Upcoming Gathering

We as humans try so hard to control everything! Whether it be a child developing into puberty, the profound body changes of a pregnant woman, the aging process of a crone, or all the moments in between, metamorphosis is definitely constantly happening in our lives and the opportunities are limitless! Can we embrace this process as a sacred ceremony rather than disregard or resist it? Can we allow it to do its adaptation magic and strengthen and vitalize us as individuals and as a species? Can we trust that it is here for that reason and not to cause our demise? Can we stay out of fear long enough for the vital force to metamorphosize and transform our bodies, minds and emotions to adapt to our changing inner and outer environments?

Using radiocarbon dating we know that the cells in our body completely regenerate all the time. The same skin cell that was there yesterday is now gone and a new one is in its place. In fact you lose 500 million skin cells every day! We have millions of opportunities to metamorphosize, heal and transform our lives on any given day!! Some of those skin cells look pretty similar to the last ones and others have become something different. And that’s just our skin cells! A liver cell or skeletal muscle cell may take years, though everything still completely regenerates!

So, who’s the programmer of all this metamorphosis? Who programs the caterpillar to become a butterfly? Why does our body regenerate the same poorly functioning cell rather than metamorphosize a perfect new one? It’s because we’ve become disconnected from our source –  our vital force. We’ve busied ourselves with so much mental chatter and emotional distress that we’ve lost track of our center, our spirit, our connection with the sacred. We are running through life without paying attention to the ceremony of living. We need to connect back in. The programmer is there in the silence. Sit in nature and listen. Be in the stillness and the flow. Look at the whole picture, cooperate with each other, be in love and peace and kindness and know that this is what shapes our metamorphosis process. We want a new perfect cell, then we must be one.

Thinking back on some of my biggest metamorphosis experiences I can say clearly one of them was when my mother died at age 57 and I wasn’t even 30. I sat there in the deep well of quiet sadness and heard her whisper, “go live your life and stop trying so hard to please me or anyone else!” I don’t think I realized it so much then, though looking back I see how I became quite a different person. I left my relationship, my practice, and many of my earlier values. I pierced my ears (my mom never wanted me to pierce my ears), crashed my car, broke my neck, and started on this wild adventure to uncover who I was.

Wherever you are in your process of metamorphosis, know that we are all working on it with you every day in our own ways, as challenging, scary or lovely as it is, and we are all profoundly connected in this process. Know that you are already your new best self, becoming more vital and more vibrant with every metamorphosis. Be in awe and love that old self as it becomes the new self! If we can embrace the difference with wonder rather than judge the change, we can find peace with our metamorphosis wherever its mystery takes us.

Metamorphosis
By Nicole

Metamorphosis: a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism.

We usually think of metamorphosis in terms of butterflies—how they begin as caterpillars, cocoon themselves in stillness, and emerge transformed. But the truth is, we humans go through our own metamorphoses—again and again—if we choose to. If we allow ourselves to.

Some of these transformations are subtle. Others arrive like thunder.

For me, the most defining metamorphosis of my life was becoming a mother. I had planned a home birth—an experience I envisioned as calm, peaceful, and sacred. But as any parent will tell you, birth rarely sticks to the plan.

There were moments of chaos, of deep pain, and crying—so much crying. I remember being surrounded by the noise and the unknown, having to let go of everything I thought I controlled. There was a moment when I had to fully surrender—not just to the process, but to the mystery of life itself. I felt cracked open. And on the other side, I emerged… different. Stronger. Softer. Wiser. More me.

That’s the thing about metamorphosis—it asks you to give up the comfort of who you were for the uncertainty of who you’re becoming. And that’s not easy. Often, we resist it. We tighten our grip. We want to stay in the known, even if it’s not where we’re meant to be anymore.

But metamorphosis doesn’t happen in the comfort zone. It happens in the cocoon. In the quiet. In the surrender.

So if you’re in a season of change—whether it’s motherhood, loss, a career shift, a move, a relationship ending, or simply growing into a new version of yourself—I see you. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to not know what’s next. That’s all part of it.

What matters most is that you stay with it. That you trust the process. That you let yourself unfold.

Here are a few tools to help you embrace your metamorphosis:

1. Pause and Reflect

Give yourself time to sit in stillness. Ask: What part of me is trying to emerge? What part of me needs to be let go?

2. Trust the Cocoon

Don’t rush the process. Transformation takes time. The caterpillar doesn’t judge itself in the darkness—it simply trusts what’s coming.

3. Feel it All

Change brings up big emotions—grief, fear, excitement, uncertainty. Let yourself feel them. They are part of the alchemy.

4. Lean on Your People

Share where you’re at. We’re not meant to go through metamorphosis alone. Community helps us remember who we are when we forget.

5. Create Ritual

Light a candle. Take a bath. Write a letter to your past self and burn it. Mark the transition in a way that feels meaningful.

6. Breathe and Soften

When the fear creeps in, come back to your breath. Inhale trust. Exhale control. Again and again.

Metamorphosis isn’t about becoming someone else—it’s about becoming more fully who you already are.