Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 12: The Magic of Darkness

While writing this series of posts I find myself returning again and again to the question of just why we are so down on winter? I do think it has something to do with the dominance of dark over light during this part of the yearly cycle. I suppose it's sensible for a species with poor night vision to be wary of the dark - which could be concealing all kinds of hidden dangers. But the dark doesn't contain only danger - it contains enchantment and beauty too. I love this poem which celebrates the power and magic of darkness:

Alchemy

We are in a state of continual transformation: fresh atoms are continually being reincorporated in us, while others that we received beforehand escape from us.

('De l'Infinito', Giordano Bruno)

Wonderful, what will come out of darkness:

stars, owl voices, sleep;

water, green shoots, bird's eggs

with their own curved darkness;

gemstones; a whole and perfect child

from my unseen recesses; delight

from behind shut lids, finding each other,

fingers and tongues made delicate by night.

Great magic's performed after sunset.

Old alchemists conjuring angels,

witches dancing spirals under the moon;

drum-shamans, their spirit journeys;

three nights in a tomb

Staging a resurrection. Transformations

taking place out of ordinary sight.

Daylight gives us boundaries, fixes

everything. The world separates

into colours and chemicals, figures

and faces. Surfaces appear solid

reliable, unconfused. We can see

to operate complex machinery.

Only darkness permits mixing

of elements, stirring of essences

in secret, combing dark and bright

into new patterns while we sleep; so dawn

finds us transformed, shifted.

Star-particles link us with trees

dolphins and stones, travel through us

creating the universe. Base matter

becomes gold: in the Cauldron

of Annwyn, in the crucible of mind

we're all magicians. The Hidden Stone,

Elixir of Life, eludes us; we've lost

the art of working through touch

with invisible forces: but as darkness

rises, and we grope wildly, perhaps

out of chaos the magic will come right.

- Hilary Llewellyn Williams

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 12

The Magic of Darkness

What magic do you find in darkness? When you can't see clearly, what beauties are revealed to your other senses? What possibilities and transformations arise? Consider how darkness complements light, the balance and interplay between the two, how shadows add depth and contrast. Try writing your own poem praising the dark.