Winter - A Time for Rest & Regeneration

I hope you’re all finding moments of peace and relaxation during the holidays.

The winter is a time to rest, regenerate and recuperate; there’ll be plenty of time for rushing about when the hours of daylight are longer, and we have more energy.

In the meantime, put on your favourite film, grab a blanket and your favourite cuppa, put your feet up and enjoy the downtime.

What are you doing to rest and relax over the festive period?

Review: Spirit Nest Oven Mitts

I wanted to show you my wonderful oven mitts from Spiritnest.com (@spiritnest)

They’re premium oven baking mitts made from 100% polyester and have a wonderful double-sided Kitchen Witch print featuring cauldrons, chopping boards, herbs, toadstools pentacles, cats and all sorts of witchy images.

If you visit @spiritnest you’ll see that there is a choice of black and purple mitts or these gorgeous monochrome mitts. They have a hook on each glove so that you can hang them somewhere useful, and they have a soft inner lining making them super comfortable to wear.

They’d make a perfect gift for a witchy loved one, they certainly look fabulous in my kitchen!

I wanted to get a shot of my lovely husband using them but had a bit of an interesting week around the time I received them. Our heating and hot water failed (broken boiler) so there was no baking for usy whilst we got the house back in order. Thankfully we’re all sorted now and they were used well over the Yule period! 

Thank you so much for sending me these, Spirit Nest, they're absolutely wonderful and will be well used.

NEXT - Review: Sunflower Journal (Autumn 2022) 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

After Solstice there is a period of standstill where the days remain the same length. Sometime around the 25th and 26th December the days start lengthening. Quite literally, the “Son” (sun) is “born.”

This year it was the 23rd December, where we gained an extra 7 seconds of daylight. The days will lengthen to an average of two minutes a day until we see a full extra hour of sunlight by January 18, 2023.

Interestingly, the days actually begin to feel a bit longer two weeks before the Winter Solstice. The earliest sunset of the year happens on Wednesday, December 7 2022.

This is because of the Earth’s elliptical orbit around the Sun. The planet moves faster in its orbit during January when we’re closest to the Sun, and slower in July, when we’re further away. The Sun’s path through the sky, when charted on a day to day basis, appears as an “analemma” - a figure-8 pattern.
Because of this pattern, the meridian is rarely at exactly noon, and can be 15 minutes out. This is discrepancy is known as the “Equation of Time” and sundial owners will know it well.

This looping path explains why the earliest and latest sunrises fail to coincide with the solstices. 

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your day and your Turkey/Nut Roast dinners later! Sending lots of love from the cemetery.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Happy Winter Solstice everyone! I’m wishing you a warm, cheery and abundant Yuletide and a blessed Summer Solstice if you are in the Southern Hemisphere.

Astrological Winter solstice occurs at 21:48hrs tonight, UK time. Tomorrow, at dawn, we celebrate the return of the Sun after the longest night of the year. On the 23rd December the day will get longer by 7 seconds, until we have a full hour of extra daylight on the 18th January 2023.

This is always such a joyful time for me. Whilst peak celebrations of the Sun happen at Summer Solstice, there is always that tinge of sadness as the light diminishes. At Winter Solstice things are on the up!

Yes, there is still the coldest part of the winter to endure, but it feels like we have broken the back of the journey towards the lighter part of the year; to be confirmed at Imbolc, of course!

Whenever I think of the Winter Solstice Sun I think of my dear friend Terry, officiating at the Avebury Free & Open Gorsedd. He’d talk about our ancestors’ experience of welcoming the Sun and always say “and if the Sun doesn’t come up, it’s all over!” with a chuckle. It still makes me smile.

What are your plans for today and tomorrow? Are you going to observe sunrise tomorrow?

If you ever need local sunrise and sunset times most weather apps include them for each day.

Wishing you all a very beautiful Solstice. Be well. 

NEXT - Greeting the Sun After the Longest Night 
NEXT - Pagan Holidays: Yule - Midwinter
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Mince Pies
NEXT - Lupercalia: A Look at Valentine's Day

Simple Magick: 30 Low Energy Magickal Activities

Small, simple low-energy magickal activities are important to my practice. They join the dots between bigger celebrations, rituals and work. 

They’re perfect for when you are feeling unwell, low on time or energy, or disconnected from your Craft. They’re perfect for the winter when we only feel like hibernating!

Sometimes we need to rely upon low-energy activities to see us through a period of spiritual drought; until we can step things up a gear or commit to our Craft more fully.

Gratitude, mindfulness and seeing the magick and the joy in everything, are also helpful tools in any practice.

Burn incense intentionally ~ watch the smoke carry your ideas and intentions

Light a candle ~ concentrate on a thought, intention or affirmation

Read a witchy book

Write witchy poetry
Draw some witchy sketches 

Read up on a festival/sabbat if you’re not able to celebrate/observe it

Make magickal plans 

Journal 

Listen to some witchy/pagan/inspiring music 

Create some incense 

Update your Grimoire 

Clean your altar

Watch a witchy film or documentary

Write a letter to a witchy friend 

Discuss the nearest sabbat/festival/season

Bake something seasonal

Meditate 

Design spellwork for later 

Go for a small walk and observe what nature is doing 

Create a sigil

Reflect on the nearest sabbat/festival/moon phase and the last turn of the Wheel

Create a seasonal simmer pot using appropriate herbs and ingredients 

Make a hot drink and stir appropriately to banish or attract

Daydream out the window 

Do some cloud watching ~ look for messages 

Draw sigils/symbols/runes on plates before plating food

Do some witchy art/crafts 

Go outside ~ even if briefly ~ to look at the Moon 

Do some simple divination ~ eg. Tarot reading or scrying

Take a witchy bath ~ let the things you no longer need drain down the plughole

The list is endless, and I imagine many of us will do most of these. What would you add to this list?

Zodiac dish, sun spoon and moon phase candle all by @goddessprovisions

NEXT - Simple Magick: Offerings - What Are They? 
NEXT - Moon Magick: New Moon Baths 

Fabulous Folklore: Rats Castle

It was a wet and wild October night. Tom Tinker was struggling to make his way across the muddy fields to his Leicester home when he realised he needed to take shelter. There were no farms around. The only place nearby was Rats Castle - a sinister building with a spooky reputation. Tom didn’t know what it was haunted by, but with torrential rain lashing down, he didn’t have time to worry.

He found Rats Castle and made his way in. His first task was to make a fire, well away from the chimneys and windows leaking rain. He unpacked his day sack, and set about making a cup of tea. Quite absorbed in the process, he didn’t notice the creature until it spoke.

“Eh up” it said, in true Midlands fashion.

It was the ugliest creature he had ever seen. Tall, covered in thick dark hair with horns and a tail, a huge nose and sharp, yellow teeth; Tom immediately recognised it as a bogeyman.

“Aren’t you frightened?” asked the beast.

“Not really” said Tom, handing him a cup of tea. The bogeyman drank the piping hot tea too quickly, causing a searing pain in his throat. He crumpled the tin mug and threw it at Tom, who immediately deflected the mug with a pair of pincers. The mug ricocheted into the mouth of the bogeyman, knocking out several teeth. The creature howled in pain and ran out the door.

Just as Tom caught his breath another appeared. Twice the size and with two heads! 

“Aren’t you frightened?” asked the beast.

“Not really” said Tom, offering him a cup of tea from one of his other mugs. In true bogeyman fashion he guzzled down the drink, launched the tin at Tom who immediately batted the thing back; slamming it into one face before it ricocheted off into the other, knocking out several pointy teeth from each head. The double-headed beast howled and ran off.

Before Tom could wonder what would happen next, a large hairy hand appeared down the chimney breast, feeling its way around the hearth. Without hesitation, he struck the hand with his hammer, causing a loud howl. The hand disappeared.

Gathering his things up, Tom understood that he needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Two large hands suddenly lifted the roof off the tower, and three ugly heads on one set of shoulders peered down.

“Eh up!” said the bogeyman. “Aren’t you frightened?”

“Not really” said Tom “But I’ve run out of tea, so I’m just popping home to get some more, and then we can all have a nice cuppa together!”

Tom scurried out of the door, tripping over a large tail which he quickly nailed to the floor so that the bogeyman couldn’t follow. He ran all the way home and vowed never again to return to Rats Castle.

NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Black Anna
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: A Personal Spooky Story
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: The Tulip Piskies

Fabulous Folklore: Doniert Stone -The King’s Cross

This stone, located in St. Cleer, Cornwall, is the decorated granite base for a Celtic cross that dates to the late 9th Century AD. It is thought to have been built to commemorate Doniert, the last (known) recorded king of Cornwall. 

The back of the stone is intricately decorated with four carved knots, each made up of two interlacing oval rings. Intertwining decoration is found on either side of the stone. On the side is a Latin inscription “Doniert rogavit pro anima” which means “Doniert has begged prayers for his soul.”

It is believed that King Doniert is actually King Dungarth, the King of Dumnonia. Dumnonia was the kingdom named after the Dumnonii, a British Celtic tribe living in the south west at the time of the Roman invasion.

It sits next to The Other Half Stone. When complete, the Doniert Stone and the Other Half Stone would have been impressive stone crosses. They are located at a crossroads for a number of important trackways that divide the downland. 

NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Cornish Piskies 

NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Gravestone Symbolism