Finding the Magic
*photo credit - The Happy Film Company
When we stop and break up monotony, we resist so much… old stories, beliefs & systems. Paradigms. Convention. Indoctrination. When we step outside of those, and into a world of possibilities, this… this is the place where magic resides.
It takes slowness. It takes a pause. A breath. Another breath. It takes a different kind of looking. A gaze, perhaps. Relax your senses. Notice. What is around you? Where is your energy & attention drawn to?
Recently, my 5-year old has been playing this imaginary game ~ a baby kitty hatching out of an egg. He came up with that idea all on his own. Once he gets through the part of hatching out of an egg, there he is, a brand new baby kitty. He looks around with this wide-eyed wonder. Then, he’ll go, “And, let’s say I’m new here, and I am just getting used to things.” In this game, he is allowing himself to see things like it is his first time. Witnessing this game, I get to remind myself I can do the same.
“Whoa”
“Wow”
“Oh my God…”
“Look!”
“There it is.”
“Found one.”
“Saw one”
Have you ever found yourself exclaiming any of these statements above? What was it? What did you see? What bought you such delight? Such excitement? How did you get there? Was it by chance, or was it intentional?
“I suppose, before I go any further, I should define magic. I think there are so many answers I could have to describe what magic is, but I will leave you with this ~ “it is finding the extraordinary within the ordinary.”
My son just tried to tell me that magic does not exist. He said he heard it in a book. I challenged him. “Magic does exist, Leonidas.” His eyes widened… “It does?” “Yes, it does. Real life magic is a bit different from book & movie magic, but it is magic just the same.”
The magic I have found in my life primarily resides in nature. This includes bodies of water, lands, plants, animals, rocks, weather & sky… It is the owl that hoots and greets us as we approach a primitive hot springs with my son & doodle. It is the crystal blue waves hitting black lava cliffs. It is the breeching humpback whale in the ocean. It is the sunset, the rainbow, the double rainbow, snow silently falling, the unique ways that ice can freeze, a shooting star, a budding flower unfolding, a 4-leaf clover.
There is magic everywhere. It really does exist, just as I told my son. When I was a little girl, I was much more connected to my spiritual gifts and the awareness of the existence of things in the “unseen realms.” I was very much connected to magic. I didn’t really have a lot of aunty witches around to confirm this, so it was really up to me and my peers to believe it was so. I loved and longed for magic. Those wise & magical parts of who I am went partly underground as I got older. It was more suppressed, indoctrinated away by systems, “conditioned” to engage in only the “seen realms” through logic, practicality and reason.
“The magic has opportunities to land and stay a while…”
One of my youngest memories of magic was when I was with my mom. We were camping. She had gotten me a butterfly net. I caught this sweet butterfly, and she (miss butterfly) stuck around, perched on my shoulder for what felt like hours. She was my kin. And, keeper of the magic that day.
Travel forward, 20 years. I’m a Prineville hotshot wild land firefighter. Most days, working like a machine. Occasionally, there was a slow day we would be graced by. Standby. We were on the outskirts of the fire, amidst an Oregon mountain forest. There were all these little white butterflies flying around. One landed on my shoulder, and decided to stay there for hours. That little butterfly reminded me of the weight on my shoulders from the long fire season. Her presence was like an antidote to that weariness. Lightness and the reminder of magic all around. She broke the monotony of rote work & crew culture that day... Even other crew members noticed my little companion. That little white butterfly spread her magic that day. She reminded me that underneath that hard hat & hard exterior, the dirty Nomex and heavy line gear I wore like weight of the world, was that little girl inside. There she was.
“In those cases, I feel like the magic found me. In other cases, I stumble upon magic, being in just the right place at just the right time. ”
I was graced with a great gift of getting to sit with my friend, Stephanie, and her friends, on a beach on the westside of the big island of Hawai’i. The weather was overcast, rain sprinkling all day. We didn’t go into the water, except for wading. Most, if not all of our time, was spent gazing upon the ocean horizon. There were humpback whales. They were breaching and spy hopping, including a mama and baby duo, far past the beach area. Though not frequently surfacing, they were active throughout the afternoon & early evening. This meant that if we wanted to see them, we had to keep our eyes on the horizon, sitting, watching and waiting. A better term for what we did was gaze. We sat and gazed. When we talked, our focus was out on the ocean, awaiting our whale friends to breach again. When we weren’t talking, we were gazing. We were all committed to looking for the magic. Witnessing the magic. And, we did.
Sometimes, the magic can be big, like those humpback whales. Other times, it can appear small and unassuming… like a flower or a clover patch.
Enchantment
I remember the first time I met the plant, bleeding heart. It was my first time exploring a yard that ended up being my family’s home for over 10 years. Growing up in the desert, I had never witnessed such a marvel ~ this little pink flower, shaped like a heart, with a “drip of blood” extending off the tip of the flower. I was absolutely enchanted. She (the plant) was my favorite part of the house, from the very beginning. I still delight when I get to cross paths with bleeding heart.
What I have found, over the years, and in discussions with kindred spirits, is that sometimes, we must search for that magic. It does not always jump out at you. It is not always directly there, for the taking in. However, it is there. We all have access to it, only if we are willing to take the time to stop, look, notice. This is key ~ the willingness to stop, look, notice.
In May of 2021, I made a vow to myself that I would find a 4-leaf clover that year. I had been teaching about clover medicine ~ Trifolium pratense. Tri (3) folium (foliage - leaf). This plant is literally named “3-leaf” in Latin. Yet, there is the phenomenon of the rare 4 leaf, and much symbolism, folklore & contemporary culture surrounding it. The Celtic tradition honors them. A sign of good luck. Tears for Fears, Erykah Badu, Chris Stapleton and more sing about the 4-leaf clover and its magic.
Finding the magic…
By September, I found one. I was hiking amongst rock & dirt in the North Cascades. Alongside the trail, there was this little patch of clover. I stopped hiking and bent down to look. Scanning, searching, singing. Then, there she was. I found the magic!!!
As rare at 4-leaf clovers seem to be, I know other people who find them ~ my grandmother-in-law, Carol, finds them. My dear friends, Moriah, Josi & Senna find them.
Are these individuals extremely lucky? You bet. But I argue, it is not because they have an abundant collection of 4-leaf clovers. What I know about these individuals is that they are willing to pause, bend over and take a moment to search. Search for something magical, something extraordinary amongst the ordinary. They are making time to find the magic. They are also leaning into the belief that it is possible. As my friend Senna reflected to me after she found her first 4-leaf clover ~
“I am guided. I am loved. I believe I can.” So, she did.
Do you believe you can?
What would happen if you did believe in the possibility?
What kind of magic could you discover?
And perhaps, you may just hit the jackpot…
In openness to the possibility of magic,
Dr. Sarah Sue