What do you see?

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than the lights in the sky in this photograph? The wonders of nature igniting our senses once again. Forcing us to surrender to its power.  Its magnificence.  Awakening our souls to its splendour. I feel like this just looking at the picture. I can only imagine how intense and awe inspiring it must be for the people actually witnessing this natural phenomenon.

People in Northern England, Scotland, and Ireland are being treated to one of life’s treasures – The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. I always wondered what caused these beautiful lights in the sky. And because they are so spectacular this year and in places where they normally aren’t I was able to discover the how.

The lights are caused by charged electrons from the sun colliding with the atoms in the outer bands of the Earth’s atmosphere. As the electrons enter the earth's upper atmosphere, they collide with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen at altitudes from 20 to 200 miles above the earth's surface. The colour of the aurora depends on the atom it meets and the altitude when they meet.

Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude

Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude

Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude

Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude

Look carefully at this magnificent picture - what do you see? I saw the soft feminine outline of an angel at first. As I looked closer I saw a stronger image of the Phoenix rising from the ashes. Spreading his wings. Majestically. Looking directly at me. The yin and yang of us all – the masculine and feminine duelling for balance.

Reminding me we are a part of something much larger than we could ever image. A part of an infinite existence.  Where there are no explanations for how we all began. No explanations for how we continue to be. A place where energy is all there is. Connecting one source to another. Creating life. Giving life. Taking it away. Magnetism pulling the light across the sky. Dancing for us. Sweeping us up into its mysticism.

The reason why we are all out of sorts at the moment is because of the electrons being shot across our universe sending us all in a tizzy because energy connects us all and can destroy us at the same time. Airplanes are being diverted between the US and Asia because of the solar storm that is about to happen. The Universe is in the process of one of its great changes and so are we.

We are being delivered a message from the Universe letting us see its power through beauty. To remind us how interconnected we all are. Those charged electrons colliding with the atoms are affecting many of us from all walks of life, all corners of the world asking us to remember we are all. We are one. Atom to Atom. Electron to Electron. A part of the Universe.