Wednesday 11 April 2012

Butterflies

I read this today on a forum, I do not know the Author...

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam...
and for a brief moment it's joy and it's beauty belongs to this world....
but then it flies on again...
and even though we wished it could of stayed...
we are thankful to have known it at all..

What I didn't know is that many ancient civilizations believed that butterflies were symbols of the human soul. The Egyptian believed that butterflies were one of the pleasures that awaited the deceased in the afterlife. In ancient Greek the word for butterfly is phyche, which means soul. The native Americans in Mexico, the Aztec associated the morning star with the butterfly, which represents the soul of the dead. The Aztecs also believed that the happy dead in the form of beautiful butterflies would visit their relatives to assure them that all was well. A small town in Mexico also sees butterflies as souls and it is to this town that the monarch butterflies migrate every year on and around the holiday of the day of the dead. In Andalusian Spain a heir must throw unmixed wine on the ashes of the deceased as a toast to the butterfly that will escape with the soul. In Germany butterflies are thought to be the souls of children.

In Ireland, where I was born and where my twins were born, the butterfly is represented in Irish mythology as the spirits of the departed who return to visit their favourite place and their loved ones to reassure them that they are alright. In the 1600 in Ireland, killing a white butterfly was prohibited since it was believed to be the soul of a dead child. The significance of the butterfly in Irish folklore attributes it to the soul and thus it has the ability to cross into the Otherworld. It is also the symbol of transformation and creation. An Irish blessing " May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun, and find your shoulder to light on.. To bring you luck, happiness and riches today, tomorrow and beyond.

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