Take a Walk With Your Imagination

Microseason No. 43 & 44, September 7-16

Have you ever wanted to step inside the pages of a novel?

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is one of those stories in which the setting inhabits my imagination so vividly that I don’t want to leave it behind.

In her book, Clarke builds a world that is surreal, mysterious, harsh and beautiful. The story happens inside a vast, labyrinthine House that contains an Ocean with surging Tides inside its countless Vestibules and Halls.

But I ask myself:

What if, instead of oceanic tides, there were wild plants and animals suddenly appearing and disappearing inside a strange and beautiful Forest House?

I made a few collages using this idea. Here is what I saw in the Forest House.

This species of Lichen landed in the Twenty-ninth Northern Hallway one morning after winds dislodged it from the branches of a dying oak tree on the Fourth Floor Balcony.

In the morning’s first shafts of sunlight, I came upon a Luna Moth serenely tracing the contours of the Grand Dome.

Remember how you used to make up imaginary games when you were young?

Come walk with me and I’ll show you what I found in some of the rooms and hallways in the Forest House of microseasons 43 and 44.

After last night’s soaking rain, we came upon a well-dressed tree wearing a stylish cloak of delicate neon orange ruffles and moss embroidery.

My hiking partner, Mr. Killian, admires this stunning combination of moss and polypore fungus. He wonders if he might trade his sensible red harness for something a little more fun?

As we descended down to the ground floor by way of the Aphid Stairway, we peered down the hall to see a gentle doe tending to the lush carpets and draperies. She is grateful for the goodness of this particular day. It is always enough.

The silent presence of deer in the Forest House inspires my reverence. I marvel at the way they can walk through the leaves and twigs without hardly making a sound.

In Piranesi, the walls are lined with thousands of imaginative marble Statues e.g. an Angel caught on a Rosebush and an Elephant carrying a Castle. The main character explores his intricate world and documents everything he finds by writing careful notes in one of his many notebooks. My nature nerd-self delights in this practice!

One of the statues in the Forest House is a Peaceful Eye that watches me from between the layers of nourishing leaves. Its quiet gaze reminds me that there lives an ancient loving calmness inside my soul, even in modern turbulent times.

The loving Source that made me also made this beautiful, intricate fungi. We are all made in this way—with great love and tenderness.

As a Scientist, I have a Duty to bear witness to the Splendors of the World.

—Piranesi, Susanna Clarke

The Mysterious Clockwork that moves the Seasons ticks onward!

I invite you, Dear One, to take a walk inside your own playful imagination. See if you can find something to marvel at and explore today.

I’ll see you in the next microseason,

—Ann