It’s all about butterflies this year!
I’m Heather Jackson and new to the Global Ecovillage Network, but having being married to Ross now since 2022 am naturally immersed in him, his friends, places, history, family and now increasingly this glorious network in helping to dream up the festivities for the 30 years anniversary of the founding of GEN in Findhorn Ecovillage in 1995. I’ve also recently been studying online with Gaia Education (who are celebrating their 20 year birthday too) these courses I’m currently drawing on as we practice rewilding and regenerative farming on our 19 hectares here at Duemosegaard in Denmark.
Imaginal Cells
I’m art school trained and used to work professionally as a designer and must confess had harboured a feeling that the butterfly logo was a light and airy-fairy symbol, a little passé, a wee bit “meh”. But, as I looked into it, the symbolism of the caterpillar evolving into a butterfly folded me in its wings and took me on a journey to the very heart of its imaginal cells. The metaphor began imparting a warm and fuzzy feeling, a hope for the future in bringing about an opportunity for something unprecedented to occur. The logo of the Global Ecovillage Network holds the tale of butterfly’s transmutation, which appears to be a prophecy of the possibility of a startlingly beautiful and incredible emergence for humanity. In short, hope comes fluttering out into sunlight all over the world because of GEN.
Late Developer
It was only two winters ago that I first heard the story of how the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly could be a dream scenario for the transformation of society. A friend was visiting one icy afternoon. We sat in a room overlooking brittle grey fields surrounding Duemosegaard (Dove Lake Farm), the wood-burning stove glowed orange in the corner and she told me this story over cups of steaming tea.
Once Upon a Time
There was a big juicy green caterpillar which spent its days in a verdant garden, happily consuming obscene quantities of food. This feeding frenzy continued until it was so bloated that it hung itself up and went to sleep, its skin hardened into a chrysalis and all went quiet. It wasn’t dead though, a miraculous transformation was occurring, leaving the heart as the only remaining part of the caterpillar which didn’t undergo transformation, as those imaginal cells busied themselves for the eventual emergence of a butterfly.
Legions of Larvae
In studying those selfish caterpillars consuming all the food we find a powerful metaphor for humanity’s overconsumption of the planet’s resources, especially since the Industrial Revolution. It’s indeed been a very selfish 250 years, a time when 1% of humanity controlled the wealth, raped the land, polluted the seas, the air, wiped out thousands of other species, destroyed vast ecosystems and places which indigenous peoples called home. The story goes on with us facing the ghastly repercussions of these legions of greedy old men; war, famine, genocide, migration and Mother Nature’s massive slap to humankind – climate change.
Older GENeration
I thought the tale was my friend’s own brilliant creation, but later that day as I enthusiastically retold it to Ross I learnt:
1. That it’s hard to have a truly original thought.
2. My old friend was a shameless self promoter.
Ross cast his remarkable blue eyes upon me and gently, yet firmly explained that it was a succinct illustration for the catalyst of change from within which GEN took a liking to 30 years ago. But for Ross and Hildur, Robert and Diane Gilman, Albert Bates, Max Lindegger, Hamish Stewart, Declan Kennedy, John Talbott and a powerful array of like-minded souls past and present who gathered in Findhorn in October 1995 this story of metamorphosis took on a mythical dimension when a real butterfly landed upon the overhead projector. The butterfly descended just as Ross had been presenting the actual story of the transformation of the caterpillar! Following this divine intervention Ross pronounced the Global Ecovillage Network officially launched, and the next day a young artist presented the GEN butterfly logo – brilliant!
Float Like A Butterfly
The butterfly travels on as the logo for GEN and as not merely a symbol of hope that something wonderful will happen, it already has! Our bloated old system is rapidly becoming defunct while the vision of a new and very different society, long held by many ‘imaginal cell’ humans (you know who you are) who dreamt of a better world, is now emerging like a butterfly.
We can’t “eat” any more of the old ways of thinking, so let us rise and show the world our beautiful wings.
Love is Like a Butterfly
Here at our home at Duemosegaard we’ve planted a tiny forest in the shape of a butterfly. In April hundreds of daffodil bulbs should emerge, and then later in the summer the form picked out in thousands of orange marigolds.
Spread your Wings and Fly
Ecovillagers around the world are currently sending photographs to the GEN Instagram and Facebook pages from their communities where they’re arranging themselves in butterfly formations.
Send a Butterfly to Ross
Another idea is for friends, family, and most notably ecovillagers and their children everywhere to send papa Ross a postcard (landscape A5) with a butterfly on it which represents where you live and why you love the concept of ecovillages. I will hang all the fluttering cards up in an immersive exhibition here in our nice gallery space, then invite you all by live-stream to come and join us for some festivities in October (tba).
Heather Jackson
Duemosegaard 