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NATION OF WINGED PEOPLE
Part 1 of Chapter 14         (neat  MCE) 


Dear friends,    

   The following is from the book The Voice of the Infinite in the Small by 
Joanne Lauck and published by Swan-Raven & Company.  I furnished some of the

material covered in the chapter on butterflies called Nation of Winged People.  
I strongly recommend that you give this a read.  Joanne is a friend of the 
Butterfly Gardeners Association and provided this chapter as a gift to all on
the 
butterfly email list.    The Butterfly project is in part 2 of Nation of 
Winged People in the section entitled Transforming Ourselves and Society.  This 
part will be in the next email.  References in this and other chapters 
attributable to the Butterfly Gardeners include Norie Huddle, Barbara Marx
Hubbard, 
Jean Houston, Julia Butterfly Hill, and Dr. Richarsd Moss.

Enjoy, Alan

NATION OF WINGED PEOPLE Part 1

Butterflies are our favorite insects. Their beauty has elevated them above 
other insects, allowing them to escape most of our negative projections---but as

we shall see, not all.

Counting on our adoration, a United States congressman recently asked his 
colleagues at the Capitol to designate the monarch butterfly as the national 
insect. He argued that this familiar black and orange butterfly, a favorite
across 
the country, enhances the beauty of the environment and signals the need for 
protection and conservation of the natural world. Others have debated just as 
intensely that the honeybee deserves to be the national insect. The matter has 
not been settled.

Preferences aside, few would disagree that butterflies are charismatic. 
Ranked fifth in a study conducted by researchers at Yale University to determine

our preference for different species, butterflies were topped only by dogs, 
horses, swans, and robins. Their exquisite colors and association with flowers 
charm us, and they have been called "flying orchids." Conservationists consider 
them the "wolves and whales of the invertebrates." They hope that butterflies 
can generate enough public interest and support so that we will rally to save 
their endangered habitats, which are also home to countless species that we 
don't find charming.

Some companies are already protecting threatened and endangered species. 
Standard Oil of California protects the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly, an

insect that needs the flower of sea cliff buckwheat for its tiny caterpillar 
larvae. In the mid 1970s, when entomologists discovered a colony on a two-acre 
plot near a Standard Oil refinery, the company (perhaps trying to brighten its 
tarnished image for the growing environmentally aware sector of the public) 
agreed to create a sanctuary for them.

In Northern California, Waste Management, Inc., has adopted the endangered 
bay checkerspot butterfly as its mascot. This rare beauty lives on the company's

property overlooking Kirby Canyon landfill. The company deposits $50,000 a 
year in a trust fund to protect and enhance its habitat and encourages visits by

schoolchildren. 

An international group concerned with species survival has chosen 
swallowtails as the first group of invertebrates on which to base a conservation
action 
plan. One of their representatives is the largest butterfly in the world---the 
Queen Alexandra's bird wing of Papua, New Guinea. The health and abundance of 
swallowtail butterflies in the tropics reflect ecological trends in rainforest 
areas providing a quick and reliable take on the health of entire 
ecosystems.Finely turned to their environment, butterflies are one of the first
species 
to react when the climate changes, Recent studies, for instance, confirm that 
global warming is driving some species north, like the Edith's checkerspot 
butterfly. More than just a matter of curiosity, Chris Thomas, senior biologist
at 
England's University of Leeds, thinks these biological changes have major 
implications for agriculture, medicine, and conservation.

The exacting ways of the butterfly have made it the emissary of ecologists 
who work to restore one small piece of a damaged ecosystem. Since butterflies, 
as both caterpillar and flying creature, are finicky about their surroundings, 
their presence in a damaged area means that a good measure of balance is still 
operating. Sometimes restoring a butterfly to a habitat means saving another 
species who is in symbiotic relationship with it. If the metalmark butterfly 
was threatened, for instance, a plan to save it would have to include 
protecting the ants who guard its caterpillar. Luckily ecologists know that. An 
endangered blue butterfly in Britain was recently brought back by not only
protecting 
the wild thyme the adult feeds on, but by protecting a species of red ant 
that cares for the newborn caterpillar in its nest until it emerges as a 
butterfly---ten months later.

We generally think flowers are enough to attract and keep butterflies in an 
area, but they are not. Fog will deter many sensitive species from feeding on 
the flowers in an area. And butterflies often perceive simple divisions of 
their territory, such as those caused by roads and fences, as impassable.

To complicate things further, many caterpillars feed on just one species of 
plant---often one we consider a weed. This need for specific plants has pushed 
several species in the United States into extinction after suburban 
development destroyed their habitat. Entomologists estimate that eighty percent
of all 
butterfly species are hanging on in degraded habitat. Ten to twenty percent 
need the real habitat and will disappear in the near future without it. Those 
butterflies are not going to make it without our help. Fifteen North American 
species are now listed officially as endangered or threatened, and at least 
seventy are candidates for the United States Endangered Species List.

Pesticide Poisoning. It is not surprising, given their finely tuned biology, 
that the absence of butterflies in an area typically signals that pesticides 
have been used. While many insects suffer from exposure to commonly used 
pesticides, butterflies fail noticeably and right away---almost always dying
out. 
Even Bt, the natural insecticide discussed in our look at beetles and 
agriculture and considered by many a safe organic pest control against gypsy
moths and 
other insects, destroys butterfly caterpillars as well. And Demanol, another 
product used to kill gypsy moths, has also been implicated in killing many 
species of butterflies in West Virginia and the Carolinas.

Although space prevents discussing the war against the butterfly's poor 
relative the gypsy moth, aerial spraying to eradicate the moth continues even in

areas where the moth has all but disappeared and despite the fact that many 
people are voicing their concern. Robert Spears is currently writing a book on
the 
war against the gypsy moth and has published a Web site devoted to this 
insect. On the Web site he details the "dubious doings"1 of those agencies and 
pesticide companies involved in perpetuating the war against this insect. For 
those in areas where the gypsy moth is advertised as a real threat to the trees,

the reader is encouraged to visit Spears' informative site and draw their own 
conclusions about where the threat lies. 


For the Love of Butterflies

As epiphanies of the Goddess, butterflies have been worshiped throughout the 
history of our species. The Cuna Indians of western Panama worship the Earth 
Mother in the form of the Morpho butterfly. They call this deity the 
Luminescent Giant Blue Butterfly Lady and depict her on their brightly colored
patchwork 
molas in intimate communion with her sacred serpent.The butterfly goddess 
Itzpapolotl, whose wings are tipped with obsidian (a knife-sharp, black volcanic

glass) is depicted in the Aztec calender, and the ancient Mexicans worshiped 
butterflies as their god of love and beauty considering butterfly eggs as the 
seeds from which happiness grows.

This strong association between butterflies and love is also present in the 
East. Emperor Genso, or Ming Hwang allegedly let butterflies choose his loves 
for him by freeing caged butterflies in his garden and taking note of which 
maidens attracted them. And a Chinese scholar, known in Japanese literature as 
Rosan, was loved by two spirit-maidens who visited him daily to tell him stories

about butterflies.

Christian myths tell of butterflies originating in the Garden of Eden and 
then following Eve, whom they loved, when she was banished from this paradise.
In 
a Korean story about the origin of butterflies, a girl is betrothed to a man 
she has never met. When he dies before they can marry, tradition forbids her 
from ever marrying anyone else. She mourns at his grave, pleading with the 
spirits to let her know if the affinity between them is true, and, if it is, to 
break the grave in two. The grave splits open and she leaps into it. A 
handmaiden grabs for her but only gets her skirt, which breaks into many pieces,
each 
turning into a butterfly that flutters away.


Selling Butterflies

The association of butterflies with love and happiness persists today. A 
number of enterprises, capitalizing on the insect's symbolism and our love of 
these winged creatures, sell butterflies for use at weddings, store openings,
and 
other happy occasions. One company sells the painted lady butterfly. At a 
wedding, instead of throwing rice, each guest releases one of these butterflies 
from a specially designed box filling the sky with bright moving color. Other 
companies use monarchs or yellow and black eastern tiger swallowtails. 

While some favor using butterflies in this way, others are alarmed. Releases 
of butterflies for our purposes don't take the butterfly's mating and 
migration cycles into account. And some are invariable crushed in the rush to
free 
them and have them take to the air simultaneously. Another fear is  that selling

butterflies will tempt some people to take them from hibernation 
(overwintering) sites, an act that could eventually threaten the entire
species.Poaching 
butterflies is a violation of federal wildlife laws. In 1995, three men were 
convicted of poaching, trading, and stealing more than 2,000 protected 
butterflies, including 210 that were listed under the Endangered Species Act. 

Cities with butterfly hibernation sites within their boundaries have passed 
their own laws to protect butterflies, like the thousand-dollar fine for 
molesting or harassing a monarch butterfly in Pacific Grove, California. 
Unfortunately, fees and laws aren't much of a deterrent to those who realize the
value of 
butterflies. Thousands of overwintering butterflies like monarchs, which are 
vulnerable and accessible, mean easy money to those who wouldn't hesitate to 
steal them. The Monarch Program, an educational conservation group, recently 
received a report that monarchs were taken from a Santa Barbara overwintering 
site and sold for a "role" in an upcoming movie. 


The Shadow of Butterflies

We are less eager to protect moths, especially the small drab ones that 
gather around outside lights. In fact, if we were responsible for classifying
moths 
and butterflies, we might readily divide them by their beauty and whether or 
not they fly in the daytime or at night. The distinctions between moths and 
butterflies, however, are more subtle than that, although both belong to the 
order Lepidoptera, a group that contains approximately 175,000 species of moths 
and 45,000 species of butterflies. 

Lepidopterists consider butterflies specialized moths that probably evolved 
from a mothlike ancestor fifty to one hundred million years ago. What formally 
distinguishes a moth from a butterfly are small external differences that for 
all but the experienced eye would probably require a close-up inspection of a 
pinned specimen or at least netting the insect (a practice of butterfly 
enthusiasts that is happily dying out).Most of us nonspecialists assume moths
are 
dull-colored, night flyers with feather-like antennae and furry bodies and 
butterflies are brightly-colored, day flyers with club-shaped antenna. But they 
don't separate out so neatly if we use the criteria accepted by entomologists. 
Although many moths fly at night, some fly in the daytime, and while many moths 
have dull coloring and feathery antennae, others do not.

Another important distinction is that moths spin cocoons in which to make 
the change from caterpillar to adult. Butterflies complete their 
metamorphosis inside a chrysalis, a hard covering that is actually the
caterpillar's final 
molt.

The moth and butterfly are linked together in the symbolism of most ancient 
cultures by the cocoon and chrysalis. Both insects were believed to know the 
secrets of transformation from life to death to new life. Their fluttering 
movements are also linked to fire (fluttering, flickering flame) and early fire 
gods. The Cherokee Indians tell of a small yellowish moth that flies about the 
fire at night seeking light. Because of its affinity for the fire, this tribe 
invokes its spirit for fire diseases like sore eyes and frostbite. And the song 
of the legendary musical butterfly of British Guiana is said to sound like the 
crackling of dry grass in a fire.


Goddess of Death 

In some cultures the butterfly was not adored but feared. The shadow aspects 
of butterfly symbology developed when the ancient Goddess was demonized and 
the religions that had formed around her suppressed. Butterflies then became 
demoniacal creatures often linked with witches. In Irish, Breton, and Lithuanian

lore, for instance, the butterfly was feared as a symbol of the witch or 
Goddess of Death. 

Other shadow-based symbolism is seen in some mystical groups. The Gnostics, 
for instance, looked upon the butterfly as a symbol of corrupt flesh, and in 
Gnostic art the Angel of Death was portrayed crushing a butterfly.

In a later historical period butterflies were separated into good and evil by 
color. Dutch still-life paintings illustrate this kind of grouping, with the 
painted white butterfly symbolizing virtue, resurrection, and immortality, and 
the red admiral, a black and scarlet butterfly, symbolizing death or 
damnation.

In general though, the night-flying habits of most moths linked these insects 
to death and sentenced them to carrying the shadow projections for all but 
nocturnal butterflies. In Bolivia, for example, the Aymara people took the 
presence of a certain rare moth as an omen of death. And the ancient Mexicans 
regarded one of the large night-flying moths (the owlet moth or "Black Witch")
with 
great fear as a messenger of death.

In early Christian mystical writings, moths represented the temptations of 
the flesh. The death's head sphinx moth, a large moth that sometimes makes a 
stridulent sound when it flies and has a skull-shaped marking above its thorax, 
represented Satan and was an emblem of death for early Christians.

Today it is rare for us to treat the butterfly as an object of fear, although 
several years ago a tabloid featured a story about a six-foot butterfly on 
the rampage (finally shot by a farmer in the midwest). We do, however, 
consistently view the moth with suspicion and mistrust. In the popular culture
one 
example of our misgivings about these creatures is seen in the 1962 movie
Mothra. 
In this classic horror film, an immense moth undertakes the destruction of 
Tokyo until the city officials decide to give up twin girls mysteriously linked 
to the insect.In a "Weird Mystery Tale" comic the connection between moths, 
fire, and death is featured. A forest ranger, more savage than wild, lives the 
life of a recluse, entertaining erotic fantasies and offering his soul in 
exchange for a woman. The next frame shows him killing moths whom, for some 
unexplained reason, he hates passionately. He kills them all except for the
queen who 
escapes. That night he dreams that she returns to revenge the death of the 
other moths. The next day he pursues the queen moth once more, intent on killing

her. Then he sees a beautiful woman in the forest and grabs her, not knowing 
she is a moth-woman. She turns back into her moth shape and takes him into the 
fire, where they are both consumed.


>From Caterpillar to Butterfly

The moth's association with death is not always negative. When the moth is a 
caterpillar, its "death" inside the cocoon is the signal that begins its 
physical transformation into a winged creature. Few have witnessed this change
in 
moth or butterfly without making a comparison to death, resurrection, and 
renewal. In ancient religions the butterfly or moth spirit was considered a
divine 
womb. The pairing of the double axe (reminiscent of a butterfly or moth with 
wings spread) with these insects was a prominent religious image that reflected 
an understanding that both death and renewal were born from the spirit of 
these winged creatures.Indigenous tribes, understanding that the intrinsic 
patterns of life were reflected in the smallest of creatures, associated the 
caterpillar's act of transformation and rebirth with the renewal of nature each 
spring. The hoop dance of the Plains Indians, for example, is part of the annual

celebration of winter's transformation into spring and includes a dancer 
emulating a caterpillar that turns into a beautiful butterfly.

For the Butterfly clan of the Hopi Indians the butterfly is a totem, and its 
spirit is personified in their kachina figures. Every year, young men and 
women of this tribe perform the Bulitikibi or Butterfly Dance, a ceremonial
dance 
of renewal believed to bring good crops. A northwestern Brazilian tribe also 
performs a butterfly dance, presumably symbolizing rebirth or eternal life, at 
a festival honoring the dead.

Native Mexicans saw the butterfly, born from the caterpillar in the 
chrysalis, as a symbol of rebirth, regeneration, happiness, and joy. In one
legend the 
powerful plumed serpent god Quetzalcoatl first enters the world in the shape 
of a chrysalis and then painstakingly emerges into the full light of perfection 
symbolized by the butterfly.


Getting Out 

As models of growth and transformation, insects in general are without equal. 
All must molt or periodically shed their external skeleton. The process of 
molting is known as ecdysis and comes from the Greek root meaning "getting out."

Molting happens in one of two ways. In gradual or simple metamorphosis, which 
cockroaches, grasshoppers, and preying mantises undergo, the young insects 
called "nymphs" have the same general shape and features as the adult (imago.) 
At each instar or developmental stage, they molt or break out of their 
exoskeletons and emerge bigger than before.

The second more complex solution to growth is called complete metamorphosis 
and is the one adopted by caterpillars, maggots, and most grubs. Complete 
metamorphosis has an incubation or pupal stage during which virtually all body 
tissues break down and are reorganized into a new form, so immature insects or 
larvae look radically different from their parents. If you remember, maggots 
don't look like flies, and grubs don't resemble beetles. Neither do caterpillars

resemble butterflies and moths. The advantage of this form of development, 
which the vast majority of insects use, is that it allows the species to take 
advantage of very different habitats.


Metaphors of Growth

As we have seen throughout this book, patterns of life are seeded in nature 
and prior to this age, were often woven into a cultural or religious context. 
The stages of simple metamorphosis that a grasshopper undergoes, for instance, 
was recognized symbolically as being the power we have to free ourselves from 
earthly concerns. This ability was the reason that the grasshopper was 
respected as a symbol for the soul in early Christian iconology.

The stages of complete metamorphosis evidenced in beetles, flies, moths, and 
butterflies mirror in some universal way the stages of any growth that 
involves changing from one identity to the next. Even in plant morphology there
is a 
correspondence. One of the first to recognize it  was German biologist Hermann 
Poppelbaum. He observed that each stage of  insect development is "a 
pictorial image of a corresponding botanical  structure of a flowering
herbaceous 
plant."2 For example, plant seeds are  like butterfly eggs, and the compressed, 
molded form of the butterfly  pupa is like the contracted flower bud enclosing 
the developing flower. All instances of such radical change include, of 
necessity, the darkness  of an interim period where the process that permits the

reorganizing can  take place. People of widely diverse cultures and religious 
orientations,  observing this process and its startling result, saw in it a
model  
applicable to human life. In ancient Egypt, for instance, the butterfly  was 
the emblem of Osiris, who was confined after his death in an oak  coffin until 
he arose again, with renewed life. 


Chapter 14: Nation of Winged Peoples 
FOOTNOTES
1.  Robert Spears. "Gypsy Myths: News, Information, Alternatives & Opinion 
About Coexisting with the Gypsy Moth," 
http://www.erols.com/rjspear
/gyp_welcom.htm.
2.  Mark Riegner. "Blossoms and Butterflies: A New Look at Metamorphosis," 
Orion Nature Quarterly, Summer 1986, p. 33.



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