CATERPILLAR

I photographed this Yellow Woolly Bear Caterpillar while walking at the park near my home. It inspired me to learn more about these fuzzy insects.

CATERPILLAR MEDICINE-

Metamorphosis is the magic inherent within insects, and it's how they teach us about life. We tend to have a flight or fight response to challenges. We judge ourselves or blame others when we encounter obstacles instead of realizing they are just part of the process called life. Like the caterpillar who has no idea how to be a butterfly, the process of metamorphosis requires surrendering to the process and faith in uncertainty, all while making space for something new to emerge. It's not an easy undertaking. Life itself goes through the same four stages a caterpillar experiences- Fetus (egg), Birthing/Childhood (caterpillar/larva), Adolescence (pupa), and Adulthood (adult butterfly). Everything we dream of creating in life has to go through these same four stages. Within the metamorphosis are the keys to creating and manifesting. Like caterpillars, all ideas and creations begin as an egg.

The final stage is the one we often avoid or rush through. It is a painful one for the butterfly. Within the chrysalis, the newly formed butterfly is tender, so to break through the hard protective layer, the butterfly must push, wiggle, and force against the hard shell. It takes fighting for the new life it's painfully built to emerge as the beautiful new winged creation it's become.

The caterpillar's journey reminds us that we are never the same and that the process our creations take is rarely the one we imagine. That force and often pain are also the power of creation.