I was driving home the other day and crested a hill. The music swelled to crescendo and the moon, sliver of crescent luminescence peaked out from behind the hill. The sky was streaks of cottony glowing clouds and I could swear it was magic.
I often find myself taken aback while driving, getting to see such breath-taking displays of nature.
I was thinking that magic is around, in the people we love, the music that moves us, in the sights we treasure.
*feels silly*
Anyway...anyone else feel the magic of everyday life?
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Just the other day, I cleared a clogged toilet by waving my hands over it and chanting "plunge-plunge-plunge". Someone else caught me doing it and said "You need to actually use a plunger, not just wave your hands". Then the toilet clog disappeared, and the bowl drained with a happy flushing noise.
"Oops", I said, "Now that you know about my secret powers, I have the choice of either killing you or making you my thrall"
She chose thrall.
Oh, and when my kid was a toddler, before he understood that locks were meant to make doors unopenable, he could open locked doors just like that by turning the knob and wanting the door to open.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
I often feel like I'm privileged in experiencing magic like that, Stone Wolf. It's even enough for me if I'm just outside at twilight and I look up at the sky, or if I'm walking, and I see light glisten from behind the leaves of trees as I walk.
The world can be a beautiful place if you look at it right. Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
When I was in fourth grade, I could make the wind blow by raising my arms.
When I was in sixth grade, I could stop myself from having nightmares by blinking twice.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
When I was in nursery school (about 4 years old), I figured out how to stop the incessant recurring nightmares I was having by having a song about snow run through my head over and over as I fell asleep, because my parents called the static on the TV "snow". It worked.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Stone_Wolf_, thanks for reminding me of a reason why I should go out walking this morning besides for my health. The "magic" seems to happen outdoors a lot more often than it does while sitting in front of a computer! ;-)
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I used to believe I was a water-soul, for I loved to swim and could watch the fish at the aquarium for hours.
Now I have transformed into an air-soul, for whenever I see a bird fly, I smile.
One day I will right a book on magic/Magic, mystery/Mystery, and power/Power. Today I will leave you with these thoughts.
If magic is the power to change reality by saying special words of power, or enscribing them on parchment combined with special movements of the body, and if those who use that power are adored for thier skill, and feared for their misuse of that power, then in our world Magicians are:
Politicians--who change waht is right and wrong by creating new law.
Judges--who daily change the fates of people all over this land.
Lawyers--who weave new realities of words and possibilities to defend their colients or convict their advisaries.
Salesmen--who perform the ultimate alchemy, of turning their lead into your gold--and keeping that gold, while charming you into thanking them for the trade.
Posted by Historian (Member # 8858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: Salesmen--who perform the ultimate alchemy, of turning their lead into your gold--and keeping that gold, while charming you into thanking them for the trade.
ahem... Sales people, help make people's dreams come true.
Posted by Mirrored Shades (Member # 8957) on :
I know what you mean about everyday magic, Stone Wolf... It's that moment where you look up and there are the mountains, and the sun's hitting them just right so that everything glows. Or when you're walking on a flat beach next to a flat ocean while the sun sets, and the tide has just gone out so the sand is wet, and everything is reflecting the same color back at you: the sand, the water, the sky, and you can't tell where one ends and the other begins, stretching out for as far as the eye can see.
On the other hand, my family was once on a road trip when my sister and I were younger, and we'd been sitting in silence for a few hours. We hit a bump in the road, and she and I both said 'Bumpity, bump, bump.' At the exact same moment, and for no reason at all, it had nothing to do with anything I was thinking about, at any rate. It was a bumpy road, too, so why that bump, at that moment...? Must have been magic.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Growing up, my sister and I used to love to do this trick. We'd look at each other and say "I'll get it!" A moment later, the phone would ring. When outsiders would ask how we did that, my mother would say that her daughters were a little witchy.
I have no idea how we did it -- we would just look at each other and know that someone was dialing our number.
If we did it alone, it just seemed show-offy, but it was fun if we could say it in unison.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
*likes the remembering of magical in everyday events*
*smiles*
Posted by larisse (Member # 2221) on :
Every now and then, I'll be in the car and the lyrics to a song will pop into my head. (A song not being played at the moment.) I'll be singing it under my breath and change the station and there it will be at the exact spot I am singing. This isn't so strange except that sometimes the song will either be a very obscure one or a song not played anymore or a song that doesn't fit that particular station.
When I was a kid, I used to stare out the window of our station wagon, which we took on vacations, and I would make up stories about the stars I could see. One in particular was so bright and steady that I made up an elaborate story of a wayward fairy on her way home, and she was using our station wagon as a guide. It wasn't until later that I learned that bright, steady stars weren't stars at all, but planets. And yes, she did get home safely. So did we.
Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
One night I was working late on an essay and had music playing on my computer. This song (which I THOUGHT I didn't like because it started out weird - French w/tinny drum machine) snuck by my ears and continued to play without me going "Ack turn it off". A minute passed, and suddenly I found myself bobbing my head in time to a tasty jazz pulse and crazy improv, and I said, how the heck did this song go from putrid to "YEAH!" ?
It's always magical when a composer "tricks" me and I find out later I really like the end result of the song.
Also, Eric Whitacre's "Water Night" is magical. www.ericwhitacre.com , click on main site, preview player is on the left, click "Water Night" -Choral.
Space is crazy magical. And how they make those little twisties...
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
As one who lives in an enchanted forest and practices magic...yes, it's all around. You just have to not forget to look for it. When we are children, the world is so magical. We sometimes forget as we grow up to look at it that way.
Just the other day, a huge red-tailed hawk perched a little ways outside my window. We looked at each other. I rose to get a better look. It saw me and flew away. Then, the next week, it was back and my daughter saw it too. That was magic!
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
Hmmm, I'd have to say one of the most magical thing I used to experience was waking up next to my girlfriend (now ex) everymorning in bed. And at 7am the light always made her long blonde hair shine like threads of gold.
Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
I tend to cause street lights to turn off or burn out.
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
....
Wow. I want to be able to do that. Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: Growing up, my sister and I used to love to do this trick. We'd look at each other and say "I'll get it!" A moment later, the phone would ring. When outsiders would ask how we did that, my mother would say that her daughters were a little witchy.
I have no idea how we did it -- we would just look at each other and know that someone was dialing our number.
If we did it alone, it just seemed show-offy, but it was fun if we could say it in unison.
That's actually a known phenomenon, and doesn't require anything psychic. When you receive a phone call, there's a lag, sometimes of a second, but usually more like half a second, between the telephone receiving the signal and the phone actually ringing. I guess it depends on the phone, but this was for sure the case with old phones.
We hear electomagnetic buzzing all around us all the time. We just filter it out. It's like how I used to hear my heart beat when I had my ear to the pillow as a kid, and it eventually went away. The sound didn't go away; my brain just filtered it out.
Kids learn, at least to a certain extent, by conditioning. It doesn't always have to be conscious, and in fact, it often isn't. So when a particular type of buzz is always followed by the phone ringing, you just learn to associate it that way. You're never conscious of hearing anything, but you are perceiving it, and it tells you that the phone is about to ring.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
When I was in 4th grade, I was over at a friend's house. At the time Olivia Newton-John's song "Have You Never Been Mellow" was in its... I don't know, something like 300th week at #1, and it was constantly on the air.
And I had braces.
So I told my friend that I could pick up radio signals with my braces, and that if he turned on the radio, "Have You Never Been Mellow" would be playing. Of course, he didn't believe me, so he turned on a radio, and fiddled with the dial, and sure enough, it was on one of the stations. Spooked him good.
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
Still it is freaky that they could pick that up. Even freakier that they used it in front of others (showoffs).
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
quote: ahem... Sales people, help make people's dreams come true.
That would be, Good Salespeople. Then again, so do good magicians.
Last weekend I watched "Return To Neverland" with my son. It was set during WWII, with Wendy's daughter escaping the Blitz by visiting Wonderland. For a few moments I wondered, "How could we live in a world with Auschwitz and Tinkerbell." Then I realized, "How could we live in a world with Auschwitz, but without Tinkerbell."
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Advent 115: Still it is freaky that they could pick that up. Even freakier that they used it in front of others (showoffs).
<blink> You mean you wouldn't?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Zalmoxis: I tend to cause street lights to turn off or burn out.
quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: [QUOTE] For a few moments I wondered, "How could we live in a world with Auschwitz and Tinkerbell." Then I realized, "How could we live in a world with Auschwitz, but without Tinkerbell."
I love that thought -- thanks for sharing.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
It is a wonderful thought. It reminds me of Life is Beautiful, which I loved.
Posted by Stone_Wolf_ (Member # 8299) on :
I met this girl, and I know a lot more about magic because she is in my life.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
awww...
Posted by esl (Member # 3143) on :
I second that emotion.
I love views from the car. On my way home I often get to see my city's skyline during sunset. It's gorgeous. Moonscapes are too.
I always have a very conflicting experience while driving though. I can hardly take my eyes off the sky/view, but I need to be looking at the road. It's most frustrating.
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