Im Always Talking About Nature & Magic

I wanted to start you off with a quote from one of my favorite books "The Spell of the Sensuous” by David Abram.

“In tribal cultures that which we call “magic” takes its meaning from the fact that humans, in an indigenous and oral context, experience their own consciousness as simply one form of awareness among many others.”

Right off the bat my copy of the book is earmarked and underlined in multiple places on each page (not just in pencil but also pen, imagine the commitment!). When I first read this book, it spoke to me in a language which my whole body mind and soul understood.

I previously said that we fetishize indigenous cultures & their relationship to nature, however we need to remember that whether you are living on your indigenous land or not, somewhere in your ancestry there is a history of connection to the land. If you go back in time long enough, we are all inextricably connected to our land.

If we go back in time long enough, you would find a practice or at least a belief in magic too because the two are so interwoven.

You might say you don’t believe in magic but I think perhaps you do. Im almost certain you’ve thought of somebody and then they called you, or you walked into a room and sensed that something wasn’t right. We hear miraculous stories of how somebody was supposed to board a plane, but they decided not to and then that plane crashed. If I told you to wish a life threatening illness on your mother, or your child, Im certain you wouldn’t because something inside of you believes in the power of your words.

Neuroscience already backed up the knowledge that our thoughts shape our reality. If that isn’t magic then what is?

But why does this matter? Why am I always going on about nature & magic?

Humans largely assume their consciousness is the only consciousness and that our perspective is the only perspective, or at least the only worthy one. If you can reconnect, and I mean truly reconnect with your natural environment, you will understand that quote right at the start. Human consciousness is only one of many, amongst all living things. If you can connect to nature, you can connect to its ineffable mystery, and begin to comprehend magic.

The key is that once you understand magic, you unlock the door to possibility.

Suddenly life has a numinous quality. You begin to believe in the possibility that life doesn’t have to stay the way it is. You dont have to continue in career that doesn’t fulfill you, in a relationship you have outgrown. If magic exists, then maybe you can find somebody to love, to have a family with.

If magic exists, then anything is possible. Magic is the key to you believing that your life can change. And surely is the biggest gift that nature could give you.