Make Magic

Double rainbow after an autumn thunderstorm (October 2023) Photo Credit: Lara Stoudt (Lara Dawn Photography)

“Loss is the tune of our age, hard to miss and hard to bear. Creatures, places and words disappear, day after day, year on year. But there has always been singing in dark times – and wonder is needed now more than ever. ‘To enchant’ means both to make magic and to sing out. So let these spells ring far and wide; speak their words and seek their art, let the wild world into your eyes, your voice, your heart.” (Rob MacFarlane, Introduction to The Lost Spells: A Spell Book)

Walking among the wildplaces, poplar shelterbelt, willows in their autumn colours. Photo credit: Lara Stoudt (Lara Dawn Photography)

Somewhere along the way, someone(s) told me that magic was bad, even evil. That I was to take that word out of my vocabulary. To shun discourse that invites magic into its seams. 

I was looking back through my art journals and found the beginnings of my mandala practice, which started in 2014. The course was called Mandala Magic. And I learned all about sacred geometry and the attempted erasure of ancient discourses (many stories for women and about women).
I fell in love with the enchantment of art making. The Spirit’s very real presence in the process of creating. How She spoke through my heart and hands. This was magic.

I began to see and rediscover this magic everywhere. In the willows, the aspens, the wildflowers, the bees. Rocks. Eagle. Junco. The world became alive, colourful. Full of song. And now I’m desperate to save it. To tell the world of its beauty, the Spirit’s finest expression. Like MacFarlane and others, I see the loss and my only weapon in the battle is my words—my voice and song. 

I’m going to take back what those in power have stolen—my magic. My ability to sing in dark times. To love fiercely and do the impossible. To step into my role as matriarch and be Wisdom’s hands, heart, and feet. Indeed, this is magic. To allow the wild places feed my soul and teach me to live in unity with others, with all of creation. This is the magic of wild places. 

From Rising Appalachia’s “Make  Magic”:

In a land of mad takers
Can I be a mad giver?
In the land of the forsaken, can I be a forgiver?
Can I swim upriver, keep the air in my lungs
When I hit the dam I’ll break it, and sing to The Ocean
Sing to The Ocean.

Refrain:
What are we going to do with the Wickeds of the world
Make magic
Make magic
Make magic