| The Butterfly Journey: Where you find your Wings |
Lessons from a Butterfly: All You need is within You
"Look deep, deep into
nature, and then you will understand everything better."
-Albert Einstein
Just as it is miraculous that a caterpillar can transform and take flight as a butterfly, it is just as miraculous that you can transform from feeling the illusion of separation and come home to Oneness. It may seem a stretch for you if you are feeling ‘disconnected' from your essence, fortunately this isn't about theory, this is about your human experience, you are experiencing it now at what ever stage in the journey you are at. You can resist it all you like and seemingly stay at the caterpillar stage for longer, gorging yourself in so many ways. There will come a day where as for the caterpillar the next stage in your evolution begins, a stage of massive change, where you feel almost unrecognizable to the former stage as you return home and join as One to play your part in creation of the universe. The Butterfly represents the process of transformation. The process of metamorphis is fascinating and holds many gems for us in our own transformation. Butterflies appear to dance among the flowers, reminding us not to take things quite so seriously within our lives, they awaken a sense of lightness and joy. They remind us that life is a dance, and dance is both powerful and pleasurable. Butterflies can remind us to get up and move, if you can move you can dance. Dance brings the sweetness of life back. Butterflies ‘taste' with their front legs. They taste flowers by walking on them. Butterflies bring color and joy into your life. Look at how much or how little joy you have in your life. Lighten up. Look for change. Butterflies remind up to make changes when the opportunities present themselves. Transformation is inevitable, and the butterfly will help teach us that growth and change does not have to be traumatic. It will teach us that it can occur as gently, as sweetly and as joyfully as we wish. Deeply reconnect with your essence. This is the journey of the Butterfly, following intuition even when it defies logic. Do you really think the caterpillar can see itself flying? Following its natural path allows it to transform and find its wings. The Butterfly Journey invites you to journey with the miraculous metaphor of metamorphous. A Butterfly starts as a tiny egg, hatches into a caterpillar that sheds its skin several times, and then forms a chrysalis where hanging by a thread it transforms into a butterfly. Hatching from the chrysalis the Butterfly spreads its wings for the first time and is air born. The essence of the Butterfly is Transmutation and the Dance of Joy.
"What lies
before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies
within us. And when we bring what is within out into the world, miracles
happen."
Henry David Thoreau This is a deeply personal experience of the sacred, of the subtle and profound. And this is about experiencing it yourself. You could write a Ph.D on sunsets and have never allowed your self to truly experience a sunset. Once you have experienced it you can then develop and satisfy your minds understanding. Before you have allowed yourself to experience it however your mind will be in the way. This is a process of surrender. The Butterfly How can a caterpillar develop into a beautiful elegant butterfly? The Metamorphosis of Butterflies is one of the mysteries of Nature. The ability to change from the crawling caterpillar to the flying Butterfly is almost miraculous. When first hatched the larva or caterpillar is very small indeed, just a few millimeters long. These first larvae look similar regardless of which species they belong to. Usually the caterpillar immediately searches out food and starts to eat. Due to the nature of the skeleton of insects they cannot grow in the same way that we do. Every so often the caterpillar sheds its skin so that it can expand and grow to a larger size. Stores information for three stagesThe remarkable thing about this tiny butterfly egg is that it contains the information for all three stages stored in its microscopically small nucleus. It must contain the instructions for building and operating a caterpillar; for the pupa which develops from this and for the development and operation of the butterfly. All three of these stages are remarkably different in form, function and behavior.Every one of these radically different programs must be called into play and executed at exactly the right time, cleanly separated from the others. Caterpillars long bodies are normally divided into 13 segments featuring 12 small eyes and up to 8 pairs of legs! The caterpillar develops cutting jaws, well-suited to chewing on leaves. This is the same diet for which its intestine, with its specific digestive glands, is so well suited that it often eats exclusively the leaves of a single plant species. As they spend most of their time eating, they grow quite quickly and hence need to shed their skin several times before evolving into beautiful butterflies. When the caterpillar is fully grown, it sheds its skin for the last time. What now appears-the chrysalis-has almost no resemblance to a caterpillar. Its apparent motionlessness is purely an external feature. Under this seemingly lifeless shell, something quite unbelievable is happening. The old caterpillar organs, with the exception of the nervous system, begin to totally dissolve into smaller groups of cells, even to disintegrate into single cells. From this ‘cellular soup', new and (in part) quite different organs begin to develop. It is precisely when you consider this puzzling rebuilding process-metamorphosis-that you are struck with the certainty that everything is happening here with the utmost precision according to an extremely cleverly programmed plan. The butterfly, has jaws no longer suited for chewing. Instead, it has a long sucker (proboscis) which enables it to drink flower nectar for nourishment. This butterfly lays its eggs exclusively on the leaves of the same type of plant on which it was nourished as a caterpillar, following its inherited, instinctive program. Butterflies are very delicate creatures, fluttering around on paper-thin wings. Their beautiful patterns are made up of thousands of tiny colored scales, which, when touched turn to dust. Butterflies aren't made to last, with most butterflies packing their whole adult life into just a few weeks. Even though each individual's life is short, butterflies have been around for about 50 million years. The Butterfly Journey The metamorphous of a Butterfly is one of the miracles of nature. And we can learn much from nature. Maybe you have past ‘skins' you know it is now time to shed, as the caterpillar does many times. Come and allow yourself to be guided by your innate guidance as you surrender, and allow and trust. As you start to see what has been driving you and how this has disconnected you from your inner essence. Allowing your self to ‘shed' these ‘skins' brings you to a closer connection with your essence. These are subtle energies and are nurtured with love and compassion. The ease with which a caterpillar sheds its skin is a great teacher for us all. If ever you feel like you are hanging by a thread........ As a caterpillar approaches the time for its transformation, it starts to eat more and more ravenously, consuming everything in its path, until it is so bloated that it can't move. It then attaches upside down by a thread to a branch, where everything is turned on its head. It then forms a chrysalis, which is a kind of enclosing shell that limits the caterpillar's freedom, for the length of the amazing transformation. As a species, humanity has consumed ravenously and many now describe feeling like we have entered times of feeling like everything has been turned upside down, turned on its head. And many people feel restricted and can't move........ Let's explore this analogy and let the miraculous dance begin. Now within the chrysalis a miracle is occurring. There are tiny cells that are called "imaginal cells," that begin to appear. Imaginal cells are totally different from caterpillar cells; they carry different information, and vibrate at a different frequency. They vibrate at the frequency of the emerging butterfly. Initially the caterpillar's immune system perceives the new imaginal cells as enemies, attacking them, much as emerging ideas are treated by the powers currently considered mainstream. The imaginal cells are not deterred. They continue to emerge, in growing numbers, they recognize each other and bond together. As enough cells grow to start forming the butterfly, the caterpillar's immune system is overwhelmed, and the caterpillar's body changes and becomes a nutritious liquid for the growth of the emerging butterfly. As the butterfly forms and becomes ready to hatch, the chrysalis becomes transparent, having outgrown the need for restriction. The innate timing has the butterfly emerge when it is ready to dance to the rhythm of life among the flowers. It feels like individually we have imaginal cells within us that are unfolding according to their natural rhythms. And as a species, if we consider for a moment humanity as an ‘organism', then we are all like imaginal cells that are growing and coming together to form parts of the emerging whole, of the ‘butterfly' of humanity. The transformation of humanity from the bloated consuming caterpillar is well underway. We are hanging by a thread and sometimes feel like we are being blown by the breeze, as we are still in the chrysalis. It is love that connects us and allows us to see what an amazing miracle is unfolding as the chrysalis is ripening and the creature of exquisite beauty, grace, and freedom is awakening. So if you feel like you are hanging by a thread, and being blown in the breeze, tune in with love to what is emerging from with in and allow you're self to be amazed by the miracles that are unfolding from within us all. Allow your fears, challenges, problems and desires to show you what is driving you. Allowing fear to Guide Me to Love Our journey starts at the realization that our fears are painful memories on repeat play, each time we experience them we are given another opportunity to see them in another way. We explore together what fear is and what is behind fear. As we turn the heat up on fear, and realize that we have been focusing on only half of the picture, we start to see the Gift that may have appeared hidden till now. As we unravel fear we see the fullness of the experience, and as we come into balance, fear dissolves away like an ice cube on a warm spring day and we are left with the fresh new growth of what we love. Coming home to my true self Our journey deepens as we explore and reconnect with our deep inner selves, the essence of who we are. We explore our relationship with our deeper self, and discover that when we are in tune with our deep inner selves, when we feel as ‘one' we experience ‘flow' in our life. Come home to our true selves, to our pure heart and clear mind, where nothing exists and everything is possible, the home of inspiration. Journey to the unknown .... Letting go and Allowing the Divine to flow through us Our journey expands as we cross the ‘letting go and trusting' bridge which takes us beyond the known to the expanse of infinite possibility, and to the grace that comes from allowing this moment to ‘be', because it is. Traveling beyond the limitations of intentions to the purity of inspiration, and allowing ‘the breath of life' to flow through us. Loving brings us home to peace, where our soul's are free to experience the sweetness of Divinity. Being Grateful for the experience of the Journey. Now let the Adventure Begin Our journey comes home to our pure heart, our playground. Where we experience life with a sparkle in our eyes, giggling as a child does and home free to feel the joy and love from a pure heart. We find ourselves being grateful for everything in our lives and for the experience of the journey. We all get to set out on our own adventures with ‘toys' of Trust and Allowing and Letting Go, and of seeing the Fullness of the experience, knowing that seeing and experiencing the fullness of the experience is our homecoming. Ease and Grace, Love and Gratitude. For The Butterfly Journey, notice what are the most important issues confronting you at the moment, and use the Butterfly Journey to transform them. What stage of change are you at in regard to them. To determine that examine and determine what you would love the outcome to be and how best to achieve it. The Butterfly Journey is about letting go of what no longer serves you, the dying of the old, of surrendering to the rhythm of life, it is a journey of beauty and grace. It is about new beginnings, about opening you up to connect and engage fully with yourself. It is about you finding your wings and emerging to fly with ease and grace. © Carol Goddard 2008 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carol Goddard is an Australian author and presenter, a reminder of who we are. Carol's offering is her Open Heart and the Deepening Remembrance of her own Essence, Carol offers programs both locally and globally. Please visit www.CarolGoddard.net NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end). |