Bat

Bats are nocturnal creatures that can navigate in total darkness in a near-magical way. They reside in caves, the entrance to the other side; just like birds represent the spiritual world, the bats has a similar quality, but in a darker aspect.  

In Europe, it has been noted that the bat is the only flying creature that nurses its young, thus linking it to motherhood. Bats followed the multi-breasted Artemis (associated with child birth) and are often linked with witches.  

Around the world there have been completely different views on the bat, and this ambivalence recurs within alchemy. In this tradition, it has been associated with hermaphrodism, the winged dragon, and the devil.  

The Dictionary of Symbols concludes after a long quote from Bachelard that "the bat can in this respect symbolize a person whose spiritual development has been paralyzed."

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