Hunting Butterflies
I thought I'd post something real, instead of the usual silliness and meme-whoring I tend to work with.
Butterflies.
Everywhere.
For the last two years, I've been seeing butterflies show up all around me. It didn't really catch my attention until about a month ago, but they've been all over the place. Not just the insects, although there are plenty of those and at weird times of year at that. No, we're talking logos, pictures, jewelry, clothing, tattoos, and just about every kind of other image you can imagine.
Now, you might be thinking something along the lines of "And? So what? Butterflies are popular images for people, and they have been for a while. What's so special about that?"
Let me be the first to say, I wholeheartedly agreed with you until four weeks ago. I'm not a butterfly person, really. They're pretty, but... I tend to be one of those people who's more interested in animals and beings who have a strength to them, a tangible vitality and potency to them. Butterflies seemed so... flimsy, so fragile and weak. And they just didn't pull me.
Until four weeks ago, when I realized a few things. It took some "figgerin'," but when I really thought about it, I came to some startling conclusions.
1. Butterflies really didn't catch my attention. Rather, they tended to blend into the background for me, and I usually found myself ignoring them.
2. That wasn't always true- sometimes, butterflies would not only catch my attention, but they'd also keep my attention far beyond what I might consider normal, especially considering my standard apathy towards the pretty little things.
3. On these occasions, they often heralded a large change or significant "event," which would occur usually less than an hour later.
4. Usually some short time after the "event," I'd find another butterfly, this time somehow associated with witchcraft. Often, it was in the form of fictional witches, like Yuko from xxxHolic, or more recently, Bayonetta. However, the butterfly would also jump out at me from various places of pagan jewelry, or even tarot images I was strongly associating with. Usually, I associate the butterflies with the Fae, and lately I haven't been feeling very close to the Fae. However, I've started to see them less in a faerie associated manner, and more as a sign of something else.
5. Within the last four weeks, they've been showing up every DAY. And they've been not just keeping my attention, but almost demanding it- showing up on the heels of a great big revelation, or appearing just before something sublimely beautiful happens in my life.
So. Butterflies. Which, of course as anyone who's ever read a book on symbolism and omens would know, mean transformation, metamorphosis, lifting out of one's previous life and into a new place. I got that that part almost immediately, although it would have been nice if the omens would have been more specific as to WHERE those changes would happen. Still, one doesn't ignore true omens, especially since they don't happen very often for me.
More important to me, is what I've learned about butterflies as an animal spirit.
They know about death. Their lives are filled with undeniable and life-altering change, and they're fragile little things. They're often associated with rebirth, and with a spirit leaving its old life behind.
They're also much stronger than I believed, and here's why- they don't HAVE to serve a purpose. They're beautiful, and fragile, and lovely, and while they do pollinate, they're not nearly as useful in most areas as bees and such. They also have NO natural weapons, aside from the very thing which makes them so lovely- their colorations are often either handy disguises, or outright warnings of their poisonous bodies to animals seeking an easy meal.
In short- they are symbols of beauty, and they need no other excuse.
This has helped me remember a few important things in life-
- I don't owe anyone an explanation as to why I am what and who I am.
- I'm beautiful.
- I'm fragile, and being fragile is a strength all its own.
- I don't have to be "useful" to be good.
- I need to remember to let go and accept change. Changes and deaths are rarely bad, and they're almost always beneficial.
- I need to release and let myself feel, to be carried on the dreams and currents around me.
*smiles* These days, I look forward to my daily butterflies. I think of them as signs from the gods, a little cosmic email from them to me. It's been really uplifting seeing them, and it may seem silly, but I feel very special, like the butterflies of the world are all just for me.
May your days be filled with butterflies of your own. Never forget the lesson of the butterfly- transformation, beauty, and letting yourself be carried out of the harshness of the past.
Blessed be.
Butterflies.
Everywhere.
For the last two years, I've been seeing butterflies show up all around me. It didn't really catch my attention until about a month ago, but they've been all over the place. Not just the insects, although there are plenty of those and at weird times of year at that. No, we're talking logos, pictures, jewelry, clothing, tattoos, and just about every kind of other image you can imagine.
Now, you might be thinking something along the lines of "And? So what? Butterflies are popular images for people, and they have been for a while. What's so special about that?"
Let me be the first to say, I wholeheartedly agreed with you until four weeks ago. I'm not a butterfly person, really. They're pretty, but... I tend to be one of those people who's more interested in animals and beings who have a strength to them, a tangible vitality and potency to them. Butterflies seemed so... flimsy, so fragile and weak. And they just didn't pull me.
Until four weeks ago, when I realized a few things. It took some "figgerin'," but when I really thought about it, I came to some startling conclusions.
1. Butterflies really didn't catch my attention. Rather, they tended to blend into the background for me, and I usually found myself ignoring them.
2. That wasn't always true- sometimes, butterflies would not only catch my attention, but they'd also keep my attention far beyond what I might consider normal, especially considering my standard apathy towards the pretty little things.
3. On these occasions, they often heralded a large change or significant "event," which would occur usually less than an hour later.
4. Usually some short time after the "event," I'd find another butterfly, this time somehow associated with witchcraft. Often, it was in the form of fictional witches, like Yuko from xxxHolic, or more recently, Bayonetta. However, the butterfly would also jump out at me from various places of pagan jewelry, or even tarot images I was strongly associating with. Usually, I associate the butterflies with the Fae, and lately I haven't been feeling very close to the Fae. However, I've started to see them less in a faerie associated manner, and more as a sign of something else.
5. Within the last four weeks, they've been showing up every DAY. And they've been not just keeping my attention, but almost demanding it- showing up on the heels of a great big revelation, or appearing just before something sublimely beautiful happens in my life.
So. Butterflies. Which, of course as anyone who's ever read a book on symbolism and omens would know, mean transformation, metamorphosis, lifting out of one's previous life and into a new place. I got that that part almost immediately, although it would have been nice if the omens would have been more specific as to WHERE those changes would happen. Still, one doesn't ignore true omens, especially since they don't happen very often for me.
More important to me, is what I've learned about butterflies as an animal spirit.
They know about death. Their lives are filled with undeniable and life-altering change, and they're fragile little things. They're often associated with rebirth, and with a spirit leaving its old life behind.
They're also much stronger than I believed, and here's why- they don't HAVE to serve a purpose. They're beautiful, and fragile, and lovely, and while they do pollinate, they're not nearly as useful in most areas as bees and such. They also have NO natural weapons, aside from the very thing which makes them so lovely- their colorations are often either handy disguises, or outright warnings of their poisonous bodies to animals seeking an easy meal.
In short- they are symbols of beauty, and they need no other excuse.
This has helped me remember a few important things in life-
- I don't owe anyone an explanation as to why I am what and who I am.
- I'm beautiful.
- I'm fragile, and being fragile is a strength all its own.
- I don't have to be "useful" to be good.
- I need to remember to let go and accept change. Changes and deaths are rarely bad, and they're almost always beneficial.
- I need to release and let myself feel, to be carried on the dreams and currents around me.
*smiles* These days, I look forward to my daily butterflies. I think of them as signs from the gods, a little cosmic email from them to me. It's been really uplifting seeing them, and it may seem silly, but I feel very special, like the butterflies of the world are all just for me.
May your days be filled with butterflies of your own. Never forget the lesson of the butterfly- transformation, beauty, and letting yourself be carried out of the harshness of the past.
Blessed be.