‘B’ is for Butterfly

During some of my meditation and guided visualisation experiences (which will be the subject of later A-Z Challenge posts) I have been given a ‘gift’ or a symbol. A few times I have been given a butterfly (an insect that I have always been drawn to), and I have also had the experience many times during meditation of a ‘flickering’, which I eventually likened to the beating of a butterfly’s wings.

I was advised to look up the symbolism of recurring gifts or symbols, and that even if the message or meaning behind them didn’t make sense straight away, then it would do so at some point in the future. I have just looked it up and came across Pure Spirit where it says that a butterfly:

“…signals a sense of transformation – a time to evaluate life in its current state and set goals for manifesting change. The butterfly symbolizes transformation and joy. Its dance reflects the need for movement from where we are to our next phase of being.”

This is most apt and very much makes sense for me at this point in my life.

Something that I have always meant to look up about butterflies (and this blog challenge gave me the excuse to do so) is that I had heard somewhere about the connection between them and the Holocaust. Googling it I found the following interesting information on The Spirit of Butterflies:

“Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross visited the Maidenek concentration camp in 1946. When she got to the children’s barracks, it was particularly sorrowful, with toys and shoes strewn about, but there was something else, too. The walls were covered with hundreds of butterflies, scratched and etched with fingernails and pebbles. She said it took her 25 years of working with dying patients to fully understand what this meant. The children knew they were going to die and were leaving a message of hope; their bodies might not make it, but the butterflies represented their immortal souls. They would live on in a different form.”

Thought provoking I think you will agree…

Until tomorrow, love and beating wings, sm x

‘A’ is for Anne

I have not done the A-Z Blog Challenge before, or any kind of blog challenge come to think of it…I have decided to focus my first attempt on my spiritual journey so far, since it is such a big and important part of my life. I realise that it is probably not everyone’s ‘bag’, so you may or may not choose to read on. But if you do, I hope you enjoy! Firstly though, a special thank you to Arlee Bird, the A-Z Challenge founder…what a great idea to get the creative juices of bloggers flowing!

So what (or who) better to start with than Anne. Anne is a Homoeopath and Healer who also facilitates meditation courses, and meeting her very much marks the commencement of my spiritual journey, so I feel that nothing is more fitting to start off my first blog challenge…

I knew of Anne through a friend who saw her for Homoeopathy, and I first met her when she came to my place of work for an ‘Away Day’ to give a meditation taster session…from that first experience of contentment and physical and mental relaxation I knew that I wanted to find out more and so I joined her fortnightly meditation group. Here I got an introduction to mindfulness meditation, which is based on Buddhist principles. I learnt a lot from these sessions and still attend to this day as I continue to get so much from them.

I am sure that many of my ‘A-Z posts’ during the next month will incorporate things that I have learnt along my journey through Anne, but one thing that will always stick with me is that when we meditate (and indeed embark upon a spiritual journey) we make ‘seismic changes at glacial speed’. Never a truer word was spoken for me…so many things have clicked into place along the way (and continue to do so) or don’t make total sense at the time, only for me to obtain total clarity at a later date. There is a real feeling of transcendence about the work that we do, some real ‘lightbulb moments’, where you just go ‘oh THAT’S what that was all about!’.

Another idea that will always stick with me is that you meet people for ‘a reason, a season or a lifetime’. I often remind myself of this…it can be difficult when you fall out with people or they leave your life (as inevitably happens) but it’s helpful for me to know that there is a lesson that can be learnt from each and every person and situation.

I shall leave this post for now…it was really just an introduction to set the scene for the forthcoming month. And I shall end it with thanks and gratitude to Anne, who has definitely come into my life for a very positive reason.

Until tomorrow, love and exciting journeys, sm x