King of the Microcosm
Updated: Jul 14
Rusty Millipede
Part of my Garden Deities series, written in Florida, 2023
Qualities: Humility, Focus, Dedication, Abundance, Sustenance, Regeneration, Righteousness
This fellow being is the King of the microcosm. Transformer. Renewer. Turning death back into life, aiding in the earth’s infinite processes of regeneration. My heroes. They are hard workers with only one task, ever-present. I know I can go straight out the door and find one, or thousands.
They are armored warriors, intent on their direction when in motion, yet yielding when they are interrupted by a giant life form, like me. They curl into spirals, turn all their vulnerabilities to the inside, armor out, and submit to their fate.
This could be seen as weakness, but I appreciate their submission to greater powers. It allows the greater power to help them. I transport them carefully in the palm of my hand to better places; usually, off my living room floor and out to the under-plant world where their purpose resides.
I have developed a strong affection for them, knowing how much they contribute to the soil.(1)
I owe them all gratitude for the fact that my garden thrives.
It pains me to read on Wikipedia:
“Millipedes generally have little impact on human economic or social well-being.” (2)
What human wrote that, and what the fig do they know about it?!
Soil-makers run the economic and social engines of the world, you fool! “Food systems are essential to life and currently account for around 12% of global GDP and over 40% of all jobs.” (3)
We owe everything to the creatures who nourish and generate beneficial soil ingredients — the very source material that births the wheat, rice, maize, millet, yams, and plantains for our daily bowls.(4) Our most profound social encounters and family moments of bonding occurring during the meals we share together.
The first page of a Google search of millipedes lists everyone who will gladly exterminate them for you. The annihilators of all misunderstood righteousness. So underestimated these creatures are! And so docile and harmless, just doing their job of supporting and generating everything we need for survival.
Shame on us for our universal bug-squeamishness, for exterminating our helpers, and fellow planet walkers; gentle, diligent souls.
How have we accepted this word ‘exterminator’ as a good thing?
Rusty Millipede helpers, sustainers of life. Recyclers of the refuse of the plant world, they are the lowest of the low, and we mistakenly treat them like untouchables when they are holy beings. I am careful not to step on them, but it is easy to do if not intentional with your footfalls.
All the legs, the long body must be somehow essential to its divine digestive processes. Perhaps the legs and body allow for the appearance of, the mechanics to produce, a perfect spiral.(5) A reminder of infinity right there in my palm. A reminder of submission to the greater power and diligent dedication to doing what we were put here to do: our sacred task.
I honor the Rusty Millipede as a powerful ally and thank them for their foundational contribution to the abundance of the garden.
(1) Research confirms that “millipedes are able to transform agricultural and urban waste into organic compost.” See Luiz Fernando de Sousa Antunes et al. (2022). Millicomposting: Sustainable Technique for Obtaining Organic Compost…. Accessed 2/5/2023.
(2) Millipede: Interactions with Humans. Wikipedia. Accessed 2/5/2023.
(3) How can we protect food systems against global shocks? Here's what business leaders say. World Economic Forum. Accessed 2/5/2023.
(4) Staple Food Crops of the World. National Geographic. Accessed 2/5/2023.
(5) The spiral “is a powerful symbol for creation and growth […]. The spiral is a sacred symbol that represents the journey and change of life as it unfolds; taking a labyrinth-like passage that leads to Source […]. Spirals have been linked to nature, the seasons, and the path of life: birth, growth, death, and reincarnation.” Spiral Meaning and Symbolism. TainoAge. Accessed 2/5/2023.
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