Hot Springs and Northern Lights

          On the following day, our first full day in Iceland, off we went to visit the Blue Lagoon. We set off in a state of relative darkness, the sun not fully up, at about 10.30 am GMT. Shops do not normally open much before 10 am to 11 am in the winter.) On arrival at the 'spa,' a project under considerable development, Lucy offed and changed to do her 'spa thing' whilst I did a tour of the surrounding area, before relaxing with my Kindle in the cafeteria. I should perhaps explain that, although I did rather fancy sampling the 'waters,' I was still struggling with the tag end of bronchitis, and didn't fancy risking yet another cough.
          As with much of the country we saw, the rock was black and of a very porous nature, reminiscent of large lumps of cinder. Bearing in mind its origin below the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, I suppose its appearance was not surprising. Here and there were great upthrusts of basalt and granite which formed the mountains of Iceland. It seems odd to think of Iceland having mountains as Iceland itself is just the top of a mountain sitting on the mid-Atlantic Ridge. The other thing of note, besides the cold, was the relative absence of noise and the sense of calm and serenity which depicted the mood of the bathers and the waters. It was as if an inner search had ended only to discover that that for which one had searched had been present all the time. Here was my first intimation of my inner world being projected onto the outer, material world. And the awareness of this link was to develop as time passed.

Like Large Lumps of Cinder

Black and Porous

With Upthrusts of Basalt and Granite

          Inevitably the time arrived when, having lunched on sushi, we had to leave and return to our apartment in preparation for the evening's trip out to the middle of nowhere to see the northern lights. On the way I noticed that the coach's outside thermometer was reading -6 deg.C.  When we finally arrived at our destination, there was a cold wind blowing which produced a sizeable wind chill. It was definitely not a mild evening, but one which needed to be guarded against. To begin with, the temperature seemed very manageable. It was only after having removed my gloves for about a minute, to take (as best as I was able with a hand-held camera) three pictures of the lights, that I found my fingers painfully cold. A further two pictures, and that was enough! The quality of the photographs is not of the best, but all things considered......

Whirls

Swirls

Plunges

Spins

And a Fiery Finale

Whilst we were there, our driver took some photographs of his passengers, as shown. He used a technique that required his setting up his camera on a tripod - the camera set to a suitable exposure time - then at some point 'swiping' us with the light from a torch.

"Stuffed Owls That Had Died From Hypothermia!"

          We moved on a little further to another stopping point. For a while there appeared nothing that was particularly different from our previous sightings. Then our driver/guide said, "Look straight up!" Now what I saw was not a staggeringly beautiful sight, but one which nevertheless had a deep effect on me. It was as if quite faint streaky lights were arrowing in to a point immediately above (remembering that the North Star, Polaris is higher in the sky than in countries further south than Iceland, the northern coast of Iceland touching the Arctic Circle). The display gave the impression that I was standing at the bottom of a tube that reached up to infinity. I was also very aware that in this in-between place, fearsome energies were apparent as charged particles from the solar wind were drawn down into our space. There are times when it feels healthily good to be made to feel small. The only thing that prevents the eradication of life on this beautiful planet, and protects our atmosphere, is the electromagnetic shield which surrounds us, and that field is generated by the planet's core. If there had been nothing else that evening that filled me with a sense of awe, that would have been enough.
          So there I stood, atop a mountain which itself sat on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, looking up into the infinity of space and surrounded by immense energies streaming out from the sun. And all the while, the cold sat and waited....... Who could not feel moved by all that?