Twinn Swan

When I think of the bat, I never think of the lone bat. They’re almost always part of a community. So first things first, when the bat appears, you should ask yourself: what communities am I a part of? Are these communities uplifting me or draining my energy? Who initiated you into a particular community? When the bat appears, it asks us to identify which communities have already caused us harm and which communities may cause us harm in the future.

While the bat is normally associated with bad luck, I would say that this assessment is disproportionate to the bad luck it actually brings. Even though many cultures believe that encountering a bat is bad luck, this superstition is not universally accepted. The Chinese, in particular, associate the bat with good fortune as opposed to misfortune. But truthfully speaking, are misfortune and fortune separate or are they two sides of the same coin? Think on it… The answer may surprise you.

Night

The bat is a symbol of rebirth, but the birth of the night, rather than the birth of a new dawn (see Rooster). When the bat appears, it comes to let you know that a path that you have chosen in the past was not the right one. Who influenced you to choose that particular path? Why did they influence you to choose it? When bat appears, it sometimes comes to warn us about allowing other people to influence our decisions.

Bats, in many circumstances, can signify emotional death. If someone or something is or was draining you of your self-confidence, your energy and your personal resources, the bat appears to warn you not to let bad luck into your life.

If you can foresee the trouble that is coming, you may wish to sort it out before it happens or take steps to avoid it altogether. Stay away from substances, communities and situations that can foreseeably bring unwanted energies into your life. You deserve so so much better.

Extremism

I’ve had this conversation with many people. A glass of wine a week probably won’t do much harm or even good, but a glass of wine at breakfast, lunch and dinner will undeniably alter your brain’s chemistry. The same could be said for any toxic substance. The dose is always the poison.

Most of the time, we are advised to stay away completely. It may even say so on the pack. For instance, smoking causes cancer; drink responsibly and so on. These warnings rarely stop anyone. On the contrary, most become so accustomed to hearing them that they become immune to the warning that is being provided to them.

When the bat appears, it reminds us not to indulge in any harmful practises. If we have chosen to indulge in something that is harmful for us, we should limit it as much as we can. For instance, if we have an addiction, we can begin by reducing our intake. If we have friends that are not good for us, we don’t have to cut them out completely, but we can begin to distance ourselves from them.

On the other hand, the bat can also forewarn that there is something as too much of a good thing. If say, for instance, we decide to set aside a bit of time each day to exercise. That is good and healthy. However, most of us are not meant to exercise for 6 hours each day. The latter is too much. You will wear yourself out. So even if you are indulging in a practise that is good for you, if you become an extremist about it, you might earn yourself a well-deserved injury!

The bat therefore comes to warn us against extremism. If you have a bad habit, moderate it. If you have a good habit, don’t do too much of it either.

Late Bloomer

Bats make a din at dusk when they finally wake up. Carrying on from that, the bat can represent something or even someone blooming a little later than it should. For instance, say you put a lot of effort into something or someone, but it didn’t pay off so you decided to walk away at the time. You’ll realise that later on, it did, indeed, pay off… The bat reminds us that some investments just take time to give us a return.

Seeing a bat isn’t always a bad omen. Think about it: what you don’t know—or what you’ve brushed under the rug—has the potential to help you just as much as it might hurt you. While the bat is, indeed, associated with the unknown and with concealment, that doesn’t always equate to fear or danger.

A long time ago, the Ancient Greeks classified bats as birds. Nowadays we would not make such a mistake. We would choose to classify the bat as the only mammal capable of flight. Even though the human classification of the bat has changed, the bat still hasn’t changed one bit! It doesn’t care how we humans perceive it or classify it. It shows that sometimes we have reached the wrong conclusion based on a faulty analysis.

When the bat appears in your life as a spiritual symbol, it signifies that a part of you or something–especially a long-standing problem in your life–is about to perish. A part of you that no longer serves your highest calling is about to die. Let it go and let it be.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a late bloomer.