Nature was once a place of enchantment . . . we’ve let the magic dwindle . . . but sometimes we catch a glimpse . . .

Here are a few extracts from my essay Nature; Magic; Alchemy; Reverence; Remembering:

First Impressions

“Picture the scene; a small town built on a hill with beaches and water on two sides, and verdant farmland on the others; an empty pale blue sky gently yellowing as the day creeps on; shape-shifting pink clouds drifting by; as day turns to evening an intense sunset illuminates the distant hills and, where any clouds have stalled on their journey, corridors of light pierce through, creating what seems like perfect circles on the water; on the other side of town the moon proudly emerges to dominate the sky and will, in the following hours, add its own illumination to the terrain below. A potent enchantment abounds; peace has fallen over this small patch of the Earth and all life seems to know it.”

Lunar Enchantment

“I turned slowly to survey my surroundings, happiness and wonder probably etched on my face; strangely I felt younger! To the east the scene I have just described continued to play out, southwards, up the track, the darkening sky was making the trees seem denser and like they belonged to a foreign land; the west had grown yellow and pink – warm, welcoming, somehow hopeful; to the north the vista was more open and afforded a view of the collision of the moons paleness with the few remaining beams of sunlight sneaking round the curvature of the Earth. It was a majestic scene to be immersed in . . . and I was very much immersed, not just a passer-by or spectator. Rather, it was passing through me, a reminder that no human splendour can ever compare to what nature has to offer. Nature reaches inside of us, intoxicating us with its wild magic, twisting our senses, our perception, our place in the world; never the same twice, we are never the same either.”

Reflecting on nature; reflecting on humans

“We’ve abstracted nature into a set of ostensibly understandable phenomena – nature has, in many cases, become commensurate with facts about nature. But we are animals and animality, even for those species with large brains like ours, revolves around interacting with the surrounding Earth. And interacting with the surrounding Earth, having living, breathing, sensory contact with crows, trees and moonbeams is how we come to understand their needs, to respect them as part of the living world of which we are also a part. Nature was once the realm of gods, now it merely fuels our insanity. How do we rediscover the enchantment of the world around us? I do not know . . . but somehow the animal in me does.”

Read the full essay here