Magic Light Whoopla

It’s two weeks since the Summer solstice occurred, a revered event even if not a Hallmark occasion. The longest light day of the year signifies the astronomical beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. For me, it’s more about the amount of light the summer solstice provides. The more the better.

That doesn’t mean I don’t like night, or Fall or Winter. Oh contraire, since it is at night and the longer darkness that belongs to the latter seasons of the year that more “magic” light is possible. Because the dark lasts longer, so can the magic light which like magic dust, has the power to create enchantment.

My penchant for embracing the alchemy of light must have began as an adolescent. Raised a Catholic, I remember as a young girl being drawn like a moth to the devotional candles at the front and either side of the altar. All that twinkling mesmerized and invited me to have a reason to pay money to light an unlit candle or two on the votive devotional candle stand. The twinkling radiated from rows of red votive candle holders on a metal rack, the rows ascended and slanted upward like stadium seats. I slipped the coins into the slit in the money box that was attached below the stack of candles. The lighter, a long wooden skewer-like stick, called a lighting taper stick, was stored with one end buried in a container of sand. The taper stick was used to borrow a bit of flame from a lit votive to light the ones I chose. It was ritualistic, made me feel privileged and was fairly potent magic to my younger self.

My adherence to the rigors and rules of Catholicism stopped long ago, but the spell of the lit red devotional candles has endured. No matter the season, no matter the room and for the pure reason of joy, virtually every night our home is aglow with the magic of enchanting light. The sources of light are varied. There are paraffin votive and pillar candles lit with a traditional match, battery operated waxed, flickering LED candles lit by the flip of a switch, miniature lights on strings – some with purple chili pepper covers – tinier still lights on thin copper wires, can lights that cast a wash of illumination upwards onto the wall, string lights with decorative shades, 26-point Moravian star lights, a plug-in table light for accent lighting, not to mention favorite utilitarian table lamps – and that’s on the inside of the house. In winter the inside also gets adorned with several strings of electrified luminaria lights, à la the more traditional candle in the lunch bag lights prevalent in the SouthWest at Christmastime.

Outside I’ve planted multiple solar lights in the yard, 32 to be exact, in clusters of four or five and strung lights on wire with decorative shades along the deck rail.

Not all the lights are illuminated every night in the Spring and Summer. But in Fall and Winter most all are. They transform the early and lengthy curtain of darkness into a world of warmth and visual wonder. Magic lights.

It is a ritual each night to awaken the luminosity and a reverse ritual to turn off all the magic before bedtime. I’m sure many would find it tiresome, even a drudgery, but the ambiance they create is something I’m hell-bent not to skimp on. Magic isn’t only for kids. This myriad of lights illuminates my being. There’s something hopeful about pockets of soft, inviting light. The atmosphere it creates invokes a sense of peace, wonderment and joy which makes me curious why more don’t indulge themselves more often with this simple, magical pleasure, the revelry of light. I love the whoopla of it all.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic, knows what I’m talking about. She says early on in her book that, ” … creative living is where Big Magic will always abide.”

Keep scanning to take in more pics of the whoopla of magic light we live with daily that emanates from our current count of 6 real votive or pillar candles, 12 LED switched candles, 6 strands of  string lights without decorative shades, 3 strands of string lights with decorative shades, 3 strands of tiny lights on copper wires, 2 Moravian star lights, 1 decorative accent table light, 6 can lights that illuminate upward onto walls and the 32 outside solar lights. Creative living via magic light abides here in a big way!

Posted by carol@mylifewithcreativity.com & filed under Decor. This post has 2 comments.