The Bat Between Worlds

🦇 Honoring the Shadow and the Sacred

Ancestral Echoes

In Taíno tradition — the Indigenous lineage of Borikén (Puerto Rico) and the Caribbean — the bat is a revered messenger. Bats dwell in sacred caves, portals to the spirit world where the souls of the departed reside. When dusk falls, they emerge to feast on guava, a fruit believed to nourish the spirits of the dead. To the Taíno, the bat was a bridge between life and death, a keeper of the underworld’s wisdom, and a guide through the unseen.

This season of Samhain mirrors that teaching. The veil thins, the ancestors draw close, and we are invited to journey inward — to fly like the bat through the dark caverns of our own becoming.

A Memory in Motion

When I was young, one of the homes I lived in here in the United States was known for its bat visitors. They would somehow find their way indoors, and while others panicked, I felt calm — almost familiar with their energy. I remember gently opening windows or doors, speaking softly as I guided them back outside under the night sky. Even then, I sensed something sacred about their presence.

It felt like a reminder from the ancestors: Do not fear what flies through darkness. Learn from it.

The Slavic / Russian Aspect

In contrast, Slavic and Russian folklore often cast bats in a shadowed light — creatures of night, omens of transformation, or symbols of witches’ familiars. Yet beneath that fear lies another truth: bats inhabit the realm of the shadow self — the aspects of us that have been hidden, denied, or misunderstood.

To the mystic, this isn’t evil; it’s essential. The bat invites us to face our own depth, to reclaim the parts of ourselves we’ve exiled, and to bring them gently into awareness. In shadow work, we learn that darkness isn’t the absence of light — it’s the womb that births it.

Just as the bat sees with its ears, we are asked to listen differently — not with our eyes, but with our intuition.

How to Honor the Bat This Samhain

🕯 Create a Bat Altar: Place guava, berries, or a small dark crystal like obsidian or smoky quartz. Add a candle for illumination — the flame within the cave.

🌑 Reflect in the Dark: Sit in a dim room or outdoors at twilight. Breathe. Ask, “Which parts of myself need to be brought out of hiding?” Let the answers echo softly, like sonar returning to your heart.

🍃 Work with the Shadow Gently: Write down what arises — fears, regrets, hidden desires — and instead of judging them, honor them as teachers. Bats remind us that transformation happens when we accept the night as part of the cycle.

💫 Call Upon the Ancestors: Speak their names. Ask for courage to see your wholeness — not just your light, but your sacred dark.

Closing Blessing

The bat does not fear the cave; it knows it by heart.

The bat does not flee the dark; it navigates it with grace.

Tonight, may we each remember that the dark within us is not a place of punishment, but of rebirth.

May your Samhain be guided by the wings of wisdom —

from Borikén to the forests of the Slavs,

from shadow into radiant becoming.

🦇✨

— Evren Ryu | Cosmic Energy & Spiritual Wellness

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