Butterfly Healing Project for New York

The Objective: Six million paper butterflies to be spread out in Central Park in New York City during a concert to commemorate the need for global peace and healing in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

Dear Butterflies,
Maraleen Manos-Jones, who wrote a wonderful book called The Spirit of Butterflies, would like people throughout the world to do butterfly healing projects focused on healing the grief and pain that we are all now feeling. Her idea is similar to the one that was a memorial to the Holocaust when 1,300,000 butterflies were laid out in a field to commemorate the children that died during the Holocaust and other atcs of genocide. We would love to do this in New York City and California , perhaps including a global concert for peace called Spirit Aid, next year. Her letter about this follows my salutation and I can send you more info on Spirit Aid if you wish.

I am sure that if you call her at (718) 398-3096 she would be thrilled to send you a copy of her book. She lives in Brooklyn and her email is mmjbutterfly@email.msn.com.

In Maraleen's email she mentions Eleanor Schiller, the teacher who started the Days of Remembrance Project at Chabad Academy. She can be reached at onwings@sccoast.net.

Please forward this email and visit Maraleen's website and Eleanor's.

May Peace Prevail on Earth!
Alan D. Moore Butterfly Gardeners Association & Project Chrysalis - Director and founder Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace - Director and founder International Association of Educators for World Peace - Western States Program Director 1563 Solano Ave. # 477, Berkeley CA 94707 510-528-7730 Email: bflyspirit7@aol.com

PS It is said that a butterfly can, with a flap of its wings, change the world, and that the ripple it sends out can spawn a hurricane. Lets spawn that hurricane. The time to act responsibly with one voice, one love and one heart is upon us, so please help us to cocreate this wonderful project.

Butterfly Healing Project by Maraleen Manos-Jones 09/15/2001
The effect of a butterfly's wing can be felt around the world, and we have painfully become aware of that truth with great sadness in our hearts. We all need guidance and hope to prevail through these most difficult of times.

The depth of despair and pain resulting from the terrorist acts of 9/11/01 created staggering losses, almost beyond our comprehension. Our sense of security has forever changed. We need to counterbalance the darkness of uncertainty with light, to center ourselves and adapt to the new reality and to heal the wounds inflicted upon our psyches.

We must transform despair and fear into hope and positive action, and help the children do that as well as a way for us all to honor those who have been lost to us, we could create paper butterflies, the symbol of renewal, transformation and the immortal soul. In October 2001, The Butterfly Healing Project became Butterflies of Hope for a school in San Bernadino, California. The children made hundreds of beautiful butterflies and wrote messages of their positive thoughts, wishes and actions on the back. They are sending these to children in N.Y. whose school was near the World Trade Center. The process of creating the butterflies and learning about their significance was healing for the children and adults involved as well. Butterflies could be sent to children who lost parents or relatives, schools displaced, or to fire, police and other rescue workers, who are going through a very difficult time now, or children in Afghanistan.

In 1998 and in 2001, a school in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Chabad Academy, coordinated the creation of one million three hundred thousand butterflies to honor the soul of each child killed in the Holocaust and every act of genocide. It was called The Project of Remembrance and Kindness of Deeds. Children created colored butterflies and wrote a good deed on the back. We can all write a good thought, action, prayer or remembrance on the back of our butterflies. The idea is to perform good deeds on behalf of all those who will now never have a chance to do so.

Every positive act can reverberate around the world, and that is needed more than ever. We cannot let the forces of darkness overwhelm us. Among the many lessons the butterflies have for us is that no matter how many times the gardens of our lives or planet are destroyed, we can and must rebuild, replant and renew. Every thoughtful act we perform that is filled with light, compassion, respect, or love can have as profound an influence as our destructive impulses, as effective as the fluttering of a butterfly's wing. The very survival of our planet may depend on this awakening, this shift of attitude from the dark side to the light that can help guide our actions. We need to maintain that light in the midst of the destruction that has passed and is yet to come.

It is a way for children to deal positively with their feelings, so that I hope every school will participate. It is a way for all us to heal and to hope and to remember. You can organize this in your communities, but if you need any assistance, please contact me.

Maraleen Manos-Jones, M.A. New York Representative for the Michoacan Reforestation Fund Author, The Spirit of Butterflies: Myth, Magic and Art 718-398-3096 mmjbutterfly@email.msn.com.