Connected While Apart
Butterfly P.S.

Dear Mayfield,
Last evening a group of us enjoyed Peggy’s second Mayfield Nature Talk by Zoom, “Butterfly Basics.” This morning a male Hackberry Emperor joined me as I rounded Belmont Harbor on my morning walk. Since there are hackberry trees at Mayfield, you might indeed see a Hackberry Emperor in and around our Waystation. They are very modest in size to be carrying the weight of emperor as part of their name and are identified by at least one source as being a very friendly butterfly. Peggy taught us about the interesting array of what butterflies feed on for the minerals they need. The Hackberry Emperor will light on a human or human clothing seeking the mineral content of our sweat. Their caterpillars hibernate over the winter in clusters, sheltering inside dead rolled leaves. So yes, do leave your gardens a bit messy with fallen leaves throughout late fall and winter.

What I learned last evening helped me to be even more attentive to this small creature’s presence and the morning shadow it cast. Much as we love the Monarchs and other butterflies native to Illinois and much as we know they are beautiful poster children promoting the necessity of habitat preservation for the pollinators, we do acknowledge they aren’t the heavy lifters in the world of pollination. That mantle is worn by the bees. Even still, there is so much we can learn with butterflies. Peggy spoke last night about how their habits and behavior remind us of their reliance on the atmosphere, sun, water, and soil or expressed another way — on the four elements — air, fire, water, and earth. That is a reliance shared by us and shared across the natural world of plants and animals.  Given that daily reliance, I want to take a few moments to offer thanks to each of those elements that sustain butterflies, humans, and indeed all of life.

• Air — Air is associated with the direction of the East, with the morning sun’s rising, and with the season of spring. We are grateful for each breath of air that keeps us alive and ever awakening to the inner and outer journeys of our lives.
• Fire — Fire points to the south, to mid-day warmth, and to the season of summer. We are grateful for fire’s reminder of the burning importance of what we are passionate about.
• Water — Water belongs to the West, the setting sun, and the season of autumn. We are grateful for water’s example of attending to the flow of our lives, being willing to release what is no longer needed as we enter the surprise of what lies ahead.
• Earth — Earth is the element of the North, the darkness of midnight, and the season of winter. We are grateful for how earth summons us to rest and to groundedness and to all that begins in the dark.

Following last night’ program I rephrased a prayer by Saint William of Chichester (1197-1253).  Many of us are familiar with this prayer from the 1970’s musical Godspell and it’s rephrasing of it then in the song “Day by Day”:

                                Day by day, day by day,
                                O Dear Lord, three things we pray:
                                To see thee more clearly,
                                Love thee more dearly,
                                Follow thee more nearly,
                                Day by day.

Last night it came out this way: If we would see the earth more clearly, love the earth more dearly, and follow the earth’s wisdom more nearly, revealing as it does the imprint of the holy, then we are to listen and learn with all of who we are. Thank you to Peggy, to everyone who gathered last evening, and to the butterflies, neighbors among us who pollinate our understanding.
Peace, Martha