When I began what I now consider to be my calling and my career (even if my path doesn’t quite fit into the conventional notion of one), I was working with a Spanish language tutor (my friend, Gloria).  Gloria delighted in pointing out the words she really loved – words which rolled off the tongue and really spoke of their true meanings…encanta, gusta, gloriosa…mariposa.  I loved and still love that word –mariposa– – it so magically conveys the fragility and vulnerability of the cocoon-state, but also contains the delightful freedom of the future-unfurling insect within.  And then there is the symbolism of renewal, rebirth and transformation contained in that word and the creature so-named.  The word “mariposa”  even has a circular quality when spoken – mari-posa mari-posa – like a rondo’s conclusion seamlessly reuiniting with its beginning, or an incantation reinforcing itself with each new utterance.  So, I felt this word and this idea were at the heart of my new creative undertaking: ideas + vision + raw materials + hope, incubated and released, making room for a new round of work, all the while being nourished by the recurring nature of the process.

I have alluded in other posts to a transition away from my creative immersion into a new phase of work.  That change signaled a metamorphosis – a movement beyond the cocoon.  The notion of the “return” is still a part of my process, but the embrace expands to include something larger – as if I have taken flight, still searching, but firmly on the path – and each creative act is a reunion of self with the enormous potential of the cosmos and a chance to dance with star-dust.  It is humbling to realize through all of this that I am a finite container on the third planet from the sun, situated within a vast solar system, engulfed by an even more impossibly-large galaxy, in a sea of galaxies filling the unfathomable universe….and butterflies are still free.