Bagheera

My friend Tania Seabeck mentioned on Facebook that there is a vegetarian spider named Bagheera kiplingi.  I was struck by the name....in the Jungle Book by Kipling, Bagheera, the panther,  is a close companion of the boy Mowgli. 

"We be of one blood, thee and I" says Bagheera to Mowgli.  For some reason,  the statement and it's old speech syntax gives me a frisson of pleasure and dread, much as certain passages of music puts  shivers up my spine.

Several years ago, I did this painting  of a great panther and his familiar (spirit companion? devotee) for a friend who felt an affinity for this animal. In the painting, the human and the panther both have blood red flower hearts  and the  boy dances toward the big reclining cat.

I think with any profound spiritual connection, one experiences an alliance of love and fear...and approaches shyly,  obliquely before such grace, such  power and beauty. A dance of terror and devotion.