Praying Mantis

I thought it was a twig...that wood from my wintering woodpile was left near my laundry basket and a stick attached itself to my fingers.

Nope, it was a praying mantis.

The praying mantis is the oldest symbol of God: the African Bushman’s manifestation of God represented here on Earth and “the voice of the infinite in the small.”* It is thought to be a divine messenger and when one is seen, the viewer is to stop their life immediately, to question what the message arriving to them might mean. Some cultures associate it with restoring life into the dead. “Mantis” is the Greek word for “prophet” or “seer,” a being with spiritual or mystical powers, so the green, praying stick bug was, in all legends, supposed to relay a message to me.

It did not. I am still awaiting its karmic intervention on this Monday, but I know it arrived. I just need to find a few seconds to contemplate what it might mean.