Blessings of the Moon Bat Mother

(The following is inspired by a piece of art by Evlyn Moreau. Follow her Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/evlynmoreau/posts)

Some say she is the mother of all bats, daughter of Luna, the warm embrace of night, or the promise of the world made bearable by darkness. Other call her vampire, mother of demons, sister of Lilith. Her worshipers flock to Conal County, Texas to worship at Bracken Cave, where her offspring hang by the millions. In Yunnan province, China she is the bringer of five blessings or disease. In Spandau Citadel in Berlin, her offspring is said to spell out her secret name as they swarm under the castle’s vaulted ceilings.

Used with permission

Whatever her true nature, she is a nurturing friend to all bats. Humans she tolerates, if they show respect and kindness to her charges

Winged Embrace

The simplest of the Mother’s blessings is simply her embrace. Thosewo invoke her will feel enveloped by mighty wings and clutched to a furry bosom. This magick keeps out even the most blistering cold, and gives the invoker the feeling of tender protection and love.

Some worshipers use the magick for recruitment

Echolocation

This simple working requires the invoker eat a meal of insects she has caught herself. She must then smear her eyelids and lips with rotten fruit. For the next 24 hours she may generate ultrasound through her larynx, enabling her to navigate in total darkness. Her ears wil be quite sensitive though.

Seed of Wonder

Flying foxes spread plant life far and wide by eating fruit and excreting seeds. Some seeds will not sprout at all unless they have passed through the digestive tract of a bat. This invocation draws upon the primal alchemy of digestion.

The item one wishes to see transformed is left in a place where bats are plentiful. This item must be something the invoker is able to lift on her own. A short petition is given to the Moon Bat Mother as to the nature of the wished transformation. In the end the Mother decides which transformation she deigns to impart.

The item must then be left alone for 48 hours. It may not be moved or observed in any way. These are some of the transformations which have been granted in the past:

- The item has been made very valuable (the Buddha figurine you brought is now made of plutonium).

- The item is now alive (A corpse returns to life, albeit with a memory full of Lunar landscapes, shrill cries and endless subterranean vistas. A vase has become a simple-minded beast with a constant desire to be filled with liquid. A clay figurine has become a shifty and cunning servant).

- The item has disappeared as though it never existed. The invoker will be the only one who remember that it ever did. Of course, how can you really be sure that it IS gone for good?

- The item has become a memetic dream. Those who sleep within a one-kilometer radius will dream of the object, and it will slowly gain increased significance for them. For some this translates as a need to possess it, for other a religious urge to worship it, a need to reclaim their thoughts by destroying it, or a sexual attraction towards it.

- The item has been blessed by the Moon Bat Mother. It may be used as a weapon or protection against unnatural creatures, and meditating upon the item will allow a person to commune with the Mother.

- The item has been replaced with another similar item from a distant location. Some say that this magick was used to steal Edvard Munch’s The Scream by switching it with a replica.

White snout doom

White-nose syndrome is a terrible fungal infection which afficts bats during hibernation. It has drecreased the at population of North America significantly. A follower of the Moon Bat Mother may call down a version of this condition upon her enemies. The invoker must carve a bat-shape into her abdomen and arms and let the blood drip upon the target’s likeness.

The curse goes through the following stages:

1-2 days: The target feels pleasantly light-headed and full of energy. He is strong, agile but is increasingly nauseated by smells and textures.

3-4 days: The target becomes unable to eat or sleep, and starts losing weight at an alarming rate. The target continues to feel a surplus of energy. White fungal matter starts appearing around orifices.

5-10 days: As above. The areas affected by fungal growth begin bleeding. No one has survived ten days without powerful magick or intercession from the Moon Bat Mother herself.

Guano

The invoker must gather a fist-sized lump of bat guano and burn star-shapes into her palm (this may be done well in advance of actually using the magick). When the invoker uses the magick, she hurls the lump at the target. It bursts into flame as it leaves her hands and explodes on impact. The invoker is not immune to any splat damage.

Darkness Recaptured

The Kono people of Sierra Leone have a myth about a time when the Sun lit up the day and Luna the night. One time God entrusted Bat with Darkness in a basket, along with orders to carry it to the moon. Bat got tired on the way, set the basket down and went looking for food. Other animals found the basket and let Darkness out. That is bats are about at night, flying to and fro trying to recapture Darkness.

This story may be entirely untrue, but this working lets the invoker turn night briefly into day as far as she can see. It only lasts for a few moments, and the daylight is that of a grey November afternoon, but it affects the world as though night had suddenly turned into day. The Moon Bat Mother only give this boon to those she trusts completely.

Feast of the Bat God

The Zapotec people ,who lived in what is now Mexico, worshipped a bat-headed god whose name is now forgotten. This god presided over fertility and crops, primarily maize. The bat had a dual nature though, and was also, due to its nocturnal nature, seen as a link to the underworld and the dead. This magick working has two disinct natures as well.

The protective version summons a swarn of bats who will guard a certain crop or field from insects. Insects cause a lot of damage to crops, and bats havean astounding appetite for insects. The invoker must perform a dance while wearing a bat-mask. She must then pour a pint of mammal blood out on the ground )at least a fe drops must be her own). The bats will appear by nightfall and will protect the crop until harvest.

Photo by Adrian Hernandez

Alternately a single vampire bat may be summoned. This working requires a human sacrifice that the bat may feast upon. When it is sated it will carry missives between a living person and someone on the other side. The invoker must clearly state the dead person’s name and her own relation to them. Otherwise there is no telling what might answer.

The batwill continue to carry messages back and fortyh between the land of the living and the underworld for a year and a day. A trip between the worlds takes anything between one night and a full moon-cycle.

Five Blessings

According to the Zhou Dynasty Book of Documents there are five fundamental human blessings: health, wealth, longevity, love of virtue and a peaceful death when one is satisfied of life. These blessings are often depicted as five red bats.

The Five Blessings working may be used in one of two ways. An invoker who has pleased the Moon Bat Mother and helped her children may perform a wordless chant under a full moon asking for one of the Five Blessings.

Health: For a year and a day the invoker won’t be afflicted by any virus, parasite or poison.

Wealth: Gold will appear in the invoker’s life in the shape of ancient Chinese coins, gold bars stamped with bat imagery and sinister figurines depicting leering horseshoe bats. It will appear in unobserved corners, crawlspaces and stained packages left on stoops. It has no provenance.

Longevity: The invoker will live for 100 years, provided she subsists on a strict diet of insects and fresh fruit. The quality of said life isn’t promised.

Love of Virtue: Virtue is situational, at least as it is understood by an unearthly bat-creature. The invoker will always know how best to best help bats. She will also be able to discern what constitutes virtue within a given community (a village, corporation, cult, institution etc.) and what symbolises this virtue.

A Peaceful Death: Within a fortnight the invoker will die peacefully, without pain or distress.

The blessing may be given as boons to a willing recipient.

If a person who has received a blessing later offends against the Moon Bat Mother or shows cruelty towards her kin, will die from an ailment with symptoms like fever, muscle pain, lethargy and finally an inability to breathe. A medical doctor will most likely diagnose the condition as a completely treatment-resistant strain of SARS.