An Exuberance Of Beauty
Desert globemallow...forever.
“Because our present habit of mind is governed by the calculus of consumerism and busyness, we are less and less frequently available to the exuberance of beauty….Yet in the midst of fragmentation and distress beauty draws the soul into an experience where an elegant order prevails. This brings a lovely tranquility and satisfies the desires of the soul. When the soul is alive to beauty we begin to see life in a fresh and vital way.”
Spring arrived with a murmuration of bluebirds sweeping and swooping in unison, landing in our field with snow still on the ground…their little bluebird bodies hopping and walking amongst sagebrush and winterfat foraging for all they needed to replenish themselves after a long migration from wherever they were this winter.
I had never seen so many bluebirds together at one time, same with robins who returned in great flocks bringing their springsong heart-gladdening melody with them. More and more birds arrived as the days lengthened—white throated ibis wading in the marshy fields, the sandhill crane couple who seemed content sharing forage with cattle and wild turkeys, great flocks of pinon jays, sparrows, killldeer and our beloved meadowlarks….and of course, the wild geese. There was (and still is) such a cacophony of delight in the air like a giant family reunion of long lost relatives celebrating after a deep winter.
Once it got a little warmer the snow melt brought great rushing rivers where once there were creeks and then the flowers began to arrive. For a while the sight of Indian paintbrush with a fire inside, lighting up the slickrock, was enough to warm my heart. And then came a murmur-ation of another sort—our community sharing the buzz of what was happening in the desert.
I had always heard about Superbloom events, like the one in Death Valley that comes every 100 years after a winter of moisture, but I could never have imagined what I have come to experience with my own eyes right here.
Curious about the stories of the earth blanketed with mariposa lilies, one Sunday morning, Matt and I set out for a wildflower adventure which began as soon as we headed down a familiar trail. First were the hillsides white and pink with evening primrose, then came scarlet gilia and a diversity of colorful penstemons, flax in beautiful periwinkle, creamy white cliffrose with their heavenly scent, silky yellow naked stems and then the globemallow….hundreds and hundreds of acres of salmonpink globemallow with sage green stems and leaves, growing in chalky red sand/clay.
Mariposa Lily...now imagine billions of them swaying in a breeze!
We moved at a snail's pace stopping the car, with each new floral arrangement, to get out and smell, touch and Be with this exuberance of Beauty. Then came the special flower that everyone was talking about–the mariposa lily. When we first arrived where these flowers were in bloom, we walked into the field of lilies swaying in the breeze. I was losing myself in a perfect yellow cup balanced on a delicate stem and the geometric red design inside, when I looked up and saw an expression on Matt’s face that had me following his gaze….out in the distance the entire landscape shimmered in yellow.
When I returned to this area a few days later with a friend, I sat with the lilies for some time and had a strong sense that they wanted us to engage with them. Mariposa lilies and sego lilies were an important food source for the peoples of this land and I sensed that the profusion of flowers before me were partly due to human’s tending to them for hundreds of years. My heart ached with appreciation for the abundance nature provides with wild foods and the relationship those who walked this land before us had with these lilies.
Herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner writes, “There is still great power in the world. Just because we don’t see it doesn't mean it isn’t here.” Beauty awakens us to the truth that there is a great power in the world which exists outside of cultural narratives. I have a sense that Beauty is a sign of Gaian intelligence. That at a time of great need, Nature is practically shouting at us through wildflowers and birdsong, through waterfalls and mountain meadows to get our attention and move us from our distractions and busyness, the stories in our head, our to-do lists and even our grief and pain. Gaia, by way of Beauty, is inviting us to engage with the miracle of Life, to fall in Love all over again, knowing that we care for what we love.
Forever humans have responded to the call of Beauty with praise and devotion. It has always been a role of humans to feed the holy in Nature through ceremony, song, dance and celebration. What if Beauty is calling us to remember our place in the greater fabric of Life and ongoing creation? What if our role isn’t only to fix what's broken in the world but to praise what is beautiful, abundant and very much alive?
Responding to the call of Beauty, this May I sent out an invitation to women in Boulder to gather monthly for a ceremony. The intention of the gathering is to feed the holy in Nature and the unseen realm with our offerings of song, dance, poetry and whatever inspirations we are called to share. Coming together in community with others who love Life, to celebrate and praise, creates a vibration of positivity that ripples out into the world…a sacred activism that has the power to create a great turning in the direction of good.
“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi
Beautiful penstemon calling for our praise.
A wildy exuberant quinoa scramble with eggs from our hens, cattail shoots from our riparian area, mustard greens, early carrots from Half Acre Farms and desert globemallow blossoms.
Matt and Constance were recently interviewed by Shawn Berry for the First Nature Podcast. You can listen to their conversation here.