For many, the beginning of the New Year is a sense of transformation, a time to evaluate life in its current state and set goals for starting change.
The butterfly symbolizes evolution and joy. His dance reflects the need for movement from where we are to our next stage of life.
Butterflies are considered messengers of the universe. They are the symbol of transformation, of personal metamorphosis. In ancient Greece, the butterfly represented the psyche.
Seeing one or more of them indicates that changes will occur in your life. Like the butterfly, you will live a tremendous spiritual evolution.
Butterfly as a symbol in Other Cultures
According to ancient religions, when you met a butterfly, it was a sign of a divine intervention that would bring good news and changes for your life.
For the Greeks, seeing a butterfly meant seeing the soul of a person incarnated in this species. In this way, when they were seen, it was a sign that the dead wanted to talk to you or give you a signal.
It is probably from this belief that what we have until now considered to be the most important omen linked to this species: “to see a butterfly is the meaning of death”.
From a more scientific point of view, the colors and shapes of the butterflies are due to many factors related to their habitat and way of life.
These characteristics refer to mechanisms of defense, mimicry and camouflage against their predators.
In the ancient fairy tale of “Amor and Psyche” Psyche is depicted with the wings of a butterfly. Even the god of love Amor or Eros was compared to a butterfly because of its flighty figure and its wandering around.
Especially a white butterfly symbolizes the spirit of a dead man. Sometimes the butterfly is also presented along with a chrysanthemum and then symbolizes beauty in old age.
Especially graceful are representation of the baby Jesus with a butterfly. In Eastern views, the butterfly symbolizes a young woman (in Japan) and in China a young man in love. When people are in love, they say they have butterflies in their stomach.
Two fluttering butterflies indicate partnership love accordingly. Even in the superstition of the people, butterflies have multiple meanings. If you z. If, for example, you first saw a yellow or white butterfly in spring, you were hoping for luck in money, while a gray butterfly brings bad luck.
In the therapeutic dream work and in the imagination, the butterfly is often a symbol of personal spiritual transformation. The larva of the butterfly and the caterpillar point to still unconscious soul parts, while the colorful butterfly displays the beauty of the unfolded soul.
Brown Butterfly Symbolism in General
These beautiful butterflies are associated with life and death. For some indigenous tribes they are symbol of death omen. Some believe that abundance, good luck and independence are coming.
However, when you see this extraordinary species, spend a moment of your time thinking about your ancestors, asking them to guide you and lead you on the right path. Commonly the brown butterflies are interpreted with negativism.
The brown butterfly is a different species that works with magical energy and from which we will decide if we obtain that positive or negative charge for our life.
Associated with sudden changes and end of a stage, when you see a brown butterfly, concentrate on thinking things.
The meaning or symbolism of a butterfly is considered from a mythical point of view and the interpretations may vary depending on the geography, culture or the simple association that a person makes with an unusual event.
This is why there are countless meanings associated with butterflies throughout the world and it is not difficult to find some that overlap or even contradict each other.
No matter what the culture or latitude, butterflies are a universal symbol of transformation and evolution in life. This process of metamorphosis that makes them capable of passing, of crawling to the earth to be enclosed within a cocoon, to then be able to fly free through the blue sky, is incredible. All human beings struggle to transform their lives and evolve like a butterfly.
Brown Butterfly Spiritual meaning
Butterflies have been considered by many cultures as entities that can fly between the world of the living and that of the dead, due to the lightness of their flight.
As they connect both worlds, it is also considered that they may be able to transport the souls of the dead among them. In Ireland around the seventeenth century, it was believed that white butterflies possessed the soul of innocent and pure dead children, so it was forbidden to kill them.
Tattoos on the skin with representations of butterflies are quite common, especially in women. Some choose it because they seem majestic and beautiful creatures, without any special reason.
However for others it is a symbol of freedom and transformation, which reminds them of a transcendent change in their life.
Meaning of Butterflies in a dream
Dreaming of a butterfly is almost always considered a good omen and usually means a new job opportunity, a new relationship or a new beginning.
Only when the butterfly appears consumed by darkness in the dream is it a sign that something bad can happen.
Meaning of butterflies according to colors
Associated to the colors and the forms that the wings of the adult butterflies exhibit, one finds the greatest number of superstitions or beliefs.
The black butterflies are the ones that have had the worst part, since they are considered witches, advertisers of bad omens and even death.
When a butterfly of this color enters a house, it is usually believed that this is a sign that there will be a period of bad luck or a close death in the family.
Brown or brownish butterflies, depending on their type, can also announce an illness or disgrace to a loved one or a close relative.
White butterflies are considered pure butterflies and therefore symbols of good luck and prosperity. If at the beginning of the year a person crosses with a butterfly of this color, this predicts that it will have a very good year. Blue butterflies also share this meaning.
In the same way, when a large butterfly flies into a house, this is a sign that it will receive a pleasant visit.
Meaning of Butterflies in science
Butterflies are considered in Chaos Theory, which is studied in different branches of science, to explain the sensitivity to the variations that dynamic systems have.
In this context, the concept “butterfly effect” that comes from the popular phrase “the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings can cause a Tsunami on the other side of the world” is used. In this way, reference is made to how, despite being insects so small and fragile, they can generate a considerable effect.
Butterfly is called Psyche in Greek and is therefore the same word for the human soul. The ancient Greek soul animal was a moth, while in the Hellenistic period a butterfly was meant. This indicates that for psychic processes and transformations the butterfly appeared as a suitable symbol.
People were particularly impressed by the fact that a rather unattractive caterpillar through the pupation process could turn into such a beautiful, ethereal entity that could then rise freely into the air and into the sun.
Thus, this process of transformation has often become an image of the transformative power of man from being bound in the material to inner freedom and divinity.
In the old world, the symbolism of butterflies was negative; it was believed that the butterfly is the spirit of the dead. In Gnostic art, the angel of death is depicted crushing a butterfly at the feet. His attraction towards the flame and the light symbolizes the purification by the fire. Sailors who saw a butterfly before boarding believed they were going to die in the sea.
In some parts of England, it is thought that the symbolism of butterflies contains the souls of children who come back to life.
Elsewhere in England, a person is supposed to kill the first butterfly she sees, because otherwise she will face a year of bad luck; if this first symbol of butterflies in spring is yellow, the disease will be there for the whole family.
Butterfly as a Totem Animal
Before being this colorful lepidopter, the butterfly went through the unattractive stage of the caterpillar and then turned into chrysalis to become the twirling animal that we know.
Seeing butterflies is a sign of a significant and necessary change in your life. The path of life of the butterfly is similar to the path you must follow.
The caterpillar is struggling to advance, but it will one day become a butterfly. She is the very example of evolution. A long mutation that requires reflection. It is also by all these stages that we must pass. The child we were no longer really exists, the teenager became an adult.
What we learn from the symbolism of butterflies is this slow evolution towards which we tend. To see a butterfly is a message that you must mature an inner peace, that you must change the vision of your own existence.
After taking the necessary perspective on your life, this flying messenger asks you to spread your wings, to be more free, stronger and to accept what can only be beneficial. The butterfly is a carefree animal, it feeds on nectar and spreads the pollen helping to fertilize. His bright colors are defenses against his predators, they serve him to be confused with the flowers he forages.
The symbolism of butterflies allows you to play this mimicry. Like them you can radiate, spread happiness around you and arm yourself against your own misfortune. Nature sends us daily signs of wisdom, soothing messages.
Like the caterpillar that hides this inner beauty, you must take the time of your metamorphosis. The message sent is that of renewal and rebirth.
Butterfly as a Spirit Animal
Butterflies are animals that like to approach the light. To perceive it means that you have left it in spite of yourself, that you do not follow the path that is intended for you.
They unconsciously confirm that you are looking for answers that you do not get.
At the same time, they seek to make you understand that you are about to be able to change your life. That of today no longer suits you, you are at the stage of the chrysalis.
Trust, transform yourself. There are two kinds of human beings, those who live in their chrysalis and those who break it to become butterflies.