At first glance it seems impossible. A luna moth resting on a monstera leaf, those two iconic shapes together in one place. And then you look it up and discover that both of them are found in Mexico, and suddenly the impossible becomes simply unlikely, which is a very different thing. Unlikely is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Unlikely happens all the time to people who are paying attention.
The Luna Moth
Her scientific name is Actias luna, named for Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon, which is one of the better naming decisions in the history of entomology. She is one of the largest moths in North America, with a wingspan that can reach four and a half inches, and she flies only at night, navigating by moonlight and starlight, those long trailing hindwing tails spinning as she moves to muddle the sonar of hunting bats. The tails are not decorative. They are a defense system. A bat's echolocation locks onto the spinning tails instead of the body, and Selene escapes into the dark while the bat catches nothing but air.
Adult luna moths do not have mouths. They have no digestive system. During the long weeks of their caterpillar stage they eat enough to store all the energy they will ever need as adults, and then their mouthparts reduce to nothing during metamorphosis and they emerge from their cocoons unable to eat at all. They have approximately one week to live. Everything they are, everything they have stored and waited and transformed for, leads to this one brief extraordinary week of flight and moonlight before the cycle begins again.
If you are lucky enough to find one resting on a leaf in the morning, still and perfect, wings folded, you are looking at something that will never exist in exactly that form again. Finding a luna moth has always felt like a privilege. It still does.
The Piece
Her name is Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon herself, older even than Luna, who drove her silver chariot across the night sky and looked down on a sleeping world. It felt like the only right name for a moth who navigates by moonlight and lives her entire adult life under the stars.
Selene rests on a monstera deliciosa leaf, that iconic split and fenestrated shape pierced through with the characteristic holes and slits that make a monstera so immediately recognizable, every vein of the leaf pressed into the sterling silver surface. She sits wings folded at the center of the leaf, her furry body rendered in careful detail, and tiny touches of solid 14k gold catch the light at points along her wings, warm gold against the deeply oxidized silver, light against darkness, exactly the quality of moonlight on a moth in a garden at midnight.
The pendant hangs on an 18 inch sterling silver rope chain.
The Craftsmanship
- Pendant: approximately 1.75 inches tall by 1.25 inches wide
- Material: sterling silver throughout, oxidized, with solid 14k gold details
- Chain: 18 inch sterling silver rope chain
- Edition: one of a kind
One of a Kind
There is only one Selene. This leaf, this moth, this particular moment of stillness in silver and gold: it exists once. When she finds her person she will never be made again exactly like this.
A Note from Tamara
I thought this combination was a little silly at first too. A luna moth on a monstera leaf felt like the kind of thing you do when you love both things and cannot choose between them. And then I looked it up and found out they share a home range and I felt completely vindicated. I made this piece for everyone who has a favorite wild thing and a favorite houseplant and sees no reason those two loves cannot exist in the same space. Selene does not think it is silly at all. She has been resting on this leaf very comfortably and she has no complaints.
Shipping
Your Selene is finished, packaged safely, and will be on her way to you within 3 to 5 business days.