Monday, May 23, 2011

The Mantis Goddess

On a mild Autumn Saturday afternoon, she made a jagged flight into our garden, and headed straight for my boots.  I moved my feet, and she climbed up the smooth leg of my chair with some difficulty but an impressive determination...


We moved her to the safety of the flower-bed, but she was on an intriguing mission, and she wasn't that interested in safety.  It is possible that Autumn is breeding time for the Mantis in our part of the world. 



She is a queen, and a fine poseur...



She was not shy.  She leapt onto the lens of my camera, a few times!...



Eventually, she made her way across the lawn to an ancient cypress tree, and climbed up it until we lost sight of her.  A beautiful creature with a powerful energy.


In southern Africa, the indigenous Khoi and San people regarded the Mantis as a god...

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos - and not only do the San revere the mantis as a God, but it is the highest of the gods, and is the only creature never depicted in rock paintings... Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Beautiful pictures of the mantis. i love them too and they often seem to hang around at important times. There have been several around our house and garden recently. Thanks for your kind comments on my blog today!

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  3. Perhaps you would be interested to know that somebody is copying and pasting your blog into their own. Check it out
    http://fingersmcginty.blogspot.com/2011/04/life-goes-on.html

    Please send a report to 'Removing Content from Google' to get it off the web. They have copied mine and another woman's blog, too.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for alerting me Nancy, I just got your message now and I see the blog has been removed.

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  4. beautiful picture. where did you take the picture?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Indra, I took the photos of this praying mantis in my garden in the Western cape, South Africa

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