Short Story : The Woman, The Butterfly And The Tree

This meditale uses an ambient layer called Grace of the Butterfly which is ©Bossom Violet. You will find the track, without words, on her profile. It inspired me to write a short take about life, the universe and everything to make you think about where you are in your soul cycle.

Transcript

This Medi-tale is inspired and accompanied by a track called The Grace of the Butterfly by the very talented Blossom Violet.

Wednesdays were her only day of respite these days.

With her husband safely deposited at the day centre,

They were a much-needed day just for her.

He hardly recognised her at all now.

Daphne,

Her best friend,

Told her off for spending the morning volunteering in the charity bookshop.

But she loved catching up on the gossip and always came away with a gem of a book.

When the weather permitted,

The books were consumed in the park on the same bench under the same tree.

Even though it was an oak,

She thought of it now as her body tree,

Having read a book about the butter's life underneath it a few months back.

Her current tome was The Life Cycle of Butterflies.

She had been nudged to read more about them,

As,

For the last few Wednesdays,

A purple butterfly had landed on the arm of the bench and sat with her for quite some time.

Just after it arrived back again that day,

She leafed through the book and found out that it was called the Purple Hairstreak Butterfly,

And it laid its eggs in oak trees.

That makes sense,

She whispered under her breath.

A voice in her head appeared,

I'm glad I've finally got your attention.

She looked around,

Startled,

And there was nobody to be seen.

The butterfly landed on her knee,

Flapped its wings slowly to get her attention,

And the voice came back again,

Hello Jenny.

The woman wondered if this was the sign of early-stage dementia,

And asked,

Who are you and how do you know my name?

I saw your name on your necklace and I've been wanting to speak to you for a while,

It flapped.

I could really do with your help.

If this is what happens when you get dementia,

It's kind of fun,

She thought,

So she went with it and said,

Ask away.

Do you know how I got here?

Well it says in this book that you lay your eggs in oak trees like this one.

Is that thing on your lap what you call a book?

Asked the butterfly.

Does it talk to you?

Yes,

And sort of,

She answered.

It says that the caterpillars that emerge from your eggs love oak leaves.

Well I know what my eggs look like as I've just laid them,

And what's a caterpillar?

She opened the book and showed the butterfly a photograph of a purple Hairstreak caterpillar.

Can you see this?

Yes I can,

Let me go and see if I can find one.

The woman was loving this,

As it really did seem like the butterfly was talking to her.

When it came back it said,

Well that looks nothing like me,

No wings and all brown,

Not even a patch of purple.

The woman flipped to the next page of the book and showed the butterfly its pupa form.

If you want weird,

This is the chrysalis where the caterpillar changes into you as a butterfly.

You should find some hanging under the branches.

The butterfly flew off again and came back sounding flabbergasted.

I knew there was a reason I came to sit with you,

So I was both of these wants.

That's right,

The woman said,

It's all in the book.

The butterfly went quiet for a while and flapped its wings just a little.

She could tell it was thinking.

So I was an egg,

A caterpillar and a chrysalis,

Before I spread my wings and laid my own egg,

She said.

Where are you in your life cycle?

This was way deeper than the woman was expecting as a line of thought on a day off,

But she thought about it for a while and said,

Well we only have two phases of our life cycles.

First we grow for a while inside our mother,

And then we develop from a child into an adult like you see me now.

At that very point,

A different and deep sonorous voice appeared in the woman's head.

Are you absolutely sure it's only two phases?

The tree had been patiently listening to their conversation,

But felt it was about time he spoke up.

Reviews

Beautiful tale and beautiful playing, a great start to a beautiful day on planet earth

Beautiful message and music, Tom. Brought me to tears in this middle of the night. Thank you.

One month later and listened to the story again first thing this morning. Brought tears again and then saw your note, Tom. I believe these are cleansing tears that fill me with hope and a sense that no matter where we are in our journey, we continue to grow and evolve.

Awww, so marvelous. The music, the message, the magic woven in. 🦋✨🙏🏼

Lovely Tom. I heard the Oak's wisdom then I saw 5.55, the time of my birth 🙏😂🌀💫💖 Thank you and Blossom 🦋

Beautiful meditale, dear Tom, very touching! Lovely music from Blossom Violet 💜🙏

So sweet and captivating. I truly enjoyed listening to the story and hope it will continue 🦋🐛🌳thank you Tom for such a nice start in my Sunday morning with Blossoms music and your words 🙏🏻

A lovely story but I want to hear more. Will there be a sequel?

Heartwarming. I’m left speechless with the beauty of the story and the music. Blessings.

How delightful! Looking forward to playing with this!

Ahh Tom.
You truly are divinely guided magic. :) ✨🙏🏼

A wonderful and thought provoking meditale with beautiful music. A delightful mix. Thank you, Tom, I appreciate what you create so much 🥰

Thank you, Tom🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻I absolutely LOVE this “meditale”(fun new word!). The pianomusic is captivating as well, and took over right when the oak tree was going to engage in the conversation. So I never heard its words. Is that coming in a sequel of the story? 🙏🏻🌟🌳🌟🙏🏻
P.S. Read Kelli’s inquiry and your response with interest. It reminded me of the time I lived at the outskirts of Antwerp, near a park, and I used to visit 2 different trees with regularity: one felt distinctively female - I called her the grandmother tree- and the other tree felt male. So now, you confirmed that trees can be female or male, or even male-female…

Wonderful tale, gorgeous background music! Thank you very much. 💖🙏✨

Morning Blessings Tom, lovely to have this as a choice this very windy am in VA, in the US. It took me along the journey in a day in the life of a woman, a butterfly and an Oak tree, to the library bench, the woman, the butterfly and their curiosity.
Their interaction had me captivated, curious and calm in their mutual learning experience.

When the tree entered offering its inquiry I heard a “He” pronoun. A pronoun that left me curious as to why the Oak Tree received a pronoun and the pronoun was “He”.
I had not heard a pronoun up until the entry of the Oak Tree.
Insight Timer at its core leaves us curious, and wanting more information about ourselves, much like this story.

Edited respond to your kind reply.
Appreciate your inquiry and yes that is indeed correct. Since none of the others had an assigned pronoun in the story, perhaps the Oak Tree in its presence and contribution doesn’t need one as well.

Thank you.

Love hearing the blend of my 2 favourite teachers ❤️🙏❤️

Lovely and thought-provoking story. Beautiful piano music! 🙏🏼💝🌟

Lovely story, perfectly timed, and made even more beautiful with Blossom Violet's enchanting piano music. 🎹 💜

I look back and realize how many different stages of life we go through and take stock of from time to time. Wonderful music too. Thanks Tom🙏🏻

Hi Tom. I love this short 🦋🦋story 💜. Thank you for the invitation to collaborate. Loving this idea. 💜🙏🥰

Really enjoyed that… thank you for the reminder that we are more.