phobias of mine are about a lack of trust. It doesn’t matter how often I journey to the Otherworld, I’m still afraid of the act of dying or contracting a gruesome disease. Within these fears is the lack of trust that I am loved and that I, in my innermost being, am safe. These fears are also a distraction.

It’s so easy to get swallowed up in fear. Fear, doubt, anxiety are like a sticky web that catches us. They remove us from the present moment and take our attention away from all the good around us. Since escaping my own thoughts is impossible, I asked myself what I need in order to move on from this fear. It sounds trite to put it in words like this, but the answer to fear is love. If my focus is on love, there’s no space for fear. If I’m loving myself and trusting that I am loved, then I am living within the truth that I am OK and that everything will be OK.

Everything Will Be OK

We face a lot of scary thoughts and scary situations in our lives. Fear itself isn’t the enemy. It’s a natural feeling that helps us stay safe, when activated appropriately. I usually have to come to terms with the fact that I will eventually die on a somewhat regular basis. It doesn’t seem to be a fear that is unequivocally resolved. After the tribulations I put myself through when the bat entered my life, I now know what I can focus on to keep me from spiraling. Even if I become ill, everything will be OK. Even when I die, everything will be OK. I am loved and part of an entire ecosystem of love that fills every atom of this earth.

Jessica Jascha is a Clinical Herbalist, Intuitive Consultant and writer in Minnesota. She also writes for Witch Way Magazine. She owns Jascha Botanicals and Owl in the Oak Tarot where she gives readings, teaches ritual, and provides holistic consultations. You can find her on Facebook.

featured image via Pixabay