My aunt sent me a great email with a thought to ponder. And ponder it I have. Here are the results of those ponderings, as well as the original impetus. Accompanying the email was an image of a beautiful little girl with a look of unadulterated joy on her face, wearing a lovely pair of fairy wings.

Mine Infant-Ey
Abov the Sky
Discerning endless Space,
Did make me see
Two Sights in me,
Three Eys adorn'd my Face:
Two Luminaries in my Flesh
Did me refresh;
But one did lurk within,
Beneath my Skin,
That was of greater Worth than both the other;
For those were Twins; but this had ne'r a Brother.

Thomas Traherne (1637 - 1674) English poet, mystic

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Recalling his childhood, Traherne wrote: "My knowledge was Divine. I knew by intuition those things which since my Apostasy, I collected again by the highest reason" ( Centuries , III, 2). This inner sensitivity is the subject of the poem "Sight"

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a·pos·ta·sy P Pronunciation Key ( -p st-s )
n. pl. a·pos·ta·sies
Abandonment of one's religious faith, a political party, one's principles, or a cause.

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The child in the photograph is named Tahlia. She is one year old and lives in Australia. She visited her grandmother who lives in Dural Northwest of Sydney, and who took this photo and sent it to me. It is late summer there now. It is amazing to me that this poem was written during a time of life on Earth when hundreds of people were executed as witches, and here is someone who lived then, but had such great sensitivity to percepton that he wrote this poem, certainly demonstrating the antithesis of a mentality that could act to execute someone for being different. It is amazing to me that such diverse consciousness could exist in the same world side by side at the same time. Then when I look at Tahlia's face, I just realize the same situation exists today, and I wonder if the world has made any progress in the past several hundred years. Even though I feel unsure regarding the answer to that question, it seems that clues reside in the expression on her face.
(I believe the author of this is Marcia Anne Sobota)

And, from my aunt:
Jodi,
wow.
who does this remind you of, and what about the accompanying text?
It occurs to me that perhaps part of what we search out in fey magic is something beyond faith, even larger than hope... a divinity of experience, of knowing which we lose in "growing up" and have effortless connection to in childhood.
love you ,
ROZ

I wept after reading this. Sincerely. It touched me to the very fiber of my being. It brought to the surface feelings that I've only caught fleeting glimpses of ever since Rhiannon was born, but I hadn't the strength or desire to look at fully. A feeling would bubble up, my heart would swell, I would get a catch in my throat, and push it down again. Mostly this would happen when Rhiannon's face would catch the light in a certain way, and I would see myself, as a child, in her. However, this email, this thought, stripped it naked and held my face to it so I could not look away, so that I could scarcely breathe. You see, I've never actually thought of myself as a child, of ever being one. I've never "been in touch with my inner child" so to speak. My childhood was taken from me - the child that was me was robbed of innocence, violated, used and tossed aside.

When I look at my daughter, the feeling that she holds something precious inside of her is palpable. I want to protect that, nourish it, and let it last as long as possible. I want to treat her gently, so that she maintains that effortless connection to divinity, to a belief in magic, until the "growing up" can no longer be held off and she absolutely must let it go.

My childhood, this connection to the divine, this most precious gift that all children have and should be held dear by those adults given charge to protect it, was gone before I even knew what it was that was lost. Now I know - when I look at my daughter, I can feel it. Yes, I think Roz is right - in searching out fey magic, in believing in intangibles, I am attempting to regain a connection that was lost. Perhaps, if I am truly fortunate and allow myself to be guided by my greatest teacher, my daughter... perhaps I will fully heal, and regain this "divinity of experience" that was lost in the prematurity of my own growing up.

Rhiannon is the greatest magic, the closest connection I have ever had to the divine, and perhaps the greatest healer as well.