Finding a Scorpion Nest in Your Closet

When I moved to Texas fourteen years ago, a friend said, "everything bites and stings in Texas." Since that time, I've gotten to know many plants and insects that sting.

This weekend I met a new stinger: the scorpion. Saturday night, after dinner, I went into my closet to put on my flip flops - the shoes I live in at home - and felt a sharp sting. Thinking I had a thorn in my shoe, I looked down, and saw a mass of swirling newborn scorpions.

I was both fascinated and horrified, frightened for my feet (and worried that scorpions were in all my belongings!) After clearing out the nest - my husband found and killed the mother - my fear started to settle. We both felt sad about killing them - and we didn't want them living in our house.

When I told a friend about the experience she got really curious. "A whole family of scorpions? You might want to look up the message of the scorpion." She read me a description of the shamanic meanings of the scorpion and I found myself in tears: just the medicine I need.

Later that day I took some heart shaped stones and laid them in the woods at the base of a tree. I offered some cornmeal to the earth for the scorpions I killed, and for my gratitude for the help they gave me.

Finding a Scorpion Nest in Your Closet by Karly Randolph Pitman

You want to be gentle,
to kill them quickly,
a swift hand of mercy.
But you're fascinated
by their tiny bodies –
no bigger than your smallest fingernail
you can see their full shape:
the curved spine, the tiny stinger,
the segmented tail.
They can't stay. You don't want
them living in your home, even
in their newborn wonder.
When you find the mother
you whisper, "I'm sorry," mourning
the loss of so much life. A part of you
is repulsed by your arachnid guests.
Another is awed. When you tell a friend
you found scorpions in your closet
her voice piques: "An entire family?
Perhaps there's a message for you."
You look up the medicine of scorpion:
a messenger of resilience; the capacity
to face adversity with strength, to transform
darkness and pain into wisdom.
You think of the long, hard days of illness.
The longer road of depression.
Your heart's recurring despair.
Sometimes support comes in unusual forms –
Scorpion bites on your toes, the wasps'
nest under your table, the full golden
moon as you walk your dog.
We're not as alone as we think we are.
Help can arrive at any time.
Help can arrive, even today.

The image is a collage I made about being held in the hard parts of life.

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With a grateful heart, Karly