Monarch Butterfly Mandala (D017)

Monarch Butterfly Mandala

This painting was begun months before my stroke last year, and it got set aside in August as my father came to the end of his convalescence from Lewy Body Dementia after a long and full life. It was only after I had been through my own mortality scare that I found the heart within me to return to finish this painting.

Playing with layers of secondary mandala impressions in the outer rings, given all of the transformative life energies contained within its period of creation, this has truly become an icon to me of total transformation—on its own time, for its own purpose.

The Monarch Butterfly itself follows an impressive migratory pattern, arriving seasonally to the forests of Mexico just in time for the _Dia de los Muertos_ celebrations. These butterflies with their orange wings form part of the Muertos decorations and costumes (the same way that the marigold orange blossoms of summer's last fading glory also are associated with that holiday), symbolizing the returning souls.

Death, Rebirth, Chrysalis, Transformation, and Reinvention of the Self in a higher form are all wrapped up in this butterfly's symbolism for me. And that is why the dance of colors from forest and autumn dappled greens, and twilight's growing purples and blues whispering of the approach of midnight, represents a pivotal period of survival in my life.

Choose the Monarch Butterfly Mandala when you sense the ongoing slow transformation in your life, when patience is needed for there are no shortcuts to be had. Find your Center in this icon of life's natural cycles of change, and follow the trail of butterfly wings to find your Next.