(by 25 people)
An Eco Friendly Planetary Shift
How our spiritual growth is similar to the stages of a butterflies lifecycle and how understanding this can enhance our journey.
Create a butterfly garden to enhance your outdoor experience, to balance the ecosystem around your home, and for the pure enjoyment of it. This article will summarize the primary steps and will provide resources for further study. The primary focus is on the relationship between the butterfly lifecycle and the human experience.
There is a rise in the practices of green living that I have not experienced since the days when the flower children brought to the attention of the masses the need to protect the future of our planet. It is refreshing to see a constant growth in green living practices in daily life as well as business culture. We have been historically a planet that put profit before eco systems, yet, we are coming into a new era, and the planet is shaping up to prepare for the next generation who will inherit the earth.
On that note, we can play a small yet very important part in the process by taking notice of our surroundings and learning simple ways to do our part. One way is to create a butterfly habitat. There are several aspects to creating an environment that will attract and sustain butterflies in every cycle of their life.
Contents at a Glance
- Part 1: How To Create A Butterfly Garden - Featured Guests!
- How To Create A Butterfly Garden - By ILoveNature
- Attracting Beautiful Butterflies to Your Garden - By MollyGirl
Part 1: How To Create A Butterfly Garden - Featured Guests!
We have two featured guests to introduce to you today. These featured guests will be helping us as we journey into the world of butterflies.ILoveNature
and,
MollyGirl
Each have created exceptional resources to learn how to create a butterfly garden, how to select plants, how to ensure that your garden has elements to support all of the butterfly lifecycle needs, and additional resources to create your own butterfly habitat.
Please visit each of our guests! Be sure to check out all of the offers and beautiful photos as well.
How To Create A Butterfly Garden - By ILoveNature
Where do butterflies live, what do they eat, how to care for plants that attract them, and more.
"Butterflies are absolutely beautiful and they make any garden look better. If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, you can have them - if you plan accordingly. Butterflies will come if you give them what they may think of as a butterfly habitat. Brightly colored flower, sweet smelling blossoms and surroundings that make them feel welcome and safe%u2026" - ILoveNatureILoveNature has included very helpful plant care information that will help you decide which plants will work in the space you have created for your garden.
Attracting Beautiful Butterflies to Your Garden - By MollyGirl
Exceptional photos, life cycle, and plants/flowers that support a butterfly garden.
"Brilliantly colored butterflies can be a welcomed addition to your garden. To attract the largest amount of butterflies and have them as occupants in your yard you will have to include plants that serve the needs of all life cycles of the butterfly."-MollyGirlMollyGirl has listed a variety of plants that support the lifecycle of butterflies. If you space is limited, browse through the list and select one or two of your favorite plants from each of the three categories. This will insure that you have an abundance of supportive elements to attract and sustain your delightful visitors.
Be sure that you contact your local agricultural extension service to confirm that the plants that you have selected are going to thrive in your area, and, that they are going to be compatible with the species of butterflies in your location.
Introducing a New Guest Lens
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Monarch Butterflies: A Friendship
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This story is more about a friendship then it is about Monarch Butterflies. People say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I am hoping that these pictures of "my" Monarchs help tell my story.
And... Another Guest Lens!
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Monarch Butterflies Are Easy To Raise
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My family lives in the country. And we love raising Monarch Butterflies. It's really quite easy to raise them at home. We've got milkweed growing in our butterfly garden in our backyard. I just took some old milkweed pods in the fall and th...
Part 2: Discover How The Human Experience Relates to the Butterfly Lifecycle - Enhance Understanding of Spiritual Growth
Metaphors are such a delightful addition to our communication with each other when we are talking about the unseen world of spiritual growth. When you understand something in nature (or sports, or other common processes), it is easy to use that understanding in discussions about the unseen.
With this concept in mind, we are going to discover how the butterfly lifecycle is a great way to express the experience humans have when they are evolving and experiencing spiritual shifts and growth.
With this concept in mind, we are going to discover how the butterfly lifecycle is a great way to express the experience humans have when they are evolving and experiencing spiritual shifts and growth.
Butterfly Spirituality
How to connect with the spiritual energy of butterflies.
Now that you have gathered some information about butterflies from the gardener's perspective, it is time to explore the spirituality perspective of connecting with the energy of butterflies. There is more to the butterfly than meets the eye.Antoine de Saint Exupery wrote: "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." ~ The Little Prince
We can be certain that everything is energy, everything has seen and unseen essence and anything that we attract, or are attracted to, has purpose in our journey to living our highest good.
The butterfly lifecycle contains clues that answer our question about the spiritual nature that is natural to the butterfly being. During each stage of the lifecycle there are recognizable attributes that can be easily related to our human experience.
I remember when I first heard this quote; "We are not human beings trying to have a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings trying to have a human experience".Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)
When we relate this concept to the butterfly we discover a notable difference between butterflies and every other living being. According to Julia White, in her exploration of Totem Animals, the butterfly is the only living being that changes DNA during its lifecycle. Can you imagine having a transformation that changes your biological makeup to the extent that it is no longer recognizable by the very markers that we have come to believe are the authority on our biological identity?
With this extraordinary information in hand, we can translate our own spiritual experiences into the same kind of transformative abilities that a butterfly manifests biologically. We can begin to understand our very nature as spiritual humans.
Most comforting, is it not? If we begin to feel limited (such as the caterpillar who is praying to have wings), or we feel isolated (such as the cocoon stage of the lifecycle), these situations are changing and we will experience the transformation to beauty, freedom, delight, and love that our heart desires.
Collecting Butterfly Energies
How to discover the butterfly within and nurture the attributes you desire.
The attributes of butterfly nature are within you. Every human being has a link to the energies of every other living being. The key is to discover which of the energies you feel most vitalized with. Some of the attributes of the butterfly are:*Adaptability
*Freedom
*Courage
*Change
*Growth
Julia White suggests, "Examine which stage calls your attention the most: the egg is the beginning, the birth of some project or idea. The larva is the decision to manifest something in the physical world. The cocoon has to do with "going inside", either through insight or the development of the project or idea. The breaking of the cocoon deals with sharing the splendor of your creation with the whole world. (White, J)
As we compare the butterfly life cycle with the cycle of spiritual growth we can better understand what part of our current growth phase we are in.
Have you ever stopped and thought to yourself "How did I get here again?" You may have believed that you had a back sliding experience in your development? The truth is that you were probably experiencing one of the cycle phases again, but, at a different level of growth.
Understanding this development secret will help you sit with every new phase as it comes along, without being judgmental. The only reason that it 'feels' similar is because the process of growth is simple and has cycling phases. However, there is nothing simple about the transformations that are happening right before our inner eyes. We are extraordinary beings with exceptional opportunities and are always growing toward our full potentials.
Visit these extraordinary resources!
Want more information about the resources featured in this article?
The following links will take you to the full articles that have been highlighted here. These excellent articles will take your imagination to manifestation. You will find everything you need to create your own butterfly garden, discover the joy of cooperation with nature, and nurture the earth.
- How To Create A Butterfly Garden
- "If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, you can have them - if you plan accordingly."
- Attracting Beautiful Butterflies to Your Garden
- "To attract the largest amount of butterflies and have them as occupants in your yard you will have to include plants that serve the needs of all life cycles of the butterfly."
- Wikipedia - The Little Prince
- Antoine de Saint Exupery wrote: "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."
- Julia White - Totem Animals
- "Scientific research has shown that the butterfly is the only living being capable of changing entirely its genetic structure during the process of transformation: the caterpillar's DNA is totally different from the butterflies. Thus, it is the symbol of total transformation. Butterfly represents a need for change and greater freedom, and at the same time it represents courage: one requires courage to carry out the changes necessary in the process of growth. Its Medicine is related to the air and the mental powers. It teaches us to find clarity in the mental processes, to organize projects or to figure out the next step in our internal growth. If Butterfly is your Power Animal or if you feel in any way attracted to it, this means you are ready to undergo some kind of transformation. Examine which stage calls your attention the most: the egg is the beginning, the birth of some project or idea. The larva is de decision to manifest something in the physical world. The cocoon has to do with "going inside", either through insight or the development of the project or idea. The breaking of the cocoon deals with sharing the splendor of your creation with the whole world." - Julia White
White, J. (unknown) Totem Animals, Retrieved May 5, 2008 from http://www.crystalinks.com/totemanimals.html
Butterfly Gifts on CafePress
Butterfly Items on eBay
This selection changes regularly as new auctions begin and others end.
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Favorite Butterfly Books - Add Your Own - Vote For Favorites.
Butterfly Gardening: Creating Summer Magic in Your Garden by Xerces Society, Smithsonian Institution
This revised edition of the classic handbook descr more...0 points
National Wildlife Federation Attracting Birds, Butterflies & Backyard Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation) by David Mizejewski
A backyard can come alive by creating an environme more...0 points
References:
Krischik, V. (1998) Creating a Butterfly Garden: University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service, Retrieved May 3, 2008 from http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/DG6711e.html
Parsons, J. (2003) Butterflies in bloom: Texas A&M University , Aggie Horticulture, Retrieved May 3, 2008 from http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/butterflies/index.html
Parsons, J. (2003) Butterflies in bloom: Texas A&M University , Aggie Horticulture, Retrieved May 3, 2008 from http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/butterflies/index.html
Create A Butterfly Garden Guest Book
~GUESTBOOK~
Thank you for dropping by. Please let us know you were here and tell us what book you added to the list, which part of the butterfly lifecycle can you most relate to, or anything else you would like to share.
Brightest Blessings,
GypsyOwl
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Jewelsofawe
lovely lens. I would like to have a butterfly garden. Posted September 02, 2008 |
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GypsyMiracle
Loved your lens on "Create a Butterfly Garden ". Very informative and interesting. Learned things that I did not know before. Please stop by at my lens DHT Blockers Posted August 29, 2008 |
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Paraiba
Thanks for sharing! 5/5 Posted August 05, 2008 |
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Tiddledeewinks
Nice! Check out my lens all about butterflies at Butterflies-Galore. Posted July 25, 2008 |
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goawayacne
Best lens I've seen in a while! Posted July 23, 2008 |
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poddys
Very nice lens, love the layout and content. 5***** Posted July 03, 2008 |
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Amanda_Blue
I love butterflies and this lens! Is that narcissistic of me? Posted July 01, 2008 |
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eccles1
What a beautiful lens! Posted July 01, 2008 |
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KonaGirl
Another beautiful lens from a very talented lensmaster! Thank you so much for brightening my day! Posted June 30, 2008 |
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jacquelinestone
Hi, GypsyOwl. This is another wonderful lens. Posted June 16, 2008 |
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sisterra
Beautiful lens! I loved it. Posted June 14, 2008 |
Agricuture Extension Sevice - Butterflies In Bloom
Don't forget to visit your local Ag Extension Website at a University near you!
Nearly every university has community based resources to help people learn what works best in the area. Contacting your local Ag Extension Service is often as easy as a google search.
To find yours, google Your City, Your State, Agriculture Extension.
Each of the following links can be found on the Aggie Horticulture website previously referenced. I have listed the index links according to the Butterflies in Bloom website.
This will allow you to search for butterflies, flowers, life cycle info, or other information with ease.
To find yours, google Your City, Your State, Agriculture Extension.
Each of the following links can be found on the Aggie Horticulture website previously referenced. I have listed the index links according to the Butterflies in Bloom website.
This will allow you to search for butterflies, flowers, life cycle info, or other information with ease.
- Butterflies of North America
- The Butterflies of North America section of the Index has the following links.
- Butterflies In Bloom
- Butterflies in Bloom is the work of Dr Parsons. This creative and dynamic photography is more than just educational.
- Index by Butterfly
- This index link will allow you to search by butterfly. If you are not sure which butterfly you are looking for, perhaps the following link will be more helpful.
- Index by Flower
- This link allows you to search by flower. The cross referencing indexes allow anyone to browse the beautiful world of butterflies.
- Life Cycle Gallery
- Creating the most effective habitat for butterflies will mean that we have provided for every stage of the butterflies cycle of life. This index will provide quick resources for each part of the butterfly garden planning and implementation process.
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