Magical Source by Bodhi Smith

Jan 15, 2021

"magical source" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"science would have you believe that this photograph is an illusion, impossible to see in real life...but is that really true? i beg to differ. i saw this with my own eyes, this is as real to me as the the love in my heart. love is not an illusion, it is magical. and if you have faith in magic, you know anything's possible. especially since the source of all magic lies within a loving heart that knows no bounds" ― bodhinku, magical source
 
"do you ever feel like you're alone? and do you ever feel things here aren't right? i can say that i have, i can say that i have...so hear this please, and watch as your heart speeds up endlessly. and look for the stars as the sun goes down, each breath that you take has a thunderous sound, everything, everything's magic" ― angels and airwaves, everything's magic    
 
"it's clear to me beyond a doubt that the most magical source of life, and of everything we know, is the love you feel in your own heart...i forever put my faith in this magic" ― bodhinku, most magical source   
 
"invisible, your clocking tides
break on the lovebeds of the weeds;
the weed of love’s left dry;
there round about your stones the shades
of children go who, from their voids,
cry to the dolphined sea.

dry as a tomb, your coloured lids
shall not be latched while magic glides
sage on the earth and sky;
there shall be corals in your beds,
there shall be serpents in your tides,
till all our sea-faiths die" ― dylan thomas, collected poems  
 
"no one day is like another, each tomorrow has its special miracle, its a magical moment in which old universes are destroyed and new stars and rainbows are created"  ― paulo coelho, hippie  
 
"this is the most important lesson you must learn about magic: there are many ways of seeing. each has an element of truth, but none is the whole truth. if you limit yourselves to one way of seeing, one truth, you will limit your power.  you must be willing to learn from different sources. and you must always remember that the truths you see are incomplete" ― patricia c. wrede, thirteenth child 
 
"magic comes from the heart, from your feelings, your deepest expressions of desire. that's why black magic is so easy—it comes from lust, from fear and anger, from things that are easy to feed and make grow. the sort i do is harder. it comes from something deeper than that, a truer and purer source—harder to tap, harder to keep, but ultimately more elegant, more powerful. my magic. that was at the heart of me. it was a manifestation of what i believed, what i lived. it came from my desire to see to it that someone stood between the darkness and the people it would devour. it came from my love of a good steak, from the way i would sometimes cry at a good movie or a moving symphony. from my life. from the hope that i could make things better for someone else, if not always for me. somewhere, in all of that, i touched on something that wasn't tapped out, in spite of how horrible the past days had been, something that hadn't gone cold and numb inside of me. i grasped it, held it in my hand like a firefly, and willed its energy out, into the night..." ― jim  butcher, fool moon  
 
"i don't believe in magic." the young boy said. the old man smiled, "you will when you see her" ― atticus, love her wild  
 
"i do believe in an everyday sort of magic...the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we're alone" ― charles de lint, moonheart     
 
"magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen" ― johann wolfgang von goethe, faust  
 
"there is magic in this wonderful life, but only if you choose to do more than just exist; the magic is found when we choose to live" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you 
   
i was close to naming this impression "everything's magic", but opted for "magical source" (see my "meaning" section below for more details and the reason)....and with its expressive lyrics, it is the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "everything's magic" by angels and airwaves ...(just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
 
"and do you ever feel like you're alone? and do you ever wish you'd be unknown? i can say that i have, i can say that i have...and do you ever feel things here aren't right? and do you ever feel the time slip by? i can say that i have, and i can say that i have...so hear this please, and watch as your heart speeds up endlessly. and look for the stars as the sun goes down, each breath that you take has a thunderous sound, everything, everything's magic. just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight. prepare for the best and the fastest ride. and reach out your hand, and i'll make you mine, everything, everything's magic...and do you ever lay awake at night? and do you ever tell yourself don't try? don't try to let yourself down, don't try to let yourself down. and do you ever see yourself in love? and do you ever take a chance, my love? because you know that I will, because you know that I will...so hear this please, and watch as your heart speeds up endlessly. and look for the stars as the sun goes down, each breath that you take has a thunderous sound, everything, everything's magic. just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight. prepare for the best and the fastest ride. and reach out your hand, and i'll make you mine, everything, everything's magic...everything, everything's magic... so hear this please, and watch as your heart speeds up endlessly. and look for the stars as the sun goes down, each breath that you take has a thunderous sound, everything, everything's magic. just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight. prepare for the best and the fastest ride. and reach out your hand, and i'll make you mine, everything, everything's magic...everything, everything's magic" ― angels and airwaves, everything's magic  
 
"my soul, when i tend to it, is a far more expansive and fascinating source of guidance than my ego will ever be, because my soul desires only one thing: wonder. and since creativity is my most efficient pathway to wonder, i take refuge there, and it feeds my soul, and it quiets the hungry ghost—thereby saving me from the most dangerous aspect of myself" ― elizabeth gilbert, big magic: creative living beyond fear 
 
"i am life without boundaries. i have never been born, and i shall never die. look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars, manifestations of my wondrous true mind. since before time, i have been free. birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey. birth and death are just a game of hide and seek. so laugh with me, hold my hand, let us say hello, and let us say goodbye, to meet again soon. we meet today. we will meet again tomorrow. we will meet at the source at every moment. we meet each other in all forms of life" ― thich nhat hanh, you are here
 
"you have to take risks, we will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. every day, god gives us the sun...and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist...that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. but if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. it may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. but that moment exists...a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles" ― paulo coelho, by the river piedra i sat down and wept
 
"if you go looking for magic, you will never find it...for it has been inside you all along, waiting for you to believe" ― bodhinku, believe in magic  
 
"dance like nobody's watching. love like nobody's business. sing like nobody's listening. dream like nobody's gonna stop you, believe like nobody can...and you'll be like nobody else, living on your terms in the purest magic on earth" ― bodhinku, nobody 
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MEANING
"stand at the water's edge. listen. just be. and breathe in the air of the night, feel its energy. see the magic of light and water before you. life begins from this source, i begin from this source" ― bodhinku, magic source 
 
the most magical things in this universe are light, water, and love...light captures my eye; water entrances me; love surrounds and holds on to me...the things i love the most are made of either light or water...
 
i always love watching a waterfall letting gravity run its course, i'm fascinated by the sight and the sound of cascading water. and i always love to go out at night, lay on my back, and just stare at the stars, contemplating their light, listening to the wisdom of their silence. it's therefore no secret that water and light are my two favorite subjects to photograph. between water and light, i'm surrounded by pure love, and i just cannot think of anything more of a magical source...because it's clear to me beyond a doubt that the most magical source of life, and of everything we know, is the love you feel in your own heart...i forever put my faith in this magic 
 
"magical is just a word, but the vision it represents in our mind's eye is a memory, or a dream, or a love of something that is just too magical to describe with merely a word" ― bodhinku, magical
 
"magical" is defined as: 
1. extraordinary power or influence seem to have supernatural power over natural forces
2. extremely or extraordinarily pleasant, enjoyable, exciting, or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life  
 
"source" is defined as:  
1. a point of origin from where something starts; 
2. the beginning

at a deeper more profound level, this impression is simply a metaphor for the source of life: water and light...it is pure magic that life has happened from the right mixture of water, light, and oxygen....and in this new image of mine here, the stars, the milky way, the ocean, the waves, the sea well, the rocks, the bird, the rainbow, and i are all witnesses to this kind of magic...    
 
of course most logical people have a problem with believing in magic, they want proof or confirmation to believe something as fact. and since the beginning of time, people have been searching for the answer to "how did life begin?"...
 
there have been two main approaches to fielding this question: religion and science. faith vs. observation...still neither science nor religion really knows exactly what that beginning was or how things came to be the way they are with life. one has its theories, the other has its stories. 
 
both science and religion want desperately to explain not just how the universe came to be, but why it is the way it is. but again, neither can really tell us why. both try to describe what it is in their own ways. religion use tales and poems; science has its logic and mathematics...
 
yet science and religion aren’t as far apart as we have been led to believe, neither are they necessarily contradictory. both religion and science imagine a vast sea at the beginning of creation of our world, an earth formless and empty with all the building blocks for life to begin. many believe in the theory of evolution to get to where we are now. many believe that life began when a god said: "let there be light" (genesis 1:1-5) and it just has always been that way since then. though, i find both stories hard to believe...
 
however any which way in the end, you have to have faith in one or the other, for neither can prove anything, because there is no evidence to backup anything as fact...
 
and i’m not a theologian or an evolutionary biologist but it seems to me that water and light are the beginning of life. water is essential to all life. scientists look for evidence of water on other planets to determine if there is or was life there. the light energy from the sun is the source of all our energy. both modern scientists and the ancient storytellers of faith acknowledge that water and light are the source of life. and thanks be that we have both in abundance on this earth of ours whether you credit a god or science, for it matters not...all that matters is that we recognize and realize it's in our hearts where the magic of life and the magic of love lies, and how important it is to live life to the fullest during the short time we have in this universe before returning to be just dust in the wind once again...
 
"chase your stars fool, life is short" ― atticus, love her wild     
 
on a side note to all this, i guarantee that many people will look at this impression of mine and say it is "fake," for science would have you believe that this photograph is an illusion, impossible to see in real life...but is that really true? i beg to differ. have some faith. i saw this with my own eyes, this is as real to me as the the love in my heart. love is not an illusion, it is magical. if you have faith in magic, you know anything's possible. especially since the source of all magic lies within a loving heart that knows no bounds...  
 
this next song i would like you to give a good ear and listen to is an exquisitely beautiful cover version of the the chart-topping hit "dust in the wind" by kansas (original version) from the early 1980s. this version (link is below) is sung by caroline jones, who i first heard singing a duet "breathe in, breathe out, move on" with jimmy buffett (easily one of my all-time favorite artists) her eloquent voice adds so much depth to the meaning of the song, to me this version is even more beautiful than the original by kansas....and although many people think his song is depressing, i see it as hopeful and magical, and a perfect fit for my impression and blog today. we began as dust in the wind, and will return to that one day. and while we exist on this plant, we are really insignificant specks, beings who are who we are for only a tiny moment in the infinity of time. we all really are only dust in the wind when compared to the vast eternity of the universe and should never feel any more special than that. all we truly need to recognize and realize in our hearts is the magic of life, and the magic of love, and how important it is to live to the fullest during the short time we have in this universe before returning to be just dust in the wind once again... "dust in the wind" by caroline jones (kansas cover version) ... i sound old, but they just do not make songs like this anymore...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  
 
"i close my eyes...only for a moment, and the moment's gone...all my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity. dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind...same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. all we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind...now, don't hang on. nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky. it slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy. dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind. dust in the wind. everything is dust in the wind, the wind" ― caroline jones, dust in the wind (kansas cover) 
 
"magical places are always beautiful and deserve to be contemplated...always stay on the bridge between the invisible and the visible" ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes  
 
"magic is real....it's made up of all the things we cannot hold in our hands, things we know exist without a doubt in our mind. things like time, water, light, dreams, music, memories, and love....magic is real" ― bodhinku, magic is real   
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MORE BODHIKU QUOTES
and now here are a few more quotes from bodhinku from past blogs to help add to the deeper meaning of this blog today...
 
"for in her sighs i could feel the breath of my heart. she is oxygen and i am dying for one more breath of her. her beauty and essence steals my breath and seals my fate. before she took my breath away, i had nothing to lose...now that she has left me breathless, i have everything to lose. then, everything seemingly stops on cue as silence drops around us, a sigh floats down from the stars as she breathes the most wonderful sound: i love you." ― bodhinku, breath 
 
"there needs to be a silence, a time to share the breath of the same air, to permit a period of reflection in order to truly connect with other souls. we need to carry our connections in our hearts, not in our hands or in our words...silence needs to be the connection, not the disconnection..." ― bodhinku, connecting through silence 
 
"feel the wisdom of the chill. take a deep breath, breathe in the cool brisk air, and listen, and witness...for in that moment, we can see the air around us, and watch our breath as we exhale, be reminded even the air is not invisible, it is real, it is life. and it is okay to not know what to do. just empower our self with the hope of taking a new step forward, take another deep breath and and take that step not knowing, be astonished with our life and where it will lead us again, cherish each breath as it might be your last...and never forget we are still blessed to be alive and breathing in this beautiful world" ― bodhinku, when in the chill   
 
"by breathing and just letting things be, you get an understanding that with every breath, life is so precious, so beautiful, and not worth wasting for any problem" ― bodhinku, every breath 
 
 "each morning i meditate before i start my day...i breathe in, and i breathe out. breathe in, breathe out. breathe in, breathe out...a wise person once reminded me that life is not measured by the breaths that you take, but by the moments that take your breath away...a moment in time can mean a lifetime" ― bodhinku, breathe the moment 
  
"each and every moment is temporary. cherish the moments that take your breath away, live them to the fullest, for they will not last. and do not shutter away the difficult moments, reflect and learn from them, get through them. they are not forever, they too will pass... good or bad, every moment is precious. and every breath is priceless, because they remind us we are living...always be sure to cherish each breath, and make each moment count" ― bodhinku, each moment 
 
"with every breath that we take, sometimes we forget how lucky we are to just be alive...everything else is secondary...sometimes we must stop in the middle of everything and just breathe, and be thankful for that breath of life. wrap our heads around the understanding that our health is all that really matters, sometimes we all need to be reminded and truly remember that living is a gift and should be cherished" ― bodhinku, how lucky we are 
 
"somebody
to lay with,
nothing in between.
lost in a breath
existing in a dream.
to be naked
to our souls
and give everything unseen.." ― bodhinku, between unseen  
 
"love's my miracle, a magical segment of a rainbow, so pure, which i hold within these arms of mine, giving me hope, joy, and peace in a better life" ― bodhinku, rainbow segment    
 
"i know the secret magic of a rainbow...rainbows were meant to remind me that you are that magical treasure at the end of my rainbow" ― bodhinku, magic of a rainbow
 
"paulo coelho once said that 'magic is a bridge that allows you to walk from the visible world over into the invisible world, and to learn the lessons of both those worlds'...well, i believe that a rainbow is exactly that magical bridge" ― bodhinku, magical bridge  
 
"rainbow love, stardust
flawless art our wanderlust
dreams, faith, magic we trust" ― bodhinku, haiku, rainbow love
 
"i dream, to
breathe, to
sigh, to
float, above
clouds, over
raindrops, through
sunrise and sunset, across
the starry sky, beyond
the milky way, to
paint romance impressions, into
my every atom, throughout" ― bodhinku, i dream
 
"maybe it is true that life is a bummer right now...but look at what you have right now, not what you do not have...you are alive, you are breathing...so breathe in, and breathe out, and deeply enjoy those breaths, and be thankful you have what many people did not get to wake up and experience today: life and living!" ― bodhinku, enjoy every breath  
  
"i have no expectations. i look forward to only my next breath...i know my place. i know my path. i love my journey. i am no longer sleepwalking through life. i am awakened. i see. i love. i trust. i understand. i smile. i live. i believe. i am amazed. i am at peace. and i am forever alive in my next breath" ― bodhinku, my next breath    
 
"stay in a giggle. breathe in silence, exhale the noise. good living happens in the breath of a giggle" ― bodhinku, giggle 
 
"it was just so impossible to describe, as the moment happened as fast as a smile and a sigh, and then passed into memory, as a grain of magic" ― bodhinku, magic  
 
"love is that magical calm between the color bands of a rainbow" ― bodhinku, magical calm
 
"my biggest problem is that i'm still me, but my biggest gift is that i'm still me" ― bodhinku, i'm always me  
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STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"all that matters is that we recognize and realize it's in our hearts where the magic of life and the magic of love lies, and how important it is to live life to the fullest during the short time we have in this universe before returning to be just dust in the wind once again" ― bodhinku, the magic of life and love 
 
pictured here is thor's well at night with a major display of light happening: the glow of the stars, the bright core of the milky way, sirius glowing out from behind a building night cloud, the rainbow in the mist created by the ocean spray in the sea well...and this image has such a wintery feel to it will the cooling silvery-blue colors throughout the image.
 
this image is made up of two distinctly different pictures, both of which i took at different times and different places. so this image obviously is a composite...but i loved taking each of the images with all my heart. the stars are so beautiful, i could lay on my back and watch the stars all night, especially when the core of the milky way is in the sky (which it currently is not, until late february-early march). thor's well is so fascinating, so powerful and full of beautiful energy, i love witnessing its water-show and capturing images of it whenever i get the chance...
 
so you see here two of my photos, and i saw them as fitting together perfectly. i could see what they would look like as one in my mind's eye, making up together for what the other one was lacking. the stars captured deep in the middle of the night were lacking a foreground, and the sea well captured just before sunrise with its misty rainbow was lacking drama in its sky...presto, magic, i matched the two of them up and they complimented each other perfectly into a single magical frame.
 
"the most magical things in this universe are light, water, and love...light captures my eye; water entrances me; love surrounds and holds on to me...the things i love the most are made of either light or water" ― bodhinku, the most magical things          
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INFORMATION ABOUT THOR'S WELL
"i always love watching a waterfall letting gravity run its course, i'm fascinated by the sight and the sound of cascading water. and i always love to go out at night, lay on my back, and just stare at the stars, contemplating their light, listening to the wisdom of their silence. it's therefore no secret that water and light are my two favorite subjects to photograph. between water and light, i'm surrounded by pure love, and i just cannot think of anything more of a magical source" ― bodhinku, magical source

thor’s well is truly a natural wonder. this "well" is aptly named after thor, the norse god of thunder and lightning. it's large natural hole located in a rock bed along the pacific ocean at cape perpetua in the siuslaw national forest, on the state of oregon's coast. the rocks surrounding thor’s well are mostly volcanic basalt, while water that fills and empties in the hole is saltwater from the ocean. it's a gaping, seemingly bottomless sinkhole that swallows the unbroken stream of seawater around it. however, is not actually bottomless; it is, however, very dangerous.  

also known as the drainpipe of the pacific, the well is actually a hole in the rock that only appears to drain water from the ocean. the well probably started out as a sea cave dug out by the waves, before the roof eventually collapsed and created openings at the bottom and top through which the ocean sprays. by lacking perspective for the eye, many images exaggerate the actual diameter of thor’s well, which is actually around 10 feet (3 meters) wide. and this impressive hole is not bottomless, as it's really only about 20 feet (six meters) deep, but it still manages to produce amazing sights.
 
thor’s well endures a cycle of water flowing into the hole from below and above, eventually overflowing and then erupting to heights of 20 feet (6 meters), when the surrounding water is then quickly sucked back in to the hole. the site is most spectacular at high tide, or during storms when water washes violently over the rocks and funnels into the hole. during these sudden torrents, unsuspecting visitors to the site run the risk of being swept right into the maelstrom. thor’s well can be very dangerous when it is high tide, as the water pulled into the hole can sweep people along with it, due to slippery surfaces and extremely large powerful waves... 
 
i can speak from experience, never turn your back on the ocean, especially at this location. the wave swells are usually quite large, with some sets being huge and violent...always powerful, their impacting force will literally carry you away mercilessly in an unsuspecting moment. but for me, it's a pure adrenaline rush to stand on the volcanic rocks just directly above and behind it as you feel and witness it's awesome display of power. but of course, you must respect that power and be cautious and prepared for the worst never letting your guard down. believe me, this is an extremely dangerous position for those who are unfamiliar with the well's tendencies and habits...definitely not for the faint of heart, either!  
 
and still, regardless of the risks, photographers and nature lovers continue to flock to the stunning hole in the ocean to see the aggressive waters that live up to their godly namesake’s stormy personality. the best time to visit thor’s well is when it's most active during high tide and in storms during the winter month, as greater amounts of water flow into the hole from below and above, causing it to overflow quicker and spout to greater heights. best time to visit is one hour before the high tide to see it without water and then observe how the formation fills up as the high tide comes in and them goes back out.
 
"what is magical, really? i think magical is somebody to hold. someone to be held by. to be treasured by a treasure and weather all storms. and trust everything is going to be alright as the rainbows appear...somebody magical to notice birds with. to catch flashes of blue and green and purple and brown, and to feel the excitement of soaring little wonders. to see life as it is, not as it seems...somebody magical to stare at in wonder, with hearts bursting between eyes, and admire their magic and to think, “that heart loves mine” ― bodhinku, somebody magical     
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
and here is another powerful tune about magic, one of my favorite alltime by the band coldplay...although it's a bit darker in meaning: "magic" by coldplay ... (just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
 
"call it magic. call it true. i call it magic when i'm with you. and i just got broken, broken into two. still i call it magic when i'm next to you. and i don't, and i don't, no, i don't, it's true. no, i don't. no, i don't want anybody else but you...call it magic. cut me into two. and with all your magic, i disappear from view. and i can't get over, can't get over you. still i call it magic, such a precious jewel.  and i don't, and i don't, no, i don't, it's true. no, i don't. no, i don't want anybody else but you. no, i don't. no, i don't want anybody else but you...wanna fall, fall so far. iwanna fall, fall so hard. and i call it magic. and i call it true. i call it ma-, ma-ma-magic ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh...and if you were to ask me, after all that we've been through: "still believe in magic?" oh, yes, i do. oh, yes, i do. of course, i do" ― coldplay, magic 
 
"if you think life is magical or life is hard, either way you are right. your thoughts are the source of reality" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha 
 
"the magic of love is that it has the power to create a magical world in and around us" ― mohandas mahatma gandhi
 
"if you don't believe in any kind of magic, basically, you're as good as dead" ― albert einstein
 
"we all travel the milky way together" ― john muir, the mountains of california 
 
"it is all very beautiful and magical here, a quality which cannot be described. you have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake it into you. the skies and land are so enormous, and the detail so precise and exquisite that wherever you are you are isolated in a glowing world between the macro and the micro, where everything is sidewise under you and over you, and the clocks stopped long ago" ― ansel adams
 
"one cannot always tell what it is that keeps us shut in, confines us, seems to bury us, but still one feels certain barriers, certain gates, certain walls. is all this imagination, fantasy? i do not think so. and then one asks: my god! is it for long, is it for ever, is it for eternity? do you know what frees one from this captivity? it is every deep serious affection. being friends, being brothers, love, these open the prison by supreme power, by some magic force. where sympathy is renewed, life is restored" ― vincent van gogh  
 
"the celestial wind whispers a lonely lullaby over the ocean and through the breeze, seeming to call your name somehow into my sleeping soul. i wonder if you know that you live there, nestled in between the breaths of air and beating of my heart, where time stands still and eternity waits on the edge of the horizon. i wonder if you know that it’s you that holds me even while you are so far out of reach; you who are the lyrics of a love song etched deep within the walls of this aching heart, singing a timeless song written in the stars" ― c. ara campbell, written in the stars  
 
"once upon a time, i met a boy, and thought we could have so much fun. he held his hands in his pockets, and we made up stories, and for the first time in a while, i didn’t want to leave even though i was shivering cold. when he touched my cheek, i blushed, and no one makes me blush. i was thinking we could play. i was hoping we could be magical...when he kissed me, it felt like warm mercury slipping into my veins, and i wanted to kiss him for an hour on the sidewalk as though there was nothing else. with him, i tried to be my better self. but i was new at it, and we humans don’t do anything perfectly. we fumbled along this weird little path. we missed each other often along the trail. i thought, why can’t we just be kids in love, and laughed with a string of sadness...people are simple. people are complicated. we do our best. in him, i felt a familiar darkness and a brilliant light. he was the sound of the ocean at night crashing on the shore, of sunrise in the distance, miles of open road, and hands i craved all over me painting me with music. he felt like a roller coaster in the dark, the one at disneyland with stars flying past, with flips and turns, abrupt stops and starts....he taught me of hope and expectation, and to firmly root myself in me. he taught me that you, or your love, can be misunderstood, that not everyone will see you but it’s okay to keep your heart open. it’s okay to leave. that loving someone isn’t weakness, even if they don’t love you the same. he taught me that people can care enough to hurt you just enough to keep you away. and that too is a weird little gift. i grew so much in so many ways. i know who i am, and i love me. sometimes the things that never were, pull at us, because they feel incomplete, but maybe they are imperfectly perfect as they are, exactly the way they were always meant to be. we can be ourselves. we are alive" ― c. ara campbell
 
"and god himself could bend the heavens and the earth, rain meteor showers, birth supernovas, spin whole galaxies into reality in the breadth of a moment, and still never come close to fathering a sight that could steal the breath from me like hers" ― beau taplin, the blueprint
 
"this is me saying that i would set myself on fire to bring a rainbow of colors to all of the dark places within you" ― beau taplin
 
"tomorrow we will only give them magic
a leaf of the tree of our love, a leaf
which will magically fall on the earth
like if it had been made by our lips
like a kiss which falls
from our invincible heights
to show the fire and the tenderness
of a true love" ― pablo neruda, 100 love sonnets
 
"where does the rainbow end, in your soul or on the horizon of your love?” ― pablo neruda, the book of questions
   
"watch carefully
the magic that occurs
when you give a person
enough comfort
to just be themselves" ― atticus, love her wild     
 
“we must listen to the child we once were, the child who still exists inside us. that child understands magical moments. we can stifle its cries, but we can not silence its voice. the child we once were is still there, inside. blessed are the children, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. if we are not reborn, if we can not learn to look at life with the innocence and the enthusiasm of childhood, it makes no sense to go on living”  ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
 
“a man sets out on a journey, dreaming of a beautiful or magical place, in pursuit of some unknown treasure over the rainbow. at the end of his journey, the man realizes that the treasure was with him the entire time” ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
 
"no one can posses the beautiful things of this earth, but we can know them and love them. it is through such magical moments that god reveals himself to mankind"― paulo coelho, brida
 
"every moment should be lived with feeling and emotion because if we try to decipher it and understand it, the magic disappears"― paulo coelho, the spy 
 
"watchfulness is the greatest magic that one can learn, because it can begin the transformation of your whole being" ― osho, the hidden splendor     
 
"zen is magic. it gives you the key to open the miraculous. and the miraculous is in you and the key is also in you" ― osho, zen: the path of paradox
 
"but your problem isn't me, or your job, or your freedom, or whatever else you think it is. your problem is that you're alone...and you've never been your own person. a life like that makes you empty inside, and you're looking for someone who will magically fill that void. but no one can do that but you" ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
 
"i lead a simple life now. i am foolish, an old man in love, a dreamer who dreams of nothing but reading to her and holding her whenever i can. i am a sinner with many faults and a man who believes in magic, but i am too old to change and too old to care" ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
 
"the earth isn’t solid. it is made of molecules and atoms, tiny universes filled with space. it is a place of mystery, water, light, and magic, if you only open your eyes" ― dan millman, way of the peaceful warrior    
 
"there is a moment in every dawn when light floats, there is the possibility of magic. cvreation holds its breath" ― douglas adams, the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy    
 
"even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise" ― victor hugo, les miserables 
  
here's another poignant song with beautiful apropos lyrics to give listen: "strange magic" by the electric light orchestra ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  
 
"you're sailing softly through the sun in a broken stone age dawn. you fly so high, i get a strange magic...oh, what a strange magic, got a strange magic...you're walking meadows in my mind, making waves across my time. oh no, oh no, i get a strange magic, oh, what a strange magic...oh, i'm never gonna be the same again, now i've seen the way it's got to end...sweet dream, sweet dream, strange magic, oh, what a strange magic...it's magic, it's magic, it's magic, strange magic" ― electric light orchestra, strange magic   
 
"people are starving for love, not knowing their heart is a magical infinity. open your heart. open your magical infinity and refuse to walk around the world begging for love. in your heart is all the love you need. your heart can create any amount of love, not just for yourself, but for the whole world" ― don miguel ruiz, the four agreements  
 
"the appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves" ― khalil gibran, the prophet 
 
"love is a magic ray emitted from the burning core of the soul, and illuminating the surrounding earth. it enables us to perceive life as a beautiful dream between one awakening and another" ― khalil gibran 
 
"making magic is far more interesting than making sense" ― tahereh mafi, ignite me 
 
"try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud" ― maya angelou, letter to my daughter  
 
"i’ve got a magic charm that i keep up my sleeve, i can walk the ocean floor and never have to breathe" ― maya angelou, even the stars look lonesome  
 
"fall in love with the energy of the mornings. trace your fingers along the lull of the afternoons. take the spirit of the evenings in your arms, kiss it deeply. and then make love to the tranquility of the nights." ― sanober khan, a thousand flamingos  

"when it comes
to love
do not ever
settle
for anything
less than magical" ― sanober khan, turquoise silence  
 
"magic is only unexplained science. science is explained magic. when i study science, i study magic. when i study magic, i study science" ― c. joybell c.  
 
"humanity does not suffer from the disease of wrong beliefs but humanity suffers from the contagious nature of the lack of belief. if you have no magic with you it is not because magic does not exist but it is because you do not believe in it. even if the sun shines brightly upon your skin every day, if you do not believe in the sunlight, the sunlight for you does not exist" ― c. joybell c.   
 
"thousands of nights i have dreamed of making love to you. no man on earth has ever hated sunrise as i do" ― lisa kleypas, again the magic  
 
"my soul, when i tend to it, is a far more expansive and fascinating source of guidance than my ego will ever be, because my soul desires only one thing: wonder. and since creativity is my most efficient pathway to wonder, i take refuge there, and it feeds my soul, and it quiets the hungry ghost—thereby saving me from the most dangerous aspect of myself" ― elizabeth gilbert, big magic: creative living beyond fear  
 
"what's magical, sometimes, has deeper roots than reason" ― mary oliver 
 
"the fault in our stars is the inability to see that the world falls in love with fantasy, fairytales and magic in movies. even religion asks us to believe in the most unlikely of situations. however, despite all the great movies we love, we choose to see so many real life spiritual experiences as delusion, mania, psychosis or wishful thinking. our society gives great devotion to the arts. however, they solve so many problems with realism, rather than giving into the posibilty of the magical" ― shannon l. alder
 
"i wish to spend a lifetime near a beach where loneliness will be the glimmer of scintillation prancing upon ocean waves… rising and falling only for my breathing" ― munia khan   
 
"this magical universe is so faithful in waiting for us to get out of our own way. no matter how long you have gone astray, when you take action, the universe moves to support the act. move in the direction of your goals and watch the magic flow" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you   
 
"for me, the most magical truth of this universe is that no magic is required" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you
 
"believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles" ― roy t. bennett, the light in the heart
 
"to him the magic of their mysteries;
to him the book of night was opened wide,
and voices from the deep abyss revealed
a marvel and a secret—be it so" ― lord george byron  
 
"the world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper" ― w.b. yeats, the wind among the reeds  
 
and here is truly a magical song, from a clip to the movie willie wonka and the chocolate factory...this is purely another perfect tune that helps tie in the meaning of this blog today to my impression...the video has visuals from the movie, scenes along with music that made the movie one of the most beloved of its time (1071) by kids and adults alike, much much better imho than the modern johnny depp remake (2005), and still a movie i always enjoy rewatching: "pure imagination" by willie wonka (sung by the late gene wilder) ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....

"ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the chocolate room. hold your breath, make a wish, count to three...come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination. take a look and you'll see into your imagination. we'll begin with a spin, travelling in the world of my creation. what we'll see will defy explanation. if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. anything you want to, do it! want to change the world? there's nothing to it! there is no life i know to compare with pure imagination. living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be. if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. anything you want to, do it! want to change the world? there's nothing to it! there is no life i know to compare with pure imagination. living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be" ― willie wonka, pure imagination
 
"and above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. those who don't believe in magic, will never find it"― roald dahl, charlie and the chocolate factory  
 
"here is the world of imagination, hopes, and dreams. in this timeless land of enchantment, the age of chivalry, magic and make-believe are reborn, and fairy tales come true. this world is dedicated to the young-in-heart, to those who that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true" ― walt disney
 
"words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it" ― joanne "j.k." rowling 
 
"wishes are false. hope is true. hope makes its own magic" ― laini taylor, daughter of smoke & bone
 
"just because something isn't practical, doesn't mean it's not worth creating. sometimes beauty and real-life magic are enough" ― stephanie perkins, lola and the boy next door

"come take my hand, you should know me, i've always been in your mind. you know that i'll be kind, i'll be guiding you...building your dream has to start now, there's no other road to take, you won't make a mistake, i'll be guiding you...you have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. you have to believe we are magic, don't let your aim ever stray. and if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive, and i'll bring all your dreams alive for you...from where i stand, you are home free. the planets align so rare, there's promise in the air, and i'm guiding you...through every turn i'll be near you. i'll come anytime you call. i'll catch you when you fall. i'll be guiding you...you have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. you have to believe we are magic, don't let your aim ever stray. and if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive, and i'll bring all your dreams alive for you..." ― olivia newton john, magic 
 
"somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true" ― e.y. harburg, over the rainbow
 
"love is being happy for the other person when they are happy, being sad for the person when they are sad, being together in good times, and being together in bad times. love is...the calm in the rainbow" ― karen marie moning, iced

"you know, i do believe in magic....i was born and raised in a magic time, in a magic town, among magicians. oh, most everybody else didn’t realize we lived in that web of magic, connected by silver filaments of chance and circumstance. but i knew it all along. when i was twelve years old, the world was my magic lantern, and by its green spirit glow i saw the past, the present and into the future. you probably did too; you just don’t recall it. see, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. we are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, rainbows, and comets inside us. we are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand....but then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. we get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. we get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. told to act our age. told to grow up, for god’s sake. and you know why we were told that? because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves....after you go so far away from it, though, you can’t really get it back. you can have seconds of it. just seconds of knowing and remembering. when people get weepy at movies, it’s because in that dark theater the golden pool of magic is touched, just briefly. then they come out into the hard sun of logic and reason again and it dries up, and they’re left feeling a little heart-sad and not knowing why. when a song stirs a memory, when motes of dust turning in a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you listen to a train passing on a track at night in the distance and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are and where you are. for the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm....that’s what i believe....the truth of life is that every year we get farther away from the essence that is born within us. we get shouldered with burdens, some of them good, some of them not so good. things happen to us. loved ones die. people get in wrecks and get crippled. people lose their way, for one reason or another. it’s not hard to do, in this world of crazy mazes. life itself does its best to take that memory of magic away from us. you don’t know it’s happening until one day you feel you’ve lost something but you’re not sure what it is. it’s like smiling at a pretty girl and she calls you “sir.” it just happens....these memories of who i was and where i lived are important to me. they make up a large part of who i’m going to be when my journey winds down. i need the memory of magic, if i am ever going to conjure magic again. i need to know and remember, and i want to tell you" ― robert r. mccammon, boy's life
 
“john keats mourned that the rainbow, which as a boy had been for him a magic thing, had lost its glory because sir isaac newton had found it resulted merely from the refraction of the sunlight by the raindrops. yet knowledge of its causation could not spoil the rainbow for me. i am sure that it is not given to man to be omniscient. there will always be something left to know, something to excite the imagination of the poet and those attuned to the great world in which they live”― robert frost, interviews 
 
"look up; notice how the stars shine. look in; notice how the stars shine" ― laura jaworski  
 
"she believed in magic—the magic of places, the magic of people, the magic of coincidences, serendipity, and fortune. she enjoyed wandering through the world with the open mind and curiosity of a four-year-old child. in her world the mystical, mythical, and magical inhabited the same space and time as the ordinary and the practical" ― jamie le fay, beginnings  
 
"magic comes from life, and especially from emotions. they're a source of the same intangible energy that everyone can feel when an autumn moon rises and fills you with a sudden sense of bone-deep excitement, or when the first warm breeze of spring rushes past your face, full of the scents of life, and drowns you in a sudden flood of unreasoning joy. the passion of mighty music that brings tears to your eyes, and the raw, bubbling, infectious laughter of small children at play, the bellowing power of a stadium full of football fans shouting "hey!" in time to that damned song—they're all charged with magic" ― jim butcher, dead beat  
 
“two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves. they flickered out saying: it was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow for thirty magical seconds” ― carl sandburg  
 
"magic exists. who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. it is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live" ― nora roberts, vision in white
 
"love is the very magic of life. it is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. yet it is not found only at the end of the rainbow. love is at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arched across the sky on a stormy day"― gordon b. hinckley, standing for something 
 
"i want to be magic. i want to touch the heart of the world and make it smile. i want to be a friend of elves and live in a tree. or under a hill. i want to marry a moonbeam and hear the stars sing. i don't want to pretend at magic anymore. i want to be magic" ― charles de lint, moonheart  
 
"nothingness is the source of everything. it is the magical pot from which you can get never ending supply of anything. but every time you want something from it, you have to lose yourself into it. then, a new version of you will come out of it along with the thing you wanted" ― shunya
 
"the magic of love is available to us all; we have to learn how to align ourselves so we can connect to its source, doing so will allow magic an opening to manifest in our lives" ― micheline jean louis
 
"music, like magic, flows through us, drifts in the wind and touches the stars, we may die but our song lives on" ― shelley odendahl, memory of rivers  
 
"into this new love, 
die the old ways
your path begins
on the other side
become the sky
take an axe to the prison wall,
escape
walk out like someone
suddenly born into
the color of the rainbow,
 
"don’t ask what magic love can make or do! look at the rainbows of the world!" ― jalaluddin rumi, bridge to the soul 
 
"however much i might try to expound or explain love, when i come to love itself, i am ashamed of my explanations...only love alone can explain the magic of love and lover" ― jalaluddin rumi, in the arms of the beloved
----------------------
 
ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"this impression is simply a metaphor for the source of life: water and light...it is pure magic that life has happened from the right mixture of water, light, and oxygen....and in this new image of mine here, the stars, the milky way, the ocean, the waves, the sea well, the rocks, the bird, the rainbow, and i are all witnesses to this kind of magic" ― bodhinku, the source of life  
 
this image is made up of two distinctly different pictures, both of which i took at different times and different places. but both images are real and were captured by me...but this impression as a whole is a beautiful composite...
 
the image of thor's well was captured about 15 mins before sunrise, at 7:37am on december 24, 2020...the stars were taken earlier in the summer...so this impression is comprised of two entirely different and separate exposures using two separate lenses but at the same focal lengths...the sea well exposure: f/16@24mm for 2secs, iso-64...the milky way exposure: f/1.4@ 24mm for 15 seconds, iso-1600
 
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects, saturate colors naturally, and balance the light in my composition in-camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter in my completed impressions...
 
however, for the separate exposure of the stars (f/1.4@24mm for 15secs, iso-1600), no filters were necessary, so none were used...  
 
for the sea well exposure, (f/16@24mm for 2secs, iso-64), to get the effects and balance i was looking for, i used one progreyusa filter in the capture of the composition, a 0.9 gnd progrey aurora filter to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it...in this case, to stop down the light in the sky and clouds at the top of the image an extra three stops and help permit details in rocks and waterfall into the well...i did not need to use a nd filter because the exposure was not as long as most of my impressions, plus, the light was pre-dawn and was just dark enough
 
i also used the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filter and secure it to my nikon d810 with a nikon nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8... 
 
and with this being a long exposure of 2 seconds, especially being positioned on rocks above turbulent ocean waters, a stable and sturdy tripod is an absolute necessity in order to keep the image sharp...for this i used my faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod 70" carbon fiber tripod, because it is sturdy, tall, and perfectly compact for travelling  
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod 70" carbon fiber tripod, in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
 
"if nothing else...if i open my eyes, if i cry, if i think, if i sigh, if i giggle, if i dance, if i love, if i breathe, then i have lived a full days worth of life...nothing is wasted, nothing" ― bodhinku, if nothing else
 
"contemplate without thinking. be certain only in your uncertainty. stop the world. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light whisper as they envelope you. see the melody and harmony that float about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world
 
"my photography is my way of keeping a diary" ― bodhinku, my diary  
 
i leave you today wishing that bright joy and spiritual peace fill your life...
imploring you to make every moment count, no matter what,
always and forever, for that is the only thing that truly matters...  
  
and above all else,
i hope this message and impression find you well.
 
namaste,
bodhi
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