Butterflies & Symbolism

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Such ethereal creatures…I think it was Wayne Dyer who said in one of his CD collections that when a butterfly alights on you, it is because you have connected with the energetic world in a special way.

Taking it a step further, when you dream of a butterfly, or when one appears in your life in a serendipitous fashion, it may actually be synchronistic, as Jung called it, meaning by synchronicity not coincidence, but the coming together of two separate events that together have a meaning.

Hence, if a butter fly were to appear in front of you on a day on which you begin therapy, and furthermore, if it were to appear in a place where you would normally not expect such a creature to be, then you might safely assume that it was indeed a serendipitous event to which we might give all manner of symbolic meaning.

It is a magnificent symbol, found in many cultures and mythologies, and often referred to in analytical psychology.

Symbolically, and traditionally, the butterfly – due to its origin as a caterpillar, evolution to a cocoon, and final transfiguration into a butterfly - speaks to us of transformation; of the very process of evolution, and of course, when we associate it with therapy or dreams, art, literature, etc. it is speaking of your growth as an individual, of your growth as a being-in-relationship with other beings, and of the evolution of your soul.