SOMERSET LEVELS 329 – A LITTLE PIECE OF MAGIC
April 28, 2019 14 Comments
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Crossing the little Whitelake Bridge on Hearty Moor, and there on the bridge’s guard rail were flowers – I assumed in memory of some victim of a road accident, or even someone drowned in the river.
But looking more closely at them, they were accompanied by no words of mourning, and they looked more like charms, not memorials. And then I remembered where I was – not far from Glastonbury, and also not far from Worthy Farm, at Pilton, which hosts the world famous Glastonbury Festival. There are many around here, especially in Glastonbury, who hold Pagan and other, non-mainstream beliefs, and here were what appeared to be charms above moving water, above a river.
I have dabbled with Paganism, and found it far, far more attractive than the monotheistic mainstream religions of the UK. But I’m now at the conclusion that although I have a deep love and regard for the Natural World, this is not for me anything religious, but rather something that invokes feelings of great love and wonder. I don’t worship the Natural World, but I respect it – and the more so because, unlike us, it manages to exist and thrive without the aid of all the made up stories – the imagined realities – which appear necessary to keep human societies – and human minds too – in order and intact.
And so here then, deep in the Somerset countryside, because of the way they see the world, because of what they believe in, someone has placed these simple objects above moving water. And to me, in so doing, they have added a little piece of beautiful magic – and diversity too – to this world.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it.
Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Standard V2 picture control; on the Whitelake Bridge, northeast of Glastonbury, on the Somerset Levels; 5 Apr 2019.
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About Adrian Lewis
I love the photo, and thoroughly enjoyed the text. The notion of respecting the natural world because it manages to thrive without the stories or imagined realities we manufacture is very interesting. When I was very young, maybe 8 or so, I read about pantheism somewhere. In my youthful mind I equated it with nature worship of a sort, and decided I was a pantheist. In church every Sunday I tuned out, with a vengeance. Over the years I explored a few traditions, one very deeply, but always with the understanding that nature is ultimately what’s most important. To me anyway. And espresso.
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Hahaha!!! well one point of difference between we too, my dear friend >>> I tried espresso once >>> and that’s it!!!!! No alternative but to drink heavily >>> but NOT espresso!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
But I’m with you: Nature is most important. I never become bored with it, and it never stops keeping on keeping on. Of course we are doing our bit to try and stop it now, and lifeforms are going extinct; but, at least for now, the great behemoth of Nature is still rolling inexorably on.
I’m very interested in these imagined realities – and you are one of the very few people who is willing to engage in any sort of discourse about them; when I mention them, most either look blank, or rather embarrassed. I see these I Rs everywhere: things which, even if they have solid physical presences, ultimately only exist on our minds eg the British monarchy. And then to a song I have on CD: “Pray to the people inside your head because they won’t be there when you’re dead …” A 🙂 🙂 🙂
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The song made me laugh….and what a good example of an imagined reality, the British monarchy. In one way of looking at the world, it’s all a dream, and though I don’t live by that viewpoint, the ability to take a giant step back, and to see that, is crucial, I think, to getting a good grip on it all. We make a lot of stuff up! 🙂
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No, the world is not a dream: the Natural World (both animate and inanimate) is totally real. We are real too, but in order to … deal with our intelligence, and consciousness of self, perhaps … we have from way back in human history (eg Stonehenge) erected stories which, although they only exist in our minds, help us to get through Life, providing meaning, identity, a sense of purpose etc. Its so good talking with you about this, its so good finding a “fellow traveller”, if you see what I mean. 🙂
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…love this little piece of writing…thank you Adrian…I feel very close to it…
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Dear Kari, my long time blogging friend, I’m very glad that my words have got to you, that they have meaning for you. And – I know! – you’re smiling!!! And so am I!!! Adrian 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I love the clarity of this image – it really jumps out of the screen. Lovely, Adrian.
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Thank you for liking this one too, M. And, well, at the risk of alienating you with techy things, the clarity here is the result of using a x6 telephoto close in – LOL! its the lens I’ve always said I’m married to, the 70-300 Nikkor – along with the fact that full-frame (ie 35mm size) format can produce very narrow depths of focus. It feels good to be using this – quite old now – lens again. A 🙂
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I can see why you like to use that lens – what a wonderful result! (Looks amazing when enlarged).
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Yes, its not a very expensive lens, but Amateur Photographer mag rated it highly many moons ago – and in the interim I must have taken many thousands of pictures with it – an old friend! 🙂
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Perfect area to find these ‘relics’ of hope.
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Yes, what an area, off the mainstream, beaten track, a backwater really.
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Good story as well! 🙂
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Thanks, Harrie, glad it gets to you! Let us always be open to the magic in this world, in all its many forms. 🙂
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