Ode to Off-playa Magic, Wonder, and Enchantment

As we shift deeper into the month of August, the whispers of playa are calling to me more and more frequently by the day. My initial longing always comes in the form of the desertscape itself, and this year is no different. I start picturing those early nights, walking out by myself or in a precious pair, deep into the desert darkness, so untouched that you can hear the dust skating across the surface of the ground as the wind blows.

I love these nights because when I glance up at the stars, a time when I feel an understanding of where the word stardust comes from, I experience a natural shift in perspective. For all the seemingly all-consuming individual drama, discord, or rooted struggle in one’s life, I am suddenly aware of so much more. This sense of awe, wonder, and enchantment that is often evoked in the presence of vastness can be a balm to the gripping of a present situation.

In the physical restrictions, constrictions, confines of sheltering in place, I think about how to connect with, conjure, or stoke that sense of playa spaciousness or spacelessness, the awe-inducing experience of big art or absurd undertaking. The thing is, I find that in equal and opposite fashion, one can engage with the same sense of awe, wonder, and enchantment with the small; whether the elegance and grace of something ingenious or the infinite in something detailed.

With that, be it the dance of the flame on a single wick, the pattern of an unexpected overnight spider web, or otherwise, as we continue on this journey, I invite you more fully into witnessing the off-playa magic, synchronicities, and coincidences all around. You might even consider journaling about the miniature majestic moments you are appreciating, or sharing some of them with us as comments to this post.

Until again, from the heart,

Laura “Curious” Fallon