Magic

What is magic? The definition in Merriam Webster is to have supernatural power over natural forces. I have no doubt that’s right. But when I think of magic, I think it’s related to something miraculous…something unexpected and can’t be explained…in that moment.

I think it’s important to have such magic in your life. But you have to be open to it. Be amazed by it. Be in awe…in that moment. How many times in your own life have you experienced something you couldn’t explain that seemed amazing? It seemed magical?

I can reflect on my own life and remember those magical moments. When I was three we lived in a home with a tall hearth. As an adult reflecting back, it probably wasn’t that tall but at the time it seemed enormous. It was Easter morning. I was an early riser and decided I would just tip toe to the family room and take a quick peek. Did the Easter Bunny come?? But as I walked into the family room, I saw something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. The sun found a gap in the drawn curtains and cast a sparkling spotlight on the hearth where three tall Easter Bunny dolls sat, one for me and each of my sisters. I gasped. It was the most amazing site. It was magic!

As I got a little older I collected perfume bottles. But I lost one of my most favorite bottles in our backyard. I looked everywhere for it for months. I finally gave up, disappointed and saddened. A couple years later, again on an Easter morning, I was walking around the backyard and found the perfume bottle sitting on the ground. It was just sitting there, out in the open. I was amazed, excited but baffled. I knew I had walked through that area so many times over the years and never saw it. But like magic, it appeared. To this day, I still can’t figure out what happened.

Now in my 50s, I have come to my own conclusions. Perhaps magic really is supernatural. Something beyond scientific understanding. I believe in death of the body but not of the spirit. The spirit lives on for eternity. So when spirits shed their body and goto The Other Side, they are now free to watch over their loved ones and make Magic. We just have to be open to it. Another word for this kind of magic is a “sign”.

I’m currently reading Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe by Laura Lynne Jackson. The other day I sat outside enjoying the sun and I said out loud to my mother who recently passed away, “Show me a sign”. But nothing happened that day. The next day as I was reading, Laura Jackson went through a list of things that could be taken as a sign such as a hummingbird, a rainbow, or a ladybug. Slightly disheartened that I hadn’t received any such sign when I asked for it (because you gotta know, when I ask for something I want it now), I went to my office to do some computer work. My daughter had worked there earlier and she had stacked my keyboard on top of my laptop. So I picked up the keyboard and there was a ladybug on my laptop. My heart about stopped! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I’m thinking: “It’s winter. I’m in my house.” I just read that a sign could be a ladybug. And minutes later I see one, under my keyboard! Now if that’s not magic, if that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.