The Singing Cricket as a Magickal Ally

LeslieAnn on a Wild Cricket Hunt, Charleston, S.C. circa 1944.

THE CRICKET AS A MAGICKAL ALLY

Crickets are not only useful and necessary parts of the diet of many small reptiles and other animals, but they can be kept as pets and magical allies. Pet crickets first appeared in China as far back as the Shang Dynasty, and interest expanded during the Sung, Tang and Wei-in-Six Dynasties.

At first, crickets were collected and kept as household pets because of their songs, which were considered lucky. Like cock fights, dog fights and bear fights, Cricket Fights were very popular, especially in China, and served as a competition for gambling. Betting on favorite animals and letting them fight has been a human trait since Day One, and cockroaches, crickets and jumping frogs are among the more popular contenders for King of the Hill animal style.

The fact that the Emperor collected crickets required excellence in cricket-cage making skills, hence the cages, jars and gourds from the 12th century on tend to be elaborate and in some cases a clear rival to the Faberge Egg.

GORBY’S CRICKET TRANSPORT CAGE — $49.95

Cricket cages are typically used for trapping crickets and carrying them from place to place, generally from the trapping ground to the home cluster of gourds and jars in the traditional Chinese home or business. No business would consider itself lucky without its pet cricket to bring the customers into the shop.

GORBY’S CRICKET TERRARIUM — $89.95

Today, we keep our pet crickets in a small specially built terrarium with two inches of sub-strata so they can burrow. My Gorby’s Cricket Terrarium contains a small Ancient Style Egyptian Soul House to provide shelter for the Magical Singing Cricket you have decided to adopt.

The life of a cricket is not very long, about three months at the most. You will find yourself replacing older crickets with youngsters. The hatching and development into a male adult will take about two months, then the adult will live another month or so.

Only the male cricket will sing. He stands at the entrance to his burrow or Soul House and sings into the lair, which serves as a resonance chamber that amplifies his sound and serves as a mating den if a female is successfully attracted.

Crickets sing by rubbing the base of their wings together, which makes that chirping sound. The wavelength of the chirp is much larger than the cricket, so they don’t convey the sound very well, but they instinctively use their burrows as resonators, and in the wild, will clamp onto bamboo leaves, increasing their sound output by up to fifty times, like the soundboard of a piano.

Some cricket collectors wax the wings with tree resin, ordinary cypress sap, mixed with ground cinnabar, which creates the illusion of a mysteriously operatic cricket sound. We send out only unaltered crickets — they sing naturally and our crickets have beautiful songs.

The entire reason for the male’s song is to attract females for mating. His song might also attract other males; with the touch of their antennae they determine that they are both male, and so they break out into a fight, as you’d expect of any two males competing for sex.

Whether fighting crickets or singing crickets, the males are always solitaries, except when mating. You will have to have a separate habitat for each male cricket you keep as a pet or magickal ally.

If you want to find out more about the Mystical Experience of Cricketeering, you can contact us for more info.

See You At The Top!!!

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