I've added a dragonfly to my title picture. Just for a bit of background - I was terrified of dragonflies for a long, long, time.
Here's the story. My mother married and we moved to Los Angeles, specifically, Northridge, California. At the time we moved into a brand new family apartment complex. My future high school was right across the street (Granada Hills High School - Go Highlanders!). There was a shopping complex a few blocks away that you got to by walking on an unpaved road. Later on they built a Treasury (think 70's Target) and paved it, but for a good while it was unpaved and had the usual weeds and things growing on it. During the summer those weeds were home to a lot of dragonflys. One day we were heading up to the hamburger stand to get a shake and I swear every time I tried to cross a certain part, the dragonflies would swarm.
Now mind you, I have NEVER been a bug lover. And to see these things coming at me with four wings (had never seen one before we got to Los Angeles) and seemingly only to "attack" me led me to fear and hate them for a lifetime. That is, until now.
Now, they are my friends. I have come to accept the dragonflies and have made peace with them. The biggest factor is that they eat mosquitoes. Which is great because mosquitoes love to eat me. And when they do, they leave huge, itchy, red, hot bumps that cause me no end of misery. Anything that rids my area of mosquitoes is a friend of mine.
Then they are just very cool. I've been doing some research and have found out they are very cool. But one thing that I really thought was cool was this:
Meaning of dragonfly symbol?Answer Dragonfly symbolism crosses and combines with that of the butterfly and change. The dragonfly symbolizes going past self-created illusions that limit our growing and changing. Dragonflies are a symbol of the sense of self that comes with maturity.
They are fantastic flyers, darting like light, twisting, turning, changing direction, even going backwards as the need arises. They are inhabitants of two realms - starting with water, and moving to the air with maturity, but staying close to water. Some people who have the dragonfly as their totem have had emotional and passionate early years, but as they get older they achieve balance with mental clarity and control. They gain an expression of the emotional and mental together.
Dragonflies are old and adaptive insects, and are most powerful in the summer under the effects of warmth and sunlight. Their colors are a result of reflecting and refracting the power of light. As a result, they are associated with color magic, illusion in causing others only to see what you wish, and other mysticism.
The are often represented in Japanese paintings, representing new light and joy. To some Native Americans they are the souls of the dead. Faerie stories say that they used to be real dragons.
Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and can reflect the light in powerful ways if we choose to do so. "Let there be light" is the divine prompting to use the creative imagination as a force within your life. They help you to see through your illusions and allow your own light to shine in a new vision.
This just represents everything I've gone through. I feel like I'm finally beginning to know myself and what I want after a life time of not knowing. My time of the year is always the summer, I just seem to grown then. Love the snow (looking at it) and the change of the seasons, but summer is my time. I feel like I'm finally moving into a good space and I am adopting the dragonfly as my symbol.
