Essence Of The Vine

Essence Of The Vine

Why It Is So Important to Follow the Subtle Signs of Magic✨

And How Tuning In Can Help Guide You...

Sondra Tillman's avatar
Sondra Tillman
Aug 28, 2025
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Where do I begin? Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I would share this, but the signs keep showing up, and I keep feeling the urge to see if you might be experiencing something similar in your own life right now.

I am not a believer in coincidence, but I do believe life and spirit are always speaking to us. What we often call “coincidence” feels more like a mirror, reflecting back what we’re moving through, or opening us to what we need to experience.

So here goes…

This year has been one of the most transformative of my life. I know many of you- clients, friends, family, have felt it too. It has been a year of unpredictable shifts, of highs and lows that keep cracking us open. If you’ve somehow managed to remain untouched by it all, I’m genuinely in awe. For me and my family, it’s been massive!

Since deciding to move, certain animal guides have been showing up. Unexpected visits that felt more like greetings… For example- for 6 years, I walked the same morning path in LA. But only in the final months before leaving LA, did coyotes begin to approach me there, curious, steady, trickster like reminders that something was shifting. Hawks appeared daily, circling above me, their presence protective, almost ceremonial.

And then, the butterflies…

At the end of June, after we found our new home, monarchs began to surround us. Every day, without fail, they circled us and our home. They danced around our stairs as we packed up our belongings and loaded boxes. Even the ride down to our new spot, I had my 2 daughters with me and we noticed butterflies circling our car- I mentioned that they decided to come with us too, to our new home..

When we arrived in Dana Point, the magic only grew stronger. Butterflies everywhere! Circling our decks, visiting us at playgrounds, appearing at the beach. It felt undeniable, but obviously a message we were meant to notice..

One of our 1st nights, we went out for dinner, as we waited for a table, butterflies floated all around us, on the leaves we even spotted chrysalises clinging like jewels. And then, the most profound moment, at a farm stand, just as we were leaving, the woman at the counter pointed us toward a butterfly that had just hatched. My little one and I crouched in awe. The creature was still, so fresh in its new form, not even aware of its wings yet. So still as if feeling into its new existence, its new body.. It was so amazing to witness the beginning of a life of a butterfly.. I have never seen one that fresh before.. Transformation fully embodied. I couldn’t help but feel like it was quite significant. It struck me deeply. Butterflies carry every stage within them-gestation, birth, expansion into the world, the process of learning how to inhabit a new body. And right now, that’s where I am. In my own metamorphosis.

Letting go of the studio where I worked steadily with clients for the past 6 years. Letting go of the consistency of seeing clients I have been seeing for over 23 years. Letting go of a business I birthed 11 years ago… Each shedding has been tender, raw, and a bit disorienting, and yet these butterflies keep circling, reminding me to soften into the grace of it all..(One even just floated past as I write this! )

That’s why I feel called to share this reminder with you-Tune into the magic that surrounds you every single day.

It doesn’t need to feel woo-woo. We are all spiritual beings, always in communion with spirit. The invitation is to slow down enough to notice. To be still, like that newborn butterfly, aware of our bodies, our surroundings, and the rhythms of the world. Nature offers constant medicine, but in the swirl of technology and information overload, it’s easy to lose connection to the subtle.

For those of you who want to explore this more deeply, here are a few simple ways to open to the magic that is already moving around you…

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