Monday, July 11, 2011

DRAGONFLIES AND SWALLOWTAILS



Artist  Karen Margulis
When I walked out my door on Saturday morning I saw that my front yard was swarming with dragonflies. Many had also landed on the walls of my house. Their iridescent blue color contrasted nicely with the light gray stucco walls.
It seemed very serendipitous to have them there, as just a few days before I had found an old cast-iron sundial at an "antique" shop. I had been looking around for sundials, including those with a dragonfly theme, but they were all too expensive. At $15.00, this one below fit the bill. I'd like to think that the dragonflies that were swarming around my yard Saturday had stopped by to greet their inanimate companion.


I'm sure the real reason they came by is way more practical. I did some checking and read that dragonflies are attracted to standing water, and we had two good rainstorms last week. (We also had one terrific storm on Sunday, with loud thunder, tornado sirens wailing and hail - which fortunately went south of town and missed us.)

Apparently the standing water attracts/hatches mosquitoes and other insects which in turn attracted the dragonflies. The dragonflies were there to eat the insects and thereby clear our yard of those obnoxious critters.

Reading further, I discovered that dragonflies symbolize good luck and long life in many Eastern cultures. They can also represent prosperity, strength, peace, harmony and purity. The whats-your-sign.com website has this to say about the dragonfly:

As a creature of the wind, the dragonfly totem represents change. Its iridescent wings are incredibly sensitive to the slightest breeze, and so we are reminded to heed where the proverbial wind  blows - lest we run into stormy weather.

Dragonflies are also creatures of the water. In the animal world, water is symbolic of the subconscious mind and relates to the thoughts we have in relaxed/meditative/sleeping/subconscious states.


Artist Karen Margulis

Further symbolic meaning of the dragonfly comes into play when we observe the dragonfly's mode of transportation as it skitters across the top of water surfaces. This implies that our deeper thoughts are surfacing and we must pay attention.

The dragonfly gives us a very powerful meditation tool when we want to visualize positive outcomes in a situation. "Close your eyes, and focus on a thought - let it rise to the surface of your mind's ocean - see that thought float lightly up to the water's surface. Now . . . visualize that thought moving across that water - sliding across - smooth and fast. We see the thought of hope happily moving across an ocean of peace (peaceful mind) and skittering to a perfect outcome."

Lastly it should be noted that the dragonfly lives a short life, and it knows it must live this life to the fullest. This lesson is huge for each of us. So when you see a dragonfly, be aware of the gifts it has to offer.



I feel doubly blessed to have had the dragonfly swarm on Saturday - not only was my mosquito population decimated, but I was also blessed with good luck!

P.S. - My yard was also swarming with Western Swallowtail butterflies (shown above) on Saturday. Hmm, I wonder what that signified?

15 comments:

Robin Larkspur said...

I love this post about dragonflies. How fortunate to have seen so many, especially after placing your sundial. I would like to think that was significant, even with the standing water! And beautiful swallowtail~

Ana A.L.P said...

Hermoso post,hermoso blog,puerta a mil maravillas..
Gracias,,y a volar con las alas del alma...

mirsini's creations said...

Wow!! I enjoyed so much this post!!! I love so much Dragonflies!!!! I have passed many vacations in places with them flying around me !!! I wish i've seen them more often!!! You are sooo lucky !!!
Well, thank you so much for this post!! I'm so glad i learned more things about them!!!
HUgs!! :o)

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Wonderful and thoughtful post.

Rowan said...

How wonderful to have a garden full of draginflies - I love them but only see them occasionally in my garden. The swallowtail butterfly is beautiful too.

Annie Jeffries said...

My daughter likes dragonflies so much, she had one tatooed on her hip.

Alana62 said...

Wow! A great post!
I always saw the dragonflies as beauties but never this way - as a meditation tool.
May I link your post to my blog? (If I'll ever find out how to do it! :D)
BTW: Butterflies symbolize transformation.
Thank you and best whishes :)

Julie said...

Alana - Since you are a no-reply blogger, I'll answer you here. Thank you, and yes, you certainly may link to my post or blog.

PS - Thanks for the info on butterflies.

Alana62 said...

Thanks back to you, Julie.
I will try my best now.
I'm still a beginner with this blogging thing. Until now I just read! - And found your lovely blog.
So: from time to time I'll be back.

Shopgirl said...

Hello Julie, I feel like I have been gone forever. I love this post as I do all your posts. We are thankful to have a lot of Dragonflies here. I have friends that buy just about anything Dragonfly. All our Apricots have been picked, and it is very warm. Summer did come to our town too.
I wish you a great summer, your Mary

Lila Rostenberg said...

Love this post! I would treasure both swarms...which you have done!

Anonymous said...

i have hundreds of dragonflies out side of my house now and found this site very helpful on why they are there

mellisica said...

i have hundreds of dragonflies out side of my house now and found this site very helpful on why they are there

Dean said...

I know many of us have dreams of flight. However for most of my life I have had dreams of flying with dragonfly wings. They are large, strong, in proportion to my body as they would be to a dragonfly's body. Is there a special meaning in these dreams?

Unknown said...

I have always loved dragonflys and there beautiful colors. I have I would say any where near 100 dragonflys follow me around all summer long, you go to my neighbors and you don't see them you go to mine they are everywhere. This last year I had a dragonfly sitting on my shirt and was not dead but not moving, I said we're you waiting for me and I swear it moved it's eyes, butthe next day I went out and he was dead, I was so very sad