Mabon or the Autumn Equinox occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday 22nd September. Day and night will be of equal length for the second time in the Wheel of the Year (the first time was at Ostara, the Spring Equinox). The Equinox also marks the official start of autumn, although with some of the … Continue reading Mabon – Celebrating Harvest
Lammas – Celebrating Abundance
At this time of year, grain is ripening in the fields, there’s crops of fruits ready and gardens are lush with colour. This first harvest is celebrated as Lammas (also known as Lughasadh) and takes place on 1st August in the Northern hemisphere this year. The word ‘Lammas’ comes from ‘loaf mass’ as traditionally bread would … Continue reading Lammas – Celebrating Abundance
Magic and Myth of Glastonbury Tor
For me stories grow out of places and I’m always delighted when that love of place comes through to readers. One of the nicest comments I receive is when someone tells me one of my books has made them want to visit Glastonbury, Orkney or Whitby. From Under the Duvet Book Blog reviewed Beltane this … Continue reading Magic and Myth of Glastonbury Tor
Stone Circles in Fiction
I’ve been obsessed with stone circles since a family holiday to Brittany when I was 15. I remember vividly my fascination with the stone alignments at Carnac which kicked off a lifelong passion. I’m what my best friend’s husband, who’s an archaeologist, calls “a stone botherer” which doesn’t bother me at all as my stone … Continue reading Stone Circles in Fiction
Beltane – Celebrating Spring
Somehow despite writing a book set at Beltane, I’ve not written a blog post about it yet. So I’ve decided to put that right this year. I’ve always wanted to be in Glastonbury at Beltane as they have the most spectacular celebrations with people dressed up as Green Men and goddesses to welcome the spring. … Continue reading Beltane – Celebrating Spring
Westray – White sands, a storm witch and a very small plane
With Storm Witch being published on Friday I thought I’d introduce you to some of the places and folklore which inspired the book. As you know, Storm Witch is set in Orkney which is one of my favourite places. I first visited in 2010 having become fascinated by the islands from the books of George … Continue reading Westray – White sands, a storm witch and a very small plane
Five things I learnt from Spellbound
On Saturday I went to the Spellbound exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The tag line for the exhibition is ‘Magic, ritual and witchcraft’ and it certainly covers all of those areas but it also looks more deeply at what it means to ‘think magically’. I originally wrote this post as a kind of … Continue reading Five things I learnt from Spellbound
Secrets of the Green Man
If you’ve read my novel, Beltane then you’ll know the Green Man is a key character in the book. If you’ve not read it then I’m afraid I can’t really say much more than that without a spoiler alert but if you’ve seen the book cover you can probably guess that a Green Man features … Continue reading Secrets of the Green Man
Alys West 