There is a story I know – perhaps you know it too.  But this time I am telling it – and when we tell old stories the flavour is often new because it is told in our own voice with our own cadence and tone.  I hope you enjoy this tale told anew.

It’s about a caterpillar… this caterpillar is green and when he or she moves, her body telescopes into itself and she creeps along over the green leaves of my garden munching as she goes. I don’t have the heart to squish her – sometimes I pick her off the leaf and propel her across the yard to the inhospitable skerrick of lawn – I guess that is not the kindest thing.. but it is what I do – and so if all is to be revealed then I confess to this.

Anyway this caterpillar is a magical being. She/ he/ it..(Google tells me it doesn’t have a sex at this stage but ‘it’ is a little too impersonal) understands the importance of inching around on the leaves and munching as much as possible rapidly growing herself out of her skin 3 -4 times before either the huge human descends and plucks her out of her comfort place.. and sends her flying or – she finds real purpose – the creating of the chrysalis.

Life slows down… life becomes constricted as she weaves a tiny silken pad – attaches her little hooks into it and suspends herself from a twig or leaf. There she develops a shiny hardened outer casing – the pupa – some spin silken cocoons – or even pull the leaf of a plant around them for extra protection. Either way she walls herself in .. totally isolated, totally unknown.. and in a completely instinctual act. 

Soon comes the soup .. the soup?.. “You mean I am to dissolve?”.. but “Yes dear caterpillar that, is what is to happen. You dissolve.. in fact you digest yourself, the enzymes that come from your own body disintegrate your form”.. and the cells that are in the resulting soup are known as this … the ‘imaginal cells’.

These cells, or discs are actually present since before the first caterpillar was hatched from the egg…. the potential is always there – The cells that can only imagine the magical state to come .. and even then, what is this imagining but a wisp of cellular memory – that cellular memory which begins to form something entirely new.

This is the time of complete metamorphosis.

So why am I telling you about caterpillars.. and the magical metamorphosis into the butterfly… because my dear .. this is the time, the time has come – it is now – not next week, not sometime later, sometime never.. it is imminent.
We are standing on the brink of our time to spin .. or to form our protective coating the pupa.. to release the enzymes to dissolve the old being .. to allow the imaginal discs to reveal their potential – our potential.

This has been a time for us all of turmoil and questioning and seemingly never ending discussion of what is and what is to come and what is real and what is not. It can be seen as a dangerous time – our soft bodies exposed to all the potential threats just as the caterpillar is exposed in the transition to the pupa.

Restricted external freedoms.. is this our chrysalis… hiding behind masks, behind doors, behind social distancing, is this our pupa?

The great time of not knowing.

Of course it has always been so.. we never really know what tomorrow brings – but in the past it seemed more certain – we could simply inch around our world munching as we went.. shedding a few old skins and hiding out to avoid the occasional predator.. but it was quite stable really.

And now.. is it different? – it feels that way. The pressure continues to build, the restriction feels tighter – but deep inside when you really look, perhaps a glimpse can be found of the imaginal cells also waiting – patient – without hurry, without anxiety – simply there – in the wings .. waiting to create our wings.

Is there an urgency in this? Is there stress in this? Is there even any planning involved? Goals, – does the caterpillar have a goal to stretch its wings and fly?
An innate purpose deep inside –
an innate purpose leading it forward to find the right place to attach its body ready to let go..
We have that.
It is there.
It is out beyond the concern and the worry and the mind. Deep inside a purpose that is to be revealed all in good time. Perhaps not tomorrow.. or even later today – waiting seems to be part of the game – but a waiting that is without any pushing toward whatever is coming. For the whatever is coming is the unknown. First comes the dissolving .. first comes the soup.. follow the shape of the leaf you are on. Complete the cycle of time you are in.. do what is to be done before you – if you are the caterpillar that is simply to eat – and when you are full to shed your skin and to eat again.
It is not the time to leap to another bush.. it is not the time even to fly.. (unless that human intervenes!) because the imaginal cells are waiting – in repose, there ready when they are needed to bring in the metamorphosis – this time the metamorphosis of our Being – and with it the metamorphosis of mankind.

Your job is simply to relax into the transition. Listen – be present – wake up – trust your inner being – trust the knowing which is present in us all – slow down – hang on .. we are in for the ride whether we like it or not!!