Description
Lasavia Essences are the gift of vitality of plants, minerals and insects delivered to you with the utmost care. The resolve of Lasavia is to deliver to you Elemental Healing through the introduction of an Essence into your being. We suggest you put a few drops in water, drink and take a moment to be inspired by the qualities of the Essence that you have chosen.
Praying Mantis
Miomantis caffra
Essence: Awakening to tricks and patterns of our thinking, extended awareness through observation and an inner stillness.
Use: Use when past choices are impacting your ability to move forward; when there are persistent negative thought patterns; emerging from addiction, particularly alcohol; and emerging from relationships that have become toxic or sour. This remedy will help you find your stillness and support you to be alone, giving space for aspects of your inner to emerge.
Description: There are two species of praying mantis found in New Zealand. The native praying mantis, which has a blue patch on the inside of its front legs, and the South African praying mantis, introduced from South Africa in 1978. The native adults don’t survive the winter, whereas the African one does, giving it an advantage.
The mantis is unusual in the insect world in that it can turn its head in all directions, examining and inspecting. It has two large compound eyes, while on the vertex of the head, three simple eyes, ocelli, form a small triangle.
During the late summer, the abdomen of the female swells with ripening eggs. In creating its egg case the mantis sits perfectly still, and almost imperceptibly lifts the tip of the abdomen and exudes a whitish-brown foamy substance. The egg case is brown at the sides and the egg chambers, arranged two abreast, are covered with a whitish lid. About twenty to twenty-five eggs are sealed in the chambers. In the late autumn, the female dies. In the spring, the larvae hatch into minute images of the adults, lacking only the wings.
Meaning: This remedy was made after spending time observing a pregnant female praying mantis. I was mesmerized by her swaying focus, movement and stillness, perfectly at play. She seemed to be undisturbed by my presence, and time felt adrift. I was coming into her presence rather than her into mine. I had the uncanny experience of feeling myself observed by her. For a moment I wanted to go away. The I am so busy mantra started playing in my head. There is something about being caught by the gaze of the praying mantis that is disarming, and it was this that made me sit deeply in her presence and then ask permission that I may work with her essence.
Praying mantis integrates our ability to perceive the existence of a creative energy of the universe as part of the physical world. It brings reflection into the fulcrum, the point of balance that can happen in a day, perhaps in a year, a timing within our life, of stillness, and an opening to choose.
