The beauty and majesty of Nature protect us against the modern societal "powers of darkness."

At Tara today in this fateful hour

I place all Heaven with its power,

And the Sun with its brightness,

And the snow with its whiteness,

And Fire with all the strength it hath,

And lightning with its rapid wrath,

And the winds with their swiftness along the path,

And the sea with its deepness,

And the rocks with their steepness,

And the Earth with its starkness:

All these I place

By God's almighty help and grace,

Between myself and the powers of Darkness.

St. Patrick

Photo: The Sun peers through the fog above Devil's Backbone; Larimer County, CO; March 9, 2013. Today the "powers of darkness" are corporate greed, a hectic, anxious lifestyle, despair, depression and a feeling of alienation. Now more than ever we need the beauty and majesty of Nature to embody and mirror for us the optimism of our innermost self.