The magic of the land, and i realise that I've probably asked this before, but its a favourite subject of mine so there you go

What is it that inspires you on our land? What for you summarises the magic of the land, the secret magic that can be seen but not felt?

For me, it is seeing frost on red berries or raindrops catching the light as they sparkle hanging from a berry. I am enchanted by dewdrops on spider webs on a misty morning or the same drops turned to bright jewels by the kiss of the suns light. I love seeing the diamond stars twinkling in the dark midnight blue velvet cloak of the night sky, the joy of a shooting star flying unexpectedly over head before fading away. I love to hear the owls calling to each other, and even better to watch their young as they grow up from fluffy balls of feathers into beautiful graceful birds. I love to hear the horses call out at night to each other and the replies coming from paddocks far away. I astounded that for every single snow flake that falls not one is identical, how is nature so fabulous that she does not repeat herself? I love breaking open horse chestnut cases and getting the glossy polished conkers from inside. Nature has her inner secrets, she is nuturing and a killer, she gives life and takes life. But her secrets and magic astound me, this for me is the real magic, the magic of life, but its the magic of the mundane since it is ever present.

So what is the magic of the land around you that sums up magic and wonders of life to you?

That there's always something about to remind me about nature. Even in urban areas there are birds - I work in the centre of Birmingham and I've seen Starlings, blue tits, great tits, robins, magpies, gulls, wagtails and pigeons [1].

Wassail

Karen




[1] Okay, so they're mega-hard Brummie pigeons who try to eat your bootlaces, but they're still birds.

Some beautiful examples there !

Part of the magic of winter in the landscape for me is the sheer poetry of bare trees against a pale blue sky, and then at night how little droplets of water on the branches can catch the slightest hint of light and dance and flash like a thousand fairies !

Oh and how in winter the moon is so often clearly visible by day and to see a flock of birds pass over her.

And the winter twilight as the land veils herself as if shyly hiding her beauty that by looking even more closely we may be enraptured !

What weatherwitch said but also the fact that minute by minute day by day no view or experience is ever the same (bit like the snowflakes I suppose!)

Stenness

Oh I love that description, it's so apt I also love what witchstorm said, 'minute by minute no view or experience is ever the same again,' so right

Anyone else have thoughts to share?

Many things, always changing as the season changes.

In the dark early days of the year, the sight of snowdrops bursting through the frozen ground, a sign that spring is on it's way and that life will not be denied.

During the height of summer, watching the bees swarming over the lavender, seemingly oblivious to the ever present heat, whilst the butterflies lazily sun themselves in the baking sun.

At this time of year, the white covering of frost after a beautifully clear night; or walking the dog through the deepest fog, everything cloaked in an eerie cocoon, and all but the closest sounds muffled, whilst somewhere up above there is the faint glow of the moon.

Ok, I not poetic but, I love walking the dog at first light when the air is just so fresh and even the cold just makes you feel alive.
Autumn and harvest time, when the land is painted in glorous, rich colour and the realisation of just how many shades of green there are. How much detail goes into each leaf.
I like the snow on the spiders web, how does it manage to stay on and not break it.
I love the sound of the sea, and the feel of the wind and rain on my face. The smell and feel of the land after a storm and noticing how the grass always looks and smells greener.

The changing colour of leaves during Autumn, so the world is blanketed in a colourful, reds, oranges, browns and golds - so beautiful.

The fierceness of a storm, of rain beating on the window pane, sitting on the sofa watching it with a cup of tea in hand, being awed by nature herself, yet thankful I am safe, warm and cosy in my house.


And cooking, preparing fresh natural ingredients into delicious mouth watering meals - all this produced by the earth - for me there's nothing more magical. I agree the best magic, and possibly the most potent is found in the mundane, what is more magical than creating a feast for friends to share, creating a warm and relaxing atmostphere, sitting around enjoying the food the land produces, renewing and affirming friendships and ties, which can be enhanced by lighting candles, burning incense, playing soft music.

Perhaps a large part of "magic" is being able to appreciate the mundane?

Last spring there was a blackbird outside the hotel in the mornings singing phrase after phrase, every one of them different, morning after morning - so exuberant, so skilled, he made me laugh for joy. It is this infinite creativity thaqt is so captivating, you're all right. But the FEELING of magic is in the air for me - the flowing across the skin, and the smells of flowers, leaves, mould etc.

All very evocative and so true.

I love the way you can smell the seasons changing in the air.

The long dark nights where you can sit for hours gazing at the stars and moon, when all you can hear is silence and the soft sounds of nature.

I love the cold frosty mornings with a clear blue sky, a pink sunrise and the moon still showing her beautiful face reminding me she is always there.

I love the beach on a windy day where i can sit on some driftwood and let the wind clear my head.

I love storms, the thunder and lightning and the energy it creates, I just want to go outside and soak it all up.

I love the soft rain upon my face like gentle kisses from mother nature herself and the beautiful rainbows in the sky.

I love the fresh green grass, the lazy buzz of the insects and the warmth of the sun on my face.

I love big old knarly trees that you can sit under and be at one.

I could go on for ever........

When I was growing up I use to live in Suffolk near to Bury St Edmunds and they have a sugar beet factory there and end of October begining of November I don't know what they did but they always had this smell and that always reminded me that winter was on its way, that smell is what I remember is nice about nature, or the smell of freshly cut grass, Buddhlia, lavender, do you see where this is going it seems to be a smell thing!!!

Also the shapes that nature makes, I was driving in my car the other day and there was a spider's web attached to the mirror but, as I was driving along it was making the most bizarre shapes.

Water I think though is the best thing in Nature as from second to second it changes and with it draws in its background and becomes at one with it!

That's my opinion
xx

another thing i have noticed most people who have expressed what they appreciate is all quite stormy, tumultuous. How come hot days are not as impressive???

For me most of all, it's the way that the land here just screams at me. I've lived in 3 other countries and about 10 cities and there's no where else where I feel more like I belong. I belong to the land here. I know it's a sappy thing to say but it's true.

Other than that it's the sight of the moors above my town and the different colours . You see it all there, a burnt reddish colour, various shades of green, the browns and the yellows. In summer you have the black from where various fires have caught and have just smouldered until somebody's noticed and put them out. It's the way that I know exactly where to go foraging in autumn and the way the stone circle looks covered in snow. It's the bleakness of the moors and the way you feel when miles from any 'civilisation' and the only things around you are the silent hills and the odd bleating from sheep. It's the way you can watch cloud move across the hills, casting their shadows on the land and the smell of rain.

A recent one I had was the smell of late October when getting back to England after months away. The air was thick with gunpowder and it had that smell that just said that Halloween was on it's way.

Sorry I've waxed lyrical but I've had a bottle of wine and five cans of lager so I'm not expecting to make any kind of sense

A storm, particularly over the bay, the lightning forking into the water, the clouds racing across the sky.

The ocean along the coast, the waves crashing across and around the rocks, feeling the rocks vibrate under your feet from the power of it.

Bushfire, leaping from tree to tree, leaving blackened and smouldering trees, bright red ash, flames licking the sky.

The smell of the earth after a huge storm, when all has calmed down, and the rain is soaking into everything.

The red sands of the desert, stretching as far as the eye can see, dotted with scrub, hawks hanging still in the air above us.

A deserted beach, white sand stretching for miles, the sea sparkling blue and calm.


I love my country.

Heartily second everything everyone has written. But also add the bigger picture - the rocks themselves,the way they are formed, their colours and shapes, and how over millions of years they have moved and reshaped, risen up and broken down. And the slow aeons of time, where strange creatures swum in warm seas, our ancestors, andearth was wild and fierce. And laying flat on the ground, feeling the energy come from that ground, and thinking of allthe tiny creatures going around in their own particular universes, oblivious of us, andthebacteria and micro-organisms. The tree roots going down into that soil and drawing up their sustenance. And the Colours of everything. Mind blowing

Cheers
Finvarra (shutting up now)

So many - how do you pick some out over others?!

Long, long summer nights where it just doesn't get dark.

Listening to silence ringing in my ears, reverberating round the hills as I look out onto a still loch.

Seeing the first buds on trees, acidic green, unfolding sticky leaves, watching those same leaves turn fiery orange and red and gold later in the year.

Purple heather.

Breath that hangs in the air in the cold.

A golden harvest moon rising low over the river.

The first lambs making me realise that spring really is on the way even if it's too cold yet for the plants!

The smell of wet earth after it's been raining in the summer.

Orion and his dog marching across the sky - my first indication that autumn is here, even if the weather doesn't know what it's doing!

*sigh*

I have cheated and put one of my old poems here in reply - it sums it up for me and I hope resonates for others




Hush can you hear it?
That slumbering quiet that autumn brings
The golden hue that springs eternal
From bough and beck that runs so free
Water sparkles its course set strong
As creature sleep till winters song

Fruit swollen and midnight black
Throngs the branches in a forest glade
Embraces the roadside amidst skeletal leaf
Footsteps slow crushing and sweeping
The fall of Samhain’s splendour on the earth beneath

Be still and you will see
Dew laden cobwebs gossamer light
The industrious spider her prey she binds
She dances on tightrope over obstacles she climbs
Sleepy wasps their season at a close
They fly blinkered and wistful into an autumnal doze.

Watch – watch again the sea her colour hue
Now changed to grey and a wintry blue
Waves with abandon crash on tideline high
Seaweed and ozone as oyster catchers fly
Their song shrill in early morn as winter nears
From dusk till dawn.

Sleep now dream of summer’s boon
Her sunlight a memory amidst winters gloom
Yet this season’s magic is tangible and near
She cradles her children to her bosom held dear.
Sleep and remember that the wheel will turn
Soon winter will bow to spring – a new lesson to learn!
Hush can you hear it! Listen and praise
The God and the Goddess through the wheel of our days.

Rhiana 12/10/03

The energy that you can simply feel, in the air around you or seeping up through the soles of your feet.

Some energies like a presence and some simply "energy".

Some huge, some small, some sad, some relaxed, some even angry.

Sometimes a whole valley filled with energy, sometimes a small copse or pool.

Also the history, the people that were there before.

....and of course the smell of leafmould, the wind through the leaves, the sound of an angry robin in the Holly or a Buzzard gliding past.

An ancient gnarled Oak or a Slender young Rowan.

A fox walking across your path, taken by surprise and the Tawny Owl, hardly seen, heard only as a slight wisper in the air, on a pitch dark night at the woodlands edge.

Being a part of it all, absorbing it and being absorbed.

cor, some really stunningly evocative answers I love this land




I wonder if really hot days are not that impressive because the heat affects mood? If I'm too hot I can't focus or concentrate on things. It is tiny things that make the difference, but I will add watching the clouds race past, or watching them run past the moon, or watching them slowly, languidly changing shape in a blue summer sky

Wow...some lovely answers and I agree with them all!
For me I suppose the main things that spring to mind are the tingle in the air when autumn is approaching... the feel of the wind lifting my hair... opening the curtains on a winter's morning to see everything covered in sparkling white snow... the call of the sea... the sound of fog horns on a winter's night... the feeling of riding a horse and knowing it so well it feels as though you are one...the smell and peace after the rain...the power of the storm...
Most of these again are autumn / winter type moments but I also love the feeling in summer when it is really hot and you are relaxing and you suddenly realise you are aware - really aware - of all the tiny sounds of nature that you normally cannot hear...lying there with your eyes shut, listening, it can seem as though it is hard to tell how big or small you are or even where you start and finish...well it can to me anyway

Aberdeen sits in a valley, one of the rivers, the Dee flows along the floor of the valley, the Don not so noticeably. The Dee is beautiful, and Inverdee, where it flows through almost the city centre just before hitting the sea is gorgeous, all green and trees, you could walk along it's banks and never know you were almost the heart of a city. At this time of year, and again in about 6 months time the Dee gets the most lovely mists rising over it in the mornings. The way I come into the city, travelling down one side of the valley and overlooking the sweep of the opposite hill, I can see the whole city through this veil, with the sunlight playing through it and it all looks quite ethereal. When I see that, I see the magic in the land, I feel it in my bones and I know that whereever I go in this world I will take this land with me in my heart. It's part of me and I will never understand what people mean by mundane - nothing is ever mundane, magic is everywhere just look!

As I type, the lawn outside my window is glittering with a billion dewdrops lit up by the sun - each blade of grass looks as though it has a tiny crystal threaded on it's tip.

One of my favourite things is taking a blanket up to the woods on a bright spring day, and lying on the grass under the trees, watching the clouds drift by. The wind sighs through the branches of the pines around me, and the grass is alive with thousands of tiny creatures (probably thinking "what the hell is this thing taking up so much floor?!") . Small birds flock through the trees, and the occasional buzzard glides by, borne aloft by the breeze.

I love standing in the garden on a winter's night, marvelling at the stars which stud the inky blue like diamonds on velvet, and awestruck at the billions of worlds out there that I'll never know. Listening to the scuttling and scurrying of the night time creatures in the hedges, and being scared witless now and then by the hoot of a large tawny owl which frequents the trees in the garden nextdoor.

I'm so lucky to live where I do - mountains, meadows and sea within minutes of my home. I love our land.

An interesting question. I may live in a tower block on the nineteenth floor, but it over looks a view of both bright city lights and the Tay (river). I get to see the ineteraction of these as well.
But what really sells that "Do Never Test mother nature" thing is when the moon is bright and it is reflecting off of the river. It can be so bright it shows up in my room.

i love it when the days are cold and frosty but the sun is shining. and when its foggy and as you walk along quiet country lanes its like you're the only person in the world, but thats a good thing because it makes you feel so content.

The view from your window sounds lovely givenup. That's a good point too, so many forget that the town are full of natures secrets too. Plants surviving against all odds in tiny cracks in concrete, the elements still hit where ever any one lives. The earth beneath the pavements and building are still full of life. I would have problems tapping into that energy because its not normal for me, but I'm sure that the same energy would be found there There is beauty in much, hidden beauty, hidden magic, the lands treasures

I have spent many a night sitting on the windowsill just apreciating the view WW, watching the Tay go past St. Andrews and out to the sea! I think that towns and cities do have their own style of energy, I would describe it as frantic, yet fleeting. Nature is everywhere, I like to think there isn't actually such a thing as a "dead zone".
But I do have problems trying to tap into the rural energies, it always seems like there is definately something there. But it speaks a different language, and we just can't understand one another despite best intentions. That's exactly how it feels I would say.
Guess I'm just a city witch. lol.
Edit: so how do rural energies feel. I always thought it would feeling like getting streched very thin, but not unpleasantly so.

The changing of the light as the season changes. Most especially from summer to autumn and winter, when the light moves from being that bright harsh white light, to the soft gold that is so soothing.

The day when you step outside and can feel the winter in the air, the taste and smells of autumn moving slowly into the feel of winter when the chill touches you.

The moon in autumn and winter, when it always seems to be so much larger when full, sitting huge on the horizon and you feel that you could almost touch it.

Again in winter.. going to my favourite spot, up on a hill and watching as a late mist starts to cover the city and creeps towards me on my hill. I love to watch as it curls its way over the town and creeps outwards, eventually reaching the foot of the hill I am on and slowly but steadily climbing towards me. Getting excited like a kid as below me the houses, streets and scenery disappears in the mist and slowly climbs the hill eventually coming the whole way up and making everything disappear.. including my own hand in front of my face.

Any time of year... watching moonlight on water.

For me....

How do all of the different tastes feel?
How do all of the different touch sensations feel?
How does the wide variety of different musical styles affect your mood.

Seriously, for me the feel of the variety of "rural energy's is that diverse.

Storms, high winds - especially on the sea - lightning. The fret coming in off the sea is one of my favourite things, on hot summer days it's fun to see the fret near the seafront, but going 10 minutes inland gives you clear skies and warmth.

Snow. Gods I love snow. The peace that comes with that soft blanket is unbeatable. Even the calm after a summer storm doesn't compare with the effect of snow.

Watching the bare branches on the cherry tree develop buds and watching the buds almost explode into flower. Sitting up in the same tree knowing that I'm almost completely hidden from view but can see almost everything.

Seeing my breath come out of my mouth on cold mornings, having an excuse to put on my furry hats and huge scarves. Knowing that this is a quiet time before trying to find the first signs of the crocuses appearing.

Watching my lil oak tree grow, and marvelling that it managed to get there in the frst place.

The sea, in all weather, but preferably at night. When the only sound that can be heard is the waves rolling onto the pebbles it makes me feel that I can do anything, be anyone and go anywhere.

Oh rural energies depend on where you are. My wood is different according to which area I am in, each section offers something different. Most days I am welcome, some I am not. I heed them It's vibrant, powerful, gentle, calming, wild, vicious, exhilarating, exhausting. The parkland here is weak, it's energy (to nick your phrase ) is stretched very thin, the paddocks energies are affected by which ever horses are in there. The fields are different again. The rural lands energy is like the weather, never quite the same although some areas remain the same, with what I can only describe as hot energy.

I think it is what you are tuned to, some people who have been here at night are terrified and not I think only because it is so dark, but for other reasons, the unknown for them. My cottage is seriously affected by the woods energy, as is my garden. Quite simply I love it