05 May Collage Chronicles: Butterfly in SoulCollage ® Cards
[info_bg pre_bg_color=”red” pre_text_color=”white” width=”100%” text_align=”left” hex_bg_color=”#D396ED” hex_text_color=””]“I tell of hearts and souls and dances…
Butterflies and second chances;
Desperate ones and dreamers bound,
Seeking life from barren ground,
Who suffer on in earthly fate
The bitter pain of agony hate,
Might but they stop and here forgive
Would break the bonds to breathe and live
And find that God in goodness brings
A chance for change, the hope of wings
To rest in Him, and self to die
And so become a butterfly.”
~ Karen Kingsbury, Oceans Apart [/info_bg]
It seems these past few weeks butterflies have been seeking me out. I made a SoulCollage ® Card with a butterfly I found, almost perfectly preserved on the sidewalk on the way into my office, over a year ago.
Since then, the monarchs have visited our flowers in the yard more than ever before. Yesterday, I visited the UPS store (a rare occurrence in these continuing #staysafeathome days) and mailed back my work laptop, completing my transformation into unemployment… when I returned there was an even rarer treat in my mailbox… real mail! A real card from a friend covered in butterflies. Butterflies symbolize change, transformation, growth and beauty. They teach us that struggle can be the thing we need to get our wings.
If you have butterflies in your SoulCollage ® cards, I have curated and collaged some of the interesting things you can find out about them from all over the world wide web in this Collage Chronicles: 10 facts about the shortest day of the year, praise for the darkness, the magical history of Yule, inspirations for your SoulCollage® Cards and more.
Collage Chronicles: Curating & Collaging the Best of the Web just for You!
Free to use images, symbolism, inspiration & more for all those SoulCollage® fans out there.
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10 Fascinating Facts About Butterflies
- They taste with their feet
- They can’t fly when they’re cold
- They play tricks to avoid being eaten
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The Best Place on Earth to See Monarch Butterflies
It is a chilly February morning when I find myself in a forest outside of Mexico City. The air is thin at 9,800 feet (3000 meters), and as I start my hike into the fir forest, I quickly realize I’m in for a work-out. When you think of Mexico and envision white sand beaches, the last thing you expect to find this far south of the U.S. border is high, cold mountains with breathtaking alpine scenery. Yet, this is where you find one of nature’s wonders.
About an hour into the hike, I notice a few butterflies flying between the tall trees. Severely out of breath, but determined, I continue climbing deeper into the dense forest. More and more butterflies appear out of nowhere until suddenly, I reach an area where the fir trees are seemingly alive. Millions of colorful butterflies hang in clusters on its branches, and thousands more have taken to the skies in a brilliant display of intense orange colors. Welcome to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve! (A UNESCO world Heritage site)
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Watch a Breathtaking Monarch Butterfly Swarm
In the mountains of Mexico, a spy hummingbird ventures into the heart of a breathtaking monarch butterfly swarm.
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Butterfly… that flutters
In the morning light,
You have known many forms,
Before you e’er took flight.
In Jamie Sams & David Carson’s wonderful collection “Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals” they write of Butterfly energy,
[info_border pre_border_color=”red” width=”100%” text_align=”left” hex_border_color=”” hex_text_color=””]The power that Butterfly brings to us is akin to the air. It is the mind, and the ability to know the mind or to change it. It is the art of transformation.
To use Butterfly medicine, you must astutely observe your position in the cycle of self-transformation. Like Butterfly, you are always at a certain station in your life activities. You may be at the egg stage, which is the beginning of all things. This is the the stage at which an idea is born but has not yet become a reality. The larva stage is the point at which you decide to create the idea in the physical world. The cocoon stage involves “going within” : doing or developing your project, idea, or aspect of personality. The final stage of transformation is the leaving of the chrysalis and birth. This last step involves sharing the colors and joy of your creation with the world. [/info_border]
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Affirmation: I am equipped with the power to change my life.
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Butterfly Symbolism in SoulCollage ® Cards
What is the meaning of the butterfly? This animal totem is primarily associated with symbolism of change and transformation.
- Powerful transformation, metamorphosis in your life, personality
- Moving through different life cycles
- Renewal, rebirth
- Lightness of being, playfulness
- Elevation from earthly matters, tuning into emotional or spiritual
- The world of the soul, the psyche
A secondary meaning of the butterfly is about finding joy in life and lightness of being.
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Butterfly and the Human Soul Lore
Sampling of Irish Lore
- In the 1600s, in Ireland , killing a white butterfly was prohibited since it was believed to be the soul of a dead child [khandro].
- The dealan-dhe’ is an Irish term which is used to refer to a butterfly, but also takes several other meanings. It is also the brightness or lightning of the Gods, or it may be used to refer to a burning stick that is shaken back and forth to create the need-fire [Bronach].
- The need-fire is often central to Irish thought. When a fire is created and burned for three nights upon a piece of land that land belong to the person who created that fire. This is the fire of the householder, which is also the fire of man. At Beltaine the household fire is rekindled in every hearth in Ireland from a central fire. Another reference between fire and butterflies can be seen within the term tiene-dhe’ , with the usage of tiene meaning fire. This term refers both to the butterfly and to the fire of the Gods [Bronach].
- The significance of the butterfly in Irish folklore attributes it as the soul and thus it has the ability to cross into the Otherworld. It is also a symbol of transformation and creation [Bronach].
- Old Irish saying “Butterflies are s ouls of the dead waiting to pass through Purgatory” [ Coconut Creek].
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Here are a few Free-to-Use “Butterfly” Images for Your SoulCollage® Cards
To save, print and use images in your SoulCollage® Cards – click on the image, right-click on the image when it pops up, and finally click to “save image as”.
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More Butterfly links collaged together from the WWW for your SoulCollage ® Practice
- Nature’s Olympians: record-breaking butterflies
- Purple Emperor: The butterfly that feeds on rotting flesh
- This Common Butterfly Has an Extraordinary Sex Life
- Desert Bloom Means Desert Butterflies: 6 Nice Ones to Watch For
- Butterflies in Space
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*Images in this week’s SoulCollage® gallery are royalty-free / public domain images. They may be used freely for any purpose – personal or commercial and in printed format. SoulCollage® is grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening process possible and in all ways SoulCollage® seeks to be respectful of their rights. These collaged cards are used only for the cardmaker’s own inner exploration. SoulCollage® cards are not sold, traded, bartered, or copied.