Magic of Butterflies by Zoe Bullock
Zoe has just completed one of our branch classes - 'Magic of Animals'. The last lesson is Go Wild! where you research and write about an animal of your choosing that isn't in the class. This is taken from Zoe's brilliant work...
For this lesson I chose to write about Butterfly because I was having a lot of synchronicities with butterflies at a point in my life when big transitions were occurring. One of these encounters was when a blue morpho flew into my kitchen – we have many butterflies coming into the house, but this was the first time one of these large,
incredibly beautiful blue butterflies came in.
Butterfly Facts
It is unknown exactly how many species of butterfly currently exist on earth. Estimates stand at between 17,000 and 19,000 but it is thought that there are many species which have not yet been recorded, and species which have gone extinct before being recorded. They exist on every continent except for Antarctica.
Butterflies have six jointed legs, and four wings which are attached to their thorax. They ‘taste’ their food through their feet and do not have mouth parts, but instead have a proboscis to suck up nectar, their food source.
Butterflies go through four life stage transformations. They begin life inside a tiny egg, normally attached to a leaf which would be their food supply for the next stage, the caterpillar. This larva eats as much as possible and grows to many times its original size, needing to shed its skin in order to do so.
The caterpillar eventually attaches itself to a leaf somewhere, and sheds its skin for a final time to reveal a chrysalis. This may be highly camouflaged to look like a dead leaf, twig or fruit, for protection from predators in this vulnerable state. Inside the chrysalis is the next life stage – the pupa.
What happens inside the chrysalis is an incredible miracle of nature. The caterpillar actually digests itself into a nutrient rich soup. This process is called histolysis. The pupa then begins to reconstruct itself completely, to form the butterfly. This is called histogenesis. The resulting adult stage is physiologically completely different from the larval stage, ready for flight and finding and mate.
Butterflies and moths have wings which are covered in tiny scales. The scales actually only have four colours – red, yellow, black or white. Other colours are created by light refracting off the butterfly’s wings. Over time the scales fall off and the wings become tattered.
Butterflies live as an adult for usually 2-4 weeks, but for some species it is only a few days, and for others it can be 10-12 months.
Myths and Stories
Many diverse cultures over time have related myths and stories about butterflies which are surprisingly similar to each other. The startling transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly has evoked stories relating to transformation of the soul, passing into the next life, death and rebirth, messages from the dead or towards the heavens, or passage between worlds.
Ancient Greeks
In Ancient Greek the word for ‘butterfly’ and ‘soul’ are the same – ‘psyche’,
as psyche was a synonym for ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ in today’s language. This
relates to the fact that the caterpillar’s soul ‘dies’ and moves into a new, freer
life, which is similar to their beliefs about death. In Greek mythology the god
Eros fell in love with a mortal woman named Psyche and abducted her.
Eventually she became a Goddess – the Goddess of Souls. She is depicted
with butterfly wings.
The Ancient Greeks also created a lot of burial art showing a butterfly near
the deceased person’s mouth – the soul was thought to leave through the
mouth upon death.
Aztecs
The Aztecs had a specific butterfly deity, a Goddess called Itzpapalotl,
which translates as Obsidian Butterfly. She was a warrior goddess
who ruled over a paradise of souls who had died in childbirth. In the
world view of the Aztecs there was a duality in everything – beauty and
violence, creation and destruction, which was represented by
Itzpapalotl, and again signifies the life cycle of the butterfly.
Mexico
Bringing butterfly myths right up to the present day, the Día de los Muertos celebration in Mexico falls in November, when the ancestors are celebrated. The Purepecha people of Michoacan, who live in the mountains, receive the millions of Monarch butterflies every year which migrate to avoid the cold northern winter. They travel between 100 and 150 miles per day for up to two months – twice during their lifetimes. To
the Mexican peoples of the mountains where they overwinter these are the souls of the dead returning home.
Japan
In Japan butterflies relate strongly to transformation and the soul. A butterfly coming into the house is thought to be the spirit of a recently deceased person, and could have positive or negative connotations depending on context.
Ireland, Scotland and Wales
In Ireland killing a white butterfly was considered to bring very bad luck because white butterflies carry the souls of dead children. In Scotland and Wales there was a similar belief, and seeing a white butterfly near a grave was considered to show that the soul had found peace.
Germany and Austria
Heavily linked to the turning of the seasons, in these areas people actively looked for the first butterfly of the season. A white or yellow butterfly predicted a good harvest, a dark butterfly meant illness was coming.
England
And finally, the link between butterflies and witches in England. Butterflies were thought to be witches in butterfly form that would steal milk and butter. The belief was strong enough that there were laws in some areas of early modern Europe which named butterflies as supernatural food thieves!
Correspondences
Butterfly is magically associated with transformation, death and rebirth, joy and lightness, enlightenment, and contacting ancestors or the recently deceased.
As a Spirit Animal
Butterfly has several meanings as a spirit animal. Due to the complete transformation and metamorphosis it undergoes as part of its life cycle, butterfly can symbolise that you are at a big transition point in your life, perhaps you don’t know which way to go. It can mean letting go of an old version of yourself to be reborn, to become your authentic self and step into your full power. It can also mean freedom from previous
constraints. Or it may appear when you are grieving an ending and need reassurance that beauty will return to your life.
As the caterpillar enters the darkness and trusts the process completely, butterfly may be asking you to surrender to whatever is happening and come out completely transformed.
What seems to be an ending may also be a beautiful beginning. Your greatest gifts often come after a struggle. It may appear when you are ready to release old habits, relationships and beliefs. It may call to you to trust in the unseen process of your own metamorphosis.
Butterflies also symbolise lightness and joy, moving through life with grace, and finding
happiness in small things. It may appear when you have been through a bad time to remind you that beauty and joy will return after the darkness.
Magical Opportunities
All I could really find in my research for this was that butterflies are associated with transformation and enlightenment, so I kind of went with my intuition for this part.
I think Butterfly would be great to do shadow work with, using the symbology of having to go through the darkness to reach the light and beauty at the end. It might be good to charm a talisman of a butterfly, like a pendant or ornament, to have nearby as a support when moving through the process. This could be started at the new moon, and potentially continue to the full moon, or whatever suits.
Another potential opportunity is to call on Butterfly to help release old habits and patterns, perhaps on the waning moon. It might be good to write the things to be released onto butterfly-shaped rice paper or something that biodegrades easily, or on bay leaves coloured like butterfly wings, and scatter them to the wind.
Similarly, when life is at a crossroads or big transition, Butterfly could be called upon to find answers or solutions on which way to turn, with the knowledge that lightness and joy will return. I based the meditation below on this idea.
Finally, as butterflies are thought to represent souls of the deceased in some cultures, they could be used for contact with the ancestors. I don’t really know much about ancestor work at this point, but I guess it could be possible to put butterfly images on an ancestor altar, maybe with messages written on them for the deceased.
Meditation
Sit or lie down comfortably. Close your eyes gently. Breath down into your belly a few times, and as you breath out, let the surface beneath you take more and more of your weight.
Relax and let thoughts of the day drift away.
In your mind’s eye, open your eyes, and see… darkness. You feel suspended, floating, drifting.
This is a comforting feeling, like being wrapped completely in a thick, soft blanket. You do not feel afraid. Instead you feel held and warm. There is nothing to do, no decisions to make, nobody asking anything of you. Take a few moments to drift and snuggle into this sensation…
(PAUSE for 10 seconds)
Gradually, a soft orange light begins to glow in front of you. It is gentle and comforting. It is also calling on you to focus. Focus your thoughts on a transition you need to make in your life, or a decision you must take that could change everything. State the thought in your mind so that you are clear on what you are seeking.
(PAUSE for 5 seconds)
Turn the thought into a question. Take a few moments to shape it clearly…
(PAUSE for 5 seconds)
You see the glowing light start to change colour very slowly, from orange to yellow. You also feel a new tingling sensation at your shoulder blades. In the glowing light you turn and see beautiful wings folded at your back. Start to wriggle them gently and watch them start to fold out. The light turns to a creamy white and the darkness starts to recede. The scene gradually changes as you emerge from your cocoon into a beautiful rose garden.
Roses of pink, orange, cream, yellow and red can be seen all around, and their delicate scent drifts on the air. You see that you are emerging from the darkness onto a leaf of one of the rosebushes.
Look at its flowers – what colour are they? Does this colour have meaning to you? If so, what?
(PAUSE for 5 seconds)
You turn and see that your wings are completely unfolded now. They are beautifully coloured and patterned. Take a moment to flutter them gently in the breeze and feel the freedom that they bring.
You remember that you had a question from before, when your life was less illuminated. Look at the beautiful garden, smell the roses and feel the warm sunlight on your new body. What was your question?
(PAUSE for 5 seconds)
In that warmth, with a fresh pair of eyes, with wings to carry you far, with the promise of a new change or opportunity in life, answer your question. Take as long as you need to receive your own intuitive wisdom from a new perspective.
When you are done, flutter away into the glowing future waiting for you.
Wriggle your fingers and toes, and gently open your eyes.
Ideas for Altars
Butterfly images that you have made, e.g. from a colouring book, or you could try making a a mosaic. Butterfly ornaments, brooches, images on fabric, paintings, suncatchers or butterfly shaped crystals.
You could leave a vase of brightly coloured flowers that are frequented by butterflies in your area, and/or have candles with flowery scents such as rose or lavender.
You could use crystals that remind you of the qualities of the butterfly, for example angelite for communicating with the deceased or beings in other realms, or labradorite for personal transformation, pink sapphire for release, love, acceptance and forgiveness, or ruby zoisite for transmuting negative energies into positive.
Organisations
Butterfly conservation is carried out at a national level in the UK by the charity Butterfly
Conservation. They carry out practical conservation, education and awareness raising, and data gathering, and they run over 30 butterfly reserves around the UK. Donations, help running events, membership and fundraising are ways to help them.
In the US there is a very similar organisation called the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). There are countless small butterfly farms and reserves all around the world run by local enthusiasts, as well as large zoos such as London Zoo and the San Diego Zoo which conserve and raise awareness about butterflies.
Sources
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