......butterflies

Yogis,

You’ve probably noticed I have an affinity for butterflies……..

Picture this. A land where there is a time of year where towering trees are so thick with water filled leaves that you can’t even see beyond. Much of the ground covered with a thick lush carpet of green, soft on the toes. All around you stalks have risen from the ground, all different heights, reaching for the sun with their vibrant colored heads. The air filled with the melodies of animals sitting in the trees.

As if that wasn’t enough, nature created fairy tale creatures with wings stamped by vibrant colors, who flutter through the air with grace. Their pattern a zigzag so as to appear like a falling leave. Wow. Universe you have outdone yourself. How amazing are butterflies!

While originally creating my medicine wheel garden, I knew I wanted them to play a role. I researched which plants draw them in. Echinacea, sunflowers, black eyed susans, zinnias and one of their personal favorites, butterfly weed, all found a home in the wheel. This year I added one more, mexican sunflower, a late blooming vibrant orange floor that I grew from seed, for which they seem most grateful.

You can get a sense of the health of a local environment by its butterfly population. As pollinators, along with the bees, they are crucial in our ability to enjoy fruits and vegetables. They then feed on rotting fruit and decaying corpses, acting as a clean up crew. Being low on the food chain they also provide nourishment to others and help by eating many weedy plants. Butterflies are necessary.

The next time you refer to someone as a ‘social butterfly’, thank the butterfly, because indeed they are. Over the years I have taken hundreds of pictures and learned that if I approach with an open heart, they respond in kind. Flying close they allow me to get within a couple of inches to photograph them, even accidentally landing on my orange shirt. At this distance I can see the intricacies and injuries to their wings, of which there are plenty.

I find ones with holes, missing half a wing or the bottom frilly edges in tatters, not unlike our summer clothes by the end of the long season. If I pay close attention, I can begin to tell them apart by these unique markings.

And how can you tell a moth from a butterfly? Get close….. The antennae of a butterfly are like two straight poles with bulbs at the end. A moth’s antennae are feathery. Both drink freely of the nectar with their extendable proboscis, a site well worth observing.

And all of this before even discussing their unimaginable ability to completely transform themselves from one creature to another while held in a capsule of their own creation! Butterflies symbolize change, hope and rebirth. A representation of our soul. Reminding each of us as they flutter by that you can indeed be whatever it is that you choose to become.

I am listening……

Butterflies make life brighter,
SARAH