The humble starfish is getting into the act, helping me understand my evolution and the evolution so many of us are experiencing.

While walking one of my dogs a few weeks ago, I saw a stunning cloud formation. It reminded me of a spiral starfish with three visible arms reaching toward me. Though gorgeous clouds are nothing new in the wide-open skies where I live, this one felt special. So special I took pictures of it, not knowing why I needed to. I’ve learned to trust and follow the nudges of the moment.

I thought about this cloud, about starfish, a few times. Then I went on vacation and got swept up in all the wonderful moments spent with my family. A week after I got home, the starfish grabbed my attention again.

This time in my tea.

I poured my first cup of the day, then drizzled in some coconut milk. Unlike every other time I’ve done this over the years, a starfish appeared. My immediate understanding was, oh, it’s the starfish nebula. Then my brain kicked in and was sure I was making things up. But I was curious. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there IS a starfish nebula. That’s when the greater message of the starfish began to pour in.

The starfish nebula is a preplanetary nebula. Meaning that it’s in a short stage in the evolution of a star, after a star’s death and before its matter, gases, etc., form into a nebula with planets, suns and other celestial bodies. In a sense, it’s the death throes and the new beginning all in one.

Does that sound familiar?

So many of us have died to who we were and have opened to what we’re becoming. Now we’re getting glimpses of the new that is forming. We are at this miraculous stage where stars becoming nebulas.

This has particular significance for me. Those of us in the metaphysical community often talk about where we’re “from.” Some will name their lineage as Arcturian, Sirian, Pleiadian, etc. I, on the other hand, have understood and seen my home as an immense star. Beyond that, I’ve known that I was both the star and a singular spark of consciousness within the star that is related to this particular life expression. Now, with the message of the starfish and the starfish nebula, I understand that my identify as a star is over. It’s time to embrace the nebula I’m becoming.

In our own perfect ways, this is what’s happening to so many of us who have chosen this experience in this lifetime. It’s a great time to ask questions. To feel for answers. How is evolution opening up for you? How are you opening to it?

As you ponder this, remember that a nebula is big. Really, really big. The time to stay small is over. On my desk I keep a sticky note that says “Play a Bigger Game,” a quote from my mentor Samantha Bennett. Thanks to the starfish, I now have an even more profound sense of what that means. It’s time to go bigger than we ever imagined we could.

What might that mean for you? Imagine yourself as a nebula-in-the-making. What do you look like? How does it feel? Expansive? Open? Deliciously exciting? Whatever your experience, I imagine it feels incredible. And following that feeling is key to moving ever more fully in that expansive direction.

If that isn’t enough, starfish have more to teach us.

Starfish are masters of regeneration. If they lose a limb, they can regrow another. In some cases, that lost limb can also regenerate an entire body. Some starfish reproduce by dividing in half. In our own lives, we can look at all the metaphorical limbs we’ve lost and all that’s re-grown in their place. We’ve had lots of practice; we’ve shed a lot in the past several months and years. Now we get to step more fully onto the playground of creating and move into our mastery.

Exciting stuff! If it feels daunting, remember that starfish legs are exceptionally strong. Your inner starfish is exceptionally strong. And so are you.

I have one final message from the starfish.

Starfish don’t have brains as we know them. They have clusters of nerve cells, so theirs is a sensory journey through this world. They don’t think and plan. They don’t hold grudges. They don’t cling to the past. They don’t fret about the future. They simply experience and respond with a sense of knowing that’s uniquely their own.

We can all live more from our own unique sense of knowing. We can embrace the experience of our lives, whatever it is. We can respond and act in the way that reflects our higher knowing, one more perceptive than the physical mind, one guided by our higher awareness. Our capacity to do this grows as our nebula grows, as the matter within it, within us, coalesces into the new.

I never realized I had an inner starfish until now, though the critters have intrigued me for a while. Interestingly, many years ago I published a flash story called Beneath the Starfish Sky that is still one of my favorites. That story felt like an opening for me at the time, and now it feels like I’ve come full circle. Isn’t it fun when life and starfish surprise us in such unexpected ways!

I’ll close with gratitude to the starfish and gratitude to all of you, blooming nebulas that you are.

Barbara