By Pascale: It is common for people to experience spontaneous contact with a deceased loved one, without the help of a medium. Even though these moments are subjective and often perceived by others as tricks of the imagination, such contacts typically bring relief and a sense of peace to the recipient, especially during or after a period of grief. Anyone can experience such spontaneous occurrence, and you don’t need to be specifically gifted* or attuned to the paranormal to do so.
There are simple signs and symbols that occur naturally, which can hint at a loved one’s presence around you and bring a message of comfort. You don’t need to be a professional medium** to understand those signs and symbols, merely to learn to decipher and understand them.
Deceased loved ones can be creative in finding numerous channels to communicate with the living and which involve any of your senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste), and also through symbols and dreams.
This article will explore two ways that a loved one is trying to communicate with you and sending you a message:
– Strong symbol: Butterflies/Moths -Part I
– Dreams and symbols – Part II
Butterflies/Moths (Part I)
What caterpillar calls death, butterfly calls rebirth.
The butterfly is a strong spiritual symbol. In many cultures and religions, it represents metamorphosis: the caterpillar disappears and re-appears entirely transformed into a butterfly or a moth. It is a symbol of birth, rebirth, transformation, immortality, vulnerable beauty, resurrection, reincarnation, the soul, hope, faith. It brings the immortal soul to mind, which points to the spiritual realm.
By analogy to this animal’s life, the significance associated with butterfly emphasizes the ability to move from one state, one perspective, or one way of life to another.
The butterfly also represents the symbol of the soul detached from its body. Some beliefs have it that a body is perceived as cumbersome and ugly, thus highlighting soul’s pure beauty and this is why butterfly is so stunning.
The presence of butterfly in your life encourages you to connect with your inner world and spirituality.
It is also symbolic of two worlds. No matter what your ideas and beliefs, it invites you to connect with your deepest and truest self. It calls upon you to develop the infinite wealth held within your inner world. What is inside you, your truth, is what enables your freedom. For transformation and growth to be had, like the caterpillar, it is often necessary to go through a period of withdrawal, which is positive in its outcome, but which can reveal painful to go through, because spending time alone looking within is rarely pleasant or comfortable. Change doesn’t happen overnight and everyone is different. Effort and persistence are required.
When the butterfly emerges from its cocoon, it is still a vulnerable being, but it has a new way of propulsion: flight, as well as the ability to focus on what is good, the flower’s nectar, representing thirst being quenched, or the sheer enjoyment derived from new or renewed relationships. This symbol is strongly associated with the ability to find joy in life and lightness of being. It is deeply ingrained within each of us.
Travelling/Wandering Souls
Thanks to its ethereal/fragile body, the butterfly is thought of as a travelling soul. Below are few and brief examples of various beliefs held by different cultures.
Some cultures (Iran, Turkish cultures of central Asia) see moths as the new shapes of their deceased loved ones.
In Greek, the literal meanings of ambrosia and nectar are “immortality” and “overcoming death,” respectively. The butterfly was also united/combined by two symbols, represented in the story of a mortal woman who receives a pair of butterfly wings when she becomes a goddess. Her name is “Psyche”. The story tells of love marrying the soul. In Roman antiquity, Psyche is represented by a small winged girl, resembling a butterfly.
Aztecs believe that the soul comes out of a dead body through its mouth, in the form of a butterfly, and if you see a butterfly flying over flower fields, this would represent the soul of a warrior who died in battle.
For Mexicans, the black butterfly becomes a black sun symbol; they see in it the symbol of hell’s fire, of underground fire, that which is associated to death, sacrifice and resurrection.
For the Japanese, butterflies symbolize transformation and soul’s rebirth. The white butterfly, in particular, is considered a messenger of death; however, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it invariably means bad news when you see one.
Many believe that a butterfly is a sign of a dead relative making their presence felt. Some think that the white butterfly can represent a deceased loved one’s soul or the arrival of better days. The black butterfly represents tides’ cycles, predicts an end, and a renewal.
At other times, the butterfly reveals an intense desire to flourish, to become a better version of yourself, or to come out of your comfort zone… no matter what form this may take. What is predominant, is the need to move forward.
There are also numerous interpretations for white, dark, and brightly coloured butterflies, which are not delved into here. For example, some philosophies occasionally see black butterflies as a negative or positive omen. Some believe that seeing a black butterfly means death. Whose death it is often is left up to the person witnessing the butterfly’s flight interpretation. It could even mean the end of a situation, the death of a job or a relationship.
Often, when grieving a loved one who has passed, the appearance of a butterfly is mostly comforting, bringing relief in the knowledge that a loved one is present, signalling that the loved one is at peace and lives on in another realm and in your heart. After the passing of a loved one, there have been numerous reports over butterflies resting on people, flying around them for a while even as they moved, and experiencing a connection that conveyed reassurance and peace. This doesn’t happen by chance: The butterfly is, after all, a symbol of rebirth and resurrection due to its metamorphosis process. This view echoes strongly with one of my own very subjective experiences:
I saw and felt the strong presence of a white butterfly when one of my old dogs passed: one evening, our vet was called home to help relieve our sixteen year old dog, “Puff”, from his constant and incurable pain to help him cross over the rainbow bridge. As I lay on my bed in the dark, I held Puff’s empty collar with one hand and closed my eyes, (I did not fall asleep), the unexpected presence of a white butterfly imprinted itself in my field of vision, large, clear and bright. At first, I felt disbelief and confusion, so I opened and closed my eyes again and still, the butterfly was hovering. It lasted for a few precious minutes and I clung to this presence as much as I could, because it brought relief and I became convinced that Puff was no longer in pain and that this is how he bid farewell.
It is true that, at the time of this occurrence, I might have been far too aggrieved to be objective, and that my vision might easily have been dubbed as that of someone experiencing a trick of her imagination. Nevertheless, hindsight hasn’t brought any more wisdom nor acknowledgement to that plausible truth, and in my heart and mind, I know that Puff had been there with me, before being welcomed by loved ones on the other side. What about you, what is your experience of butterflies and the world beyond?
Love & Light,
Pascale
*There is a misconception that some are more gifted in the paranormal, intuition, mediumship, than others. This is not entirely true and is debatable, but it isn’t the subject of this article.
**To the exception of interpreting small signs and symbols that a loved one is around you and understanding the underlying messages, it is recommended that you do not to attempt to do mediumship on your own, especially if you are a beginner and to seek guidance from a trustworthy medium to do so.
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