Mother Nature’s watchful eye is always upon us ever guiding us through our life lessons with messages brought to us by the gentle souls of her creatures. ~Belle Salisbury Have you had an experience with nature signs that have you baffled? Do you continually see Dragon Flies, Butterflies, Rabbits, Deer or similar nature animals that cross your path? Are you unsure what they are trying to tell you? When these occurrences happen Mother Nature has a message for you! If you have had such an experience or something similar send it to our nature expert Janét Bowerman at braveheartbutterfly@gmail.com and she will help you with their meaning. Your request will be featured in our next issue of Bellesprit Magazine. Tweet
Jeanette Moran writes – I went outside and saw this magnificent spider web floating down from the sky. Could you tell me what the significance or meaning of a spider web totem?
Dear Jeanette:
Spiders and spider web symbology are quite complex. Spiders encompass both the male and the female aspect of your personality despite people predominately attributing spiders as female. Spiders are also about spanning different worlds and twining them together to make safe passage between worlds and universes by using their silken webs.
Spiders are also about balance and a reminder that we should be walking this world like a spider, with balance and due consideration for others and the impact we can have on other people. Also that as a spider can change a universe, rebuild that which is broken or release that which has tangled in the web. The spider is also associated with the moon.
According to spider mythology, its thread was the gift of creative wisdom. The spider’s web is the Tapestry of Life and the symbol of the weaving of destiny. The past is interwoven with the present and the future and it reveals the eternal and infinite plan. The spider’s message is that you are an infinite being who will continue to weave patterns of life and living throughout time. A teacher and story teller of the Creation Legends spiders are considered the keepers of the Sacred Alphabet who can teach how to weave magic with the written word. To the ancient Greeks the spider was sacred in the story of Arachne, a young woman who was gifted in the art of weaving.
This could be the work of the Golden orb web spider. Not one of the largest spiders but makes one of the largest and strongest webs. If the spider web presents itself in your life, it may be trying to show that we are ignoring our feelings or what it is that we are perceiving in our feelings as well. It sometimes shows we’re not trusting our other senses and our sense of creativity as well as trying to hide that certain picture you just painted or that short story you did but haven’t shown to anyone. ~ Blessings! Peace, Love & Light to you.
Danny Spies writes – I was standing inside my yard, talking to a neighbor (just a couple of feet away from me, on the other side of the fence) as we were talking he looked over my shoulder and saw this big ole beautiful Monarch butterfly that was maybe twenty feet behind me (in my yard) flying around one of the four Christmas trees that were lined up against the northern fence. He said “Check out the butterfly.” I looked back at that beautiful thing and I said “Watch this.” I held up my right arm, and pointed my index finger out, and that butterfly didn’t waste any time when he flew over to me and landed on my finger. I felt at that moment I was one with nature and the butterfly. Dear Danny – The Monarch butterfly symbolizes that Life is short – Enjoy and relish each day; fleeting moments, transformation, internal and external change, personal change, looking for sweetness, Herb magic, Flower magic, Celebrating beauty, Travel and migration, Moving to new places, Enjoying the journey, Outside of harmful or negative influence, Rhythm and Reincarnation. Lessons and challenges: The monarch butterfly teaches us that life is short, and that it must be valued. Assuming that we have decades of our lives left (or at the very least, years) is all well and good for things like economic planning, but it is through recognizing the fleetingness of human existence that we come to value every day, even those who get us down or are hard to appreciate. Monarch butterfly asks you to consciously look at what you have gained that is valuable in each day, and even to write down the things you are grateful for. If you are in a position where you can think of nothing to be grateful for, monarch butterfly is a guide willing to open your eyes to the beauty and gift of life once more. It is through this that monarch butterfly teaches us how to look for sweetness and light in our lives. It is time to enjoy the journey and put aside the destination. It’s not about where you will be ‘tomorrow’ or in a year’s time, it is about valuing where you are now, even if you haven’t reached your destination yet. Remember that there is as much wisdom and joy to gain on the way to an imagined or real destination as there is at the destination itself. If monarch butterfly is present as a guide, it may be that you are also outside of harmful or negative influence right now, or that the universe is preparing to give you a bit of a ‘break’ for a while so that you can celebrate the beauty that exists within your life. Have you ever had one of those moments that felt perfect? Where, despite what was going on in your life, everything seemed to come together in one fleeting moment of contentment, happiness and perfection? Monarch butterfly teaches us that all of life is made up of striving for and increasing the number of these moments that we experience, and shows us how to better value and focus on these fleeting moments. If you can’t remember one, it might be time to seek one out again through looking for enjoyable experiences. The Shadow Aspects: Those who dislike or even fear monarch butterfly may find that they are unable to appreciate the simple things in life. They may feel that life passes them by too quickly, or they may be too cynical or unfocused to truly appreciate the small joys that find us everyday – no matter what is happening around us or to us. Monarch butterfly comes into your life to challenge you to take the time to find joy and thankfulness in your life, no matter if your health is shot, or you’re so busy you rarely feel you have time to do anything at all. Make the time, or find small moments to do nothing and appreciate simply existing. Life is short, value it. Monarch butterfly challenges you to accept that journeys are necessary in your life. These might be literal or spiritual journeys, but they are needful. It is important that you find enjoyment in your day to day, and lifelong journeys. The fact is, life will always throw difficulty at us, but monarch butterfly tells us to take a step back from that and enjoy life. We are protected from harmful influence if we choose to accept monarch butterfly energy. Accept travel, migration, journeying and change, they are beautiful parts of your life. The message: Like all animal/insect totems and helpers, this animal will only appear when right and appropriate, and cannot be forced to visit you, commune with you, or share messages with you. Butterflies, due to their very nature, tend to have quite fleeting energy and are more common as short-term guides. That said their presence in the short-term remains profound and presents a potential for transformation, joy and growth. Butterfly is a gentle teacher and will try to transmit significant lessons simply through its quiet, unassuming presence in gardens, or even if you simply happen to see one while walking somewhere or going about your business. Butterfly is not highly communicative, letting its lifestyle and way of life speak for itself. Offerings of flowers, bundles of herbs and colorful ornaments are appreciated by butterfly, but the best way to honor the Monarch butterfly, I feel, is to find and seek out more joyful, perfect moments within your life. ~ Peace, Love & Light ~
My name is Denise Bolds and I am a Leo. My totem is of course is the lioness. Every time I go out of my house I see a falcon circling me and my car. Of course I am enthralled by Egyptian history, I even dream of it. Falcons are always around me when I go out. When I was younger I saved a baby falcon that fell from its nest. Please explain. I live in Upstate NY. Thanks Dear Denise – Thank you for this amazing story – it certainly appears that the Falcon is also one of your animal totems as well. Here is what it may mean for you. The Falcon is a solar emblem for success, victory and rising above a situation. Further evidence of its solar influence, the Falcon was symbolic of the rising sun in Egypt. It is also the king of all birds where many gods were shown with the head or body of the Falcon (including Ra). The Falcon animal totem represents visionary power, wisdom, and guardianship. This powerful bird awakens visionary power, and leads you to your life purpose. The Falcon carries with it a message of transition and change – perhaps in your vocation, work, career, etc. The Falcon animal totem comes to us when we require higher vision, or higher knowledge in solving current dilemmas in our lives. Falcon animal totem encourages us to calculate and strategize. If we have a goal, Falcons beckon us to make plans and strategies to obtain these goals. Falcons are all about focus – strong, one-pointed focus. When they show themselves to us, we are being called to focus on our desires and our goals, and do what is necessary to bring our desires into our reality. The fact that the Falcon is a solar creature could mean there is something in your life that you are highly passionate about, and the Falcon is asking you to take action on this passion. But be smart about it – don’t jump into something without doing research and planning. Make your passion a reality by pursuing it methodically and as strategically as the Falcon would pursue his hunt. Lastly, call upon the spirit of your Falcon animal totem in your meditations, during quite/relaxing times, and just before sleeping. When you calm yourself and call upon the spirit of the Falcon, the Falcon is then able to come through your consciousness and provide you more details about what you must know.
Sandra Kopecky writes… Last week I was in NC helping my parents with their garage sale. During the entire time of the sale there was a blue butterfly keeping us company for 3 days. Dear Sandra: Insect animal totems all seem to point to a few key characteristics: tenacity, patience, and detachment. The butterfly symbolizes the whole of your life changing to such an extreme you are unrecognizable at the end of the transformation. Herein lies the deepest symbolic lesson of the butterfly. She asks us to accept the changes in our lives as casually as she does. The butterfly unquestioningly embraces the chances of her environment and her body. This unwavering acceptance of her metamorphosis is also symbolic of faith. Here the butterfly beckons us to keep our faith as we undergo transitions in our lives. She understands that our fretting and anger are useless against the turning tides of nature – she asks us to recognize the same. The butterfly is associated with the soul – further linking our animal symbolism of faith with the butterfly. Its connection with the soul is rather fitting. We are all on a long journey of the soul. On this journey we encounter endless turns, shifts, and conditions that cause us to morph into ever-finer beings. At our soul-journey’s end we are inevitably changed – not at all the same as when we started on the path. I feel the blue butterfly perhaps is symbolic of someone dear to you whom has passed over and they’re wanting you to know they are with you. Is there someone that was close to you who liked blue butterflies or wore a butterfly pendant? When you see the blue butterfly know they are surrounding you with love and support. – Many Blessings!]]>
