Magical Transformation and Nativity
Excerpt from a recent blog post that may interest our readers, reprinted with permission:
We had a little catch-up meeting today so the pettes who missed Cinderella this Rhavedi could see the missed epis. And we saw my favorite scene when the Fairy Godmother transforms from an ordinary(ish) Godmother to the Queen of the Fairies.
It reminds me very much of the Magical Girl transformation scenes in Anime that never fail to thrill. I talked to honored Raya about it so fulsomely (the last time I saw it) that she actually preached about transformation scenes at the Service this Rayadi. She explained why it is that we are so thrilled by them and why even an audience that is often bored with any repetition will watch lengthy transformation scenes that may be the identical in every episode, often regarding them as the highlight of the episode.
And the reason has to do with Nativity! What really fascinates us is the moment when the ordinary is infused with the Transcendent, when the material is touched by the Spirit whether it be in the individual soul or in the cosmos (for the two are really different levels of the same thing - microcosm and macrocosm). The Divine bolt that enters the world (in the microcosm of the House, through the chimney) lighting and warming the True Heart[h] with spiritual luminance - the only Light there really is.
In the Cinderella story, of course, the Fairy God-Mother (in this version) transforms herself and also transforms the exiled soul (Cinderella), and in this lovely scene, she is at first the Spirit in Disguise, even (partly and ambiguously) disclaiming her own power and proclaiming the magical and miraculous to be dekanai (impossible).
And the ambiguity here is the fundamental ambiguity of the impossible, paradoxical interaction of Dea with the world. For as the Scriptures say, God the Mother gave birth to a Daughter that was not separate from Her but One with Her, and the Child of Her Light. Dea came to the place where Dea is not.
So it is indeed dekanai: impossible. And at the same time, it happens every day, and must happen if the manifest universe is to survive even a moment.
That is the highest level of the truth expressed by this pure, traditional "fairy tale" (this particular one is found in just about every culture known).
But Truth operates on every level. Cinderella is a story for us, who are exiles. And the scene below is also about the true possibility of miracle and magic in every level of our lives: