Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice Season

Throughout the season runs evidence of a very rich Christmas ethnobotany, with ancient traces we will follow to their roots in this book. During this excursion into the past, we will learn much about ...

Craft: Distaff Tree

The word distaff means “fiber stick.” Thus, the Old Norse dísir and Old English idises, tutelary spirits who presided over the birth of a child, determined the length, thickness, and overall quality o...

Frau Holle

Also running amok was Berchta’s more northerly incarnation, Frau Holle, who used to take charge of all infants who died before they could be baptized. The stubbled fields over which the broomstick-mou...

The Salige Fräuleins

In the Alps of the same century, a visit from the Salige Fräuleins (“Blessed Young Ladies”), who came at night to sample food offerings left on the table, was announced by softer bee-like music than t...

OLD CHRISTMAS MAGICK

On Berchtl Nights, the goddess’s Austrian servants take to the streets and create a din by ringing cowbells and playing tuneless music on their fiddles. These activities were not always confined to Ad...

Winter Solstice & New Moon Energy! December 21st

Today is a good day for reflection, for tomorrow brings more light and you too will be brought to increased light, and all the things you carry will be revealed clearly in the light of day. You may ha...

Winter Solstice

Time: For three days from sunset on or around 20 December (20 June in the southern hemisphere) Focus: Rebirth, the return of light, the triumph of life over death, spiritual awakening, light in the mi...