You then hang suspended in time, camouflaged, and hidden to protect the developing butterfly from predators. It's as if you no longer exist. You're melting into caterpillar soup while sleeping in your hammock. Suspended in time while a DNA transformation overrides your caterpillar existence. Just to keep it fair each caterpillar's journey to emerge as an adult butterfly is greatly affected by its species and environmental conditions.
Did you know an adult butterfly lays caterpillar eggs and then off she goes, on her merry way, leaving the caterpillar to sort it all out? Once the adult butterfly lays its eggs on a host plant, it has fulfilled its parental duties, and the responsibility for the young caterpillar falls entirely on its caterpillar self. I can't help but see the irony of this dynamic. I correlate this process to our current human mass awakening. I see our caterpillar self-deconstructing everything we know to rebuild not only ourselves but also our society into a more creative, colorful, joyful, and loving coexistence.
I have a burning desire deep within my soul to help protect all the caterpillars that are still in the process of cocooning themselves while they sort out the ingredients of their own caterpillar soup. I've discovered the seasoning to my own soup was in my own creative caterpillar process. During my 20-year caterpillar coma I was able to fully document the transformation that was hidden from the world via my paintings. At times I was angry, sad, depressed, and humiliated. I felt abandoned & unloved. You see there was a lot going on inside my mind, body, and soul. I was transforming old patterns into a new state of being. My DNA was literally getting an overhaul.
I'm here now butterflying around encouraging all the caterpillars to "hang in there". I promise there is light beyond the cocoon! The best medicine I can prescribe from experience, please listen to the soft voice nudging you to paint, dance, garden, draw, knit, sculpt, journal, learn an instrument, sing, act, yoga, meditate, be in nature etc. That is your future butterfly self beckoning you to wake up and come home. It just might be our entire butterfly lineage coming back to whisper to our hearts....... "We Are Genius"!
Ellen Benfatti works with individuals to connect them to their inner Genius to create a healthier joyful life. She works privately and in groups. The paintings are for sale and she teaches people how to use them in a daily meditation practice.
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"Avatar" 2023 Artist Ellen Benfatti
48' x72' on Cotton Stretched Canvas Acrylic
Written By: Author, Visionary, Artist, Founder Butterfly Genius Inc., Ellen Benfatti
