A Magical Start to a New Year

Yesterday several friends on my social media spoke of how hopeful everyone seems this year going into 2024. I feel the energy too. Perhaps a big part of it is my excitement over the forthcoming trip back to England at the start of March, but I’m reveling in it no matter the cause.

Yesterday afternoon, I wanted to start the new year right by walking in nature. The arboretum we hoped to walk in was closed, so my husband and I took a stroll on the bike path near the college campus in town. On our way back, we walked down to the stream that flows by the path.

I sat crouched for a while admiring the stones and how singular they all are, and then I found a wonderful and uncanny thing.

At first I thought it was the world’s smallest hagstone, and it kind of is. But thanks to the archeologist mind of my friend Desireé, I discovered it’s actually fossil segment of an ancient creature who lived millions of years ago called a Crinoid. Also known as a Sea Lilly, they’re also nicknamed “Lucky Stones” since they’re not easy to find. (Look how TINY.)

Indigenous Americans would use these segments to create beads for necklaces. However, I believe the little pieces sometimes already had the center holes, so it’s unclear whether my tiny piece was used as a bead or not.

It’s a hagstone, an ancient animal, a piece of history, and a gift from the faeries to begin a bright new year.