Mount Everett, the highest peak in the South Taconic Mountains and second only to Mount Greylock, lures hikers to its trails lined with vibrant woodlands; fanciful wildflowers; edible berries; and, at its summit, a rare old-growth dwarf pitch pine forest. The Dome of the Taconics, seen from surrounding towns, anchors residents and visitors alike. This week, as the sun rose in the foothills, stripes of sunlit clouds colored the sky above the mountain that rises over the near landscape in the Town of Mount Washington. Viewers are encouraged to enter the many-faceted landscape and to feel the early morning weather.
A short walk north around the pond from the mountain view reveals its east-facing shores and another eruption of beauty and mystery to enter.
“Enchantment is small wonder magnified through meaning, fascination caught in the web of fable and memory. It relies on small doses of awe, almost homeopathic: those quiet traces of fascination that are found only when we look for them … Entering a state of wonder is akin to using a muscle.”
I’m reading and quoting from Katherine May’s “Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age,” published by Riverhead Books a few days ago.
“Enchantment came so easily to me as a child … when I was young, it came from a deep engagement with the world around me, the particular quality of experience that accompanies close attention, the sense of contact that emerges from noticing. I worked hard to suppress all those things. I thought it was what I had to do in order to grow up … I never realized what I was losing … But enchantment cannot be destroyed. It waits patiently for us to remember that we need it.”
“Hierophany is the experience of perceiving all the layers of existence, not just seeing its surface appearance.”
Through compelling personal experiences and observations, Katherine May’s “Enchantment” becomes a companionable presence, invigorating our responsiveness to both natural and human environments.
Note from the author: Illustrated, free talk by Page Dickey, March 11, 11 a.m. at Monterey Library: “Bringing Meadows into the Garden,” sponsored by The Monterey Native Plants Working Group. Limited seating—register in advance by emailing Pollinators01245@gmail.com. For more information, contact Janet Jensen at 347-712-9884.
