Looking for the Magic✨: A Nature Almanac
May 2026 / The First Anniversary Edition - The World is Full of Magic
Welcome to Looking for the Magic✨: A Nature Almanac
✨The First Anniversary Edition✨
We learn how to tell fact from fiction – to believe only what we can see. As children, we run through the world with bandaged knees, eager to hold bugs in our hands. But somewhere along the way, we become adults, too busy to notice. We forget what it feels like to lose track of time outside, to stumble upon something that feels like magic.
My phone is filled with tiny snails I’ve discovered, buds blooming straight from tree bark, and blurry photos of creatures I tried to capture before they disappeared. Going outside has become my daily therapy in a world that doesn’t always make sense. The things that truly light me up – the things that make me feel hopeful – aren’t found in the news or shopping mall. I have learned how to exist in the slow, silent moments of a day.
Go outside. Listen to the birds sing. Look up why those strange mushrooms appear after the rain. Watch a snail eat – I dare you. There is an invisible web that connects everything. You can see it in the spiral of a shell, echoed again in the unfolding of a flower. What even is the smell of rain? And why does it make me a touch euphoric?
What moves me most is the ephemeral beauty of it all. How each day, everything is slowly becoming or unbecoming. Everything is temporary - whether you like that or not. And maybe it does not matter. What does matter is how many moments you can collect that make you feel alive.
Over the past year, more than 4,000 of you have joined me here. I thank you for taking the time to read these newsletters. I hope they inspire you to get outside and find your own bits of wonder. And please share them in the comments when you do!
Things included this month:
A Collection of Magical Things From The Past Year
The Flower Moon: May 1st
May Creative Prompts
A Few of my favorite things
I took a little walk through all my editions and pulled some of my favorite bits I’ve collected over the past year.
Painted lady butterflies complete one of the longest insect migrations in the world. They can travel thousands of miles, moving between Africa, Europe, and even reaching as far as the Arctic Circle. But no single butterfly makes the full journey – it unfolds across multiple generations, each one continuing where the last left off.
They are guided by instinct and stardust. Their migration isn’t random – they move in rhythm with rainfall and blooming plants. It’s as if they’re following a shifting map of flowers across the landscape, always seeking the next place to feed and lay eggs. They have an inner knowing that has unfolded over a million years.
It’s funny – I went through most of my life without paying much attention to snails. I can’t remember the first time I truly slowed down enough to see one. The tiny eyes perched on delicate stalks. The soft, translucent body stretches and gathers itself as it moves across the concrete. I often think: aliens.
Now I notice them everywhere – tucked into my potted plants, resting in the bark of a neighborhood tree. They seem to whisper the same quiet message: slow down. It is not how fast you go, but that your eyes are wide open and your heart is full.
Most snail shells form in a Fibonacci spiral - a perfect golden curve that also appears in sunflowers, hurricanes, and distant galaxies. It’s as if the geometry of the universe is etched into their backs. That small, intricate pattern that links us all.
Sunflowers are signposts in my memory – their wide faces rising above the fields of my youth. They were one thing that brought my brother joy, carefully planted in his garden. They were my mother-in-law’s favorite, so each February we bring them home to remember her.
Now they appear in the empty lots across Los Angeles, where homes once stood, touched by wildfire. Their golden faces turn toward the light – a sign of beauty where something was lost.
Sunflowers are healers. They can pull toxins and heavy metals from the soil - like arsenic and radiation. After Chernobyl and Fukushima, fields of sunflowers were planted to help restore the soil. They are hardy, often the first to return. Their deep roots stabilize the earth, holding it in place, and welcome the more delicate plants. Their blooms call in pollinators, gently rebuilding what was disrupted.
It feels like a kind of whimsical magic – that something so bright and beautiful can help restore the ground beneath us from which everything grows.
I found a fallen carpenter bee on the sidewalk the other day. He was pitch black, with wings that looked like they had been dipped in gold. I carefully picked him up by his furry legs.
Solitary bees do nearly 90% of the world’s pollination. Their fuzzy bodies catch and carry pollen as they move from bloom to bloom – magical work that keeps everything going. One-third of our food supply is dependent on the work of bees.
We tend to think of honeybee hives when we think of bees. But most bees live alone. They nest in soil, hollow stems, or wood, carefully crafting individual chambers lined with leaves, mud, and petals. Inside each one, they place pollen, nectar, and a single egg – like a little DIY nature nursery.
They only live a few weeks, but the nest remains. One generation follows the next, continuing the work where the last left off. Just like the butterflies.
Sometimes I wonder how they know what to do. How something so small can carry such a vast, invisible understanding. A knowing that is threaded in us all.
I’m going to be honest here, I keep my distance from squirrels. Their energy intimidates me. The thing is, they are fearless. If you get too close to their stash, they will whip those tales at you, look you in the eye, and prepare to take you down. At least that is what it appears like to me.
There are so many videos on Instagram of people befriending squirrels, I find it so endearing - it has softened me a bit. The one that hijacks my bird feeder makes me smile at his determination. The way they play and chase each other around the tree outside my window - delightful.
Squirrels spend their days collecting nuts and formidable treasures. They are smart in the fact that they don’t put all their nuts in one basket. They hide them all around. But they are rather absent-minded – they forget where they put up to 75% of their stash. It is estimated that the forgetful squirrel is responsible for planting millions of new trees each year. So remember this next time you curse yourself for having brainfog – the universe is always working in your favor.
One summer when I was about five, I was peering into a window well outside our home. There was a tiny hole in the ground, and beside it, a frog no bigger than a quarter. As I watched, more little frogs began popping out of the hole – one after another – like a wildlife slot machine.
I yelled: “It’s a miracle!”
No one was around to hear me, so I ran off to find my brothers. Instead, I found my grandmother napping on the couch. I gently placed one of the tiny frogs on her chest and whispered, “Grandma, look what I found.”
She woke up screaming. The frog disappeared down her shirt. And the story has been told at family gatherings ever since.
If your heart stopped beating, and your lungs stopped breathing, by human definition, you would be dead. But not frogs in winter. Their bodies flood with glucose, a natural antifreeze that protects their cells from ice. They freeze solid. And when the thaw comes, within days, they wake again.
Just when we think we understand how the world works, there’s always a creature that reminds us otherwise. There is so much we can’t explain. And it makes me so curious to know what else I don’t know.
It makes anything feel possible. It makes the world feel magical.
We had a lot of rain in Los Angeles earlier this year. Within days, clusters of honey mushrooms began appearing beneath the oak trees, spreading across the once-barren ground near the camellias. Mushrooms always feel a little whimsical in the forest – but I had never seen so many in the middle of a neighborhood.
Curious, I went looking for answers and stumbled upon what’s often called the “Wood Wide Web.”
These mushrooms are just the visible signposts of an intricate underground network of fungi connecting plants and trees. It is how they all talk to each other. Did you know that trees can actually send messages to one another - warning of disease or sharing vital nutrients? Mushrooms are the phone lines allowing them all to connect. When it rains, the spores spread, and the signals strengthen.
We are connected in ways we can’t always see. We rely on one another, often without realizing it – sharing resources, showing up for one another. Every species has its own language. Each creature has a knowing.
As humans, we don’t always trust ourselves. We’ve learned to quiet it, to look outward for direction, to follow what we’ve been taught. To ignore those little whispers. But our best lives live in those whispers.
We all play a part in this universe. But only we can feel where it is pulling us. It was coded into our bones by the universe. It is just waiting for you to listen.
☽✶ The full moon names featured each month are rooted in a mix of Native American, Colonial American, and European traditions. In earlier times, these names described the entire lunar month, not only the night when the moon appeared full.☽✶
The Flower Moon will peak on Friday, MAY 1st at 1:23 p.m. EDT. This means you can get a pretty good view both Thursday and Friday night.
The Flower Moon got its name from the Algonquin peoples, an Indigenous tribe historically located in the Ottawa River Valley in present-day Canada. It was named for the blooms that spread across the landscape in such abundance this time of year.
Other names given to the May full moon: Moon of the Shedding Ponies (one of my favorites), Budding Moon, Leaf Budding Moon, Egg-laying Moon, Planting Moon, and Frog Moon.
The Flower Moon is positioned astrologically in Scorpio; this moon carries a deeper, more intense energy focused on shadow work and emotional alchemy. It encourages confronting hidden feelings and weeding out emotional baggage to make room for healthier growth.
Are you holding onto creative ideas? The Flower Moon invites you to get to work. By the end of the month, you could watch them bloom. It is viewed as a period of abundance. It is a good time to harvest all the seeds you have sown.
🌸 🌕 The Flower Moon Meditation
The Flower Moon arrives when the seeds can no longer hold back. Everything is blooming at once – plants, trees, and bulbs we forgot we planted last year.
There is a kind of courage in showing up. To open. To be seen. To take up space.
We spend so much time protecting ourselves – staying small, staying safe, waiting until we feel ready. Waiting for the invitation. But nature doesn’t wait. It responds. It blooms when the conditions are right.
And maybe you are closer to ready than you think.
So here is what you are going to do.
Earlier in the evening, gather a few small things from outside – a flower, a leaf, a fallen petal, even a blade of grass. Tiny things that call to you.
Make a cup of tea. Light a candle. Sit somewhere quiet.
On a piece of paper, write down what you want to grow in your life. Not what you think you should want – but what whispers to you. Something that fills you with light. Something that feels dreamy to think about.
Fold the paper and place it beneath your small collection of natural objects.
Look up the time of the full moon in your area. Step outside sometime after the sun has fallen from the sky. The Flower Moon will be waiting for you.
Stand beneath the sky.
Notice what’s around you – the scent of the air, the sound of movement, the feeling of being a golden thread in this universe.
Think of what you wrote today on that paper.
Imagine how you would feel to indulge it.
You don’t need to figure it all out.
Just like a flower doesn’t plan how it will bloom – it just knows it will when the time is right.
When you’re ready, return inside.
Place your paper somewhere you will see it again. Let it stay with you over the next few weeks - on your desk, near your bed, tucked into a book you are reading.
Let it be a reminder.
Something is growing.
And the only you and the universe know what it is.
✦ The Flower Moon Meditation
I think this meditation will inspire you. So if you only have time for one creative prompt this month, let it be this one. And then of course, come back later and indulge a little more.
✦ Spring Walk After Dark
My childhood best friend shared a story with me. Her backyard was filled with tiny holes she could never explain – what was causing them?
One night, she went outside in the dark and saw something moving across the ground. She turned on her phone light and discovered hundreds of nightcrawlers emerging from the soil, racing for cover. It was mating season.
Have you ever walked outside at night and noticed how different everything feels? What comes alive when you look closely? What might you discover? I love to take walks on full moon nights.
✦ Bugs ‘N Bloom Art Challenge
It is back again this year! I’m co-hosting an art challenge on Instagram that pairs bugs with their favorite blooms. You don’t have to be on Instagram to use these prompts to inspire you. But if you are on Instagram, please join us! It is such a fun way to meet new artists and share your work. Art challenges are one of my favorite things.
Until Next Time✨,
Kim
P.S. In celebration of one year of magical things, please share one of your own in the comments. I would LOVE it.
P.S. If you enjoyed this, please give it a like or share it with another. It helps others discover it as well. 🤗
Reading this made me feel hopeful and inspired in a quiet, achievable, whimsical way (does that make sense?) Definitely checking out that moon!
The other day I did a radio interview and I said exactly that about snails - that if more people took the time to watch a snail eat they would find them more endearing and interesting. They’re amazing! Love all of this!