Becoming Imaginal
Imagine a caterpillar.
Belly rubbing the soil.
Inching their way through...
consuming and consuming earth matter until engorged with green. When the time comes, it wraps itself in a cocoon of isolation where it is attacked by the same juices that it once used to digest food. In this state, the caterpillar enters a suspended death. It is here, amidst the complete cellular breakdown, where something miraculous starts to happen: imaginal cells are born.
Imaginal cells hold the information code for the butterfly, and while no single imaginal cell has all of the information, collectively, out of apparent death, they bring forth the majestic creature. How poetic that scientists knew to call them imaginal, for indeed, they are keepers of imagination.
The caterpillar’s existing immune cells, vying for it’s life as they have always known it, attack the imaginal cells for being foreign, different, unfamiliar. But the imaginal cells are unaffected as if floating just out of reach, full of imagination with what’s to come. Gathering in clusters, they begin their ascent toward transformation. The caterpillar, we can assume, never knew it could fly, having lived its entire life up until that point on dirt and leaf. But after crossing the grueling threshold required for transformation, the butterfly can now soar up to 12,070.08 km (7,500 miles).
As a species, we are not much different from the caterpillar. We have become excellent at engorging ourselves through over-consumptive resource extraction and, because of it, are now entering our own suspended death state. There are those who wish to fight for that old world. The sleepwalkers’ world. A whole army of immune cells ready to defend what they have always known, build walls, armor up, and attack the emergent. And yet, amidst the destruction, distraction, and extraction, there are those of us who can imagine the intangible, breathing in visions from tucked-away corners of the universe. And, with everything in us, we are gathering and bringing forth worlds unseen.
Daring to be imaginal requires a willingness to bring the vision held within into the collective. It asks for a devotional surrendering. The etymology of 'surrender' is to make from above, and in these times, the imaginal must reach beyond the realms of this world and into ones that already exist, simultaneously within and just beyond us, pulling down unseen visions into existence through the sacred act of co-creation.
Envisioning and co-manifesting a just and thriving world is an act of reverence for everything that brought us here. In times of collapse, the imaginal awakens in search of vision seekers, catchers of future moments untold; dream-weavers despite - and because of - the cessation all around us.
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Experience more from Alixa, up close and personal, as our Spring Keynote on Thursday, April 18 at 7:00 PM for her experiential talk entitled, “Imagination, Courage, and Enchantment in Times of Planetary Transformation” at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. Doors will open at 6:00 PM with a live concert by Matt Waller Music. Tickets are now available at innerworkcenter.org/keynotespeakers. This talk will also be simulcast live.
About Alixa García
García is a Colombian-born, sought-after international speaker, multi-disciplinary artist, activist, published author, social and environmental justice leader whose work is imbued in ritual, spirit, and deep reverence for our Great Mother, Great Lover, our Earth. Visit alixagarcia.com/about for more about her work and why her message is so important for humanity during these times.