I picked an oracle card before bed last night, perhaps prompted by my tiredness and wanting a cheer. I chose Doreen Virtue’s angels of abundance deck and the card “Release your jealousy” came up.
I am the least jealous person around! The words on the card don’t make sense to me. However I have learnt many times when working with her oracle cards that the message can come from the picture instead.
I saw animals and a tree. For the strangest reason, that made me think of Narnia, the world created by CS Lewis and specifically the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. Maybe it’s time to pray to God and set upon Him my burdens.
I then noticed the butterflies in the card. I actually don’t know what they symbolise! A quick Google search reveals that they represent the process of spiritual transformation, which I agree – when it goes from a papua to a butterfly. However, for some reason, that doesn’t gel with me. I read on. Butterflies have short life span, lasting from a day to months. The average life span of most butterflies is a month according to one source.
I was reminded of the brevity of life. That it’s best to spend our time and energy on people and things that truly matter to us. Butterflies have a four stage life cycle – from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly. Therefore, the form of butterfly is its final stage of life, the climax and most brilliant and spectacular phase. This is a reminder to me that we should treasure the best years of our lives and not squander it on meaningless pursuits. Just like butterflies which go from flower to flower and helping with the pollination process, perhaps that could be liken to a teacher helping to extend the creativity of her students as part of her final life work.