Thank you for taking a deeper look into the meaning and symbolism behind The Rabbit Named Fear collection.
My hope is that you find your own meaning in the pieces that speak to you. These are just some of the thoughts and ideas that played a part in their creation .
Keep reading below to hear about things like the connection between rabbits and the moon or and rabbit’s many roles in folklore throughout the world and history.
The past few years have given us all reason to be fearful and created and amplified anxiety for many. Society often tells us to push fear aside, overcome our fears, not let them get the better of us.
Yet intuition often speaks to us through fear. That little voice that whispers to us, creates a pit in our stomachs, or raises the hair on the back of our necks is often the same voice that we are taught as children to ignore in order to be polite.
These mixed messages can be confusing. When is fear getting in the way? When do we need to calm our anxiety? When do we listen to that voice and honor fear as a gift that is guiding us?
I don’t have all the answers but this series explores the relationship that we have with the part of ourselves that carries fear: sometimes a trusted friend, sometimes an inner child to be soothed and sometimes a trickster.
Rabbits and hares can be found on six of the seven continents and thus are prominent throughout myth and folklore of most cultures as well as pop culture.
Commonly known as a symbol of fertility and abundance, creativity and good fortune and, in many cultures, rabbits are also a symbol of fear. In some Native American traditions, Rabbit is known as the Fear Caller, its fearful thoughts multiplying (like rabbits) often drawing to it the very thing of which it is most afraid.
In Alice in Wonderland we see the white rabbit worrying about time. Winnie the Pooh, shows us the well intentioned, cautious (if not a bit neurotic) friend who becomes frustrated when his friends don’t take the dangers of a situation seriously.
Just as our fears can cause our minds to play tricks on us, we also know a few famous rabbits whose antics are known for getting themselves or others into trouble. Notable tricksters, Bugs Bunny and Peter Rabbit to name a few.
The Rabbit and the Moon
It is not uncommon to see the rabbit depicted with the moon and that theme is prevalent throughout this series. Each piece contains a moon in one of its many phases.
Rabbit is a moon goddess in some traditions and in Asian cultures they see an image of a rabbit on the moon itself in its craters and shadows.
Thanks for reading!