The Nine

Just before Covid hit, I moved from one apartment to another. Thankfully, the front door was across the hall on the other side of the elevator in the building where I’d lived for 3-years.

Waking up the morning after my first night’s sleep, a glorious butterfly followed me out of the dreamtime, fluttering clear and bright in my brain. Observing its beauty, I knew my heart had been its cosmic cocoon and her impression remained until I’d captured the colour and essence in my journal. The second morning, the same thing happened, and the third night as I prepared for bed, my intent was to stay out of expectation even though I hoped another Butterfly would appear! I admit to feeling disappointed the 10th morning when a new technicolored winged-wonder didn’t appear. Standing at the espresso machine preparing my morning coffee, it seemed obvious there were only nine.

Coffee in hand, I revisited my sketch pad and realised each one represented an archetypal aspect of the universal Pattern I’d spent the half my life exploring. My immediate wondering was why only one wing was coloured, and it didn’t take long to understand that the coloured wing symbolised the beautiful potential we’re given in birth, while the energetic wing represents the choices that living affords us.

Almost instantly, an idea took shape in my brain. For years Christmas was in Copenhagen with my true Family of the Heart, and it’s become something of a tradition to paint with the kids! This year was no exception.

Each choose an image and we then photocopied them, and their patience as they coloured the wing was remarkable. They discovered tiny details that almost every adult had missed!

The lesson was how every decision —those we make, those we take and the ones we abdicate— are bring joy, colour, and beauty and colour into our lives.