My Man, The Butterfly Whisperer

This weekend my husband and I along with two best friends took a hike to a place so beautiful it seems not of this world. First of all, living in New Mexico any forest that includes a copious amount of water is pretty darn magical. The Rio en Medio trail is that, with rivers and waterfalls and greenery not seen anywhere else in the area. Secondly, there are transparent sheets of crystalline mica which adorn every rock wall, the high humidity in the rare green-belt ecosystem causing them to sparkle and shimmer, like a straight-up enchanted fairy wilderness. They flake off the rock cliffs, covering the walking path so that in places it would seem we’re walking on diamonds. The tree cover is so dense, dark and primordial; it feels more to me like the energy of the Black Forest in Germany than the typical sun-drenched landscape of this high-desert state.  Needless to say, we had an incredible four hours in the forest. What made it even more special were the butterflies. They were everywhere. The day started with a shot of this yellow Giant Swallowtail beauty (pictured above), in my own garden. Huge wingspan. Magnificent.

To add to the location, a wondrous thing began happening deep within the forest; the butterflies seemed to fall in love with my husband. Undergoing his own transformation from ego to a more spirit-led place of authenticity, they seemed to recognize a kindred spirit. Being the totem of life-changes and soul evolution, butterflies are all about growth and coming into our own power. Whatever their agenda we’ll never know, but they fell hard for my honey and it added to the magic of the day.

They followed him. They let him pick them up. They attached themselves to his back pack, his shirt, anything he’d allow. At times he just carried them along on his finger, his little pet, just because they seemed to want to!  We spent a lot of time with friends over the weekend, the same friends we were now hiking with. We had some pretty incredible conversations over the span of three days, one of them about the balance of masculine and feminine energy in each of us. It’s the right-brain/left-brain balance (sometimes battle) that we all carry. If a man is vociferously resistant to the idea of having a “feminine side” generally that means there’s a battle going down that he may or may not be winning. If a man has no connection to his feminine side that means there’s no connection to intuition, creativity, empathy, visualization… all things that are unquestionably necessary in today’s world. If a woman is so detached from her masculine side that she can’t utilize structure, problem-solving, risk-taking, or analysis, good luck in reaching goals or manifesting dreams in the physical realm. This equation is not only imperative for our own holistically balanced living, it’s crucial for our entire existence. I truly believe this.

When we as a species can learn to welcome all aspects of ourselves into our daily consciousness, when we no longer have to pretend that one is superior to another, masculine vs. feminine, maybe we can stop the abuses, the rapes, the killings across the globe in the name of conquest, past traumas, and fear.

And maybe it starts with one man not being afraid to let a butterfly love him.