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The Society has adopted the butterfly as its official symbol. The butterfly has appeared on the cover of the Society's magazine Emerge since 1985, and its symbolism is closely associated with the magazine's name. As a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis into the fullness of new life, so too do people with CFS/ME hope to emerge from the constraints and suffering of illness into the freedom and joy of good health. On another level, public awareness of CFS/ME is slowly emerging from a position of ignorance and misinformation to one of understanding and acceptance. A better medical understanding of the illness is emerging as well. Thus the image of the flying butterfly has a rich symbolism for people with CFS/ME.
The symbol underwent a further change in 2000/2001. Society members were invited to submit their own designs that encapsulated the concept. Four members submitted remarkably similar concepts of a butterfly emerging from darkness into light. These concepts were then developed into the final form by a professional artist working on an honorary basis. The settled form comprises a multi-blue butterfly flying forth from a dark cocoon comprising the letters CFS/ME in a circle. The artist was particularly keen to design a butterfly that would appear to be flying forth, to appear in mid forward flight - symbolising hope and expectation as it set forth into a new life in the light. The final design now appears on all society publications as its official logo.
In addition to appearing on the cover of the Society's magazine, the butterfly has also been used on our International CFS/ME Awareness Day badges.
Some of the symbolism of the butterfly is expressed in the following verse, which first appeared in the September 1985 edition of Emerge:
Butterflies
For reasons unknowable to man
There is sometimes a darkness
Which descends on us
A darkness which seems cruel and containing.So it is with the caterpillar
Who spins his silk dark and containing
The darkness where he is transformed.The darkness is a birthplace of courage
And courage is the lifeforce of change
As life is fed in a womb.Be still and fear not the darkness
Rest as the caterpillar does
The darkness is the beginning of a butterfly
Which emerges from the cocoon
Into light and fullness of life.So the butterfly is a symbol
Of our hope for new life
Of our hope for wholeness and health.
Last Updated 18/11/2001