ENCHANTING PLACE - BUT WHAT DOES AN ENCHANTMENT DO FOR THE SOUL IN 2011?

Since the earliest years of active settlement in the District of Muskoka, as the Historic Hudson has been for centuries more, writers and artists have celebrated the picturesque qualities of the Ontario hinterland. The Muskoka lakeland was promoted, in its earliest days of history, as a magical, enchanted fairyland, of breathtaking scenery that was health restoring for mind, soul and body. The air was clear, the water clean and the environment free of city stresses and expectations. And while we don’t have the Hudson’s author, Washington Irving, to tell us about phantom ships and the exploits of Rip Van Winkle, Iccabod Crade and the Headless Horseman, Muskoka has been portrayed as “storied,” “legendary” natural paradise, with a sparkling lakeland and haunted, beautiful forests. Landscapes so tantalizing that they inspired Group of Seven artists and Canadian poets. They found a region that had many enchantments for them, and they discovered, by lengthy association that inspiration grew generously from fertile soil. The creative mind found much to benefit from in the wilds of the newly opened district.

It’s also true that while poets and artists fed on natural splendor, for their art panels and books of poetry, homesteaders in the same hinterland, found a much harsher, less fertile environs that often killed their ambitions as well as their families.

For decades upon decades, the art community has found Muskoka an ideal place to retreat and create. I don’t think they believe in enchantments, and great mysteries the way Washington Irving did, but their work still reflects an essence of appeal and curiosity for the unknown, none the less. I still embrace the word, “enchantment,” because there isn’t a morning or moonlit night, that I don’t sense a magic in the air. A walk in the snowy woods this morning, following a light snow sometime after midnight, I couldn’t have been more enthralled to view any scenery on earth.....than what I was privileged to explore of this very enchanted place. Possibly it is a romantic, sentimental approach to looking at nature. I’m sure it is the case, I have taken similar vistas, that fascinated me as a child, I know now, and transposed them over top the scenes I see today. Maybe there is a prejudice about Muskoka’s grandeur I can’t get past. The hunch that this woodland is haunted, manifests because of all the books, and all the poets read over a life time. Yet somehow I’m content with this layering of experiences, and chapters of actual and literary adventures. As I started out in this life, as an eager watcher in the woods, I’ve remained thoroughly, happily contented to remain as such.

One of my favorite advisories from Irving, was when he suggested of his readers, that they look upon nature with perspective of all sides......not just solely on the information offered by the botanist, who has dissected and investigated species to the most minute detail of life. He offered the opinion that there is so much more to life and environment, than what fact we use to bridge our way to advancement. He was talking about the necessity of expectation and anticipation.....things about our place in the universe that can’t be explained by science alone.....at least in his time. Irving had experienced enchantment, and most biographers seem to agree, he thrived and celebrated the unknown.....but made it all familiar and approachable for his readers. You could not read much of Washington Irving’s work, especially as a young adult, and not appreciate his viewpoint on such things as enchantment and the so-called paranormal,........without sensing the depth and potential of even greater mystery while on the very next countryside amble.

Afterall, it has always been by curiosity, and implied necessity that we have looked deeper into the natural world.....to benefit and enhance our own survival. It was these enchantments that inspired investigation initially.....and whether science today recognizes the role of the fantastic and expectation in discovery.......I believe it has always been the catalyst of invention and the resource of ingenuity......because we have been always been compelled to investigate what fascinates us, and those actualities we don’t understand. It is thus not so silly, to still, on occasion, be enthralled by such natural vistas as this......a snowy woodland in a still wild place.

I am a huge supporter of the advancement of science. I am also a die-hard believer in the enchantments of every day places. Coming back from a morning stroll through these snowy woods, just now, has created quite an appetite for another walk after finishing this column. Mine isn’t a romantic or sentimental viewpoint...... of a harsh reality of nature and its etching of the earth. Watching the dramatic unfolding of floods, mudslides, earthquakes, cyclones, tornadoes, man on man conflict, and raging sickness around the world, one often finds little to feel enchanted about. Fearful yes. Nature is a brutal companion. As it was in Irving’s day. All of history’s days.

Even though Irving was a writer who explored potential and possibility from his environs, and held high regard for lore and legend, he was a realist and appreciated the power of nature to change itself, violently, without regard for mankind’s safety. I think it was this appreciation for great unyielding power and profound capability to transform the world, on which we dwell, that added to his wonderment and interest in enchantments, phantoms, heavenly bowlers, ghosts and Headless Horsemen. He was reverent of nature, not afraid of it. He knew the limited capability and life span of man, was the marker of inherent weakness of body...... but the mind was an equal natural force to be reckoned with. Irving passionately embraced the idea of exploration, and investigation, and believed in the role of the “fantastic” in life and its history.

I’m sure if he was standing with me today, on this elevation of land, above the snow-laden Bog, he would find it a very enchanted place......with its myriad trickling creeks, crystal falls, and singing wind through pine and cedar. There is a heritage patina here, as if this scene now, was a page from another time.....possibly one that the good Mr. Irving might have scribbled a note about, extolling the mysteries of life and afterlife, tied to our awe for beautiful places, and occasions when fear and trembling, in its threshold, makes us humble and grateful to have such opportunity of communion, with the nuances of all life.

I have very much enjoyed my early winter explorations in these Muskoka woodlands. There has not been an occasion yet this new year, when an hiatus from work, for a gentle stroll, hasn’t renewed and restored an interest in spending more time here at the keyboard. Like Irving, I am dedicated to my relationship with nature. Compelled to venture forth frequently, to benefit myself from its unlimited resources of inspiration. From this portal at Birch Hollow, I am fulfilled each day, by my surroundings. It is my own enchantment, that compels me to appreciate each day for what it offers, and live by the rules of expectation, and respect for the power transitional, unpredictable evolution nature can unfurl,....... harmful to even its watcher in the woods.

Take a walk in the woods. Enjoy this beautiful winter season in Ontario.