Photo of the Month – The Gloriole

There are many, many things in nature that catch one’s eye, and a rarer few that catch one’s soul. One such thing caught me recently that delighted me so that I thought I’d share it with you.

Its common name is a sun halo, but there are other names for it that can even challenge pronunciation –aureole (aw-RAY-o-luh or AW-ree-oll) or gloriole GLO-ree-oll). It’s a refracted circle of light around the midday sun caused by ice crystals in high, hazy cirrus clouds, showing a faint rainbow coloring within the golden glow. And though I have written about it before (and that post may be found here if you’re interested), its recent appearance motivates me to a reprise. 

This atmospheric phenomenon is not even particularly rare, in fact happens with some frequency. And there are two good reasons why they are often missed. (Perhaps I should say three good reasons, as it first requires the curiosity to pay attention to one’s surroundings! There are SO many glories in God’s creation that are simply there for the enjoying if we would be watchful for them.) But here are the reasons even seasoned nature watchers can miss them. First, one needs to look nearly straight up, high into the midday sky, and craning one’s neck is often neither natural nor comfortable. Second, the kind of high haze that produces the halo also makes for a very, very bright sky, one from which we would typically avert our eyes, so our natural inclination is to avoid its brightness. I might not even have seen it myself if my daughter Maren had not texted me a photo from her home fifty miles away, asking if it was showing where we lived. Sharing this glory with her made the experience doubly delightful. 

The best way to find one is to look up occasionally on hazy, sunny middays to check quickly for the circle or the glow; if you see something promising, extend your fist to arm’s length to completely block the sun’s orb. There it’ll be, surrounding your hand. (You can also try this with the more common early or late day sun dogs, aka parhelia or mock suns; it gives you a better chance to appreciate their color as well.) Then enjoy the splendor! If you want to take a photo and find it awkward while holding your fist high in the air (!), position the sun behind a light pole, treetop, or even a building. I happened to be volunteering that day at our nearby historic Admiralty Head Lighthouse when my daughter texted, so ended up going outside and letting the tower do my blocking. (Forgive the vapor trails in the photos -- when I went back at a later break, the halo was gone.)

Fun fact: do you remember seeing religious art that depicts noteworthy holy people having a halo hovering over or around their head? These are also technically called an aureole or gloriole in religious tradition, based on the natural phenomenon. (Want to see a cute movie? Check out “Millions,” a truly charming story of a modern day child who sees visions of historic Christian saints.) And here’s something else that could be fun to try: if you happen to see a gloriole while walking with a friend or loved one, have them get between you and the sun’s orb and position their head to block it; then get down low and far enough away to snap a photo with the halo seemingly surrounding their head. This will surely be a memorable expression of the high esteem in which they are held!

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear! (Matthew 13:43)

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets the Lord’s name is to be praised. (Psalm 113:3)

~~ RGM, June 15, 2024

From My Nature Journal: Crows... And the Power of Hope

One of the things I greatly enjoy is volunteering at our local historic lighthouse, Admiralty Head Light on the Admiralty Inlet into Puget Sound. Whenever there and the going is slow (which isn’t very often, even on bad weather days, as the lighthouse tends also to be at times a warming house for cold or wet state park visitors!), I always pull a good book from the giftshop shelves and while away any spare time there may happen to be. There’s a lot there on natural history, so I’m never disappointed.

Am reading lately a delightful book titled Crow Planet by Lyanda Haupt, subtitled Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness. Originally published in 2011, it was revised just last year. As the two titles imply, there is much here specifically on crows, what Haupt considers the wild creature most available to urban nature observers, and deeply interesting to boot. Indeed, many of us have our unique crow stories! But the book also contains a great deal of fine philosophizing on the study of nature in general and the importance of earth stewardship (what many of us prefer to call creation care) for us urban and non-urban stewards alike.

I particularly appreciate her positive approach, and wanted to highlight with this blogpost an excerpt from one of her early chapters. 

We all know dour environmentalists (or perhaps we are one), wringing their hands while myopically bemoaning the disasters to befall the earth in the near future. Why, when we know that they are right, do we want to spill organic cranberry juice all over their hemp sandals? Because they are no fun, for one thing. And, more important, because they will suck us dry if we let them. But we don’t have to let them. There is a way to face the current ecological crisis with our eyes open, with stringent scientific knowledge, with honest sorrow over the state of life on earth, with spiritual insight, and with practical commitment. Finding such a way is more essential now than it has ever been in the history of the human species. But such work does not have to be dour (no matter how difficult) or accomplished only out of moral imperative (however real the obligation) or fear (though the reasons to fear are well founded). Our actions can rise instead from a sense of rootedness, connectedness, creativity, and delight…

Haupt then goes on to emphasize in the book that urban dwellers, who think they may have less access to nature than those who are blessed to live more immersed in it, and thus may feel less motivated to activism, actually often have more access to it than may first appear if they are simply diligent and creative in their observation. (Take crows, for example, who somehow have made their sassy yet cautious peace with humans in nearly all settings.) But I also deeply appreciate at least her head nod to the spiritual sensitivities and creativities that can motivate all people, especially people of faith, to be active in creation care. 

Secular naturalists often lay earth degradation and exploitation at the feet of the church, very unfairly IMHO (which is too frequently not so humble). But it has become clearer to many Christians (especially in the younger generations) that we can no longer stand on the sidelines of these efforts but rather take a leading role. Thus, it gives older people like me great joy to see organizations springing up like Young Evangelicals for Climate Action and Circlewood. 

But key to effective Christian involvement in this cause will be our spiritual sensitivities first to the classic faith practices of lament and repentance. Lament, of course, is Godly sorrow, a sorrow that matches God’s sorrow. But repentance, as you who have studied it know, is not only about Godly sorrow, but about a Godly turnaround, in short, a change of action, a new and better approach, a leaving behind of the old bad habit or behavior and a taking up of a new or renewed practice of a redeemed comportment in a moral and holy manner. 

However, something additional to these is also needed. Hope. Though Haupt does not use that word in the excerpt I shared above, her book is a tribute also to the hope that will be necessary as we work to redeem centuries of creation misuse. Hope will be indispensable to ongoing earth care. Despondency will not help. Indeed, the Bible assures us that hope has the power to keep us from despondency, “…Hope does not disappoint us… (Romans 5:3-5)” 

So check out the book. I think you’ll enjoy it, may even come up with some amazing crow stories to add to your own. 

But on the subject of creation care? Work hard. And never stop hoping. 

~~ RGM, March 31, 2022