Change is easy... not! - From Caterpillar to Butterly
Creating conscious changes in our lives is a multi-layered adventure that can sometimes be overwhelming. Breaking down complex tasks into simple ones is the best way to keep the emotional turmoil at bay and feel more grounded throughout any process.
In the previous two blogs, I wish I could be Free, and Time to Let Go we identified two phases that are necessary to embrace the process of change in a grounded way; understanding that we are not where we want to be and releasing what is no longer needed are the stepping stones to transformation.
I recently started a cleansing process for my home: even though I am pretty happy with my current situation, I felt I needed to “step up a notch”, so I had a good look around and saw that to do that, I had to create – literally – room for improvement. I described this in the “I wish I could be Free phase”. This realisation often comes as a new beginning; sometimes, it coincides with our birthdays, the beginning of the year, and significant milestones. Other times, it happens because, as Paulo Coelho brilliantly says, our soul is growing.
When our personal space is full, which goes for our mental and emotional space, it is hard to find the so-called room for improvement, so we need to eliminate, donate, and disregard what is not required anymore: it is Time to Let Go. This is a hard one. Most things we keep have little economic value but have vast sentimental and emotional value. The sweater that aunty Carol bought us ten years ago reminds us of the sweetness of our favourite aunty; that extra set of wine glasses can still be good, and ‘you never know,’ especially if we remember how we felt when we didn’t have enough money to buy the things we needed and wanted.
The same principles apply to our emotional connection and belief system because they make us who we are in the realm of the mind. Letting go is a complex and confronting phase, so we might need to take small steps, but every single journey, as the old adagio goes, starts with a single step.
When the caterpillar realises it is time to transform into a butterfly, it creates a safe space for itself – the cocoon or chrysalis – and in that space, its cells recombine themselves to create a new being, the butterfly. It is a fascinating and scientifically exciting process. The butterfly's wings don’t grow on the caterpillar; the whole organism recombines itself into a new one. This process is what the Greeks called Metanoia.
Our little caterpillar has to let go of the idea of being a caterpillar before transforming into a butterfly; it is not simply wishing to grow some wings because after having overeaten for the initial part of its life, it will need enormous wings! If you ever observed caterpillars in your garden devouring your crops and plants and imagined attaching wings to them, I believe you figured out that would not work.
With Metanoia – or transmutation – not only is there a change of mind but also a change of heart. Lead to gold was the old saying in the alchemical circles, and this reflects very much how we are supposedly coming out from a process of change and transformation.
What are we changing for? We change because our soul has grown or, more precisely, because our awareness of the soul has grown. The soul comes with a purpose and a plan, and it might take several lifetimes before we discover what that is; however, the closer we get to it, the better we feel about ourselves and our life situation.
Below are a couple of suggestions for supportive tools in the final phase of the change process.
It is the most used stone for meditation practice. It carries the Violet vibration, the most helpful vibration to assist us during a change, as it offers a good balance between the mind and the body. The state of balance that we can experience with Amethyst allows us to identify emotional patterns and bring them to a level of consciousness where they can be addressed.
Amethyst (Purple Quartz) is a crystal that resonates with our cognitive centres and the brain, our ‘storage facility’ for thought patterns and belief systems; according also to the Chakra System between our eyebrows, is present an energy centre called the Brow Chakra, commonly known as the Third Eye. This energy centre is genuinely involved in visualisation and manifestation: first, we ‘see’ our goals in our mind, and then we can ground them into physical reality.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Five Elements Theory, the colour Violet is associated with the Element of Water – the Blue component of Violet – which regulates our emotions, and Fire – the Red Component – that helps to regulate the Water Element. This is probably one of the reasons why in Roman times, Amethyst was used to prevent drunkness during the parties that Romans were famous for.
All the Aura-Soma range expresses the language of light and colours; thus, it works through vibrations and resonance. Utilising the Aura-Soma Pomanders provides a gateway to the vibrations and energy we might need most at any time.
Violet is a secondary colour, a combination of Red and Blue in equal parts; the energy of the Violet Pomander reflects this beautiful combination. Of all the pomanders is the best one to energise our upper energy centres offering the possibility of awareness of higher energy vibrations, connecting us with the mission and purpose of our soul.
