It was 11 pm I was tired from a day that I had my work all set up ready for assessment. This was the last piece of work of my three-year course. The thought end of this part of my journey had started to kick in. As I walked up the stairs, the corner of my eye caught the sight of something spectacular. My first words were “Jesus Christ” there it was this massive beetle with these giant claws I scared the crap out of me at first but I found a box to put into and take it outside. When I went to research what I had seen I found out that it was an stag beetle then the more I researched it started to find out some facts that were very poignant to me.
They live up to seven years.
Most of those year are as Larvae.
The stag beetle’s life cycle is a complete metamorphosis and can take between 4-6 years.
The stag beetle is a protected species and only found in a few areas in southern Britain.
The more I read about the stag beetle the more I felt this was becoming a significant moment.
This month enters the seventh year of my 5am experience. I realized that when I had this moment in 2007 this creature was at the beginning of its journey of a slow process of metamorphosis Larvae to the magnificent structure that my eyes behold. The thought of the amount of cycles of thought and new ways of seeing I had experience over that period via moments of wonder. Like the formulation of the Larvae living in the underground to fully form to connect with the outside word my project has required a sense of inner knowing.
When looking at the mythology aspects of the beetle I came across a word, which captured my 5am project… discernment.
Beetles aid in transformation, metamorphosis, resurrection and rebirth – rebirth of the soul to a new spiritual ideal and renewed devotion. This animal teaches harmony in the coming changes by utilizing your intuitive abilities and teaches discernment where you need it the most. Beetles have a protective quality that will aid in the ability to socialize and communicate effectively by illuminating problems and situations in the correct perspective.
Beetles will teach persistence with charm, trust in the process, proper movement and actions, which allows the regeneration of your spirit to prosper.
Albrecht Durer (1471 – 1528) became one of the first artists to realistically draw a Stag Beetle. In his paintings and drawings, Durer associated Stag Beetle with Christ.
People do pay attention to Stag Beetle but little understand Him or his ways. People usually disliked Him because of his ugliness. However, Stag Beetle still quietly goes about helping the forest grow. Durer did recognize Stag Beetle’s attributes when he used this Beetle to symbolize Christ’s quiet service to humanity.
“Art is omnipresent in nature, and the true artist is he who can bring it out.” -Albrecht Dürer
When I saw the name Albrecht Dürer it sounded failure, then I remembered that he drew the famous praying hands. Then I remember the story about the painting where him and his brother made a deal that one would support the other in art school by working in the mine pits and then they would reverse the gesture after four years. Albrecht won the bet to go first but by the time it was his brothers turn his hands had been so damaged that he couldn’t be an artists so Albrecht drew his hands as a tribute the metaphor for this image is a that you cant do this by its yourself.
The word discernment means the activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event, particularly the activity of going past the mere perception of something and making detailed judgments about that thing.
This described my journey over the past 7 years and especially over few months making the invisible …visible. I woke up the next morning still thinking about the beetle later on that day I found out it was Allen Ginsberg’s birthday, it was Ginsberg’s five am poem who had started me on my pathway to making connections. The encounter with Stag beetle was my spiritual validation of my past, present and my future paths to walk.
Og Mandino – The Praying Hands
