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| maybe not my daemon... this guy tidily eating a cheeseburger he unwrapped and found a nice shady place for a picnice |
From Robert Macfarlane's Is a River Alive?
"What is your daemon," I ask Yuvan as we trudge over the sand towards the Broken Bridge, "the creature with which you feel most affinity?"
He considers my question in silence for several paces, then replies.
"I would choose three, not one. First, the millipede. The millipede is a recaster of meaning and matter, you know. It turns the shit of life into something valuable; takes it in, absorbs its harm, transforms it. Turns death into life, waste into compost, endings into beginnings. It's a detritivore: part of an under-appreciated group of species who do this vital, ethical work. Red ghost crabs are detritivores also. Likewise, cockroaches, maggots, dung beetles, all of this much-despised class of cleaner-uppers. So - I use the millipede patronus when there's suffering or adversity which must be converted into something positive."
I had to look up "patronus" --- In Harry Potter, a Patronus is a magical, silver-white animal form that acts as a guardian or shield against Dementors and other dark creatures.
I also looked up daemon: In mythology, particularly in the ancient Greek sense, a "daemon" (or daimon) refers to a supernatural being of intermediate nature between gods and humans, or a guiding spirit, like Socrates' inner voice. The term was not inherently negative; daemons could be good or bad, representing guiding spirits, household deities, or even the souls of righteous people. The word is the origin of the modern term "demon," which typically implies an evil spirit, but the original meaning was broader and encompassed spirits that could be neutral or beneficial.
Yuvan comes up with two other "daemons" in the beginning of the India narrative in Macfarlane's book.
On This Day (09/08):
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