There Will be Flies, An Ode to Shadow

Supported by The Devil card, number 15 in the Major Arcana of Tarot. 

(A book in process, thank you)

May these words provide safe and enlightening passage into the darkest seas of your Soul and expose your Light from whence it came, the Shadow we hide, the Shadow inside.  

This is about the art of lovingly embracing our Shadow and why it is so beautifully imperative to our Human Experience and Spiritual Development.  

By the end of the page, may you have newfound gratitude for the fundamental contrast the darkness within you and others provides, which encourages and establishes your Light.  

This is an Ode to Shadow. 

Chapter 1 

Flies.

It’s a shit show in my kitchen. There is a heat index of 113 degrees outside, with humidity at 87%. We missed trash day, again. We miss trash day a lot. The rotting stench is repulsive, and the bluntly loud buzz hijacks the air of any peaceful quality. As I go to stuff my already heaping garbage bin with one more bag, I frantically search for a spot to grip the lid without touching the billons of maggot larvae that have seeded the entire container inside and out. I am met with a knee-jerk visceral reaction of gagging and throwing up in my mouth. Worse, the typical age that my children learn to shut the exterior doors behind them is roughly sixteen, it would seem, and of course, the food from the dishes that I was too tired to do last night has made for a lustful invite to our buzzy-winged friends who effortlessly help themselves to my lack of responsibility. And why can’t I ever find the fucking flyswatter? I think I own twelve of them, but no one knows where. Flies.  

One would think that after being exposed to an experience like this just once, I would never forget the trash again. I would be militant on getting it to the curb, minimizing this dreadful outcome, and yet, more often than not, I indeed forget. What is wrong with me? 

The problem with flies? Let’s name a few out of the bountiful bunch of reasons why flies are invasive little crusaders of Satan, much like spiders-but that’s for a different book.  

What is true about flies is their incessant thirst for our garbage and countertop crumbs. They inhabit virtually every inch of global dry land and consist of not only your traditional house and fruit flies but also include as kin our favorite blood-sucking vampires of the insect world, the Mosquito. Also in relation are the bity-little-bastards, the dear fly, and horse fly. There are actually thousands and thousands of species of flies, but for our purposes, these will due.  

As if them landing and vomiting all over our picnic feast to liquefy it and suck it up like sweet cocaine wasn’t enough, or inflicting unrelenting itchy whelps that literally induce insomnia, they also carry deadly diseases that plague medically underserved communities around the world.  

They feed on shit and rotting flesh and assist in the unpleasant decay of both animal and plant matter, resulting in a smell that would make David Bowie, the Goblin King’s, Bog of Eternal Stench, smell like a rose garden (for all my Bowie and Labyrinth peeps). They get trapped in your car, refusing the access you provide to the outside world by rolling down your window, choosing instead to buzz in your ears and line of sight until you are sure to run your vehicle off the road from flailing your arms about like a blooming idiot. And consequently, they are responsible for at least 53% of the variety of F-Bombs I drop.  

It would seem that these insidious insects serve only to destroy us and everything around us, obstructing our natural harmony by their seemingly deliberate annoyance, leaving us bewildered as to what their purpose on this planet actually is. But, the absolute truth about flies is that there are two truths about flies. There is the dark truth I have just illustrated for you. But then there is another truth that I will share that will illuminate our fuzzy fellow in kinder regard.  

You see, these dark matters of the fly are the very matters that play a vital role in our ecosystem and the overall health of our environment. Their ability to procreate rapidly by laying hundreds of larva at a time per single fly that feed on green waste makes them little biodegrading machines. Without flies and fungi, another misunderstood enemy, the world would be covered in dead rotting material. These little clean-up crews do jobs that no human wants to do. The material they break down fertilizes our planet, creating richer soil that yields the harvests that most likely end up on your dinner table. Flies are also great pollinators and just as the theme would permit, they pollinate the plants that bees and other major pollinators are repulsed by.  

These little medical monsters are also used to perform what is called Larval Debridement Therapy, or Biosurgery, usually used to treat gangrene. Gangrene is a disease in which body tissue begins to die due to restricted blood flow that can cause severe and deadly bacterial infections. The species of larvae used for such a case feeds on the dead and infected flesh but innately knows to leave the healthy meat alone.  

Flies for dinner? They provide excellent sources of protein for birds, reptiles, fish, and even your cat! And on the surface, while they might look like tiny black shapeless pellets flying through the air, many species are quite beautiful. Their outer body glistens with iridescent teals, greens, blues, golds, and coppers, like hummingbirds, while their wings are intricately veined like those of a butterfly. 

What is the point? The point is that without their ability to be so grotesque as to munch on rotting animal carcasses, the rate of decomposition would decrease substantially, leaving hazardous bacteria-infected biowaste material all over the planet. Without their unpalatable taste for eating, flesh, shit, and plant waste, we would lose out on the rich soil that yields the fruit of our labor, feeding our families all over the world. Without their natural tendency to be so grotesquely disruptive, the dark side, we would never come to know the light side.  

I use this reference to flies to symbolize the truth about humans, and that is, there are two truths about humans. This symbology is meant to conceptualize and help give form to the intent of this book. And that is to secure a fundamental awareness of just how important and precious our darkness is to our lightness. They work in tandem, and one cannot exist without the other.  

You can count on this: There will always be darkness, and…there will be flies. 

The Devil

This book was originally inspired by my deep work with the Devil Card, number 15 in the Major Arcana of Tarot. The Devil in its most masterful space asks us to pay homage to the shadow. It has a very Jungian vibration, inviting us not only to recognize our own self-limitations but to honor and understand the contrast. It can speak to self-deprecation and the words we use in daily language to tell our story to the world. Are there spaces where chains keep you tethered to that which separates you from wholeness? These can be real people, habits, circumstances, or quiet modes of operation that come from outdated frames of reference that simply do not serve. For these reasons, I welcome the Devil. He comes to show where I can check in and also brings into question what my current frames of reference are or filters I am using when consuming external input from the world.

Ref:

https://sciencing.com/importance-flies-10016971.html

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/compelling-case-why-flies-are-fabulous.html