Five Aids to Living a Magical Life
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Penny Billington, author of The Path of Druidry, The Wisdom of Birch, Oak, and Yew, and the new Nine Ways to Charm a Dryad.
Magic is here, magic is now! Not out there, or in our heads, or on a screen, but clearly visible, every time we look out the window. What we need, then is a way of joining in with the magic of the great dance of life.
How often do we say that we’ll try that spell, that bit of divination, that tarot reading, when we have time? Long ago I realised that compartmentalising my magical work meant I never round to it. The essence of magic is the doing of it. If all we do is plan to do magic but just carry on as usual, we’re not understanding this: that only when we see the world as magical, do we become true magicians.
Over many years as a Druid, I’ve gradually discovered my magic in an ongoing love affair with nature: a burning desire to be delighted by the minutiae of the sentient world. I do this by engaging consciously with my five senses. Most Pagans might not associate Druidry with sensuous experience, but I think they should: Druidry is an embodied and celebratory spirituality and Nature is a playground for the senses.
Which things pierce our emotional armour? A sunset landscape still blazing in our mind’s eye; the joyous explosion of birdsong on a late-spring dawn; the intoxicating greenery scent of the forest after rain; a teasing breeze that raised goose bumps as it kissed your neck and winter air so crisp you could taste it… All of these, and more.
Our senses, when awakened, connect us to nature. Sensory experience conjures memories and strong memory means strong emotion, and emotion is the fuel of magic. Our five senses are our teachers.
To most people, emotion is a purely human/human affair. Magical Druids give the other humans a break by also exploring relationship with landscape, weather, trees, weeds, birds, mammals, and insects with emotion—delight, love, poignancy, anticipation… And if fear is your reaction to spiders or snakes, ask yourself why. Nature can provoke every emotion within us, and it can go every deep: prepare to be surprised.
Seeing the world as exquisite is the doorway to experiencing a magical life, 24/7. We can emulate Merlin, going to the wild, learning and becoming intimate with the forests and hidden places. It doesn’t take a course, a magical guru or a purpose-built temple: it could be experienced in your local park. But it needs us to dedicate time and effort each day. A day without celebrating sun, moon, stars, trees, or commending our actions to our God/desses, is a day wasted.
When we harness our five senses consciously to experience nature, surprise, surprise! we find that they have primed our sixth sense, which is our doorway to spirit; they have attuned us to the subtler current of magic, and we become Enchanters in the Green.
Our thanks to Penny for her guest post! For more from Penny Billington, read her article, “Finding Your Magical Teacher .”
