Butterflies are very magical and spiritual insects, making their appearance a special event that grabs your attention. When butterflies appear in dream, this magic carries over and the dream feels full of spiritual meaning and symbolism.
So, what is the spiritual meaning of dreaming of a butterfly? Dreaming of a butterfly represents spiritual, mental or emotional transformation, success, manifestation, growth and new discoveries of your inner truth. Butterflies can give clarity on where you are on your spiritual journey and help you see yourself at your highest vibration.
Depending on the stages of growth that the butterfly is in, where it appears on your dreams, and the emotions that it brings up, your butterfly dream may have a different meaning to you. This article will go over the various meanings of the most common butterfly dreams and their hidden spiritual meanings.
The dreams that are discussed in this article are:
- Butterfly landing on you in a dream
- Catching a butterfly in your dreams
- Dreaming of a butterfly in your house
- A butterfly in a cocoon or as a caterpillar in a dream
- Dreaming of a big or giant butterfly
- Butterfly attacking you, biting you or eating you in a dream
- Dreaming of a dead butterfly, or killing a butterfly in a dream
- Different colors of butterflies in your dream and their meaning
- A butterfly showing up in a dream as your animal spirit guide
Spiritual Meaning of a Butterfly in Your Dreams
The life cycle of a butterfly is such an amazing natural event that it is used as a spiritual metaphor in almost every religion and spiritual practice. The process of a butterfly starting out as a caterpillar, maturing in a cocoon and emerging as a butterfly reflects our own spiritual journal in so many ways.
As you awaken to your true gifts and begin to understand your spiritual truth, you may feel as though you have transformed into a new being, with a new identity. Your past limiting beliefs and energetic blocks no longer hold you back.
But the symbolism of a butterfly isn’t just limited to a spiritual awakening. It is also related to a new discovery of self that might not be solely spiritually related. This could be a new relationship, the launch of a new business idea, moving to a new place, or accepting a new job offer.
Anything that expands you beyond your comfort zone and gives you a sense of expansiveness in your life is illustrated by Spirit in the form of a butterfly.
Here is a list of possible meanings of a butterfly showing up in a dream:
- Change and transformation
- A deep internal shift that is about to happen
- Spiritual, emotional or mental growth
- Success
- Manifestation
- Discovering your passion or finding your joy in life
- Waking up to your highest truth
- Resiliency after a period of challenge or hardship
- Confidence in self
- New relationships or new beginnings
Common Butterfly Dream Meanings
There are, of course, an infinite amount of butterfly dreams that are possible. However, certain themes are more common in butterfly dreams, and therefore get asked about more frequently. Below are the most common themes that appear in butterfly dreams and what they mean spiritually.
Butterfly Landing On You In Dream
If a butterfly lands on you in a dream, it represents a part of your physical nature that has a powerful spiritual gift of manifestation.
This is a sign that you are a master manifestor and when you are aligned with your highest truth, your manifestations come into your reality very quickly.
Your physical body is a vessel to bring your spiritual pursuits to the physical world, so this dream is a message that you have the strength, knowledge, and capabilities to transform your ideas into your reality.
Have you been dreaming of starting a new chapter in your life? Are you full of ideas, but don’t know where to start? Do you keep putting off making changes because you are fearful of the unknown?
This is a period of time to sit still and listen to your inner guidance. All of your experiences, challenges, joys, grievances, and passions have led you to this exact moment. You DO know the next step, you just have to listen and trust yourself.
Because you are aligned to manifest right now, often it takes just 10% action and the universe will meet you the other 90%. But be warned: expect magic. The lesson right now is trusting yourself and taking the leap of faith.
To learn about the spiritual meaning of what a butterfly landing on you in your waking life, please read the article I wrote here: What Is The Spiritual Meaning Of a Butterfly Landing On You?
What does it mean if a butterfly lands on your face in a dream?
This may be a warning dream about manifesting for the wrong reasons. The face is often about the ego and the way we want to be perceived to the outside world.
A butterfly on your face in a dream can be an invitation to reflect on what you want to manifest and why. While it is not bad to want to manifest nice things, or to be perceived as successful by your peers — these may be desires that are distracting you for a more rewarding reality: a life filled with love, joy, peace, and a strong spiritual connection to yourself and the Divine.
There are no amount of material possessions that can make you feel more fulfilled and loved. Only radical self-love and acceptance can open up the gateway to experiencing your truth.
Dreaming of Butterfly In Your Hands
Hands are a strong spiritual symbol that represents creation and building the future. They are both literally and metaphorically the tools you use to shape your reality.
So, what does it mean to dream of a butterfly in your hands? Similar to a dream of a butterfly landing on you, a butterfly in your hands represents the power of manifesting your highest reality, but with an emphasis on taking action towards achieving your goals.
The hands are a very action-oriented part of the body, and show the power of forwarding movement and taking action on your goals. A butterfly in your hands in a dream is a message is that everything you need to manifest your desires is at your fingertips.
Hands are also about giving and receiving from the universe and understanding Divine timing.
Dreaming of Catching a Butterfly
Dreaming of catching a butterfly is about the timing of when to take action. When your passion, intuition, and soul’s purpose are aligned, you can start to sense when it is the right moment to go after what you want.
The lesson in this dream is getting more confident with your own intuition so you can take swift action when the timing feels right. You are ready to reach out and catch the magic headed your way.
Are you constantly doubting yourself? Do you feel lost or confused about your next steps? If this is you and you have a dream about catching a butterfly, it means that the universe is sending you opportunities now to train you to start trusting your intuition. Pay attention to synchronicities happening all around you, and challenge yourself to take action when things feel aligned. You’ll likely be surprised by the results.
Dreaming of a Butterfly in Your House
If a butterfly enters your house in a dream, it is related to energies in your 1st chakra/root chakra, especially related to security and being grounded in your physical space. This is usually dependent on the health of your relationships and community.
Your success right now may be determined by how strong your community, support systems, and strong relationships are. Having a soft place to land when challenges arise will be your ticket to success.
If you do not have a strong community right now, your new life lesson may be to learn the values of community, family, trusting relationships. It may be that you have had an unstable childhood or domestic trauma that made you feel uprooted.
Trying to connect to a local community or joining events that you spiritually and emotionally align with can be very healing right now.
The message from this dream is that magic flows the strongest where there is trust, love, and harmony. Keep building a lifestyle that supports these emotions, and your reality will transform like magic.
Dreaming of a Cocoon Meaning
Cocoons are a common part of butterfly dreams because they are a unique and important stage in the development process of a butterfly’s life cycle.
What does it mean to dream of a cocoon? Dreaming of a cocoon represents a spiritual need for inner reflection, meditation, and a sign that your vibration is increasing causing you to shed your energetic baggage.
The cocoon is also a sign that you are in a “growth period,” which is when you are energetically ready to step into a higher vibration. This can often bring up a lot of baggage that you need to shed before you can step into a higher reality. Recent or upcoming events may bring up old fears or things of the past, but view it as a final goodbye before leaving your reality, and don’t get discouraged. You are not taking a step back, you are getting ready to move forward.
This might be a good time to start a meditation practice, go on a weekend retreat, or take a solo backpacking trip so you can break away from the distractions of life and spend time contemplating your inner desires and your soul’s purpose.
While spending time in isolation seems lonely, learning how to be present with yourself can open up a rich and rewarding part of your life that can be very comforting. It can be grounding, calming, and you can tune into your inner wisdom.
Oftentimes access to this inner wisdom is what is necessary for the next stages of growth. The distractions from the outside world can stunt your growth, keeping you in the caterpillar phase.
Dreaming of a Big Butterfly
This dream is very personal to me because I frequently have dreams with massively giant orange butterflies. I usually get these dreams when I sense that something BIG is just about to happen, and I often wake up from these dreams with anxiety, anticipation, and a feeling of fear of the unknown.
I am not alone in having these dreams. Big butterflies are a common symbol that can appear in dreams, often with a sense of mystery and overwhelming emotions.
What does it mean to dream of a big butterfly? Dreaming of a big butterfly represents big shifts that are about to happen in your life.
Butterflies in dreams generally represent transition, change, metamorphosis, and spiritual growth. So if you dream of a giant butterfly, it usually means that there is a shift that is about to happen in your life, and it is a big one.
Whenever things are about to change in our lives, we sense it on some level whether we are consciously aware of it or not. This information will make itself most clearly in your subconscious dream state, filled with symbolism such as big butterflies and emotions such as fear of the future.
Changes that are about to happen in our life often cause us temporary hardship while we adjust to our new realities. This is why we are so resistant to change, even when it is a positive change.
Big butterflies represent a life-changing shift that is about to happen and to be prepared for a season of being uncomfortable. You will be learning new lessons and experiencing new challenges. It may seem hard, but you are working towards a better future.
Flash forward, you won’t even identify with your “old self” and will wonder why you were so afraid of making these changes.
Negative Butterfly Dreams And Their Spiritual Meanings
So far this article has focused on the positive aspect of butterfly dreams, but what does it mean if you have a negative dream with a butterfly in it? These can cause you to wake up feeling fear and anxiety, which is not typically what you would expect from a butterfly in your dreams.
One thing to note, even seemingly negative butterfly dreams usually have an underlying positive meaning. Below are some of the more common negative butterfly dreams.
Butterfly Attacking You In a Dream
A butterfly attacking you in a dream seems unexpected and can be an alarming dream to wake up from. Butterflies are usually unaggressive and joyful creatures, so you may be wondering why a butterfly has displayed aggression in your dreams.
So, what does it mean when a butterfly is attacking you in a dream? A butterfly attacking in a dream represents fear of success and positive life changes.
In shamanism, it is believed that animal spirits can appear to us in dreams as guides that help us move through our spiritual journey here on earth. Sometimes there are shadow animal spirits that can present themselves in dreams that help you move past a part of your shadow side.
Because butterflies represent change, transformation, growth, and manifestation, there may be hidden fears that you have about allowing these into your life. The butterfly may be bringing attention to these areas, yet, you see it as a threat and an attack.
It might be helpful to take some time to reflect on what is holding you back from reaching success. Are you fearful of changes in your life, even if you know they are positive? Are you staying in an unhealthy situation for fear of starting a new chapter? Do you have a lot of ideas for a successful business, but keep putting off the steps to get it started?
You may be staying at a job you hate, staying in an unhealthy relationship, putting others before yourself, and putting off your success until a later date. The butterfly is the change that is required in order to start living a more joyful life.
Sometimes the beautiful and positive things we have in our life can look scary and threatening. Change is uncomfortable for some time but can lead to long term happiness and success.
Butterfly Biting or Eating You In a Dream
Again, this can seem like a scary dream, because butterflies are supposed to be gentle and sweet creatures. And again, I’ll bring up shamanism, because it brings a lot of clarity to these disturbing dreams.
In shamanism, dreams of being bitten, eaten, or dismembered by animals are actually very positive dreams. They represent the death of a part of you. This doesn’t mean physical death, it is more a symbolic death.
Death brings new opportunities and it represents a void that can now be filled with a higher version of yourself. In all spiritual traditions, death is usually followed by new life, resurrection, and the emergence of a higher divine being in oneself. And this is quite similar to the lifecycle of a butterfly.
After you go through a period of dismemberment by a spirit animal, you can start the healing process of re-membering. This is a period of remembering who you are and why you are here.
This is a highly spiritual dream and is a sign that you called to be a healer. You have strong spiritual gifts that should not be ignored. You may get more and more signs from the universe to wake up to your gifts so that you can help many people in this lifetime.
Dreaming of Eating a Butterfly
But, what if instead of the butterfly eating you, it’s reverse? What does it mean to dream that you are eating a sweet and gentle butterfly?
Dreaming of eating a butterfly means that you are trying to energetically digest the experiences you are going through in your life right now. You are feeling big shifts in your life right, and are trying to make sense of it all.
If you swallow a butterfly and it tastes sweet or feels right to eat it, this means that you are accepting the shifts in your life and are allowing your new energetic alignment to transform your reality with ease.
If you spit up the butterfly, throw it up, or feel bad for eating it, this represents a part of yourself that is not yet accepting of the steps of growth that you are trying to take right now. Continue on your path of healing.
This would be a great time to invest in your own energetic wellness, such as massage, acupuncture, energy work, sound therapy, or anything else that helps the process of shifting your energetic alignment to where it wants to be naturally.
Dreaming of a Dead Butterfly
In some cultures, the butterfly represents the process of death and dying in this lifetime, as a way of evolution, rebirth, and transformation.
A great example of this is the Monarch Butterfly. In Mexico, monarch butterflies are believed to be spirits of people who have passed on. They arrive in Mexico after a long migration that coincides with Mexico’s most celebrated festival, the Day of the Dead. It is around the same time that in the US we celebrate Halloween.
It is rooted in the ancient Aztec belief that butterflies are souls that have left this earth, to return once again. This is a spiritual transformation of what death represents: birth, death, transformation, and rebirth.
So, what does it mean to dream of a dead butterfly? Dreaming of a dead butterfly signifies the ending of a major cycle of your life that you are evolved enough to move past. This opens the doors to a new phase of your life to begin. In a sense, it means that you must close the door on your current chapter in order to start the next chapter of your life.
Are you holding onto something that you know you’ve needed to let go of? Is there something that happened in your past that has been holding you back from new opportunities? Do you have harmful behaviors that you are ready to move past?
These are all signs that you are finally ready to shed your current identity with any past version of yourself, and begin a fresh new you.
This may be a good time to clear out your old self. This could be clearing out your old clothing sitting in your closet, throwing away the shoebox filled with past memories of a failed relationship, and forgiving the people in your life that have caused your emotional pain.
A dead butterfly in a dream might also mean that there may be sudden and unexpected changes that happen in your life. Expect the unexpected.
Killing a Butterfly In Your Dream
To dream of killing a butterfly in your dream represents self-imposed limitations or fears about your current season of transition or growth. There are many opportunities for growth that are showing up in your life, but you are missing them or intentionally letting them slip by.
Killing a creature that represents growth and transformation is symbolic of putting a halt to those qualities in your life. It might not be obvious on the surface, so spend some time reflecting on any ways you are limiting yourself right now.
This could be putting off goals you want to achieve or over-indulging on things that make you escape your present reality (I’m looking at you, Nextflix). It may also be other toxic people in your life that are holding you back.
These messages are wonderful to receive, and should not be taken as “bad news” or “negative.” We all go through periods of rest, and sometimes need a reminder when it’s time to get going again. This dream is your intuition and higher self just giving you a tap on the shoulder, letting you know that the world is still waiting to be conquered.
Different Colored Butterfly Meanings in Dreams
In addition to different themes that appear in butterfly dreams, the color of the butterfly itself can carry a lot of spiritual significance and give you more clarity about the deeper meaning. Below are the most common colored butterflies that show up in dreams.
| Black Butterfly In Dream | Black butterflies in dreams represent your shadow side and the transformation that can occur when you do deep shadow work on yourself. Shadow work is about exposing the hidden parts of who you are and loving yourself unconditionally, no matter what you find. |
| White Butterfly In Dream | White butterflies that appear in dreams represent spiritual inspiration and spiritual evolution. White is the color of the crown chakra, which is your spiritual energy center. You may be getting a message from a spirit guide, angel or your higher self. |
| Black and White Butterfly in Dream | White and black butterflies that appear in dreams represent the dualistic nature of the physical world. Both positive and negative, light and dark, masculine and feminine energies are necessary in the process of growth. If you are stuck in needing things to be a certain way, this is a sign that sometimes events that seem negative are challenges that help you grow. |
| Purple Butterfly In Dream | A purple butterfly in dreams is a way that you are processing psychic energy, related to intuition and clairvoyance. Your psychic gifts are being challenged right now so that they are strengthened, and you are waking up to your spiritual strengths. You may notice a lot of synchronicities in your waking life, or people being magnetized towards you in order to be healed. A purple butterfly can also represent the energy of a mother figure in your life that you are trying to release from your energetic space. |
| Blue Butterfly In Dream | A blue butterfly in a dream means that you are on a long and unique journey, and you are here to keep learning and growing. Your path has never been walked before, so everything will appear new and challenging. The message is to finally let yourself out of the box that society has made for you, and start living your truth. You will guide others to express themselves freely once you show them it can be done. |
| Green Butterfly In Dream | A green butterfly in a dream represents success, growth, manifestation, and abundance. A seed that was planted that is now growing and you will start to see the fruits of your labor. This is a great time to practice gratitude rituals, as this will raise your vibration to your gifts from the universe will come in more quickly. |
| Yellow/Gold Butterfly In Dream | A yellow or gold butterfly in a dream is about creativity, imagination, confidence, joy, and self-expression. Right now you should practice taking action on what you feel is right, not on what everyone else says is right. Your imagination is strong right now, so dream big and start working on big plans for the future. Perhaps make a vision board this week, or find other ways to use your imagination to express yourself. |
| Orange Butterfly In Dream | Orange butterflies in dreams carry active, manifesting energy. You have something that wants to come into your reality that is being manifested. Taking action on a goal is what is usually needed in order for the gateway to be open. What can you do that will move you 10% closer to your goal? Just taking small steps now may be your key to success. |
| Red Butterfly In Dream | Red butterflies in dreams are often related to energies in the 1st chakra. These can be issues related to feeling secure in your physical world, your relationships, passion you feel for life, and your physical health. Things are transforming in your domestic life and your relationships may be shifting right now. This may be a good time to focus on a healthy lifestyle and feeling grounded in your home environment. |
| Brown Butterfly In Dream | Brown butterflies in dreams are about health, wellness, and carry a strong nurturing energy. A brown butterfly appearing in a dream may be a message or a request for you to be more nurturing to yourself, asking you to treat yourself like you would treat others. Pay attention to your inner dialogue, and work on healing unhealthy thoughts about yourself. It can also represent fertility or new life in your life. |
| Rainbow or Multi-Color Butterfly In Dream | A rainbow-colored butterfly in a dream means gaining a new perspective or higher understanding after a difficult period of time. Much like when a rainbow shows up after a rainstorm, and after a butterfly emerges from the cocoon. |
A Butterfly As Your Animal Spirit Guide in Dreams
There are some people that have recurring dreams of butterflies and feel a deep connection to the dreams where they appear. If this is you, you may feel as though you have been given Divine guidance or a deeply intuitive or prophetic message.
In this case, it is likely that you have been visited by one of your animal spirit guides, the butterfly. You can gain a lot of encouragement and clarity on certain events happening in your waking life by listening to the guidance received from your animal spirit guide in your dream.
In shamanism, animals exist with us both in the natural world and in the spiritual world. The spiritual energy of all natural creatures can transcend the physical realm to help guide and protect someone throughout their journey in their lifetime.
A butterfly animal spirit guide might be your power animal, like a guardian angel, that sticks with you for your entire lifetime. Or it may be one out of a team of animal spirit guides helping you through a difficult season in your life.
If you feel like your animal spirit guide is a butterfly, it is a great idea to journal these dreams and meditate on the information you received. You may not know what the guidance is right when you wake up, but as the day or week passes, you might get downloads of information as you begin the process of alignment. It is always nice to have a reference to check back on when synchronicities show up in your waking life.
The most common butterfly spirit animal I have encountered is a Monarch Butterfly. You can read about the monarch butterfly as an animal spirit guide here: Is a Monarch Butterfly Appearing To You As A Spirit Guide?
Summary
Dreaming of a butterfly contains highly spiritual messages that can give you a lot of clarity regarding the next steps on your spiritual journey. These dreams communicate messages about your process of transformation, how you are manifesting, and your next steps on your journey towards spiritual evolution.
Like everything on this site and on the internet, use your intuition when deciding what dream symbolism works best with you. While this is one interpretation of the spiritual meaning of a butterfly in your dreams, everyone has their own intuitive and dream language. Sit still and listen to your own answers about what the symbolism of a butterfly in your dream means to you and your spiritual journey.
