butterfly messenger – The Light Behind the Story

Each year, on the first unseasonably warm day, I await the woodland butterfly. Today is a a particularly auspicious day. Not only is it the first day this spring that feels almost like summer, it’s 4-14-14 and the eve of the first lunar eclipse of the year, the Blood Moon. The air is charged with energy. The fog that held the morning in close embrace has lifted and the wind has taken reign of the air, howling it through the leafless trees and tugging at the clouds that keep threatening to block the sun. Oh, I do hope it wins its battle so we may view the Blood Moon tonight!

I am decidedly ungrounded today. There’s little to be done about it really. On days like this, I give into the forces. I love the feeling of magic, so I can’t say I was surprised, but rather delighted, when I saw my first butterfly of the year. The same species, the color of turned earth, that visits me each year on the first gloriously warm day.

It started as a passing thought, “I wonder if I’ll see a butterfly today,” as I made my way with the dogs into the forest. Then there was the man stumbling through the trees looking for a neighbor’s stolen bird feeder, bringing me back to the present. I knew the culprit before I asked. Bear. I told him I’d keep my eyes open for it, and ventured along the path with eyes alert.

The dogs and I didn’t walk far, just past the open field, slightly down the trail marked “Journey,” stopping at the vernal pond alive with the chorus of mating frogs. Daisy, my wise dog/teacher, stopped as she always does when she wants me to pay attention to Nature. Really, she didn’t need to today, as I was quite taken by the song of rebirth filling the air.

We never found the missing bird feeder, but about 50 feet before the entrance/exit to the forest, we met the butterfly. “There you are!” I exclaimed with delight, as she lifted wings to the air and danced a pirouette around my head. I became her Earth-bound companion, my heart souring with her, following her dazzling choreography in a the energy of pure bliss. This, to me, is what magic is all about.

The danced lasted mere minutes, perhaps five. I must confess, there were a few futile attempts to photograph my muse, but that clearly was not a purpose of this visit. Instead, I took with me the energy of her kisses. Three times, before she flew into another realm, she alighted on the top of my head, and I felt, ever so briefly, the flutter of her energy. I left the forest with eyes moist and heart lifted in gratitude.

Until we meet again.

All of our healing comes back to the heart. The heart chakra is the seat of our soul, and our connection to the divine energies of the universe. When we have a healthy heart chakra, we radiate pure, unconditional love and open ourselves to the return of this love.

When we experience pain, betrayal, and fear, especially during our formative years when we are most vulnerable, we can learn to protect ourselves by closing off the heart chakra. When we are given love with conditions, or suffer abuse, we adopt the belief that we are unworthy of unconditional love, and that this pure, untethered love is obtainable. Instead, we look at love as something with limits, and build walls of protection around our own inner source of love so that we do not run out of its light.

This system of belief is not always easy to change. It takes security, trust, and faith. When we begin to live with a healthy, open heart chakra, we erase the fear of vulnerability and not being loved by another. We understand, with faith, that the energy we send out to the universe comes back to us in multiplied form. When we realize that we are worthy of unconditional love, we begin to see that love is limitless. From this place of heart-centered pure love, we attract the energy of joy, abundance, compassion and the gift of unconditional love from others. We become magnets for these energies, and are no longer an energetic match for fear, conditional love, and betrayal. This translates to the people we attract to us.

I associate the energy of the butterfly with the heart chakra. Often, during healing sessions, I will see butterflies emerging from the heart chakras of my clients as they shift into self-acceptance and let go of their conditioned fears. The energy of the butterfly is pure joy and freedom. It is beauty without limits. The butterfly teaches us that we have within us the power to transform ourselves, to shed the weight of density, and to grow our wings.