I accidentally came across the Book of Lost Spells by British poet, Robert MacFarlane and illustrator, Jackie Morris. It was a sequel to the Book of Lost Words. Both of these beautiful books were based on the premise of words disappearing—the words that children use to describe the nature around them. They were created as a vision of recalling wildlife that might not exist soon, a statement of how precious our natural world is.

These books are so beautifully done, that I use them for meditation. In the Lost Words, Jackie Morris’ gilded art is mesmerizing in its detail. Whole pages are devoted to vines, grasses and seeds. My surprise when I received this book was its coffee table size. Easy to get lost in the world it depicts.

The duo expanded their repertoire into the Book of Lost Spells, which inspired a group of U.K. musicians, all successful in their own right, to come together to produce Spell Songs, a musical compendium of MacFarlane’s poems. The music on the cd reflects at times the mood of the poem, at other times, the movement of the animal or bird the poem describes. At the end of April, they gave a concert to benefit the Urban Nature Project of the London Museum of Natural History. It plays on YouTube until the 31st of May. It was one of the most well done concerts I have ever seen, performed in the great hall of the museum. It is a must see.

If you miss the concert, you can get the Spell Songs cd and book (they come together) and still be enchanted.