Intermission ~
OK, taking a break from the divided kingdom because I walked home last night. I work tutoring for a couple of hours after school each day. Erica, my daughter, borrowed my car so I walked to and from work . (This is NOT an accomplishment ... it is like a block. I usually drive because I don't want to carry all the books and stuff I use for tutoring ~ anyway...)
When I stepped out of the classroom yesterday it was twilight. I love everything about twilight. It is my favorite favorite favorite time of day. I always feel like I am being given a gift when I happen to step outside as twilight comes. The sky above me was a soft aqua. The trees were black in silhouette against the sky. At the horizon, as I stepped outside, the sky was a paint stripe of baby yellow and first blush pink. It has snowed on the mountains that rim the northern edge of my view. The mountains themselves were a dark dusty blue and the snow on top was shimmery white with just a tinge of pink. I stood just looking and in moments the sky darkened to a deep turquoise making the trees stand in sharper and sharper relief against the sky. The horizon was then a deep cotton candy. By the time I got home the day had melted into night, but I felt such delight to walk through the magic of twilight.
I even love the word. Twilight means
~ the soft defused light from the sky when the sun is below
the horizon, either from daybreak to sunrise or, more commonly,
from sunset to nightfall
~ the period in the morning or, more commonly, in the evening
during which this light prevails
{Don't you love that wording: the light prevails. The light has taken
charge and sweeps us in to its wonders.}
The Celts believed in something they called 'the-time-between-times'. It was that place between ~ between moments, or heartbeats; that moment between the end of one year and beginning of the next, and specifically between day and night, or night and day. They believed it to be magic. In the time-between-times anything might happen, and it was then that the passage to Faerie could be opened, and travel to and fro was possible. I am a part Scotch-Irish by birth and blood, and perhaps that is why twilight and its magic calls to me and makes that part of my heart swell and race. I will not say I looked for any of the faerie folk as I walked home -- that would have been silly. . .right?
When I stepped out of the classroom yesterday it was twilight. I love everything about twilight. It is my favorite favorite favorite time of day. I always feel like I am being given a gift when I happen to step outside as twilight comes. The sky above me was a soft aqua. The trees were black in silhouette against the sky. At the horizon, as I stepped outside, the sky was a paint stripe of baby yellow and first blush pink. It has snowed on the mountains that rim the northern edge of my view. The mountains themselves were a dark dusty blue and the snow on top was shimmery white with just a tinge of pink. I stood just looking and in moments the sky darkened to a deep turquoise making the trees stand in sharper and sharper relief against the sky. The horizon was then a deep cotton candy. By the time I got home the day had melted into night, but I felt such delight to walk through the magic of twilight.
I even love the word. Twilight means
~ the soft defused light from the sky when the sun is below
the horizon, either from daybreak to sunrise or, more commonly,
from sunset to nightfall
~ the period in the morning or, more commonly, in the evening
during which this light prevails
{Don't you love that wording: the light prevails. The light has taken
charge and sweeps us in to its wonders.}
The Celts believed in something they called 'the-time-between-times'. It was that place between ~ between moments, or heartbeats; that moment between the end of one year and beginning of the next, and specifically between day and night, or night and day. They believed it to be magic. In the time-between-times anything might happen, and it was then that the passage to Faerie could be opened, and travel to and fro was possible. I am a part Scotch-Irish by birth and blood, and perhaps that is why twilight and its magic calls to me and makes that part of my heart swell and race. I will not say I looked for any of the faerie folk as I walked home -- that would have been silly. . .right?
As I read this post, I didn't get past your comment about loving twilight when I instantly thought about the time-between-times. An lo and behold, you touch on the subject at the end. I too love that time of the day/night. This post reminded me of the hymn we sing every Vespers service. It is probably the oldest hymn known, written in the 3rd or 4th century. I'll leave you with it.
ReplyDelete"O Gladsome Light of the Holy Glory of the Immortal Father, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed Jesus Christ! Now that we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening, we praise God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For meet it is at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise. O Son of God and Giver of Life, therefore all the world doth glorify Thee."