April 20th, 2015

I thought you all might like to see this beautiful Polyphemus moth my friends discovered outside during our rehearsal yesterday:

Moths and butterflies are associated with the element air, and with the fairy folk. This guy was so soft and fluffy that I was joking around saying he was a sky cat (by way of interest, you can tell this one is a boy by how fluffy his antenna are). 

In attempting to identify his species, I learned something rather interesting - the name, Polyphemus, actually derives from Greek mythology. Polyphemus, as you may or may not recall, was the cyclops with whom Odysseus had a run-in, leading to the infamous "Nobody" conversation. The moth's eye-spots inspired the name.

According to Wikipedia, this is also the species of moth through which Gandalf communicates with the eagles in The Lord of the Rings. The more you know. 

As such, someone who enjoys lepidoptery might call upon the Polyphemus moth to navigate tricky situations, to improve one's sight, or to assist communication.