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I don't think about manifestation as being about getting stuff. For me, it's all about aligning my thoughts and awareness with the Universe. I want to be intimately familiar with the creator of all.

Book Launch party April7, 2024

I will provide light lunch food (maybe a cake?)

Feed Your Vision, Dissolve the Worm

Unknown to the caterpillar, some small clumps of cells called imaginal discs have resided inside it since the caterpillar’s beginning. They are very tiny, and their growth is suppressed as long as the caterpillar is munching away. Once the caterpillar hangs itself and becomes a chrysalis, the growth of the imaginal discs commences.

I learned recently that the caterpillar doesn’t go meekly. It sees the imaginal discs as an invader and mounts an immune response to those discs. The caterpillar temporarily clings to its old identity. But as the imaginal discs grow quickly, they overcome the caterpillar’s immune response with chemicals that break down it’s cells.

The imaginal cells have a lot of work to do. In addition to breaking down the resistance of the caterpillar, and then metabolizing its contents, the imaginal cells also have to put themselves together into a coherent structure called butterfly. Each imaginal disc exists to make one part of the final insect. There is a separate disc for each eye, each antenna, each leg, etc. The parts must assemble into the whole of the butterfly like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. And this part of our transformation metaphor is important to consider.

The metaphysical story of the caterpillar is all about identity. When birth spits us out into this world of physicality, we take on the identity of everything around us. Our job is to learn the “rules” of the physical world and how we fit into it. It is not about our dream. Most of the time our dream, if we have one, is hidden and stuffed away. As children, the dream often gets ridiculed, or even punished. When we have taken in all the ego-driven lessons about life we can stand, we sense our stuckness. If we turn within at this time, we can begin to let the dream grow.

We have now set up the war between worm and butterfly. Worm Denita doesn’t want to give up thinking small, taking little bites and staying comfortable. It feels the energy being sucked out of its small, unimaginative self. Worm Denita feels like it is turning to mush. (And indeed, she currently has the flu. For two weeks!)

By now, butterfly Denita is making itself known. The dream begins to grow, but it is not yet whole. The inkling of what it could become is still in its infancy. It is still all in parts, without knowing the whole butterfly. Some of the imaginal discs are saying, “I’m becoming an author and speaker.” But worm Denita doesn’t want to surrender the beliefs around wormness—keeping it safe and grounded. And that’s not the only imaginal disc seeking to be fed. A butterfly needs legs and a head and eyes and a heart. All these parts must be allowed to grow into the butterfly. In my own journey, I take stock of all the aspects of the dream’s life. Doing this, I discover that I have left behind some relationship discs. What will these parts look like in the final butterfly? They will need to be fed.

When we find ourselves in this situation, it’s time to put our attention on the vision—to flesh out how all the parts fit together into the stunning butterfly. It’s also the time to allow those imaginal discs to grow. Life will begin to present obstacles to show us what we need to let go. When it appears things are not going our way, it is the Universe showing us what to release. Accept this, and surrender to its message. Each time we do this, the release makes a tremendous amount of energy available to the imaginal discs. We must commit to feed the dream. That is our main job. To release all the beliefs, attitudes, and fear that holds us back. When we can see the wholeness of the dream, that is the reward that keeps us willing to let go. When we let go, the imaginal discs know what to do. They can assemble themselves without our forcing it. We just keep letting go, feeding the discs, and allowing our new identity to emerge.