Moth Magic

I wasn’t sure if the cheeks facing me were on the smile end or the seat end of this caterpillar but it didn’t matter. Either way, she made me crack a smile. What a delight to see this amazing cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) caterpillar in our apple orchard on this dewy fresh morning. She was nearly as big as my thumb!

With a wingspan of 5-6 inches, the cecropia moth is the largest North American moth. All winter will be spent in a 4-5 inch cocoon. In late May, the cercropia moths emerge from their cocoons. The female only lives about two weeks, just long enough to mate and lay eggs.

Because their skin doesn’t grow the cercropia caterpillar goes through several molting phases, each time attaching itself to a silken pad it has spun. When the new skin is fully developed it will literally walk out of its old skin. This cercropia caterpillar is in the fifth instar larvae stage.

If you have the good fortune to see an adult cercropia moth, I promise you will not be disappointed. Their spectacular color and size is something you will not soon forget. The cercropia moth is another example of nature’s marvelous metamorphosis; ever thing in sacred motion.

Moth medicine is that of inner knowing, determination, vulnerability and movement. I wish her well on her magnificent journey of transformation and hope we meet again in the May night, both of us with our wings.

Author: sweetwisdoms

Angeline Haen was raised on a small dairy farm in Sobieski, Wisconsin, where the love of the earth and all things of nature collected in her heart. She and her husband, Andy, steward a forty-five acre hobby farm and tend to the needs of two teenagers, four beehives, a 110 pound yellow lab named Wally, two and a half horses, flower beds, berry patches and gardens. Her first book, Sweet Wisdoms, was released by Shanti Arts Publishing in February 2017. In 2015 two of her poems were published in the Wicwas publication entitled Safe To Chew. When she’s not writing, you can find her sharing some lov'n from her oven, driving a school bus or watching grass grow. View all posts by sweetwisdoms