Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

[Rowanwood]

...or maybe it's not magic, it's just the natural world doing what it does.

Although I am a believer, I do have keen appreciation for the magical, seemingly mystical real things I can see with my eyes in the natural world. Below is a link to a video that reminded me of this. This is a video of a starling murmuration (that's what a flock of starlings is called). I've seen them do this in person, but never this many at once.

To me, its completely awe inspiring.

Join the thread and post what inspires you spiritually in the natural world.

http://vimeo.com/79911232

[Torey]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

For me, without a doubt, it's the Aurora Borealis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYXwRU2Vrq0

[Lilium of the Valley]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

Something I find very inspiring that comes from one of nature's mysteries, are the Sailing Stones.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

For me it's the little things, like the birth of a living thing.

I have assisted with countless caesarians on dogs and to me there is nothing quite so magical and awe inspiring as the moment when you hold a puppy in your hands and literally rub it into life. In a caesarian, the stimulus of passing through the birth canal is not present, and so if we pulled out the pups and then left them alone there's a chance they would all die. So to midwife a caesarian is to literally hold the life of those pups in your hands... to rub their little bodies and stimulate breath... in some cases to breath for them... to be present at the first little gasp of air... to feel the little heartbeats in your hands... to hear those first amazing little squeaks and see those first amazing little wiggles and waving legs.

I have also midwifed for natural dog and cat births, and I was present during the natural birth of my niece. But a caesarian is something special.

[thalassa]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

Dolphins.

It doesn't matter how many times I see them...

The saddest thing I've seen was a beached dolphin this summer.

[Juniper]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

I have always been really taken aback in awe by Fractals. The beauty of them is something else.

[Carlin]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

Sunrise and sunset always seem magical to me, no matter how many times I see them. Winter branches against the moon at night, too. And those pink lakes, made by the algae in the water.

[Rowanwood]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

I took this with my phone. These sun rays through clouds always get me.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

Cliff faces. And caves. Standing in a valley and looking up at the cliffs around me... or at the top with the valley spread out below... or being inside the depths of the earth feeling it all around you... even before I started connecting with landvaettir, mountains, cliffs and caves have always left me awestruck. And knowing the enormous forces that go into the creation and formation of such things. That's intensely spiritual for me.

Morialta Conservation Park (here in Adelaide)... that's me in the middle about to climb into a little recession in Giant's Cave:


Jenolan Caves near the Blue Mountains (a few hours outside Sydney)... an absolutely breathtakingly amazing experience that I will never forget:


Leura Cascades, in the Blue Mountains:


I have a trillion more photos that I've taken over the years, but I think that's enough cliff-spam lol.

[Little Corbie]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

The ocean. Whenever I'm near it I feel entranced. I was born near the sea and although we've travelled the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland many times since then, I've found few things as magical as standing for hours on the shore, watching the almighty swell of water drawn back and back until you can no longer see the water at all, only the sand bars, then the sunset reflected in the few pools left until it all comes racing back again in seemingly no time at all. Amazing. My favourite places for this are Tintagel, the Thames estuary and Morcambe bay

[Sondst]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

The ocean amazes me and strikes fear into my heart...how can so many things reside in a giant puddle, so many creatures that can't rise to the surface without have their bodies turn to jelly, and other scannot travel deep or they will be crushed.... its odd.

[codesharp]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

I believe that magic is within every living, and most of the non-living, things. Trees have magic, rivers have magic, and even stones. All this makes me really sad whenever I see a large section of land, trapped under tonnes of concrete.

[Cobra]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

Oddly enough, scenes like these intrigue me the most.

[LaneyM]

Re: Inspiration from nature: magic you can see....

The monarch butterfly's migration is always an amazement to me. They all fly south to a small area of several trees. The butterflies on each of the trees are genetically related to each other. When they begin the migration north they go so far, mate, lay their eggs and die. Then those eggs hatch, go through the stages of caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. The new butterfly flies north with no help from the parent. Then that butterfly gets so far, mates, lays their eggs, and dies. The next one goes through the stages again and flies north with no help from the now dead parent. This can happen 3, 4, 5, or even 6 generations until finally the shortening of days draws the last generation to do a marathon flight all the way back south to the exact same tree it's great, great, great grandmother (or grandfather) flew from earlier in the spring, with no guidance from the long dead ancestor that was there. How do they know where to go? How do they find their way?