“Miracles happen to those who believe in them.” - Bernard Berenson
On one warm summer night, Penny and I headed out to a small rural community in northeastern Oklahoma named Rentiesville. Besides the charm of colorful local characters and the beauty of the countryside, there’s a little bar there where an amazing variety of live music is performed. Penny and I love live music, especially music that comes from the heart and soul. And Rentiesville is the real deal, and I can seldom remember ever being disappointed. But ironically, much to our disappointment, the band scheduled to play had been delayed at another gig, and after hanging around awhile and visiting with some of the locals, we decided to head back home.
As we are often prone to do, we decided to take our time and enjoy the journey home by way of a number of rural back roads sure to have little traffic or people. It was a beautiful night in the country, the dark woods pressing in closely along the small winding roads and everything intimately covered by an amazing sky filled with more stars than I had seen in some time. In fact, we were so drawn to the sky that we eventually decided to stop the car and get out so we could more fully enjoy its beauty. After a few minutes of searching, we finally found a good place to pull off the road and park, complete with a small clearing which offered a nice view of the night sky. Having done this sort of thing on more than one occasion, we were well prepared with our lawn chairs packed away in the back of the car, and within a few minutes, we were comfortably enjoying the beautiful night sky.
Like anyone else, I marvel at the knowledge of the sky that science has given us. The process of fusion that fuels the stars, and the distant journey of starlight as it hastens its way to planet Earth, each light photon carrying within it an encoded description of the chemical properties inherent in the star itself. All amazing stuff; more than enough information to fill many a textbook. Even in that kind of practical scientific knowledge and information, I find a little magic and enchantment. How can you not? And the fact that our planet and all life upon it, including the human race, are descendants of some ancient star is a mythic story that gives new meaning and significance to our very existence. But even more than that, there is something here that fills me with a marvelous awe and mystery, a feeling of longing for something which is beyond the depth of words to express. I have felt this way for much of my life and even more so as I grow older. At any rate, I often find myself in a similar setting, sitting for hours just gazing in wonder at the stars, their beauty and mystery carrying me to mystical states of magic and reverie.
And so on this magical night, Penny and I sit amid a dark woods, just off a small and winding country road, enjoying the stars. In most ways, it was not unlike many other nights in which we would sit blissfully in reverent silence and deep awe. But much to our surprise, it was about to take an unexpected turn. We probably hadn’t been relaxing for more than a half an hour when we began to notice something quite unusual. The stars were beginning to move! I don’t mean move as in the way an orbiting satellite might sweep silently across the sky, drawing your attention to its flashing light and fixed arc. What I mean is, one moment everything was calm and still and in the next, the sky was alive with the movement of light! The stars were literally swirling about us, above and around us, in the sky and amidst the trees in the dark woods, a rhythmic dance of twinkling light!
Now mind you, as I have already professed, Penny and I have spent many a dark night beneath star-filled skies. We’ve gazed at the distant heavens through large observatory telescopes. We’ve slept under mountain skies filled with stars from horizon to horizon. We’ve witnessed magical nights of fiery meteors, their tails afire as they hurtled across the dark night sky. We even marveled at Halley’s Comet as it passed through the solar system on its once every seventy-something year journey. And each was magical in its own right. But this night was truly like no other!
Picture this: Imagine sitting beneath a dark, star-filled sky, its beauty and mystery already more than you can behold, and then before your very eyes, the sky begins to pulsate and move, the stars themselves dancing all around you! Needless to say, we were spellbound! It was like some kind of fairy tale, an enchanted evening borrowed from the pages of a children’s book, a never-ending story come to life! “Once upon a time,” in a magical realm just “east of the sun and west of the moon,” magic still happens! The stars come to life and sprinkle a little stardust, and after the enchanted evening comes to a close, we all live happily ever-after! It was truly one of those “pinch yourself” moments, one where you had to ask yourself if you were truly awake or if it was all but a dream!
And then amid all this magic, certainly no more than a moment or two at most, I began to realize what was happening. With my sometimes rational mind finally beginning to assert itself, I noticed a couple of stars had actually landed in Penny’s hair. And on her face and arms. And they were starting to fall and gather upon me, too. Lo and behold, with their own special kind of magic, what we had mistaken for spiraling stars was instead, a swarm of flickering fireflies that had ascended unannounced upon our intimate gathering!
Even as I grow older, I can still fondly remember fireflies from my childhood. Back then, urban sprawl was only just getting started, and many wild things were still in great abundance. Thick woods were commonplace with a wide variety of animal life. But what I most remember as a kid were the wild things that I interacted with on a daily basis. Frogs, lizards and toads, as well as crawdads and tadpoles were some of my favorites and if they weren’t to be found right outside my backdoor, then they could be located easily in any nearby creek or waterhole. And naturally, the magic of fireflies, or lightening bugs as we sometimes called them, was a normal part of any childhood. No summer was complete without their enchantment. Of course, you can still find them on warm summer evenings in the countryside; we even have quite a few of them on our land in south Tulsa. But I am here to tell you, I have never in my life seen anything quite like this dark night!
Hundreds and hundreds of fireflies, swarming all about us, in the sky and in the trees and in the grass. And with the myriad of stars lit up in the night sky, it was literally impossible to tell where the fireflies ended and the stars began! What was up and what was down, what was here and what was there, it was impossible to tell. Not unlike past childhood days when we all would spin and twirl about like tops until we were too dizzy to stand, Penny and I were lightheaded and disoriented, mere children, enchanted and captivated by a magical universe come to life. Betwixt and between, they danced and intermingled, a communion of earth and sky, firefly and star, an alchemical potion being recreated before our very eyes!
As science tells us, from the violent death of a distant star some five billion years ago, our sun and a small blue planet are born. And from the essential elements of this same star, life eventually arises upon planet Earth. And amid its many myriad forms, one magical creature borrows the light of this given star, and through a process called bioluminescence, it celebrates this life each summer evening, even mimicking the twinkling of the stars from whence it came. And the death of this same ancient star has brought forth many other creatures, one with an intelligence so vast it is sometimes frightening, a life form which may threaten the very existence of every other creature on the planet. But on this enchanted night there is no such threat, no challenge, no confrontation, only a magical unity, a union of spirit and joy and mutual existence. With open hearts, we are invited to join in this celebration of life!
As biologist Edward O. Wilson reminds us, “Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them elevates the very concept of life.” And if we are courageous and humble enough to allow it, the natural world around us can change our lives. It can take us into the deepest aspect of ourselves, into our very hearts and souls. And so it was on this night.
In retrospect, our lives were certainly blessed on this special evening, but as I’ve discovered over the years, this same kind of magic can happen on almost any night or day; all it takes is an open mind and willing heart. There’s an old song I remember from my childhood, possibly an old Disney movie theme. But from wherever it came, it still resonates strongly with the child within me. For this child, for this yet-to-be-fully-grown adult, it still carries great magic! And it certainly seemed appropriate for this starry night.
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are,
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you,
It will come to you!
Makes no difference who you are,
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you,
It will come to you!
In the end, isn’t it amazing the way things sometimes work out. It’s almost as if there is some divine plan behind it all. If you are open to it, and at times when you least expect it, the world reaches out to you in the most amazing ways. As if to remind you, don’t stop looking, don’t stop believing, there is still plenty of magic to be found here! And so it was on this enchanted evening. In reflection, we missed the evening music we came to see, but ultimately we found so much more!
And if you listen carefully, there’s a band tuning up just now, all around us, all around you. Cicadas and crickets and katydids pluck their winged instruments in a symphony of sound. And from a nearby pond, the voices of frogs and toads create a jubilant harmony. Wild honking geese fly overhead, and somewhere in the distance, the plaintive cry of coyote. In celebration, Penny and I dance in wild abandon among the flickering fireflies, many lives becoming one, all this beneath the light of the twinkling stars in the dark night sky!
To this day, I still carry an undying gratitude for the blessings of that enchanted evening. I can still close my eyes and see it all clearly, as if it is still happening. In a way, I guess it is. In my medicine bundle, in my heart, it lights my way. . . . .
______________________________
My help is in the mountain
Where I take myself to heal
The earthly wounds
That people give to me.
I find a rock with sun on it
And a stream where the water runs gentle
And the trees which one by one give me company.
So I must stay for a long time
Until I have grown from the rock
And the stream is running through me
And I cannot tell myself from one tall tree.
Then I know that nothing touches me
Nor makes me run away.
My help is in the mountain
That I take away with me.
- Nancy Wood
Where I take myself to heal
The earthly wounds
That people give to me.
I find a rock with sun on it
And a stream where the water runs gentle
And the trees which one by one give me company.
So I must stay for a long time
Until I have grown from the rock
And the stream is running through me
And I cannot tell myself from one tall tree.
Then I know that nothing touches me
Nor makes me run away.
My help is in the mountain
That I take away with me.
- Nancy Wood
