On Saturday, while upstairs in the lab working on new editions of Terrestre, Chaparral and Muse, I was nudged to go make sure that I had locked my car. Reluctant to step away from my concentrated work, I waited for a good pausing point from the very tedious and meticulous work of pouring essences in specific weights based on notations in a three ring binder. Yes indeed, I use an old school three ring binder, lined sheets of paper and a thin black market to make notations while blending.
Finally, headed downstairs with car keys in hand, opened the front door and clicked the closed lock icon on my keys. Since I was down there I turned to check on the potted rose plant next to the door. To my surprise I noticed a Swallowtail butterfly tucked in the corner. I starred down in awe, wondering what she could possibly be doing tucked down there under the thicket of rose branches….and was she still alive?
I zoomed up the stairs of the perfumery like lightening to grab my phone, camera, our dedicated insect tweezers and a small cardboard box, then zoomed back down intending she was still there. Sure enough, there she was. As I surveyed the situation and contemplated what to do first, I heard someone say “I see you found the butterfly I left for you…” I turned around to see Rachel, the manager here at Lena Street Loft smiling from her white Prius. She has just turned the corner of building C as I was standing out there speculating on what to do. I said to her “Oh it was you! I was wondering how she got in there!” Then Rachel said “I found her in the parking lot right over there.” I placed my hand on my heart and thanked her for being so thoughtful.
Next, I took the tweezers and very gently pulled her out of the corner, careful to avoid the leaves of the rose bush and placed her into the box. As I walked upstairs, marveling at such a splendid gift, I considered how that voice had taken me out of the revelry of blending to discover that butterfly and have Rachel drive by the perfumery just as I was contemplating what to do.
It also did not escape my thoughts that butterflies are a symbol of transformation, which we as a collective are most definitely experiencing in a giant way. In every sacred moment we have the opportunity to choose love, elevated consciousness, hope, faith and to operate outside the box, in the circular field of oneness.