With something so lovely, it’s natural that legends and metaphors should spring up with the focus on the butterfly. We offer here some of our favorite butterfly lore and legends.
The Butterfly Effect
A famous and relatively recent addition to butterfly lore, the Butterfly Effect states that one small, random movement, like the thrust of a butterfly’s wing, can influence a cascade of subsequent effects, resulting, perhaps, in a tornado in another part of the world. The Butterfly Effect is a metaphor from Chaos Theory, which emerged in the 1960’s from long-term weather studies. It notes how simple actions in a complex system can cause non-linear effects.
No doubt you can point to the Butterfly Effect in your own life, where one small action, or inaction, had unforeseen consequences. For a sobering reminder of the potential global impact of your choices, look at this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2xFJUSLEv8
Never doubt that You Matter!
Butterfly Struggles
A man watched a cocoon begin to open and a butterfly began to emerge. Bit by bit, the cocoon split, and the butterfly struggled to free itself from the tight space. Taking pity of the butterfly’s strenuous efforts, the man sought to help. With a small pair of scissors, the man carefully snipped away at the cocoon, allowing the butterfly full access to freedom.
But the butterfly did not fly gladly into the sky as the man had expected. Instead, a misshapen body and shriveled wings emerged. The creature crawled, but it never spread its wings to fly.
Sorrowfully, the man realized that the butterfly’s struggle to escape the cocoon was also the process that pumped fluid from its body into its wings to expand them and ready them for flight.
So it may be with us. Our struggles give us strength to transform our lives into something more beautiful.
Native American Creation Story: The Wishing Butterfly
One fall, the Great Sprit was meditating on His creation and the fading of nature’s colors into winter. To boost His sad thoughts, he began to collect some of the colors: black from a girl’s hair, yellow from the sunshine, green from the pine needles, blue from the sky, reds and orange from the falling leaves. He placed them all in a bag and then presented the bag to the children. When the children opened the bag, out flew hundreds of butterflies, dancing in the sky and lighting gently on the children.
“Be very gentle with these delicate creatures,” the Great Sprit told them. “If one lights on you, you may tell it your heart’s wish. Since butterflies can’t speak, your secret will be safe. Then when you release the butterfly, in gratitude for its freedom, the butterfly will send your wish on the wings of love into My Heart.”
The White Butterfly
This Japanese legend intertwines the ideas of the butterfly as a symbol for the soul and the transformational power of love.
Old Takahama lived in a cemetery and cared for the graves. Since he had no other family, his sister and her son visited from time to time to check on his well-being. The nephew felt embarrassed by his uncle who lived in a graveyard but was usually persuaded to make these visits with his mother.
One day, they found Takahama mortally ill. As they sat with him, the nephew noticed a white butterfly fluttering around his face. He tried to shoo the butterfly out of his small house, but the butterfly persisted in returning.
When Takahama took his last breath, the butterfly left. The nephew recognized that there might be something special about this butterfly, so he followed it. The butterfly came to rest on an old, moss-covered grave with the name Akiko. Despite the grave’s age, it was evident that someone still cared for it, for recently watered flowers lay there.
The nephew returned to his mother, who told this story about his uncle. “When Takahama was young, he was very much in love with Akiko. But she died before they could be married. In his grief, Takahama gave up his career and moved here, so he could always be near her. Today was probably the first time in all those years that he has missed tending her grave. That white butterfly was Akiko’s soul, come to check on Takahama. And she waited until his soul left his body to join her.”
Response Magic