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What can we learn from how Nature spends Winter?
Life's adaptations to the cold and dark part of the year demonstrate how time and patience, in the end, teach us how to survive....
How to do Animal hand Shadow Puppets
Fun for all the family, big kids and small, young and old alike. How to do animal hand shadow puppets!
Wren Day - December 26th
Going out on 'The Wran' was a strong tradition that I grew up with in the Mealagh Valley in West Cork. We would all dress up in all sorts...
Shetland folk tradition of Skelling, Skeklers and Guising
'For ‘a coarn o meal, a penny o money, ir a piece o flesh’ a handful of grain, penny of money, or piece of meat.' Any evidence of...
Vision
If we will have the wisdom to survive, to stand like slow growing trees on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it... then a long time...
Hibernation
It’s that time of year when the call of winter invites us to retreat here in the northern hemisphere. To rest deeply into the boundless...
The Light of the Christ Child
Today’s light emanates from the Christian story that God’s son was born to Mary, a virgin, in a stable in Bethlehem, to save mankind from...
Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Old Christmas', by Mary Howitt
Now he who knows old Christmas, He knows a carle of worth; For he is as good a fellow As any upon earth. He comes warm cloaked and...
The Light at the edge of the Woods
I chose the lamp post from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as today’s source of light primarily because it’s tied into many...
The Amanita Muscaria Elf
The Amanita Muscaria Elf works in the reindeer stalls at the North Pole, feeding them treats, giving them foot baths and physio, calming...
The dark history of Christmas traditions
Peace, goodwill, tidings of comfort and joy… don’t you believe a word of it, says David Barnett, as he delves into the more sinister...
Seasonal Poetry & Prose: The Legend of the Christmas Robin
"Legend tells how a Robin, On the night of the first noel, Braved the frosty winter night, So the baby might sleep well. Throughout the...
Fear and the Earth Element within
Fear is one of the themes that destabilizes our root, the earth element within us. Here are a few powerful words to consider on fear, and...
The Magic of the Earth Element
The forest breathes, it lives, as one. Primordial, intricate, wild. Wild in it's impossible terrain, teeming with life; buzzing, dancing,...
The Shortening Winter's Day is near a Close', by Joseph Farquharson
Joseph Farquharson (1846 -1935) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and died at Finzean, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He is most famous for his...
Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Holly', by Andrew Blakemore
At the edge of the field in a hedgerow so tangled, So thick and so dense where the holly does grow, Berries of scarlet are caught in the...
The Cycle of Form and Formless
We are taken into winter, when the leaves are fallen from the trees and the branches are bare. Winter is this barrenness that belongs to...
Mistletoe Myth & Lore
From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious, and sacred plants of European folklore. Kissing under the...
Flying Reindeer and the Fly Agaric
Santa and his fleet of flying reindeer can be traced back to a rather unlikely source: the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, or Amanita...
Irish Megaliths aligned with the Winter Solstice
The below list will of course continue to grow, but for now, here is a selection of Irish sacred sites with astronomical alignments on...