Catching the Blue Butterfly
"There's a blue butterfly!" someone yells. It is enormous and beautiful, with pale blue wings. It flits around our space, which is a greenhouse or glass-enclosed porch with many green plants.
I run to catch it, and find there is a cord trailing from its body. When I clasp the cord, gently, not wanting to harm the butterfly, there is an upwards tug. I amazed to find this butterfly may be strong enough to lift my body off the ground.
Later, I manage to catch it inside an upturned basket. What a find!
Feelings on waking: happy
Reality check: (1) I dreamed this while my suitcase - with a huge light blue name tag - was still missing after my return from my last trip to Europe. I woke to find my bag had been delivered overnight. (2) The butterfly is a favorite symbol for the soul, and is on the cover of my recent book Dreaming the Soul Back Home. (3) When I sat down to dinner on the deck of the dining hall at the Omega Institute during my workshop this past week, one of the participants was eager to show me a (dark) blue butterfly she had in a paper cup. Alas, that butterfly was dead and I said gently that I would rather not have it on the table.
3 comments:
You're also coming to California in a week, yes? This reminded me of an event that occurred to me a few weeks ago. We have the endangered mission blue butterfly here in the bay area, whose wings appear silvery on the outside, with the most beautiful pale blue on the inside. I actually saw one while walking in my neighborhood a few weeks ago. It happened right before a good friend of mine got married- in a greenhouse, no less!
I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed reading and re-reading The Secret History of Dreaming - thank you for that, and I love following your blog (so happy I found it at long last!)
Clay Cowpeas. These are basically a kind of black-eyed pea. They look just like your common variety evergreen shrubs
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