what magic is

“How would you explain what magic is?” I asked Ming.

We were driving home from the coast.  What a good day we had.  First we went to the library, where I wrote and cleared some ideas out of my head that had coalesced during the drive.

Then we went for a walk.  I was skeptical about the trail, but it was gorgeous.

Then we went to the beach.  In my little black cauldron, we burned letters from a past relationship while I prayed, asking Mother God to bless me and Ming to make good choices, have fair boundaries, and do the work of love without sacrificing our own well-being.  I was happy to finish that–wrapping it up was overdue.

Then we ate Thai food, picked blackberries behind an abandoned bank, and drove home through the forest, having great conversations.

Ming fell asleep as I drove us to the coast, but he drove us home, wide awake.  I love sharing ideas and touch with him as we move through the world.

green

Ming said magic is in the color green.  We were driving through dark conifer forest, and green was everywhere.  Magic is life.

Yes, I agree that’s what magic is.  An energy that makes us have vibrancy: the chlorophyll is dancing.  Magic animates and pushes forth like the plant pushes up out of the ground, or the bud pushes forth to flower.

When I was a kid, I wrote a poem saying I believed in certain kinds of magic, and it bothered my mom.  She thought I was too old to believe in magic?  Or maybe it was just a misunderstanding.  But I remember thinking of her Christianity and how she prayed– is prayer not magic, to gather intentions and concentrate then release them, like a seed?

Her Christianity was a form of magic, even if she didn’t think of it that way.  A mediated magic, possibly gentle the way she practiced it with her morning devotionals, asking Jesus to take away her injustice-anger so she could function another day.

special place

Ming and I like to visit a special place where radical faeries play, queer people who tend altars and shrines, care for the land, protect art, and live in nature.  Ming and I want to be helpful there and give more than we take.

I made enchiladas at home, a delicious love offering, and we took them to that special place to serve for dinner.  We stayed two nights and cooked the next day also.  Ming and I washed a fuckton of dishes.  It’s fun to be in community with others who know what magic is, and who have values like mine.

I’d heard of those radical faeries for 13 years and believed they were better than me.  I never dreamed I would go there.  Now I know I can be a radical faerie also, and I learn more each time we visit.

We plan to return next month.  Please give me any offerings you would like me to leave on an altar, or any prayers you would like me to speak there in the queer woods.