“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl

Recently, our cat Gordon has taken to standing up on his hind legs and placing his paws high on my ass, near my hips. Then he presses in, getting a luxurious stretch for himself, and throws in a few kneads as a lovely massage for me. He does this to Darin as well. I call it a butt hug. He does it at least once a day. Each time I’m treated to one of Gordon’s butt hugs my heart melts a bit and I find myself in awe. I see it as one of countless instances of the magic that surrounds me.

Relationships between different species amaze me. Each time Gordon gives me a butt hug, each time Kevin paws at the pantry, each time little Steven reaches his paws to my knees and gives a hop, communication is occurring. Though we’re each mammals, I have little else physically in common with my three feline family members. And yet we are a family. We share a house. We know each other’s routines and recognize each other’s voices. The cats know our cars: when one of us pulls into the drive they run to the garage door, ready to greet us. When an outsider’s car pulls in, Kevin growls and runs off, while Gordon and Steven watch with intrigue and perked ears. Although I’m significantly larger than our boys, and although they have claws and teeth that are not to be trifled with, we trust each other with a trust I’ve known with few humans. When I accidentally step on a tail and give a pleading apology, the victim of my tread is quick to forgive and rub against my calf, assuring me we’re still good. Most magical of all, though, is the soul-gaze. Have you ever been friends with a non-human animal? It doesn’t matter if your friend was a dog or a cat or a hamster. If the relationship was built on trust and love, you’ve surely experienced this magical soul-deep gaze.

Just as magical, perhaps even more so, are moments of connection with wild non-human animals. I’ve soul-gazed with a Great Horned Owl in the twilit dawn, an experience at once thrilling and deeply spiritual. To be seen in such a way by such a creature, not as a threat but as a fellow dawn patroller, well, there are hardly words to describe it. I’ve had gray jays land confidently on my hand and calmly select from an assortment of seeds and nuts. Coyotes have watched me watching them, and based on their body language I’m certain they were not frightened of me, as I was not frightened of them; our shared glances conveyed the mutual respect of large animals sharing an ecosystem. Moments of soul-seeing between species are deeply moving. How can they be anything but? It’s like being let in on a closely kept secret, or getting a peak at an ancient grimoire. It is in these moments that I’m reminded of and returned to my true nature.

I’m surrounded by magic every day, and in the title of this post I did promise Other Magic. So, I’m going to share two sources of Other Magic with you. First up: cookies! Absolutely magical, no question. I mean, you mix together flour and baking soda and salt and butter and eggs and sugar, then add in chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cranberries. Throw that concoction in an oven for 12 minutes and the glop is transformed into golden brown deliciousness. I dare you to bite into a warm chocolate chip cookie and try to claim it’s not magical. Share that same warm cookie with a friend and the resulting smile will strengthen the magic. The most common magic, though, and often overlooked, is right here in front of you: words. Language. Have you ever thought about it? It’s really incredible. In the English alphabet, we have twenty-six letters. We group those twenty-six letters to form an infinite number of words. And we connect those words to communicate love and anger and stories and jokes and laws and greetings and farewells and pleas for help and offers of assistance and warnings and apologies and judgments and congratulations and grief and hopes and fears and so much more. All from just twenty-six little letters. And that’s just in one language out of somewhere between 6,500 and 7,111 (depending on the source of info). Language is powerful magic. It can transport readers and listeners to other places or other times. It can spark imagination and laughter. It can console and assure. It can also do great harm. It doesn’t matter if the words are those we speak to someone else (be that someone a stranger, a friend, a child, or a dog), or to ourselves. It doesn’t matter if the words are posted anonymously online. As Albus Dumbledore said in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” Words matter. Let’s use them wisely. Let’s use them for good.

Magic is all around us, every day. We just need to stop and open our eyes and our hearts and our souls to it. I promise you, once you start to see it you won’t be able to not see it.