My friend Amy recently wrote a post on building stone cairns in her garden. She finds joy and balance in creating them. Her post reminded me of this photo I took in Volcano National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii. We were walking through one of the craters there and found this stone cairn along the trail. There were quite a few just like this marking the trail. As you can see, I took the photo in black and white. I felt it was appropriate to convey the feeling of the stark landscape of the crater and the lava rocks all around us. Native Hawaiians believe that the spirit of Pele, Goddess of Fire and Volcanoes, lives in the lava rock. I could feel her spirit guiding us that day.

After we hiked through the crater, we drove down to the ocean to see if we could get a glimpse of any flowing lava. There wasn’t much to see beyond a couple of glowing red pinpricks in the distance. But, as we were leaving just after sunset, I glanced up at the sky and was treated to one of the most spectacular sites I have ever seen in my life. A sea of stars so thick that they appeared to be a mist. I wish I could have taken a picture that evening but it was too dark. It was one of those moments in my life where I could truly feel that everything was connected just like that sea of stars.

Have you ever seen the stars like that?