Butterfly Ceremony

Introduction

The Butterfly Ceremony took place on Saturday September 4th, 2021. The first objective was to gather an eclectic and wicked kewl bunch of people and, through artwork, encourage everyone to interact and talk with people who they have never met before. The second objective was to deeply discuss and explore one another's journeys through self transformation and metamorphosis. We did this by making artwork that followed the actual process of metamorphosis that a caterpillar undergoes when turning into a butterfly. The third objective was to digest all of this using ideas from SOMDEland through a ceremony.

Most of my events have 3 parts to them: Reality (where some facts are given), Digestion (where artwork is used as a catalyst for discussion using what was learned in the Reality section), Mythology (where ceremony uses the artwork and discussion to create something new).

Reality (Part 1)

In the Reality section, I try to share knowledge that many people, including myself, don't know. For example, in my Human Augmentation event, I had 9 people share different ideas on the topic of human augmentation. In my reBirth Ceremony of 2020, I had people talk about Indian dance, music, identity and mask making. In this ceremony, the Reality portion was very short. It was just a one paragraph description of the different steps that a caterpillar undergoes during metamorphosis. I obtained this knowledge from a TED-Ed video, so it is not very detailed:

Once the caterpillar is ready, its skin hardens and that is what creates the chrysalis! Then, most of the caterpillar completely dissolves and turns into liquid! The imaginal disks, which are collections of cells, are some of the very few cells that are not liquified during the metamorphosis and the dissolved juices help these cells form the new creature!

Digestion (Part 2)

In the Digestion section, people take what they learned in the Reality section and digest and discuss it while making artwork and talking to new people. For me it is really important to create an environment where people have a 'license' to approach new people, to do this, in Step 2, I make meeting new people one of the tasks for the collaborative creation of artwork.

Step 1: The Chrysalis

People created a chrysalis by making a mould of their body part. They did this by first wrapping plastic wrap around their favorite body part and then used tape to secure the shape. This mould represented the butterfly’s skin that hardens into the chrysalis.

Step 2: The Caterpillar Liquifies within the Chyrsalis

On/In their saran wrap mould, which represented the Chyrsalis, people put different colored paints. The paint represented the liquified juice within the chrysalis. Metaphorically, this paint/juice also represented the flow of destiny needed to realize self transformation. To encourage meeting new people, a gentle rule was created: for every color that a person used, they were recommended to talk to someone different and ideally someone who they have never talked to before. People were encouraged to talk about anything, however it was appreciated if they also talked about themes related to self transformation. The discussion prompts below were given and were brainstormed in collaboration with Shana W.

Discussion Questions

• What are things in your life that you do not want to change because they bring value to your life?

• What are things that you want to change and transform?

• Thinking about transformations in life, what are the big transformations that take a lifetime and what are the smaller periodical transformations through life that have had an impact? What is more prevalent to your life? What was that transformation? Was it painful?

• Share literature/song/content that has either helped you through a transformation or triggered a transformation, or just in some way related to a transformation in your life or in the general sense of a transformation.

• Is transformation even good? Should we yearn for it or is it like a wanderlust? What types of metamorphosis are bad? What are some examples?

• What are the transformations that Humanity is undergoing?

• What will Humanity’s next metamorphosis look like? What will its final metamorphosis look like?

• Will it be one with nature?

• What will the role of technology be? Of AI be? Of surveillance be?

• Will we have more freedom or loss? Will our identity become more differentiated or will we become more free?

• How will globalism, resource depletion, identity, governance change this?

Step 3: Imaginal disks

I made this paper cutout that represents the fully formed butterfly. I then cut pieces for every person which represented the imaginal disks. The imaginal disks are those collections of cells that are not liquified during the metamorphosis process, they are the constants between the caterpillar and the butterfly. Metaphorically the imaginal disks represent those ideas/things that people are happy with and don’t want to change in their lives even after transformation/metamorphosis.

Step 4: Initial Formation of the Butterfly

Each person was given a piece of paper that represented the imaginal disks. Using the paint (represented the liquified caterpillar) that was on the plastic wrap mould (represented the chrysalis), people were asked to paint something that represented what they wanted to transform within themselves.

Step 5: Group Sharing

Those who felt comfortable shared their thoughts on the discussion questions and what they wanted to remain constant in their lives and what they wanted to transform. It was a beautiful moment because people shared deep experiences that cut deeper than small talk and really dove into ideas that had meaning.

Step 6: The Birth of the Butterfly

Thanks to Rachel and Hannah who pieced the Butterfly together. This required a significant amount of creativity because some people painted on the wrong side of the cutout, which was great because the resulting butterfly looks even better!

Mythology (Part 3)

In the Mythology portion, we took ideas that were digested and discussed in our artwork in the previous section and reflected them into my mythological universe of SOMDEland which represents my subconscious. In this way, every ceremony becomes a way to connect to the depth of my subconscious and create a storyline that connects every ceremony before. Because the community are part of this, they become part of my universe for those special moments.

The Collaborative Butterfly of Wood and Beads

Once we finished the paper butterfly, it was reflected into my subconscious and reborn as the Collaborative Butterfly of Wood and Beads. This piece of artwork was made in collaboration with many members of our wood and craft group. Stephen K. gave the beautiful burl and cut a general shape on his bandsaw. Then, I used a carving knife to give it flowing curves. Shana, Susan and my mother (Rita) made beautiful beaded wings. What was really neat was that Shana was one of the very few people who responded to my business card to work on a collaborative project. We had brainstormed a collaborated project of wood and bead more than a year before we all completed this project. You can check out my woodworking portfolio here.

This butterfly flew to Symbiosis Null (the mannequin), thereby bringing the event into the subconscious and mythological realm. In the last 2 ceremonies, I gave birth to Symbiosis Null who is a virtual parasitic creature who infected me and eventually became my child. When I gave birth to it, there were 2 halves: the top is Humanity and the bottom is Technology. Previously, we unified it to represent the need for balance. Then, Symbiosis Null gave birth to the Technology Twins

Who will nurture them? Who will guide their metamorphosis? How can I, the grandmother (who represents Humanity) of the Technology Twins nurture them? I cannot produce milk that they can drink?

Wait….milkweed feeds the monarch caterpillars...milkweed

I take milkweed milk and put it on my nipples and the babies drink it.

Photo credit: Jessica B.