The Calm After the Storm

Nature’s Changing Moods

“All lessons in enchantment begin with nature: with animals that exhibit ‘pure soul’, as Robert Sardello once remarked; with day and night, season and tide-natural rhythms; with our own instincts and sensations, our own nature, part of and reflective of the natural world around us.”

                 Thomas Moore (The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life)

         If you read my blog yesterday, you know I stirred up a tempest over the inclement weather and its effects on my life.  Today is quiet, dry and blessedly cool.  I feel calmer knowing that my soulful girl-dogs and I can go for a long walk together.  It is not surprising to have one’s moods reflect the goings on in the natural world. We are tied to that world body and soul.  We, like all animals, are at nature’s mercy, and at the same time, connected spiritually to the elements from which we are made. 

         Italian Renaissance philosopher, Marsilio Fincino, ‘recommended that everyone turn toward the mystery of his own nature the way a sunflower turns toward the sun.’  (Moore)  In all things, nature is the first and foremost teacher of spirituality.  It was St. Francis of Assisi’s study of the lowliest of creatures that lead to his being patron saint of the animals.  Our greatest hymns reflect the fact that we are in awe of the earth’s beauty and grandeur.  “The purple-headed mountains, the river running by, the sunset and the morning, that brightens up the sky…”  The natural world is our home and our Mother.  Sometimes she’s terrifying and sometimes she’s nurturing.

         Alabama is, once again, cleaning up after the storm—a perennial task here.  We live in a trough that sweeps up from the Gulf and churns out tornados and damaging weather of all kinds.  When it passes, we simply pick up the debris and carry on.  Utility trucks are everywhere this morning, cutting down fallen trees and restoring power to more than two-hundred thousand people who’ve been in the dark for two days.  There is job-security in being a utility worker in Alabama, let me tell you.    

         Romanticizing nature is not something one who lives in Tornado Alley does.  But respecting it, and bowing to its might, and standing in awe of its power is a lesson easily learned here.  Today, I’m grateful for the gift.

                                  Enchanted,

                                  Jane