Many people today would describe themselves as seekers, and if you ask what they are seeking the answers will be diverse. Ultimately though I believe there is often a common thread to what people say they are looking for, and that is connection – to themselves, to nature, to powers beyond themselves. People feel disconnected from their own rhythms and deeper self in the same way they feel disconnected from the world around them, both seen and unseen. In a modern world of deadlines, commutes, electric lights, and carefully scheduled lives many of us have lost touch with the patterns of life outside civilized expectations. People are seeking Fairy again, feeling that it’s been lost in this new age of rational thinking and hoping that in returning to the magic of yesterday they can find balance in themselves again. People seek a sense of enchantment, without knowing that is what they are looking for. What does enchantment have to do with feeling connected to your inner self or nature or anything else? Ultimately I believe that it is enchantment and our ability to be open to it that allows us to feel those connections. Children embrace enchantment as reflexively as breathing and they live in worlds of potential and magic, where anything is possible. When we stop allowing ourselves to be enchanted, to embrace the things which delight us or to be lured in by the things which irresistibly draw us, when we cease to be open to the magic of the world around us, then we shut down the places deep within ourselves that make those connections we are seeking and we lose that magic. How can we connect to our true selves when we are rejecting the parts that delight in the whimsical, that paint images of fairies dancing on the wind when we see leaves falling? How can we connect to nature when we are shutting ourselves off from the enchantment offered by simply being out and letting our senses experience it? And most importantly how can we connect to things beyond ourselves, to the spiritual, the numinous, when we are closed off to the magic which is its life blood? We live in a world that is as enchanted as it ever was, full of magic and beauty. The only thing that has changed, perhaps, is our ability – our willingness – to notice it. We rationalize away the numinous rather than embrace it and we explain away everything mystical rather than allow ourselves to be enchanted by it. So many people say they believe in fairies and want to see or find proof of their existence today, yet ignore every little bit of presence around them. When people see a ring of mushrooms now they see a scientific explanation rather than evidence of a night of revelry by the Fair Folk. When they wake up with matted hair they brush it out with a grimace, not sparing a thought about elf-locks. When their car keys go missing they complain of absentmindedness instead of blaming mischievous Fey. Enchantment is the root of all magic, the power that connects different realities, and the force which gives strength to those who know how to wield it. To find Fairy in the modern world is to be open again to enchantment, to see the world as a place full of mystery and possibility. The path to Fairy is one of liminal spaces, of acknowledging that the answer is never an either/or but often seeing things as many possibilities at once. Embracing contradictions and enjoying impossibilities. We like to say today that people should think outside the box, but to regain enchantment we have to realize that there is no box at all unless we allow one. The doorway to Fairy is not secret or hidden but here where it has always been, waiting to be found. Enchantment is, of course, as dangerous as it is important because enchantment is not only the magic that allows us to connect but also the magic that pulls us in and makes us want more. And too much enchantment is just as unhealthy as none. What draws us with its beauty deserves our respect, the way the rose with its thorns does. The old traditions teach us this, giving us lessons about the dangers that exist side by side with the blessings. We need the enchantment to connect to those vital things in our lives, but we also need the balance of rational thinking and skepticism; one foot in the world of magic one foot in the world of the mundane, so we don’t get lost as far in that Otherworld as some people feel they are in this world. We are all seekers in our own ways, all traveling on our own journeys. For those right now who are looking for connection, trying to find themselves or their place in the world, or trying to reach out to things beyond this world, seeking enchantment is the first step to finding everything else. Seeing the enchantedness all around us is the key to finding magic and, for those drawn to it, to finding Fairy in the modern world. What we seek is patiently waiting to be found not on some foreign shore or mysterious place but right here and now. We just have to remember how to see it. www.moon-books.net |
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