Dreaming of a Butterfly – Symbolism and Meaning
Despite its fragile real-life nature, the butterfly is one of the most powerful symbols stemming from the animal kingdom. Why?
Well, a butterfly has been a representation of the human soul since ancient times and across many cultures. Also, the representation of the soul leaving the body in the form of a butterfly was once common. These images don’t only have to do with the fact that butterflies are elegant creatures that fly – but with their transformative abilities as well. The metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly was sometimes seen as an equivalent of leaving the earthly life and freeing one’s soul.
This transformative, metamorphic quality of a butterfly is also the essential aspect of dream interpretation. Thus, dreaming of a butterfly is usually related to one’s personal transformation – positive or negative.
Let’s look at the general meaning behind the butterfly dream image and then dive into some specific butterfly iterations – such as the meaning behind various butterfly colors in the dream world.
Dreaming of a butterfly – meaning and interpretation
To decipher the meanings behind butterfly dreams, we need to look at the insect’s traits.
Butterflies go through a metamorphosis
This is the most meaningful aspect of your butterfly dreams. Even if we don’t think about it, it has long been embedded into our unconscious that a caterpillar has to pupate and change to become a butterfly. Although many insects go through full metamorphosis, this change from a crawling creature to a flying one seemed to be especially striking for humans.
Therefore, dreaming of a butterfly can announce a change in your life – or a desire to change. That is especially true if you dream of a caterpillar going through a metamorphosis and becoming a butterfly. Perhaps the change is already initiated, and you are watching how it unfolds. The good thing about butterfly dreams is that they usually announce a change for the better – because of the pleasant feelings associated with butterflies.
Butterflies fly and flutter
Flying in dreams usually symbolizes freedom, and a dreaming butterfly can be a call of freedom, a call for freeing yourself from your current preoccupations, worries, or unfavorable life situation. Additionally, the fluttering style of butterfly flight is especially associated with freedom, as it seems less goal-oriented than the straightforward flight of a bee or a wasp. Perhaps the butterfly wing flutter could be best connected to the freedom of expression. If you have trouble with being accepted for who you are, or you feel stuck in a routine that curbs your creative output, perhaps it is time to consider fluttering around a bit to rediscover and empower yourself?
Also, a fluttering butterfly could be a sign of an unconventional romance, such as infidelity or a superficial relationship – that you still enjoy and find an attractive arrangement.
Butterflies are beautiful, gentle, and sensitive
As said before, butterflies evoke positive feelings in people and are perceived as beautiful. Also, the butterfly is so frail that you can damage its wings just by touching them or enclosing the little creature in the jar.
In the dream world, these features could all somehow translate and be related to your life, but the exact meaning depends on the dream context. For example, if you are trying to catch a butterfly without hurting it and are anxious about it, in reality, you may be worried that you will somehow destroy a delicate balance in your or someone else’s life. If you perceive yourself as a person that always unintentionally hurts others, a dream that focuses on the butterfly’s sensitivity could be a reflection of your fears regarding this perception.
If, on the other hand, you are preoccupied with the butterfly’s beauty in your dream, perhaps you are focusing on transforming into a more beautiful version of yourself?
Butterflies are ephemeral
Although, in reality, their lifespan is not much shorter than that of other adult insects, butterflies are still traditionally perceived as very short-lived creatures. The notion that they live only for one day is a misconception. Still, true or false, this belief about butterflies readily finds its way into people’s dreams because it has been repeated so many times.
The transient nature is usually connected to another one of its attributes to create a more complex dream image. For example, you may dream of yourself and your lover, with whom you’re having an affair, in a field surrounded by butterflies. This image symbolizes both the fact that you see beauty in your relationship and possibly feel that you are soulmates (butterfly = soul, remember?), but that the relationship will be brief (or you expect it to be so).
Butterflies and moths can be attracted to lights. Butterflies, and especially their nighttime cousins moths, are attracted to bright lights. Like a moth to a flame, know that saying? That is why dreaming of a moth оr a butterfly can also symbolize spiritual hunger or striving to reach some kind of a brighter future.
Butterflies are gorgeous, but moths can be scary
Unlike butterflies that are colorful and fly during sunny days, moths are creatures of the night, with dark wings, not uncommonly marked with some eerie patterns. As such, moths were often connected with dead souls, witches, and vampires. Analyzing moth dreams would require a separate article, but it can symbolize fear of death, the unknown, or your Jungian shadow – the dark part of your own personality.
Dreaming of colored butterflies
As you know, to get behind the whole meaning of a dream, you have to pay attention to details – including the color present in the dream. As butterflies are often colorful, a monochromatic dream butterfly may carry a specific message via its coloration.
Let’s look at the options on what could these various butterfly colors signal to you.
White butterfly
The color white is a symbol of purity and spirituality. Therefore, a white butterfly could stand for striving towards purity, clarity, and holiness in a unique, non-linear way, or it could symbolize spiritual joy in your new journey.
Pink butterfly
In the modern age, pink is a color predominantly related to girls and women. That is why a pink butterfly might have something to do with your feminine side – and it doesn’t whether you’re male or female. Perhaps you’re discovering the beauty of femininity and are finding a new sense of freedom within it. Also, pink is the least confrontational color, so the appearance of a pink dream butterfly can announce newfound peace in the home or a transition towards a more peaceful life in general.
Blue butterfly
Blue is a color associated with boys and men – but not that strictly as pink is with girls. Therefore, more often it symbolizes other things – calmness, wisdom, but also depression and low mood. The true meaning of a blue butterfly will therefore depend on additional details and context.
Orange butterfly
Orange (and yellow) are the most energetic color. Because of that, your brightly colored dream butterfly could hint that some situation will bring you novel energy or that you are in urgent need of an energy boost.
Purple butterfly
Purple is a color associated with royalty and spirituality. Therefore, a purple butterfly in your dream is a very special creature, which may symbolize your personal evolution towards a higher spiritual perspective, or higher social status.
Dreaming of a Monarch Butterfly
Monarch butterflies are specific because of their famously long migratory routes from far Northern to Central America. That is why dreaming of a monarch butterfly could stand for a surprise journey or a move.
There is another dimension to Monarchs – they are highly threatened, with their numbers diminishing each year drastically. So perhaps a dream appearance of a monarch butterfly was trying to remind you to see what you can do to help protect the natural world in your domain, real and virtual. As for real monarchs, if you live in the US, leave some milkweed to grow so they can feed!
Dreaming of a caterpillar
To dream of a caterpillar symbols potential, but you will still have to wait for a big life transformation – or you don’t feel ready for it. However, remember that every caterpillar will eventually turn into a butterfly. Be patient.
Dreaming of a dead butterfly
In the case you dream about a dead butterfly, take everything I wrote about above and find an opposite meaning to get to the bottom of things.
A dead butterfly could symbolize a failed personal transformation (or a fear of such), suddenly imposed limitations on freedom, emotional “death” and loss of delicate feelings, or fear of dying and having no afterlife.
Conclusion
Dreaming of a butterfly, that ancient symbol of the soul’s essence, could certainly tell you something about your own soul. With transformation being one of the butterfly’s core features, the appearance of this fluttering creature in your dreams can signal change, regeneration, or a personal transformation – usually for the better. As always, paying attention to additional details is important for getting the complete dream’s message.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that your dream butterfly symbolizes a fully developed, free, and more beautiful version of yourself – that is about to spread its wings and fly into the world.
Have you ever dreamed of a butterfly? What’s your take on that dream? Let us know the details in the comments.