10. Transformation and Rebirth: The Electric Chrysalis
At last, blue lightning has been connected in many different cultural stories with great transformation and rebirth. Lightning is a strong emblem for abrupt and total transformation since its strong, immediate character.
In alchemical traditions, lightning occasionally represented the transforming process of turning base metals into gold. Rarer and more intense, blue lightning was linked to very strong transformations of the spirit as well as of matter.
In some shamanic traditions, having a close contact with lightning—or striking it—was considered as an initiatory experience, signifying the death of the old self and the birth of a new, more potent spiritual identity. In these circumstances, blue lightning stood for the most intense and whole of these transforming encounters.
This transformational symbolism also permeates contemporary readings. Blue lightning is occasionally employed in modern personal development theories to symbolise times of great personal transformation or the conquering of long-standing challenges.