Mariposas

I am not one to use the term synchronicity, mostly because it's become a new age misappropriation of a Jungian concept and it pisses me off. That said, I have been noticing how certain things are happening in my life that relate to a significant theme or symbol. Take butterflies, for instance.

I love butterflies. Who doesn't? They're beautiful, magical creatures that contain the mysteries of transformation, metamorphosis. Butterflies signify a power we all contain, but as one born under the sign of the Scorpion, they are crucial symbols of promise and hope to me. Persevere through difficult processes of change and transition and you can emerge from your Plutonian fires a new being. They remind me of my birthright, my power.

This happens to be the time of year when butterflies are emerging all over the San Juans. When I started working at my preschool, there were many cocoons in the classroom in little cups. The first week of school, when las mariposas emerged, I was as enraptured as any of the kids when they started poking their ways out and finally made their first flights.

This past weekend, returning from Cortez in a car with the moon roof open, I was shocked and amazed when a butterfly suddenly landed on my arm. We were travelling at highway speeds, and I don't know how the thing managed to enter the vehicle. But it did, and it choose the underside of my left arm to alight on. It rested there for a few seconds, and then it circled the car briefly before disappearing through the hole in the ceiling. I could not ask for a better personal affirmation in the wake of so much chaos.

I may not know when I will emerge, but I am becoming a new creature. And that is enough for now. The promise of the butterfly sustains me.