It was dark, in the castle of her mind. But it was not lonely. She could not quite describe the feeling. It was a haunted kind of company. Every day she wandered down those halls opening doors and peered down darkened halls. She could hear them, those old versions of herself. They called to her, children lost to the unknown. But after all that time she has not met them face to face. She was not sure what she would do if she ever did. Would she embrace them or turn away in horror? There was only one way to find out, she knew. And that was to keep searching down dusty passageways and through doors that were not there the day before. It had been so long - so long she could not remember the beginning - that she had been on this journey. Each new day brought different walls, new gardens and unfamiliar doors, but never answers.

This morning was different from all the others before it. She felt it- a change in the atmospheric pressure perhaps. Or was the sun shining differently through the stained glass? Even the air, normally dense and musty, had brightened and now glittered in her presence. And yet she began this day like every other before it, wandering the halls and rooms with incredulity. Perhaps she imagined the difference, she told herself. Wishful thinking, she said aloud to a room she had never seen before. As she spoke those words, something changed within her. It was a small yet powerful change, one perceptible only through the eyes of time. She had begun to see. Something flickered in her peripheral vision, a specter in a mirror just outside the door. It was unclear just what or who it was, but she was certain it was there. 

Questions buzzed through her mind, questions she did not know she had the words for came pouring out of her mouth. Who am I and what am I supposed to be? Do I belong here or are there better things waiting for me on the other side of all of these stone walls? Have I always been this way and will I ever return to states of being I no longer exist in? What does it mean to be truly me? The words streamed out of her and around her as she ran towards the one thing she knew was there. She didn't know what it was but was certain she was meant to discover it.

When at last she had opened all of the doors and run down every hallway she came upon a solitary mirror. It was the same mirror she had seen, but changed. Warrily, she approached. It was not empty, nor did it return her reflection to her. It was open, dark and waiting. Could this be what I have been searching for? Her words echoed back to her from the depths of the glass. Her legs pulled her closer to the mirror. 

Inside there were countless faces, endless versions of herself. They looked at her, pawed at her, and danced without her. With soft fingers she reached for them and upon the first touch of her longest finger on the glass, they were free.

They flew from their prison with such speed that she could barely recognize their forms. She knew then she had trapped them all there, and she was the only one who could free them. 

With an upturned head and outstretched hand she kissed each one as they floated away, peaceful and joyous at being recognized, loved. The very last of her former selves shimmered from the glass and reached out to beckon her to dance. They twirled her, and she laughed at the magic of it all, shimmying and swaying in it until she was once again alone. She turned to the mirror, still standing in wait. 

At last she could see herself, her true self, an amalgamation of all that had been released and all that was to come. Her heart glowed with the light of the sun in the shape of a moth’s wings. She placed her hands over her heart and felt the pulse of her ancestors. She felt the freedom of knowing, the joy of self-love. And as a single tear fell down her cheek, a thousand golden moths exploded from her beaming heart. They surrounded her, a storm of golden light. They frolicked around her, playing with her hair and wiping the tears from her face. They would not leave her alone in the castle. They gathered and formed her wings, which she would use to fly far from that dark place. 

It is said that she flew all over the world, scattering her magic moths so that lost little girls would always be able to find their way. To this day they are a reminder of the magical strength that lives inside you, dear one. You just have to follow your heart.

Remember, you are the one in control of your own destiny. It won’t be easy to change your habits, but it is possible.