In Luke 10:19, the series depicts a close encounter with the Arizona Bark Scorpion. Native to the Southwestern United States the Bark Scorpion is one of the most venomous scorpions in North America. In their dark unknown existence scorpions have historically represented fear to humans and have become apart of folklore in many cultures globally. Luke 10:19 series tells a story of exercising curiosity and dispelling fear as a result. 

The Bark Scorpion came into my life with the purchase of my home. Growing up in the Arizona desert you hear many stories about where they hide, how a sting could cause death, and what not to do to keep your distance. So I’d grown a healthy fear of them and stayed away as best I could. Being forced to  have more encounters with them because they were all around my new home I became curious about their existence. The more I captured them and studied how they live I became unafraid.

Fear begets both prejudice or curiosity

Prejudice begets curiosity

Curiosity begets discovery

Discovery begets knowledge

Knowledge begets confidence

Confidence begets focus

Focus begets success

Which scorpions are dangerous to people in Arizona? 

“In North America, only one scorpion is dangerous to humans – the Arizona bark scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus).  

It is small, just a couple inches in length, and is the only scorpion that produces envenomation syndrome. Envenomation is when a toxin from a venomous creature is injected into a person, who then develops clinical signs and symptoms that range from mild to severe. 

There are other scorpion species in the Southwest that can sting you, causing pain, skin irritation or swelling, but no other species in the U.S. causes envenomation.”

“Arizona is the only U.S. state with a serious scorpion problem. The issue is urgent for Boyer because the Arizona center’s own supply of less sophisticated antivenin serum is about to run out--the woman who made it, researcher Marilyn Bloom, has retired along with her two goats.”

“This flourishing industry is just one facet of Mexico’s fear of and fascination with the scorpion, which predate the Spanish conquest in 1521. No wonder: About 200,000 people get stung each year, and scores die. Scorpions, almost unchanged in 450 million years, remain a source of widespread anxiety as well as a serious health scourge.”

“But Durango’s fame is unshakable, thanks in part to legends like that of “the death cell.” The story has it that in 1884, a man named Juan was unfairly jailed in Durango for accidentally killing a woman. He was put in the death cell, where no one had survived a single night because of a monster scorpion. The valiant Juan caught the “killer scorpion of the death cell” and survived. He was then pardoned and set free.”

“Peschard noted that every April 23, Durango celebrates the feast day of San Jorge, patron saint protecting children against scorpions. The feast was instituted in 1740 by Bishop Pedro Anselmo Sanchez de Tagle, who prayed that God would “placate his ire and destroy the scorpions and other insects with which this city is inundated.”

“I have respect for them but no fear,” she says. “There’s a culture here--you learn to live with them. You shake your shoes before you put them on and shake out your sheets before getting into bed. You’re constantly looking at the walls and ceilings. It’s a survival mechanism.”

“To share her knowledge, Santiesteban, 49, lectures on radio programs, works with community groups and has written a slim volume, “The Realities of the Scorpion,” which she printed herself.”

“SCORPION TALE”

(zine)

By Dorrell & Aya Bradford