When you Wish Upon a Butterfly

For centuries there have been no other insect to make its mark upon the various cultures of the world as much as the butterfly. Perhaps, if nothing else, because of their beauty and flight, butterflies have often been connected to the Other, or Spiritual realm. In Native American spirituality, butterflies were created as a gift for the children of the world. The story goes, that once upon a time,

The Creator of our world was resting, sitting, watching some children at play in a village. The children laughed and sang, yet as She watched them, the Creator's heart was sad. She thought to herself, that these children will someday grow old. Their skin will become wrinkled, their hair will turn gray. Their teeth will fall out and the young hunter's arm will fail. Young girls will grow ugly and dry, playful puppies will become blind, mangy dogs. And all those flowers, those wonderful flowers - yellow, and blue, red and purple... they too shall fade. Even teh leaves from trees shall eventually dry up and fall, for such is the way of things, that nothing is ever eternal. She could see already they were turning yellow, and so She began to grow sadder and sadder. It was in the fall and the thought of the coming winter with its cold and lack of life made Her heart heavy.

Yet it was still warm, and the Sun still shone. She watched the play of sunlight and shadow on the ground, the yellow leaves being carried here and there by the wind. She saw the blueness of the sky, the whiteness of the cornmeal ground by the women, and suddenly She smiled and She said that all these colours, all the colours of the world should forever be preserved and so She would make something beautiful to gladden Her heart, something for all the children of the world to look at and enjoy, and so the Creator took out Her bag and started gathering things.

A spot of sunlight

A handful of blue from the sky

The whiteness of cornmeal

the shadow of playing children

the blackness of a young girl's hair

the yellow of falling leaves

the green of pine needles

the red, purple and orange of the flowers around Her

and, as an afterthought, the songs of the birds as well.

All this She put into her bag. Then She walked over to the grassy spot where all the children of the world were playing and She said, "Children, little children. This is for you," and as She gave them Her bag she said, "Open it; there's something nice inside." The children crowded around the Creator for they were curious, and as they opened the bag, at once hundreds and hundreds of coloured butterflies flew out, dancing around the children's heads, settling on their hair, fluttering up again to sip the nectar from this or that flower and the children, enchanted, said that they had never see anything so beautiful, and the Creator made it so that the butterflies would flutter to every corner of the Earth, that the world will forever know the meaning of beauty and wonder.

But then the butterflies began to sing, for the Creator had given them the song of birds, and a songbird who was flying by overheard this and came to settle on the Creator's shoulder. It said "Great Mother, it is not right to give our songs to these new pretty things. You told us when you made us that every bird would have his own song and now, you've simply passed them all around. Isn't it enough that you gave your new playthings the colours of the rainbow?" And the Creator saw her mistake for she immediately said "You're right. I made one song for each bird, and I shouldn't have taken what belonged to you," and so the Creator tooked the songs away from teh butterflies, leaving them silent. But though they had their voices stolen from them, they still managed to bring much joy to the world, and so it is said that they will always have a special place in the Creator's heart, for She hears all, and She loves all. And it is also said that if you were to catch a butterfly and whisper your heart's desires to it, only to release it, the Creator, grateful that you had released one of Her favourite playthings shall take into consideration your own wish into Her heart as well.

Blessed be
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