Christmas Beetle - Seeing Through the Dark
Underworlds and upperworlds, earth and sky worship, balancing between two odds, seeing through the dark, navigating uncertainty, finding your way, resurrection, out of the dark / into the light, transformation and metamorphosis, focusing on the profound truths in the details, integrating wisdom and knowledge, a connection to ancient powers and spirits.
Christmas beetle is the colloquial name applied to a genus of beetles known as Anoplognathus. They are scarab beetles, most active in the warm, Summer months. Some are iridescent or metallic, and some are opaque. Christmas beetles feed on eucalyptus leaves, and can do a fair bit of damage to eucalyptus trees if there are many on one tree. They lay their eggs in the soil, and larvae take about a year to emerge, while feeding on underground roots. The Christmas beetle, as a night-flyer, has exceptional eyesight, especially when it's dark.