Butterflies Are Free

Actually, these ones weren't free at all. They cost me perhaps seven dollars at a craft store. I have used them to decorate my altar because I belong to the Butterfly Clan. I consider myself to be quite a moth man indeed. In fact I am so much a moth man that all of my significant others in my life have always been fire elementals. Like a moth to a flame, I get drawn in and have no idea of how hot the encounter is going to get!

Butterfly Clan people are Air elementals. We are able to multitask like crazy and eventually get everything done. We have brilliant minds, when in balance, and egos the size of Mt.Everest when not in balance. Also, when we are not grounded we come across to the rest of the world as total space cadets. Being grounded myself, I find the space cadets to be highly annoying, especially because at that moment they have no intention of listening to anyone who is encouraging them to get their feet back on the ground.

We also need to acknowledge what butterfly stage we are at with any given thing at any given moment. If we are in the egg stage, we know something is about to happen for us, but are not sure what it is. In the larva stage we are new to something and are not quite sure what we are going to do with it. This is much where I am with the technology aspects of my life. Then we go into the caterpillar stage. In this stage we are ravenous for information and absolutely devour all forms of information and knowledge on the topic of our obsession. There then comes a time when we enter the chrysalis stage. This is when we withdraw and cocoon ourselves so that we can integrate what we have experienced and learned. Once complete, we leave this stage and emerge completely transformed as the butterfly or moth. When we do this, sometimes people have a difficult time adjusting to who we now are. They want us to be the person they knew last week, but we have completely changed and are now someone else. If they give it a chance and get to know the new person in front of them, they will find that there is much to be appreciated. If they are resistant, we leave them behind, spreading our wings and finding new social circles in which to thrive.

So there you have it. This is what being an Air elemental in the Butterfly Clan is all about. Transformation of self is of the utmost importance to us.

Blessed Be
Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

The Winds of Change

For those of you who don't know me, I am an Air elemental. I belong to the Butterfly Clan, according to the Medicine Wheel. We often do 10 things all at one time and multi task with that very well. We are expansive thinkers and very sociable creatures. All of this is wonderful, for a Butterfly Clan person. However, we can also change with the wind. And when we do, we can drive other elementals around us crazy. Just when you think those butterfly wings are nailed down, poof! We flutter off and don't come back for quite some time. We are too busy socializing to be nailed down to anything.

This is actually a delightful medicine to carry. You see, most people find change to be something that threatens them. They have gotten stuck in the fight or flight aspects of reality. Butterfly Clan people take empty handed leaps into the unknown and find ourselves with either a nice solid place to land or with wings that help us learn how to fly more efficiently.

I have recently taken such a leap. I have also experienced the judgement involved in taking that leap. Some find it to be extremely threatening to their paradigm of reality. They respond with hostility and uncertainty about who I am and what I am about. I feel that if they ever really knew me at all, they would have realized that their opinion of me matters little to me. So I am not that concerned by them.

What I am very impressed with is the amount of support that I have received from the community at large. Some have been in exactly my situation and have been way too afraid to do anything about it. They admire my courage. Some are in awe of the fact that I can do what I have to and still do it in a harmonious fashion. And most are very happy for me. These are people who "get it" when it comes to life and matters of the heart. And I just want to put out there that each and every one of them means a lot to me. This is not just because of the support (although that is wonderful in and of itself) but because they are on the journey and having the same challenges and struggling with the same issues. They, like me, are human. They are not caught up in the dogma of expectations. They are simply trying to do what is right for them. So to all of you out there, I thank you. Go gently.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com