A Case For Enchantment
A book recommendation, the magic of childhood enchantment and some art
If you’re new here, welcome! Happy to have ya, my name is Bec and I’m a mixed media artist in the midst of creating a new collection of work. I share a lot about my practice, where my head is at with things, bits about motherhood, the garden and some other odd bits and bobs.
A Very Slight Shift In Direction
Last week I finished a piece that is part of my new collection of work. I hung it up here at home (which is also my studio space) where my family and I have enjoyed seeing it everyday. Looking at the work I’ve done so far has also stirred something in me that I think has been quietly bubbling for awhile. There’s been a very quiet voice in me that said the physical work is what I’m trying to achieve but I need to reconsider why I’m doing it… beyond that I physically feel compelled to bring it to life.
When I first had the idea in late winter I was really focused on the goal of highlighting native plants here to the US.
I wanted the whimsy of it to draw you in but as I got further into the creating process I also wanted to use the work to highlight the value of having native plants. To dive more into the science behind it too and tie it all up with creating a deep sense of connection to place with all your newfound understanding.
Simple eh?
Now, I read a good amount. Some of the books I love to read the most are all about the environment, biodiversity and learning the science behind all of it. Developing a deeper understanding of the life within the soil and the way ecosystems function. It’s a language I have grown to understand well but at the end of the day it is not a language I speak with ease. Try and try I might, it comes out clumsily.
There are wonderful writers here on Substack who do it with ease and I’m okay not being one of them.
For me, it was starting to feel forced… reading about it and talking about it are two different things. It’s a bit like being able to fluently understand another language but not be able to speak it with as much fluidity and ease as as you may wish to.
Things just weren’t feeling quite as aligned as I had envisioned.
There was this little voice in my head so quiet I couldn’t quite make out what it was saying but new something was off. I needed to recalibrate.
So I stepped away…
On Thursday we went to our favorite little bookstore after school. It really is the best bookshop, the selection is small and impeccable and the staff makes you feel at home. The kids had their hearts set on picking up a new InvestiGators book and while they thoroughly perused the pages in an effort to choose just the right one, I poked around the bookstore for myself.
While I was looking a small, soft blue book caught my eye.
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
By: Katherine May
It’s a book I’ve considered ordering off and on for probably close to a year but for whatever reason, I never have. I picked it up off the shelf and it was like, I knew I needed to bring it home… I don’t know what it was, beyond a feeling.
I opened the book and my instinct was confirmed. If nothing else, this was a book that felt right up my alley.
I started reading it that night and was struck by how Katherine’s feelings resonated with many of my own. There was comfort in her words…
but it was two words that made everything click into place.
Childhood Enchantment
This beautiful thing that is innately human, something I would bet we’ve all felt. Something I get to see my kids experience…
Growing up though… something changes.
Adulthood tries to push it down, someplace out of sight. Adults don’t delve in enchantment (unless they’re witches of course, or one of those people with a mad obsession with that land of magic and consumerism in Florida, obviously).
But with the world being so heavy today, a bit of enchantment can feel like coming up for air. It breeds curiosity and a desire for deeper understanding. It doesn’t cost a damn thing and you won’t find it scrolling Tiktok or Pinterest.
To really fully connect you must be fully engaged. That can’t happen when you’re being consumed by the tiny screen that demands your attention and probably highlights all the things you really need.
But don’t, actually.
If you can be still with yourself for even a few minutes, enchantment is there. It’s waiting, whether you notice it or not.
It’s waiting to spark something that’s been so diminished within ourselves. It offers a chance to reignite it.
To stoke the embers of childhood enchantment, that once captivated you. To notice the whimsy in our day to day and let it captivate us again.
Life is meant to be lived fully.
There is so much that can come from choosing to connect.
Choosing to see.
Choosing to witness and be enchanted.
Enchantment is one of those things that feels easily mocked. Something to roll your eyes at or scoff over because YOU are a grown up. Clearly.
But here’s the thing, what’s a life without it?
Enchantment can be a wellspring for curiosity, creativity, inspiration, connection, deeper understanding…
and who doesn’t want those things in their life?
Especially when all that’s required of you to be is present.
If you do choose to take notice, you create an opening for other shifts in your life, and that my friend creates change. Change in your life and quite probably the lives of others.
If like me, say, you found yourself enchanted by butterflies and started a garden to bring them to your front door. Then curiosity struck about what plants those butterflies rely on and the next Spring you work to add in native plants to help aid those same butterflies in their lifecycle. Which leads to noticing a whole host of other insects you never paid any mind to and now you’re growing more and more familiar with them and how they aid in the garden as well. All the while creating a stronger connection to place for you. All because you chose to be present, let yourself become enchanted and followed it’s winding road.
For me, it’s ultimately lead me here, writing to you and creating a collection of work around native flowers.
As it turns out, that’s really what the heart of this work is all about. Opening yourself up to be captivated by the beauty of enchantment. To stoke the embers that are still within you.
It’s my ultimate goal for this work…
Eventually
I know I want to offer this work in some form of an exhibition.
But I don’t want practical. I don’t want traditional.
I want to fully embrace what it is. To bring the magic to life.
I want a space with a wall of windows to let natural light come flooding in…
and a pathway through the trees the to lead you there.
I want the lights in the houses to flicker with life and light and go off and on at random.
To spark something that’s been so diminished within ourselves. To offer it a chance to reignite.
I’ve starting building out a vision board (idk if you’ve noticed but I’m a wee bit visual) to bring some clarity to what it could be when the time comes to share my work in person. Maybe it will never come to fruition the way I’d like to bring it to life but I figure I have a hell of a lot better shot if I put it out there into the world than I do if I keep my vision to myself.
Now, I’m curious what you think. Obviously this is a bit sunny side up but sometimes that’s what we need. What do you want to bring to life? What’s been hidden away in your mind that could be a positive force for change?
I’ll share more progress updates next week and I might draft up a post on my idea for an art studio, event, nature space thing? That makes sense right?
Until next week,
xoxo,
Bec
Thanks for being here