I remember an encounter I had the last weekend with a black and gold-colored butterfly.  Admittedly, I noticed my lower chakras fleetingly take flight in vibrating with jealousy, envy and some heaviness as I watched this spirited winged creature’s ability to flit about gleefully, while tasting with its hands and feet.  But then I recollected my choice to stay away from overindulging in getting stuck in the mud by basking in these emotions.  By allowing ourselves to be informed by our lower self, we become equipped to move forward by opening up to the feeling of joy that butterfly medicine conjures up internally.  However, it can be tempting to find clever ways to bypass this inner space, with particular sensitivity to the ego and/or intellect’s ability to build self-protective fortresses.  Energetically, butterfly is good reminder that it is possible to carry a playful, light-hearted sense of detachment in getting the job done.  In spite of their heavy responsibility of cross-pollinating the planet while spreading the love, butterfly shows us that it is possible find their energy within our human shell in real-time.  Is anyone else out there mesmerized by butterflies sociability and memo to self that asks thyself, where am I on the map of consciousness?  On the personal front, when digesting this question, perhaps some delicious food for thought would be to ask yourself what developmental stage you are currently in.  Are you in the egg stage of an idea (beginning), the larva stage (manifestation), the cocoon stage (program development) and/or the final stage (transformation)?  When there is work to do and I need to lighten up, I try to remember to picture butterflies kissing a garden variety of flowers within my being.

On the national and global front, there are potential storms brewing and things are heating up.  Here in the USA, we have modern laws that are somewhat akin to Jim Crow of yesteryear.  In Florida and other states in the nation throughout, we have the Stand Your Ground Law that basically says shoot first and ask questions second.  All republicans and however many democrats failed to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which simply attempts to level the playing field of making a livable wage for all working folks.  Does “my country tis of thee” remember that many of the lawyers, politicians and police were cloaked behind white robes and burning crosses by night?  Who payin’ you?  But there is a new hope . . . US Representative John Kline of Michigan supports the Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, which tries to alleviate the financial burden that many college students are facing.  And Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Safeway have committed to eliminating gestation crates from their supply chains.  The country is divided and “the line it is drawn and the curse it is cast.”  In birthing into a New Age and Paradigm, we really need to move beyond fancy ego-centered rhetoric and actualize the philosophical ideals that our Founding Fathers envisioned in their Higher Selves.  If we search our collective memory, there was a time not long ago that indigenous Americans practiced something much closer to a free market, than the fundamentalist allegiance we have to maximum economic, profit-driven capitalism that liberally supports the welfare of rampant consumerism.

With butterfly energy, creativity is in the air and mental powers are active.  This time of year, I start dancing to the beat of T’ai Chi outdoors, while focusing on allowing my body to float like a butterfly without getting stung like a bee.  Readers, I don’t know about you, but I know I have learned many painful lessons from the school of hard knox.  The lesson plans from this curriculum can feel like heavy metal and reverberate like a choir of chattering monkey’s.  And though I respect the wisdom I have acquired from accessing these classroom assignments, I prefer Butterfly’s mantra that says that growth can be gentle, joyful and sweet like flowers, if only we come to our senses by allowing for it.

Stay True,

Ari