Hope is a Butterfly
I remember as a child I would spend summers outdoors. Our town house had a communal garden with trees. Friends and I used a tree stump as a place to leave flowers and acorn cups for the fairies. We made rose water from petals and watched for butterflies from a hammock slung between trees.
Species extinction has meant I no longer see so many butterflies. Summer skies are devoid of insects. Last week the sadness of this hit me. My verbena bonariensis and buddleia don’t attract many visitors in my suburban landscape.
I was lucky to spend the weekend in the Derbyshire hills. It was hot and I spent some time in stillness. I lay on the grass, I sat on a rock. Then I began to notice the aliveness of the space, the ants, beetles, insects and beautiful butterflies dancing in fluttered arches against the blue sky. Across the weekend I saw five different butterfly varieties and I was filled with delight and wonder.
(stock image by Patti Black)
It’s easy to hear bad news and to feel its weight. It’s not hard to feel hopeless. But when you stop, still and notice there is wonderment and delight. There is a connection to all creation. There’s the feeling of being part of that web, that flow, the pulse of all things. And in that space there is the inspiration to create and the energy to find flow.
(Close up of a shamanic drum I recently painted to commission….with a butterfly)
Hope is a butterfly…..
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