This post is an excerpt from the fantasy novel The Snow Witch by Jaclyn Wilmoth. You can find The Snow Witch at all major retailers in both ebook and paperback by clicking here.
To Lumi, Arctic Town was just too creepy. The birds were always watching and she stuck out like a sore thumb.
From the air, the domed city looked like a blister on the land. A blemish where the pus of the place boiled out of its skin. They had arrived in spring as the snow melted down the dome, creating honeycombs of ice around the lower walls.
“This,” Cole swept his arm out in front of him as they came in to dock, “is Arctic.”
As they stepped out of the dirigible terminal, the world of Arctic Town sprawled before her. The brightness of the place smacked her. The sun at this angle seemed to be magnified by the dome in which the city was built.
It was more than just a town. It was an entire manufactured experience, like stepping back in time. The streets were bustling with people. The buildings had facades that looked like a frontier town.
From inside, you could hardly see the outside world at this time of year. A thin veil of water ran between the dome and the ice-comb, making the forest outside shift and change in unnatural ways, its reflection distorted for those inside. It gave Lumi an uncomfortable feeling, as if nothing was what it seemed, as if she couldn’t trust her own eyes.
Cole moved into the crowd and Lumi weaved her way through people to follow.
Lumi felt herself drifting away on the stream of people as Cole wrapped his hand around her waist.
“You can always spot the tourists.” He gave her a knowing smile.
“How?” she asked, looking around. There was something off about it. The people swarming the roads all looked so similar. The same pale eyes, the same fine hair, the same set chins.
“The newness of their clothes.”
Lumi looked closer. The clothes looked old to her. Old-fashioned, like each person had just stepped in from a hundred years ago, as if they’d been riding horses, but there were no horses to be seen. Frontier clothes, horse hands in pristine condition. Everyone almost seemed to be in costume, as if they were wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit them. Denim and leather that hadn’t been worn before. The jeans were bright blue, the leather stiff and uncomfortable looking.
Cole fit in here, in his denim shirt and tan moleskin pants. Lumi felt garish in her bright blue dress, out of place in her tattered but contemporary clothes. Here everyone else wore stuff that was old-fashioned but new. She wondered if they were even in uniform, the sameness was so exact.
“But how can you tell? Everyone’s got new clothes,” she called ahead to Cole.
He smirked back at her. “Everyone’s a tourist.”
Lumi wondered what this said about a place, that everyone was a visitor. The trees even seemed transplanted. Even they looked uncomfortable, as if they too wore costumes that didn’t quite fit.
There were birds everywhere, but no other animals. Each tree lining the street had several birds of different species looking down into the street, heads whirring from one side to another.
Lumi looked to the ground, wondering if there should be birdshit everywhere. There was none.
The light shone bright in Arctic Town. She had to squint against it. Then claws clamped down on her shoulder. She shouted, swatting and trying to get away.
It was a magpie, perched on her shoulder even as she tried to run from it. As it moved next to her ear, she could hear the machinations beneath the feathers. This was no biological bird.
The movement on the street around her had frozen. Lumi looked around. Everyone was staring at her.
“Oh, it’s okay,” Cole said. He leaned his mouth toward the bird, as if he were talking into it. “Just her first time here.”
He nudged the magpie up onto his finger and flicked it into the sky, on its way.
The crowd murmured and slowly returned to the bustle it had been.
“Turning heads everywhere you go,” Cole said. “Good thing we’re here.” And he guided her through a wooden door as he opened it.
“I feel like I’m being followed,” Lumi told him.
“It’s the birds,” he said. “You get used to it.”
They were only passing through, so she didn’t get used to it.
Just as she had stepped back into the stream of vintage-clad, starched bodies, she felt a brush of fur and a firm grip on her arm. Some soul so old that Lumi couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman, so wrinkled as to be unrecognizable and covered in so many furs that the person seemed not to have a body at all. Just a wrinkled face and wrinkled hands in a ball of dead animals.
The hands held Lumi’s wrists, and she looked toward the elder.
“Whatever you do,” the voice seemed to be garbled, as if it came from beneath the pelts. “Do not come here with child.”
Lumi pulled her hand away.
“You will disappear,” the elder said, releasing Lumi’s hand. “They are watching.”
The aged soul looked up to the birds in the trees. Lumi followed the gaze and when she looked down, the ball of furs was gone.
She was on edge for the rest of the time they were in the dome. Each time she looked outside, each time they went out, she saw fur rushing to hide.
Jaclyn Wilmoth lives in the boreal forest of Alaska, where she teaches creative writing, grows very large kohlrabi with her husband, and tries to keep her daughter away from no-no mushrooms and berries. Hauling water is her least favorite chore.
Find more of my creative writing here. You can check out prompts and inspiration for your own writing here. And for posts about how to add more magic into your own life, click here.
I am having the book launch party for my first novel this weekend! I won’t make you listen to me read, or make you buy a book, but there will be wine and cheese to share and I’d love some friendly faces while this introvert tackles her first public event. 😁
It’ll be held at the Kilted Mermaid, which is my favie favie spot in Vero Beach. Come and enjoy some of their fondue and wine on me! Because oh my gosh, I finally finished a book! 🤣
Book Description:
A book of spells. Memories in the snow. And nowhere to run.
Lumi thought she’d escaped her past, but when she falls in love with a man from the far north, she leaves the safety of her life in libraries and follows him into the mysterious world of Arctic Town, a domed city where tourists play the part of frontiersmen and the birds watch her every move.
Lumi begins making a home in the boreal wilderness, until the snow starts falling at autumn’s end. To her dismay, each flake brings stray memories from other lives: The plague doctor. The homesteader with blood splattered on his walls. The charging bear with human eyes. And when Lumi finds out she is pregnant, her only escape is a grimoire, a book of spells that she knows she must keep hidden.
But it all comes crashing down when Lumi’s log cabin home is crushed in an avalanche and she is forced back on the run through the never-ending snow and a flood of memories threatens to drive her mad. Out in the snow, They start coming for her–the dark shapes between the shadows. Driven out, hungry, and at the edge of insanity, help comes from the least likely of allies and the memories begin to fall into place.
Image Description: Background of the aurora borealis in the night sky over a snowy, magical wonderland. In the foreground, there are pictures of the ebook and paperback of The Snow Witch, by Jaclyn Wilmoth. There is a picture of the author as well. The text says, “Book Launch Party, March 5, 5:30-7:00pm, Kilted Mermaid, 1937 Old Dixie Highway, Vero Beach.”
Recently, a young relative, who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, was preparing for their first date through an online dating app. My husband and I met online, and so we were plying this young’un with all our so-called wisdom. In doing so, we realized we were just telling them not to do any of the things we had done. We are now happily married.
But both the hubby and I are writers. In some ways we writers are a different breed, and that means there are different ways to woo our hearts. The following is advice you definitely should not follow. It will not lead to second dates, to marriage, or to happiness. Unless you are a writer.
Send detailed, soulful messages to someone far, far away. What is distance, when you are pouring your heart out on the page? A ten hour drive away? Sure, you probably won’t ever meet in real life, but at least you’ll be in love. Do not call or zoom or meet. You are a writer. Only write.
Stand them up at a literary event. When you are finally in the same town, cancel plans to see them at a literary event because you started dating someone else while also sending soulful messages to the writer you thought you’d never meet, and now you feel too guilty about dating more than one person. But definitely still go to the event. Make sure it’s a costumed event, so you can pretend you’re not yourself. But also, it makes for extra magic if your name could be announced at the event, so you both know the other is there. Hide in the corner. DO NOT INITIATE CONTACT!
Send them weird things like a stalker. After standing them up, ask for their home address. When they shockingly give it to you, send them strange things. It’s best if these things are handmade and look it. Make sure you don’t give too much context, like an apology for standing them up or any update on your life, like that you are single again. Just the weird crafts will do. Writers like bookmarks. Extra points if they are made out of dead things, like conch feet and sharks’ teeth.
Bring your publisher on your first date. Sure, some people might think it’s weird to bring someone else along on a date you’ve been planning for months. But you’re at AWP, or some other writing conference, which just means all rules are out the window. Bonus points if your publisher is age appropriate for dating you. Extra bonus points if they are incredibly assertive and do most of the talking on the date. Extra-extra bonus points if your publisher drove you to the date and now you don’t have a ride home.
Invite them to sleep in other writers’ beds. As you house sit for your other writer friends, invite your new flame to come along. How many already-published writers’ beds can you sleep in while you yourself are dreaming of that book deal? Has anyone washed these sheets? Perhaps some of that publishing magic will rub off on you. Isn’t it romantic?
Bring them someplace scary. When you finally invite them to your own house, make sure that it’s a remote cabin without cell reception. What seemed romantic in your soulful messages will seem like a horror movie when they realize no one would be able to hear them scream. The cabin should be filled with books (signed by your famous author friends), but only have one chair, so it is very obvious you have never had company there before. The guns are optional, but the taxidermy is not. Don’t forget to sleep on your publisher’s sheets.
This post is an excerpt from the fantasy novel The Snow Witch, by Jaclyn Wilmoth. You can find The Snow Witch at all major retailers in both ebook and paperback by clicking here.
The forest made different sounds in the snow. The wind whistled in winter, and sometimes even howled, as if the sharp points of the quakenbush’s bare branches were cutting its belly. Still, there was a beauty to it, and to Lumi, a novelty.
Cole had noticed that she had been spending more time in the cabin since it started snowing and encouraged her to go outside, which she had been avoiding, and take a walk, which she almost never did alone.
This stretch of road looked so strange, like a whole other planet from the road Lumi had come to love in the summer. In summer, the willowherb grew taller than her. By August, it was so tall that it could barely hold itself up and the stalks bowed in toward the path so that it created a little tunnel for her to walk through. Now the stalks had turned to hard, hollow paper and the flowers had erupted into small tufts of smokey seeds, waiting to be carried off by the wind. These were the last of the seeds, the ones that weren’t taken in time. Snowflakes rested on them.
She listened harder to the sounds. A raven. A squirrel. A crunch. Lumi glanced over her shoulder, wondering if she had in fact heard someone. The forest was still.
It was unlikely. They were far enough away from the small village nearby that there wasn’t much foot traffic. It was probably more likely an animal. And yet.
As her foot stepped down onto the snow, she felt a different texture below her foot. And then, snaps. She looked down to a pile of feathers, partially covered over with snow. As she stooped, she saw what had snapped. Bones.
They were bigger than she had expected, but unmistakable. Swampland crane bones. She reached down to brush the snow away. The bones were nearly as large as her own arm bones.
And there it was again, that crunch. She looked behind her and held her breath. Silence again.
She rubbed a finger over the smoothness of the bone. The snow melted on her fingertips, and pulled her into a memory.
*
I stand on the bridge and actually, the water looks completely still from here. It must be moving, flowing, but the river looks like it is holding its breath, waiting to see if I will really do it. There’s a reverberation on the water, a ping that catches my eye. Then another, and another. I pull on the sapphire earrings that are swishing in the rain. A gift from Luis that I would never wear in public. A secret all our own. The wet tinkling makes a melody that will stay with me.
The tears are freezing on my face. They pull at my skin as I try to wipe them away. I am so far up. It’s so, so far. Like I have climbed a mountain. Like the whole world is below.
Only it’s just water. Just the swirl of river against rock. Just a gray that doesn’t stop. I can feel it. I can feel the kicking beneath my navel. I can feel the way even it wants out of this body.
The wind is pushing me back, trying to keep me on the bridge. It doesn’t know. Doesn’t know the way the world works, that what awaits me surely must be worse than death.
The water is pulling and the wind is pushing and I know that it’s me that has to break the tie.
It is beginning to rain. All those raindrops have fallen so much farther than I would. And when they land, they disappear. They are home. I want that too.
I lean my shoulders forward and put my arms out wide.
Then I feel hands on my belly.
*
Lumi was certain she heard footsteps then. The swish in the snow of quick strides. She turned toward the noise, and another snowflake skimmed her cheek and another memory overtook her.
*
A crane steps gingerly onto the riverbank in front of me.
It is purposeful in the way it moves, silent. It looks me in the eye. They have come.
It is our bodies that the whole pandemic revolves around. So here I am, lover of all the sick, on my knees in the river. The commonality in all cases is our own bodies, and so the whole village has come to watch, to make sure that we are washed away by the water. I look toward Hannah. There are, at least, others with me. I try to send her this thought, to draw her attention to the crane. She won’t look. Her eyes are scared from beneath her mask and the long beak of it is quivering. I hope that it still smells of the calming herbs.
But it is our bodies that cared for each of those bleeding, melting bodies. And yet, we are not sick. We held the dying and comforted their souls, and now they are sure that we must be witches.
Another crane calls above us. I hope that They see.
It is our bodies that cleanse the wounds, and so they demand to see. Amid the jeers, I can hear the sob of my mother. My clothes are torn off. But all I see are bubbles as the water rushes past my face.
*
Lumi didn’t remember Cole finding her whimpering. She didn’t remember him pulling her out of a huddled ball in the snow, heaving for air. She didn’t remember the walk home or him wrapping her in blankets next to the woodstove or how long they sat there in silence.
All she remembered were the visions in the snowflakes.
Jaclyn Wilmoth lives in the boreal forest of Alaska, where she teaches creative writing, grows very large kohlrabi with her husband, and tries to keep her daughter away from no-no mushrooms and berries. Hauling water is her least favorite chore.
Find more of my creative writing here. You can check out prompts and inspiration for your own writing here. And for posts about how to add more magic into your own life, click here.
Yule, or the winter solstice, is a time of year when the days are the shortest and the earth begins to tilt to bring us more daylight. At its heart, Yule is a celebration of both the darkness and the light, and it is an opportunity for us to celebrate winter. This post contains ideas for Yule traditions, the spiritual meaning of winter solstice, Yule rituals for writers, and winter solstice writing prompts to help you connect with the season and your craft.
Winter Solstice
It’s impossible to let the solstice pass without recognition when one lives this far north. At 3:00 pm, the sun has already set and on cloudy days it’s hard to tell if it’s coming up at all. These days, depending on how you count your twilights, we are getting about three hours of sunlight, and everything else is dark.
Winter Solstice is one of our family’s favorite holidays, and we’ve created some of our own family Yule traditions. There’s something beautiful about knowing that you have been through the darkest time of year and you know each day will get brighter and brighter. Every solstice, we create a mandala with natural materials.
We also celebrate by decorating “Bruce the Solstice Spruce.” A few years ago, we started the tradition of finding our tree in the woods and bringing him home with us. The white and black spruces that grow up here might not be as full or as round as the store-bought trees, but there’s something magical about the act of actually bringing the tree in from the cold and celebrating it.
What is Yule?
Yule is an ancient Scandinavian festival that corresponded to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day or the longest night of the year. It was known as the time when the world is the darkest and people would wait with bated breath to see if the sun would return. But it was also a time of great celebration, because the sun did return.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice usually falls on December 21st or 22nd. In the Southern Hemisphere, Midwinter usually happens on June 21st or 22nd. When it is Yule in the Southern Hemisphere, it is Litha in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa. Yule follows Samhain in the Wheel of the Year, and it in turn is followed by Imbolc.
The solstice actually is just one measurable moment: the moment when the pole of your hemisphere is tilted as far as it will be from the sun, creating the longest night. However, because of the importance of this holiday, many cultures celebrate this time of year for many days, like the Twelve Days of Yule or the week of Saturnalia.
Winter Solstice Meaning
Yule at its heart is a celebration of the sun. We have made it through the long dark. We are on the slide into spring. The sun is coming up more and more each day, making the world brighter and lighter. As the sun returns, we know the plants and animals and mushrooms will also return.
On one hand, the Winter Solstice represents the depths of winter. The landscape is at its most threatening, and it is a time that the land is calling us to go inward, reflect, rest, and hibernate. On the other hand, it’s a time of incredible celebration because the darkest time of year has passed and we have made it through. The days get brighter from here.
Yule vs. Christmas
Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is celebrated on December 21st or 22nd, when the earth reaches its ultimate tilt, while Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. But there are other differences between these holidays as well. Though a lot of Christmas traditions come from old pagan Yuletide celebrations, to me they are very different holidays.
For me, Yule has been the hardest sabbat to write about. Christmas is so prevalent in my culture and was such a bulwark of my childhood that I can hardly ignore that it is happening. But all of the trappings of consumerism and expectations at this time of year honestly used to make me a little bit scroogey about Yule.
On the other hand, this is such a spectacular time of year in the Great North. All day, the light is breathtaking. At night, the aurora borealis are dancing among clear, glowing stars. There is magic in the air, and it begs to be celebrated.
In our family, we’ve decided that we will celebrate everything. We do celebrate both Winter Solstice and Christmas. But, unlike Samhain and Halloween, or Ostara and Easter, I do not think of these holidays as interchangeable.
Instead, we celebrate them separately, as two holy days that are interconnected. On solstice, we make a mandala, honor the sun, and celebrate nature, including decorating Bruce the Solstice Spruce. We try to spend as much time outside as possible, even when it is 30 below zero, like this year.
On Christmas, we celebrate abundance, warmth, and generosity with a big meal, family and friends, the coziness of home, and gifts under our solstice spruce. To me, Christmas represents the time when the return of the light is noticeable, the day when it really does feel like there is more light than there was just a few days ago, and that is definitely something to celebrate.
Winter Solstice Traditions
One of the beautiful things about this time of year is that there are so many ways to celebrate. You can honor the return of the sun, or you can honor the shadows and darkness. You can host friends and family, or you can retreat into your own cozy little world. Bonfires, feasts, sacrifices, and inebriation have all been part of Yule. But reflection, rest, home, and hearth are also important this time of year.
One Yule tradition that has persisted is bringing greenery inside the house. This happened both as Yule trees, which were decorated, or Yule logs, which were covered in ashes, and burned later in the year. You might bring in mistletoe to embrace the properties of the tree it grows on. You could create a simmer pot of spruce or pine. You might bring a stick of willow or birch inside to watch the leaves bud as a reminder of the coming spring, or an omen of good things to come.
Another lovely winter solstice tradition is to give a gift, offering, or sacrifice. This time of year, we put out bird seed in recognition that even our feathery friends might be in need. It’s a time when we must give what we can because we do not know if our neighbors have enough for winter.
In honor of the return of the sun, it’s also a wonderful time to bring fire into your world. You can light a candle or have a bonfire, sit by the fireplace, put up twinkle lights, or just spend time in the precious sunshine.
Yule Correspondences
One of the most recognizable symbols of Yule is evergreen. But this doesn’t just mean pine and spruce trees. Mistletoe is also evergreen, and was thought to bring the properties of whichever tree it grew on. Holly and ivy are also traditional evergreen Yule plants. Animals that correspond to Yule might be squirrels, deer, owls, ravens, or bears.
Food that evokes the Winter Solstice are oranges, apples, gingerbread, fruitcake, cinnamon, root vegetables, and game meat. The colors that correspond to Yule are those of the sun and holly: red, green, and gold. You might also choose to reflect the colors of the land this time of year: white, blue, silver and black. Crystals that correspond to Yule follow the colors: emerald, rubies, diamonds, bloodstones, garnets, and quartz are just a few. Wreaths, candles, stars, and bells can also be used to represent this time of year.
Any of these correspondences, whether they be plants or colors, can be used to bring the joy and meaning of the season into your life. Anything you do with intention can help connect you to the turning of the Wheel of the Year. So break out your owl pictures, hang some mistletoe, light some candles, or eat an apple — it’s all ritual and celebration!
Yule Rituals for Writers
Here are some ideas about how to celebrate Winter Solstice. These Yule ideas are geared particularly at writers, as they are ways to connect with your creativity and your craft this holiday season. However, I’ve tried to leave them open-ended enough that they can act as Winter Solstice celebration ideas for anyone who wants to connect more with the season and the land. It’s a great time to reflect, be generous, take some time for yourself, and dream about the year to come.
Start a journal. It is time to go inward. Like the land, we can pull into ourselves so that we can grow even more next year. One way for writers in particular to connect with this inward-facing energy is to journal. Use one of those nice notebooks you haven’t touched. Use some of the prompts below that call to you. You might choose to start a daily practice, or to journal through the twelve days of Yule. Use your words to discover yourself.
Write the story of your year. As the year comes to an end, write about the key events of the year. What have you accomplished? What have you overcome? What is the overarching narrative of the year? What has changed? How have you grown?
Give gifts. What do you have to give, in terms of your writing life? Could you give lessons, encouragement, or even your writing itself? You have gifts to give, and giving can connect you to a community. How can you be generous this season?
Set intentions and make wishes. It’s a particularly good time of year to think about what you want to grow in your life. As the light comes back, take some time to think about the big picture dreams you are trying to nurture. It may not quite be time to set particular goals and make a plan, but explore your thoughts and intuition to dream about the potential for the coming year. Why are you writing? Is it to make money? To inspire people? To entertain? How can you grow into your fullest potential this year? What would it look like? It’s a great time to make a vision board.
Rest. Like the earth. As the world sits in stillness and waits for the light to come back, the animals, plants, and fungi outside are resting up for all the growth that is to come. We too need rest. This can be a busy time of year, and if you are anything like me, you have a huge to-do list of all the projects to complete, holiday plans to make, travel, and festivities. But these expectations of busyness at this slow and calm time of year makes it all the more important for us to be conscientious about the rest we are getting. Allow yourself to enjoy the time with others and to rest.
Winter Solstice Writing Prompts
Here are 30 Yule writing prompts to help you connect with your intuition and creativity at this powerful time of year. I have purposefully created these prompts to be interpreted in many ways, as inspiration for creative projects like poetry, fiction, or personal essays, or as Yule journal prompts. Don’t worry too much about what they mean. Instead, let your creativity fly with whatever comes to mind. It’s an especially good time of year to use these as winter solstice journal prompts, letting you turn inward to reflect and see what your imagination holds.
Write about a time of starvation.
Write a narrative that begins with finding a word written in the snow.
Start with a memory of a smell you associate with winter.
Write about an unexpected creature killed during a hunt.
Write about your biggest accomplishment this year. What kind of future does it propel you into?
Write about a scarcity.
You kiss someone under the mistletoe, and in that kiss, you gain some of their powers.
Write about what happens when the light comes back.
Listen to your dreams. Go to bed with a notebook and pen on your bedside, trying to remember your dreams. When you do remember your dream, write it down. Start your writing there.
Write the story of the next year. Pull one tarot card (If you don’t have a deck, you can use this.) per month, and write the story that comes up.
Write about giving birth to the sun.
Write about overcoming the darkness.
Go outside if you can. Take a walk with no set destination and let your intuition guide you. Write about where you end up.
Write about the naughty list.
Write about a party that lasts as long as the ale keeps flowing.
What percentage of your day is darkness on Winter Solstice? Do an erasure of a text that blacks out that percentage of the words.
Look at the variety of paints in the color white from Sherwin Williams. Pick one that is evocative to you. Start your story with the name of the color.
Write about a fire that burns all year.
Write a story that begins with an ending.
Find out how long the shortest day is where you live. Write a story that takes place in that amount of time.
Write about the first sunrise after the long dark.
It’s not an easy time of year, but it is one of my favorites. As a girl who originally grew up in Florida, I couldn’t have imagined loving the world when it was forty below. But there’s something otherworldly and magical about the landscape of the north at this time of year. Everything, the trees especially, is dusted with hoarfrost, like icing on every surface. The snowflakes are distinct and glistening, which my four year old calls “glitter snow.” And the entire day is a sunrise or a sunset, depending on how you choose to look at it.
Either way, the light turns from pink to blue and slants across the ice to reflect on itself again and again so that the whole world is sparkling. And there’s something about the way that the air nips your cheeks that reminds you to be grateful that you are alive — that even if the sun isn’t shining, just existing is enough.
As I finish writing this, it is 12:18pm and already the sun has begun to set. The hills around us are pink with alpenglow and the snow is taking on the icy blue of twilight. There are hundreds of boreal chickadees in the yard. They are shaking the birch trees so that their seeds fall from their catkins and litter the snow. Even in these darkest of times, the land is preparing for new growth, and we can, too.
If you are looking for more prompts and rituals based on the Wheel of the Year, you can find them here. For more creative writing prompts, look here. For more ideas about how to deepen your writing practice with rituals, check out this post.
Samhain is celebrated on October 31st and November 1st. This post contains magical writing prompts for Halloween, Samhain rituals for writers, correspondences, history, and the meaning of Samhain to help artists connect their craft to the season and find more creativity and inspiration. Prompts can be used as Halloween creative writing prompts or Samhain journal prompts. This post has ideas for how to celebrate Samhain and use the energy of Halloween to manifest creativity and inspiration for the year to come.
Samhain
The snow has started to fall here. Even the yarrow has given up the ghost, as if the very breath has left the land. There’s an intensity to silence, to the light. Though the sun is not burning as bright, the light that does shine is reflective, bouncing off snowflakes and looking so closely at itself that it shivers.
My husband tells the story that he always wondered why kids in other places got to celebrate Halloween in September, when the leaves were changing, and Alaskans had to celebrate in October, in the snow. He didn’t realize then that the climates were different, but not the dates. It may not be traditional to have snow on Samhain, but it feels appropriate. If you listen closely, you can hear the heartiest of plants begin to wilt. The world is blanketed over now, put to bed. It’s quiet enough that you can almost hear the shadows and the ghosts of those you’ve loved.
This year, as a very late first snow fell, we raced around pulling up our kohlrabi, harvesting more kale than we could possibly eat (Would you like some kale?! Please take some kale!), and processing as much as we could before warming our frozen fingers around bowls of soup.
What is Samhain?
Samhain (pronounced sah-win) is celebrated on October 31st and November 1st and shares a lot of the traditions and symbolism of Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. It is the day when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. It’s a celebration of the final harvest before winter, of our ancestors, of those we’ve lost, and of death and rebirth.
In the northern hemisphere, Samhain is celebrated from sunset on October 31st to November 1st and in the southern hemisphere it falls between April 30th and May 1. When it is Samhain in the northern hemisphere, it is Beltane in the southern hemisphere and vice versa.
Samhain is the third and last harvest festival in the Wheel of the Year, situated between Mabon and Yule. Traditionally, Samhain is the time to bring in and celebrate the very last of the harvest, all of those fruits and veggies that have held out until the cold begins to threaten: carrots, turnips, pumpkins, apples, berries and squash.
This holiday marks the start of the dark time of year. It is time to turn inward, look backward, and clean the slate for the new growth to come.
Many of the rituals, symbolism, and traditions of Samhain, along with All Soul’s Day, have evolved into the modern celebration of Halloween. The themes and correspondences of Samhain will be very similar to Halloween. Whether you want to celebrate Halloween or Samhain, a lot of the information, observances, and writing prompts in this post will work for both holidays.
In this blog post, I use Samhain and Halloween interchangeably, very conscientiously. For me, it’s a way to bring together the traditions of my childhood and where I live (Halloween) with the traditions of my Irish ancestors (Samhain).
Meaning of Samhain
Samhain is sometimes called the Witch’s New Year, because it begins a whole new cycle of death and rebirth. Though there is traditionally the specter of death this time of year, with skeletons and ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, all of this is also connected with rebirth and new beginnings. The cycle of life requires that old things die to make room for new growth. Samhain is time to make that room.
This is an excellent time to connect with your ancestors. While the veil between the living and the dead is thin, it is thought that our loved ones who have passed are closer than at any other time. How might you reconnect and honor those who have paved the way for you? Maybe it makes sense to do something to honor the people who took care of the land where you live before you were there. Maybe it means your blood relatives. Maybe it’s the most influential people in your life. Or even people you have never met but who have inspired you. What can you learn from them and what roots are you building your foundations on? Is there someone you have lost who you want to connect with? This is the perfect time. Ask for signs, ask for guidance, and then keep an eye out for the answers.
But it’s not just about what our ancestors can do for us. What can you do for your ancestors? Are you honoring their memory? Are you keeping those characteristics that were wonderful about them alive?
It’s also a time to reflect. Because it marks the end of harvest season, it’s a time to take stock of what has grown this year, what has been successful and what has not. As you prepare to make room for new growth, it’s important to look back first and see what worked.
Traditionally, Samhain is a time of faerie tricks and ghosts and other supernatural creatures. Because of this, it’s also a time of offerings to elicit help and protections to ward off evil.
History of Samhain
Samhain was originally celebrated in Ireland and Wales (shout out to the motherland!). It’s one of the four fire festivals that marked the seasons of the ancient Celtic year, the others being Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Unlike Mabon, Samhain is quite an old festival, being found in some of the oldest Irish texts, dating back to the ninth century. There are even prehistoric tombs in Ireland that align with the sunrise on Samhain.
Bonfires were lit, emulating the sun and helping to give it strength as the light began to wane. They were also used for burning and banishing negative energies and spirits. Often, these community bonfires were used to light the hearths of homes for the rest of the winter.
Divination was also an important part of Samhain. As the door between the spirit world and the material world is open, we have the opportunity to gain insight that is not always available to us. Traditionally, this might be done with fire, by bobbing apples, and cracking nuts.
Given that the line between worlds is hazy, it was a time to honor ancestors and help lost souls find their way to the underworld. It was also a time when the fairies and spirits were out and about. Faces carved into turnips or beets, the precursor to our modern jack-o-lanterns, were said to both honor the dead and also acted as protection from spirits with more nefarious purposes.
It was also a time for costumes and disguises. People would dress up and go house to house, asking for food or treats. In some cases, revelers would dress as those who had passed, asking for offerings, while in other areas, the disguises were needed to confuse and ward off the evil spirits that had passed through the veil.
Samhain Correspondences and Symbolism
Samhain is a celebration of the dark side of fall. It’s a time to honor the beauty that comes as the landscape dies back. Pumpkins, jack o’lanterns, autumn leaves, and apples are all seasonally appropriate. So are symbols of death: skulls, zombies, skeletons, etc. You might also bring out things that remind you of loved ones who have passed: photographs, old possessions, things that remind you of them. All of these can make excellent symbols of the season.
Any of these correspondences and symbols can be used to decorate your workspace, as your desktop or phone background, or even as something to wear. You might pull some of these correspondences into your Samhain altar, your desk, or the colors of pens you use.
Colors of Samhain
If you live in a place where it is not quite winter, the colors of the season will be what you see when you look out the window: red, orange, and brown. Other colors are those outside the window once the snow flies: black and white. Decking out our desks or our selves in the colors of the season can go a long way in reminding us the lessons of this time of year.
Foods for Samhain
Apples, squash, nuts, berries and bread are all great celebratory foods for Samhain. Parsnips, carrots and turnips are also very traditional! Pumpkins are not traditional, of course, but are definitely seasonal, especially if you are in North America. Everything that captures that end-of-harvest feeling. Even wild game can be a meaningful way to celebrate this season, if you are into that kind of thing. Rosemary and sage are also great herbs that help capture the magic of this time of year.
Pumpkin spice is also a good way to honor this time of year. Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg are traditionally used to keep evil spirits away. (What does it say about me that I don’t like these spices?) So if you are a pumpkin spice person, anything with these spices is good for this time of year.
It’s also a great time for warm drinks: teas, hot chocolates, cider, mulled wine, hot toddies! You need something to keep your soul and your hands warm as the temperatures start to drop.
Every Sabbat is a great time for a feast. And this holiday in particular invites us to set out offerings for those who have passed. When we are honoring my grandfather, we always have Heineken (Pour one out for Grandpa!). But you might also set aside some of your feast, or set a place for loved ones who can only be there in spirit.
Crystals for Samhain
The crystals for Samhain include a few different types: those that enhance our intuition and psychic abilities, those for protection, and those for connecting with death and the spirit world. There is a lot of crossover, of course. Labradorite, obsidian, and fluorite can heighten divination and magical activities. Smoky quartz, amethyst, and hematite can help ground and protect you as the veil is thin. Bloodstone, carnelian, and petrified wood correspond to those who have passed and our ancestral roots.
You can connect with these stones by wearing them, or setting them on your writing desk or on your altar. Sometimes a little bit of sparkle that catches your eye can be a powerful recurring reminder of what you are trying to cultivate this season.
Samhain Rituals for Writers
There are quite a few writing-oriented ways that you can use the energy of Halloween to further your writing practice, and especially to hone your craft as an artist. It’s a great time to connect with your roots, reflect, let go, and set yourself up for the rest of the year. Here are some ideas for Samhain rituals that can also support your writing and creativity.
Connect with your literary ancestors. Who made you first want to write? What was the first book you read that lit your creative spark? Which authors have influenced you? It’s time to connect with those roots, with those who have come before us. Pick up your old favorite book. Read what your idols said about their writing practices or their craft advice. What has shaped and influenced you, and what have you learned from them? What can you still learn? It’s time to honor that, and give thanks to those who have paved the way.
Simmer pot! I also suggested a Simmer Pot for Mabon, and I might suggest one for Yule, too. In my opinion, all of these “pumpkin spice” holidays lend themselves to beautiful simmer pots. There’s something cozy about a pot of spices and herbs bubbling in the kitchen. To make a writing simmer pot, simmer a large pot of water and add herbs, fruits, and scents that represent what you want to put out into the world. You might choose to write your intentions on bay leaves or basil so you are clear about what your wishes are.
Reflect. This is a great time to work with mirrors, both actually and metaphorically. This is a time when you are working to wipe the slate clean and make room for new growth in your life. How can you do this with your writing practices? Which of your writing goals are serving you and which are not? What do you need to let die? Habits? Beliefs?
Use divination. What do you need to know to take your writing practice to the next level? This is the most perfect time of year to ask those questions and get some answers. You might ask your intuition, the universe, God, your ancestors or whatever feels comfortable for you. Make a list of questions you have been seeking answers to and ask for help. You could use tarot cards, tea leaves, meditation or any divination technique that works for you. Remember to keep your eyes out for signs.
Dress the part. It’s an excellent time to try on new costumes, and disguise yourself. How might you dress in a way that can support your writing practice? How would it feel to write dressed as Dickinson or Hemingway? What about your main character? Or your ideal of the writer you want to be? Sometimes shaking up our look can open new doors to creativity and inspiration. Have fun with it!
Protect your practice. What is threatening your writing craft? What do you need to protect to enhance your writing practice? Your space? Your energy? Your mental health? Your time? Create a plan or a ritual to protect what needs to be protected as we settle in for the winter.
Plan for the year to come. As Samhain is also a celebration of rebirth, it is a good time, once again to craft a plan for your writing practice. What are you hoping to accomplish in the coming year, or the coming six months? How do you hope to grow as an artist and what steps are you going to take to support that growth? As you reflect on what you’ve harvested and clear space for new growth, it’s also a powerful time to think about what it is you want to plant in the future. It’s time to dream big!
Samhain Writing Prompts
Here are 30 Samhain writing prompts to help harvest your ideas. I have created these prompts to be interpreted in many ways, so don’t worry about “what it means.” Just let yourself write and see where your creativity takes you.
Many of these Halloween-y writing prompts are intended as inspiration for creative projects like poetry, short stories, or memoir. However, I’ve tried to leave them open-ended enough that they can also function as Samhain journal prompts. How can you explore yourself through these lenses? Have fun with it!
Go outside and find something that is dying. What is the destiny of this thing? What happens to them in the underworld or afterlife?
Write a story about a ouija board session gone terribly wrong.
Emulate your literary ancestors. Tell your story in the style of your favorite writer. How would they say it? What kinds of language, sentence structure, and dialogue might they use?
Write about someone who marries into the underworld.
Do an erasure of your favorite scary story. Don’t have one in mind? Check out the stories here and here.
Write a story that begins with passing through a veil.
You look in the mirror. What you see is your worst nightmare.
Write about a soul who passes back through the door to the living, only to find the world is very different than they left it.
Write about an undead horseman who brings messages from beyond the grave.
Create a recipe for the dead.
Write about a drunken pact made with the devil.
For your Samhain feast, you leave out a plate for the dead. In the middle of dinner, an unexpected visitor sits at the empty place setting.
Write about a musician who emerges from the underworld and puts everyone to sleep with his songs.
Find one of these Death tarot cards in which the picture speaks to you. (If you have a favorite deck, you can also pull your card from there.) Look deeply at the picture. What is the story? What are the images on this card trying to say to you in particular?
Write about tricking the dead by wearing a disguise.
Do some divination. Next time you have tea or coffee, look closely at the grounds. What do you see? Start your story there.
Write a story about guiding a lost soul to its final resting place.
What comes inside when you leave the window open while the veil between the worlds is thin?
Write about an evil spirit who is thwarted by pumpkin spice.
Find a grave. Use the findagrave website to find the grave of someone important to you. This might be a hero, an ancestor, someone with your same name. Try to find one with a photograph. Imagine yourself at the grave, and start your story there. (Shout out to Katie Andrews Porter for introducing me to findagrave!)
As we approach Samhain in the far north, it feels like new beginnings here, like a clean slate. The garden is put to bed. We have planted garlic, so even the seeds of next year’s first harvest have already been planted. The world is blanketed in snow and for a moment, and the spiritual world feels so close, as we shepherd the land to sleep.
“I love winter!” my four-year-old says, on the first day it snows. And in this moment, she does. I can’t help but wonder if she will feel the same way in six months. Luckily, the Wheel of the Year is constantly turning. Just as our feelings about the snow may not stay stagnant, nor will the land outside. More than any other holiday, Samhain reminds us that the wheel is always turning, that what grows must also die, and that what dies makes way for new growth. Sometimes we need to look back and let go in order to move forward.
If you are looking for more prompts and rituals based on the Wheel of the Year, you can find them here. For more creative writing prompts, look here. For more ideas about how to deepen your writing practice with rituals, check out this post.
Mabon, or pagan Thanksgiving, is celebrated on the autumn equinox. This post contains witchy writing prompts for fall equinox, Mabon rituals for writers, autumn correspondences, history, and the meaning of Mabon to help artists connect their craft to the season and find more creativity and inspiration. They can be used as autumn creative writing prompts or Mabon journal prompts. Use these fall ritual ideas to spark your imagination and decide how you want to celebrate the autumn equinox.
Change is in the air, here. Each morning on the drive down the hill to school, my daughter calls out, “It’s looking a lot like fall out here!” from her carseat. As much as I may be resisting it, she’s right. Mushrooms are coming up. The sky feels crisper. The aspens are turning pink. If I embrace the present at this time of year, it really is beautiful.
In our garden, we currently have more than we can eat. I have been trying to get everyone I see to take my kale. But it is also becoming clear which plants will not have the chance to ripen before the temperatures drop (I’m looking at you, winter squash and peppers).
What is Mabon?
Mabon, which happens on the fall equinox, is the time of year when the earth is balanced between summer and winter. It’s known as the pagan Thanksgiving, the season of feasting and harvest, and a season to begin to prepare for the winter. There is balance between the light and the dark.
It is the first official day of autumn. In the northern hemisphere, Mabon falls between September 21 and September 24. In the southern hemisphere, it takes place around March 20th. (Note: Google will let you know the exact time of balance for this year!) When it is Mabon in the northern hemisphere, it is Ostara in the southern hemisphere and vice versa.
Mabon is the second harvest, situated on the Wheel of the Year between Lugnasadh (the first harvest) and Samhain (the last harvest). It is the height of harvest season. We are reaping what we have sown this year, and feeling the abundance that has come as a result of our hard work.
Meaning of Mabon
“Mabon” is a relatively new holiday, the term being coined in the 1970s(!). It was named after the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron, which means “great son of the great mother.” Legend has it that Mabon was stolen from his mother, the earth goddess, and held prisoner. This is a story which resonates with the tale of Persephone, who is taken from her mother in fall, held in the underworld through winter, and brings spring back to the land when she finally returns.
That being said, many cultures celebrate, and have celebrated, the autumn equinox. There is a lot to celebrate at this time of year. And when you live as far north as I do, it seems like something that you have to mark. The tilt toward winter has begun. It’s time to harvest, slow down, and prepare.
Mabon is a day of balance: there are twelve hours of light and twelve hours of darkness. On this day when the sun fleetingly finds equilibrium, we can begin to take stock of where we are out of balance, and what we can do to bring more harmony into our lives.
This is a time of gratitude because we are harvesting the fruits of everything we’ve worked for through the previous seasons. But as the earth tilts closer toward darkness, we are also called to think about which of our plantings we are going to harvest and preserve (metaphorically), and which we are going to let wither. It’s a time of looking at whether we’ve done enough to make it through winter or whether there is more to do.
It’s time to harvest, but it’s also time to preserve the harvest. How can we set ourselves up for future success? Mabon is an opportunity to turn inward and reflect on what is working and what isn’t.
Because of this, we have to think more seriously about how to prepare for winter. Mother nature is getting ready for the season: seeds are dropping, leaves are changing, and fruit is coming ripe. These are all signs that we, too, should be thinking about how to get ready for the cold.
When we look around us, we can see the trees letting go, telling us to do the same. As the wheel turns this time of year, we are in a prime position to let go of those things that have not served us, give thanks to those things and let them fall away to make space for next year’s growth.
Mabon Correspondences and Symbolism
Mabon is a celebration of the sunny side of fall. It’s a time to honor the beauty that comes when the sun begins to wane: autumn leaves, mushrooms, late summer flowers, and the abundance of the garden. All of these make excellent symbols of the season.
Any of these correspondences and symbols can be used to decorate your workspace, as your desktop or phone background, or even as something to wear. You might pull some of these correspondences into your Mabon altar, your desk, or the colors of pens you use.
Colors of Mabon
The colors of Mabon are the colors of autumn: red, gold, orange, brown, and a deep, dark green. This is one of the times when the earth is screaming out in the colors of the season, bursting with the hues of a setting sun. You only need to look out your window this time of year to decide which colors you can use to celebrate Mabon. Bring those most beautiful fallen leaves inside, decorate your home and yourself with the gilded forest.
Foods for Mabon
Berries! Apples! Grapes (And wine!)! In fact, a whole cornucopia. No, actually. Cornucopias are symbols of Mabon too. This is the height of the harvest season. Everything is coming ripe. Apple pies, cider, berry cobblers, any kind of food that uses what’s coming ripe in the world around you would be a perfect celebration of the season.
Crystals for Mabon
You might have guessed that many of the crystals that correspond to Mabon also correspond to fall colors. Yellow citrine, amber, tiger’s eye, ruby, and jasper can all be used to honor this time of year. You can connect with these stones by wearing them, or setting them on your writing desk or on your altar. Sometimes a little bit of sparkle that catches your eye can be a powerful recurring reminder of what you are trying to cultivate this season.
Mabon Rituals for Writers
There are quite a few writing-oriented ways that you can use the energy of the autumn equinox to further your writing practice, and especially to hone your craft as an artist. It’s a great time to practice gratitude, take stock, let go, and set yourself up for the rest of the year. Here are some ideas for Mabon rituals that can also support your writing and creativity.
Get balanced. Take some time to think about the balance (or lack thereof!) in your life. Do you have a good balance between your creative life and your practical life? Do you have balance between time to work and time to play? How can you bring more balance into your writing practice? Make a plan to make it happen.
Take stock. What had you hoped to harvest by this time of year? What have you harvested that’s unexpected? What worked well and what didn’t help as much as you’d hoped? Take some time to journal for Mabon reflecting on what you are harvesting, what you still wish to harvest, and how the direction of your writingmight have changed.
Let go. Autumn reminds us that there is beauty in letting go. What do you need to let go of so that your creativity can thrive? Have you been holding on to fear? Excuses? Bad habits? Write about what you want to let go of. Write key words on leaves and burn them in a fire. Let your own leaves turn as bright as you can and let them go.
Clear out your writing space. Just like spring, fall can be an excellent time for a general clear-out. While you are letting go of what you don’t need, you can also spruce up your writing space. Clear out that desk so you have room for new ideas. Make your space cozy so you can get yourself ready to dig in for the winter and get writing. Making a writing space that’s your favorite place to be will draw you to the desk as winter starts and put you in the mood for creativity.
Finish Projects. (This one is particularly hitting me this year, as I am trying to finish a book by Mabon!) It’s time to tie up loose ends before winter. How can you get the most from the next harvest? How can you finish the year strong? Which projects can you complete and how can you re-apply yourself? Which projects might have to wait for another time? Get clear on what you want your writing life to look like and focus on that.
Make a writing simmer pot. This one is especially for all of you who are writing at the kitchen table. Fill a soup pot with some water and your favorite scents. You can use apple, cinnamon, and/or sage for seasonal scents. You could use creativity-boosting scents like lavender or lemon. Or any essential oils you like. Write your writing wishes on bay leaves. Simmer the water and scents on low and let the steam send your wishes to the heavens.
Host a literary feast. The autumn equinox is a time for celebration and gratitude. What better way to honor all the things you have to be thankful for than a thanksgathering with your nearest and dearest? Invite your friends and family to bring wine and something to share—maybe the piece of writing they feel most grateful for.
Mabon Writing Prompts
Here are 30 Mabon writing prompts to help harvest your ideas. I have created these prompts to be interpreted in many ways, so don’t worry about “what it means.” Just let yourself write and see where your creativity takes you.
Many of these fall writing prompts are intended as inspiration for creative projects like poetry, short stories, or memoir. However, I’ve tried to leave them open-ended enough that they can also function as autumn equinox journal prompts. How can you explore yourself through these lenses? Have fun with it!
Savor your favorite food. Treat yourself to your favorite food and eat it slowly, paying particular attention to the details of what eating it is like. Write about it in detail. Make it our favorite food, too.
Write about gratitude for something unexpected.
Write about something gained by letting go.
Go on a nature walk and collect what sparks your interest: acorns, pretty leaves, even human-made debris. Write a piece in which one of these features prominently.
Write about a child being held in the underworld.
Write about the longest sunset.
Create a recipe for getting through winter.
Write about using the first artificial light.
Write about what’s hidden under the fallen leaves.
Choose one of the crystals associated with Mabon. Research its properties. How is it formed and transformed into the stone it is? Write a character undergoing the same transformation.
Write about harvesting a forbidden fruit.
Write about being stuck in the middle.
Mine your memories. Think of a time when everything felt in perfect harmony. Start your story there.
Write about something blossoming too late.
Write about a god making their exit.
Find a place with a lot of fallen leaves and explore in the detritus. Write about what you find.
Write about the takeover of pumpkin spice.
Write about a harvest that’s not enough.
Research a mushroom. Use its properties to develop a character personality. Is it deadly? Beautiful? Parasitic? Psychedelic? What would this mushroom be like as a character? What would they do? How would they act?
Write about someone tilting toward the dark side.
Find several colors of one kind of leaf and order them from newest to oldest. Describe the change that the leaf goes through in detail, from the perspective of the leaf.
Check out the Justice tarot card (if you don’t have your own deck, here are a ton of images of the Justice card). What is the story that you see in the picture of this card? What is the meaning? Show us how this relates to balance, to equinox.
Write a story about perfect timing.
Write about the biggest blessing of the year.
Write about something that needs to be preserved, and how to do it.
The sun is setting noticeably earlier, which also means there’s more chance of seeing the aurora borealis. We are using the lights more, and seeing the stars more. There are plants that need to go outside and will die, because it is clear they are not going to fruit. There are plants that need to come inside and will be nurtured, because I can’t get through a winter without greenery.
If we can live in the harmony and the balance of the present moment, we can see just how beautiful the cycles of the seasons are. The way each one can leave us with new fruits and new wonders. But there’s also a call to look inward, to prepare yourself and your writing for the changes to come. There is so much to be grateful for, so much to preserve, and still so much work to do.
If you are looking for more prompts and rituals based on the Wheel of the Year, you can find them here. For more creative writing prompts, look here. For more ideas about how to deepen your writing practice with rituals, check out this post. And if you’re in the southern hemisphere, you can find the
Lughnasadh, celebrated on August 1st, is the first harvest of the year, halfway between summer solstice and autumn equinox. Also known as Lammas, it is a celebration of creativity, craftsmanship, and harvesting what you sowed. This can be a powerful time for writers to connect with their productivity, hone their craft, and practice gratitude for what has been accomplished. This post includes a discussion of the difference between Lammas and Lughnasadh, the themes and meaning behind Lammas, Lughnasadh rituals for writers, Lammas correspondences, and ideas for how to celebrate Lughnasadh. It also features thirty creative writing prompts inspired by the holiday which can also be used as Lughnasadh journal prompts.
The Wheel of the Year is turning again. You can really feel the change up here. You definitely notice when it starts getting darker—not dark, still—but darker. Last week, for the first time in months, I turned the light in my bedroom on. I try not to look at the way the fireweed blooms are racing up its stalks. Or the fact that the irises and the dandelions are past their prime. Or that I know deep down we missed our chance to to pick spruce tips, which are one of my favorite foraged foods.
Instead, I am focusing my attention on the fact that, like every week in the Alaskan summer, the land has given us new wonders, both in our garden and in the woods. It’s a chance to resolve that even if I missed the spruce tips this year, I can make sure I make the most of currants and the kale. Plus, my first dahlia is threatening to bloom.
What is Lughnasadh?
It’s the first harvest! Lammas, also known as August’s Eve and Lughnasadh, is a time to celebrate the fullness of summer and to begin preparations for the winter. It’s time to enjoy the abundance of fruits, flowers, and vegetables that the land is offering up, while also preparing some of that abundance for the leaner times. The holiday revolves especially around grains like wheat and barley, and the crafting of those grains into foods, like bread and beer.
It’s the day that the Wheel of the Year starts to turn toward fall. Though the earth is still bursting with abundance, you can hear the first whispers of winter.
In the northern hemisphere, Lammas is usually celebrated around August 1st, about halfway between summer solstice and autumn equinox. In the southern hemisphere, Lammas falls around February 1. Lughnasadh is across from Imbolc on the Wheel of the Year.
Like Imbolc, Lughnasadh is often overlooked, which is maybe not surprising. It’s a holiday about wheat and when we’re all out here lost in the throes of summer, we might not think a holiday about wheat is super-sexy. And maybe there’s a part of us that doesn’t want to recognize that the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting real.
But it’s a beautiful time to pause and really appreciate the abundance that is around us this time of year: Berries are coming ripe, the shyer flowers are bursting forth, and there’s still so much sunshine. It’s easy to get so caught up in the joy of summer that you fail to savor it, to be grateful for it. The lovely thing about Lammas is that it gives us the chance to slow time, to take it all in, take stock, and renew our summer energy.
Lammas vs Lughnasadh
You might be wondering, what’s the difference between Lammas and Lughnasdh. For the purposes of this post, I am using these holidays interchangeably, but they are definitely not the same. Lughnasadh traditions and histories differ from those of Lammas, but there are also some important similarities.
Lughnasadh was originally a Gaelic festival (shout out to my foremothers!) named after the god Lugh, a master craftsman and artist who created a funeral celebration for his mother after she died from overwork trying to get the crops to grow. Another story associated with Lughnasadh imagines Lugh as the one who sacrifices his life so that the community can eat. As John Barleycorn, Lugh inhabits the spirit of wheat and barley, allowing himself to be cut down so that others will not starve.
The name Lammas is derived from “loaf mass,” a nod to the importance of bread in this Anglo-Saxon Christian holiday. Like Lughnasadh, Lammas celebrates the first harvest around August 1st and pays special homage to the grains that are coming ripe. It was a time to harvest the first grains, bake the first bread, bless the fields and houses, and give thanks.
Many people use the terms Lughnasadh and Lammas interchangeably these days, and I can see why. To me, these holidays are different flavors of a similar celebration. Including these holidays together allows me to consider as many options for celebrating this time of year as possible.
Lughnasadh Correspondences and Symbolism
Colors of Lughnasadh
The colors that evoke the feeling of Lammas are those of wheat, the sun, and plants. Think fiery. Orange, yellow, green, brown, and red can all be used to remind us to be grateful for the harvest we currently enjoy and to start preparing for the close of the year.
There are so many ways to celebrate a holiday using just color. Wear red, write with an orange pen, add some more green to your writing space, or bring in a vase of yellow flowers. All these little signals can help you feel the energy of the season and be a little more mindful and intentional.
Foods for Lammas
Barley! Bread! Wheat! Beer! Lughnasadh is a very glutinous festival. You can imagine that baking plays a prominent role in traditional understandings of “Loaf Mass,” so anything baked is welcome at a Lughnasadh feast. But there are other foods to celebrate at this time as well. Just look around you at what is coming ripe. Here at our house we have strawberries and currants, salad greens, and the very first of our tomatoes and cucumbers. The zucchini have just started to emerge. Honey and mead can also be a great representation of the fullness of the sun and the abundance of the earth at this time of year.
Crystals for Lughnasadh
Again, the crystal correspondences for Lughnasadh are those that evoke fire and the sun, as well as those that evoke growth. You can choose a crystal based on what you want to highlight. Yellows and oranges, like citrine, carnelian, and tiger’s-eye can help you shine. Green abundance crystals like aventurine and moss agate can help you channel the growth and peace of nature.
The Meaning of Lammas
Though Lughnasadh is one turn of the Wheel of the Year that is often overlooked, the themes celebrated and evoked at this time are especially profound. Why do we celebrate Lammas? Some of the themes of this time of year have to do with rebirth, gratitude, abundance, harvest, and craftsmanship. Many of these can be very powerful for creatives.
First, there is the abundance to celebrate. It’s a time of creativity, of things coming to fruition. The earth is highly productive right now, and you can be, too. Use this period when the sun still shines bright to create and celebrate that creation.
It’s not just that the world is alive with the creative abundance of summer. Lammas celebrates that we worked for the harvest, that the intentions and seeds we planted earlier in the year have come to fruition. It is not only gratitude for the fertility of the earth, but also to our former selves for planting seeds, putting in the effort, and knowing how to make things grow.
It’s a good time to reflect on the work you’ve put in thus far and on how much your work has helped guide you toward your goals. Pat yourself on the back for the new skills you’ve gained, the work you’ve done so far, and the harvest that you are now reaping.
Not only that, it’s time to harvest what we’ve grown and turn it into something. This is the importance of bread for Lammas. It’s not just that everything is flourishing, it’s time for us to take action and turn the gifts we are given into something meaningful, something important, something that will feed us. And that’s exactly what we need to do with our words and our art at this time of year. Take the raw material and the skills and turn them into something that will nourish the soul.
Lammas is also a great time to think about the direction you are heading, and to change course if need be. There’s still a lot of time for growth before the winter. It’s even the time of Lammas growth, a phenomenon in trees where they put on a second flush of leaves. You too still have time for tremendous growth in the coming months. What do you want to accomplish in your writing life? How can you use the energy of Lughnasadh to support that? Let this pause before we fall into autumn rejuvenate your creativity. Take advantage of it!
How to Celebrate Lammas
There are quite a few writing-oriented ways that you can use the energy of August to further your writing practice, and especially to hone your craft as an artist. It’s a great time to practice gratitude, reflect on the year so far, work on honing your craft, savor the sensual feast that is summer, and set yourself up for the rest of the year. Here are some ideas for Lammas rituals that can also support your writing and creativity.
Give thanks. Look at what you have to be thankful for in your writing practice. Do you have a great community? Have you written a lot of words this year? Created one piece you are especially proud of? Create a list of all the things around your writing practice that you are grateful for. Keep this list near your writing space, in your planner, on your desktop, or in a drawer, as a reminder when the days start getting darker.
Take stock. Lammas is a perfect time for reflection. What have you harvested? Have you reached the goals you had hoped to by this point in the year? What has been accomplished? What has fallen by the wayside? What unexpected growth or challenges have you encountered? Challenge yourself to make a list of 25 accomplishments and wins so far this year. You might be really surprised at how much you have done, even if it wasn’t the writing goals you expected.
Create a scent that represents what you want to harvest with your writing. This is a great time to gather your fragrant flowers, your favorite herbs—everything that the land is bursting with—while the growth of the plants are hitting their peak. Make a scent that reminds you of this moment, this harvest, the bounty that is provided. Use this scent in your writing sessions to remind you of the fullness and abundance that is available when we nurture what we want to grow.
Level up your craftsmanship. When was the last time you focused on the craft of writing? This is a great time to get in touch with those skills, grow your craft, and really focus on the practice of writing. Find a craft book, a course for writers, or craft videos on youtube and develop your skills. Maybe a few new ideas will help you go further or get unstuck.
Burn your negativities. What do you think is holding you back right now? What’s keeping you from reaching your writing goals? What do you need to let go of to make the most of the rest of this year? Write down all your negative attitudes and bad habits and burn them. Let them go.
Bless your writing space. This is a time of year when blessings are all around us. We can use this energy to give new life to our writing space. How can you make your space a little more sacred? A little more conducive to creative production and harvest? Create a small ritual to recognize, give thanks, and bless the space where you write, even if it’s the kitchen table.
Recalibrate. You can see now what has been going well so far this year, and what has not. Lammas is this unique moment in time when we can see the direction we’ve been heading, and we still have time to change course and experience growth and creativity before the slow times of winter. What has been working and what has not? How can you move forward in a direction that will help you realign and get on the right track?
Set yourself up for the great harvest. It’s a good time to be finalizing the projects you are working on. It’s time to start shaping them into their final forms and getting them out into the world, whatever that means to you. What is the end goal of your writing? Being published in literary magazines? Developing your blog? Finding a publisher? Start moving in that direction. Polish off those pieces and get them out the door. It is time for harvest!
Lughnasadh Writing Prompts
Here are 30 Lammas writing prompts to help get your ideas baking. I have created these prompts to be interpreted in many ways, so don’t worry about “what it means.” Just let yourself write and see where your creativity takes you.
Many of these are intended as inspiration for creative projects like poetry, short stories, or memoir. However, I’ve tried to leave them open-ended enough that they can also function as Lughnasadh journal prompts. How can you explore yourself through these lenses?
Write about your first taste of the harvest.
Write about a corn doll that comes to life.
Write about a great sacrifice.
Research one of the crystals of Lammas (Here is a partial list: aventurine, citrine, golden topaz, obsidian, moss agate, rhodochrosite, clear quartz, carnelian, peridot, sardonyx, tiger’s-eye.) How is it made? What are its properties? What does it represent? Create a character with the same attributes as the gemstone you researched.
Write about someone who doesn’t know they are in decline.
Write about a plant inhabited by the spirit of the divine.
Create a narrative in which a wicker man takes on all the negativity of the people around him.
Write about the dimming of the sun.
Create a recipe for bread that makes dreams come true.
Write about a king who sacrifices himself for the people.
Finish a piece of writing you have already started. Craft it into something fulfilling.
Write about a skill you know well as if it were the favorite sport of the gods.
“This is just the beginning of the fall…”
Write a poem, story, or hermit crab essay in the form of a contract.
Make something greater than its parts. Free write about summer. Cut out the best lines and make them into a poem.
Write about an athletic competition that takes place at a funeral.
Write about collecting seed from something as it dies.
Research a local fruit. What is its lifecycle from fruit to seed to fruit? Tell its story.
Write about a prophetic dream that is spawned by an ash leaf under the pillow.
Write about what happens when you eat the body of the sun god.
What is a smell that you associate with baking? Write about that smell and the memories around it.
Write about a habit that goes up in smoke.
Write about someone sharing their first fruits.
Spend time outside. Document every detail you can. Soak it all up. Use this as the basis for a story, essay, or poem.
Write about the first whispers of darkness.
Use your memory. Think of one moment you wish you could capture. Write about that moment in as much detail as possible.
I hope you enjoy these Lughnasadh rituals and writing prompts. It’s the time of year to celebrate everything we’ve accomplished so far, everything that has grown, and everything we have created. Feast on the berries and breads. We are an extension of the creativity of the land, and it is our turn to take what is on offer and turn it into something fulfilling, something beautiful.
So give thanks for the strawberries and savor that first dahlia. Bake some fireweed scones and let the things holding you back go up in smoke. These summer joys are fleeting. But they are oh so beautiful. And that’s something to write about.
I hope this helps you find some way to connect with the season and with your writing. Are you doing anything special for Lammas/Lughnasadh? Have any of these writing prompts inspired you? I would love to hear about it!
If you are looking for more prompts and rituals based on the Wheel of the Year, you can find them here. For more creative writing prompts, look here. For more ideas about how to deepen your writing practice with rituals, check out this post.
Litha, the summer solstice, is a time when the earth is bursting with creativity and a time when writers can get inspired by the sun and let their writing shine. This post has ideas for how to connect with the summer solstice, also called midsummer and Litha. It includes an explanation of the holiday, Litha correspondences, summer writing ideas, summer solstice rituals for writers, ideas for how to celebrate Litha, and creative writing prompts that can also be used as Litha journal prompts.
Summer Solstice
The summer solstice is one of my favorite times of year. In truth, I never noticed the turning of the Wheel of the Year until I moved to Alaska. Here, you can’t ignore the changes of the seasons. You don’t just notice them, you plan your life around them. In a matter of weeks, our yard went from several feet of snow to wildflowers. These kinds of transitions beg to be marked and celebrated. It feeds the soul to take a look outside and let yourself sync with the seasons, to let go when the trees let go and shine bright when the sun does too.
This post is an ode to those brightest of days, summer solstice. In our yard, roses, dandelions, and strawberries are just starting to bloom. The garden is taking root and it doesn’t get dark anymore. The air is abuzz with sunshine, mosquitoes, and bees. I can feel the energy all around and I want to connect with that energy, to infuse my writing with that energy, to let the heat of the sun light my words on fire.
Here are some ideas about useful ways to think about Litha, writing rituals to help embrace that potent longest day of summer energy, and a month’s worth of creative writing prompts inspired by the summer solstice. I hope they help you find calm, connect with the world around you, and create something beautiful.
What is Litha?
Litha is the pagan celebration of the summer solstice. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year. Astronomically, the summer solstice can hit its peak any time between June 20th and June 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere will feel the full strength of the solstice between December 20th and 23rd. When it is Litha in the northern hemisphere, it is Yule in the summer hemisphere and vice versa. It’s a time when the sun seems to stand still, frozen at the pinnacle of its strength.
This holiday is all about the sun. Litha is a time when everything reaches its peak: the sun, summer, the flowers, the trees. The world is bursting with life. The goddess is at the height of her pregnancy, ready to bring forth the fecundity and harvest of the earth.
But there is another side to the summer solstice that is often overlooked. It’s also the day that the power of the sun will begin to wane. As all things happen in due time, so too does the sun begin to cede its power to the night.
Litha Correspondences
One of the easiest ways to celebrate any holiday is to bring out the colors that correspond to that day. For Litha, think anything sun-like or fire-like: red, orange, yellow, gold, and brown all fit the bill. You can think of crystals in the same way. Many of the crystals that correspond to Litha are fiery, solar colors: carnelian, tiger’s eye, citrine, and sunstone can all help represent that height-of-summer energy.
All flowers are midsummer appropriate, in my book. To get especially deep into the holiday, you could use flowers that look like the sun: dandelions, daisies, marigolds, chamomile, and of course sunflowers are good examples. Also, the flowers that are currently in bloom locally are always a great choice.
There is a legend that summer solstice is the day that the Oak King gives up the throne to the Holly King, marking the turn into the darker time of the year. Because of this, oak and holly are both great to work with at this time of year.
All kinds of herbs might also be ready to be harvested around this time, and the peak of the sun’s strength is also associated with the peak of the herb’s strength. It’s a beautiful time to forage herbs or pick the herbs in your garden. If you don’t know your local herbs, summer solstice, when the herbs are at their most vibrant, is a lovely time to get to know them.
For feasting, honey is the quintessential Litha food. Edible flowers are perfect for that midsummer feel (We love deep-fried dandelions in our house, but I assume they are not traditional!). Citrus fruits and strawberries also taste like the height of summer. This is one holiday where fresh herbs will never go amiss.
Litha Rituals
Suncatcher
The summer solstice ritual I am most excited about starting this year is to make a suncatcher. Making one and hanging it in your space on the longest day helps to act as a reminder of the light of our nearest star, even on dark days. It can help spread more light and joy around your home as it reflects sunlight through your window.
Flower Crown
This Litha ritual is almost instinctive. The pull of the flowers in midsummer is irresistible and they beg to be made into a crown. I, and countless others, have probably made flower crowns without thinking of it as a summer solstice ritual. There is just something primal and beautiful about adorning your crown with the bounty of the summer. Let the beauty of the flowers inspire your thoughts and your words.
Bonfire
Though Litha is not one of “the” pagan fire festivals, fire features prominently. It’s hard to celebrate the fullness of the sun without celebrating fire. Traditionally, Litha was sometimes marked by a whole-night-long bonfire, from sunset the night before solstice (Midsummer’s Eve) to the sunrise on the morning of the longest day. Even if this bonfire-marathon is not available to you, you can have a BBQ, light a candle, or turn on your salt-lamp. Even small things can remind you of the light and life-giving power of the sun.
Mandala
This is a particularly personal summer solstice for our family. This is a Litha ritual that we actually have done every solstice — summer and winter — since The Surfing Novelist and I got together. In our own family solstice ritual, we collect the bounty of the season: flowers, rocks, catkins, whatever speaks to us. Then we use those things to create a circular mandala pattern. When we are done, we let the mandala stay where it is outdoors, letting the birds pick away at it and the flowers wilt as a reminder of the seasons passing.
Mandalas of years past
Why Litha Matters for Writers
Solstices are incredibly powerful times and intense turning points. Summer solstice especially so. The world around us is bursting with its fullest potential, and you can be too. If you have been feeling like you want to step into your power, to live up to your potential, to really shine, then Litha is a great time to harness the energy of the growth happening all around you. Follow nature’s lead and let yourself be bursting: confident, creative, shining!
Sometimes as writers, we really need that push to get our work out there, that boost of confidence that our words matter, even if it is only to us. Litha is a great time to hone your inner sun, to step into your potential and let your stories shine.
Litha also represents the height of creative potential. The creativity of the land is blossoming all around us, and asking us as artists to blossom as well. Now is the time to let the fire within you burn, to follow your nature and express your true self.
How to Celebrate Litha as a Writer
Here are some ideas about how to use the power of the summer solstice to connect more deeply with your writing practice. Use the one(s) that speak most to you. Intuitively, you know what will help spark your creativity and inspiration, so feel free to tweak these ideas and make them all your own.
Reconnect with your goals. The wheel of the year has turned halfway. If you set goals at the beginning of the year, look back and see the progress you have made. Give yourself some love for how far you’ve come, even if it’s not as far as you might have wanted. What about the plans for the rest of the year? Do you need a new direction? Are there goals that you are ready to go after? Or goals you are ready to let go of?
Build your confidence. The sun shines confidently and powerfully, especially on Litha. It’s an opportune time to work on shining confidently and powerfully as well. Think about things you could do to help you build your confidence. I’m not talking about things that are dependent on others, like getting accepted to a magazine. I’m talking about things you can do. Share your poetry with friends, publish a story on Wattpad, start or join a writing group. What are some things you can do to make yourself feel more confident about your writing? Make a list and start doing them!
Write from sun down to sun up. It’s the shortest night, and one way to mark that is to write until the sun comes up. Where I live, the time is about two and a half hours between sunset and sunrise. Find out what the times of sunrise and sunset are, grab some wine, and let your fingers dance all night.
Write in a fiery place. If any day of the year is one to be outside, this is it. Jumpstart your creativity by writing in a new place or new situation. Particularly midsummer-y ideas are to write by bonfire, in the forest, or while sunbathing.
Do a writing ritual to connect with your creativity. Y’all know I love my writing rituals. Here’s one especially designed to boost your creativity.
Charge your writing. Use the energy of the sun to give your current WIP or your writing tools a boost. Find something that represents your writing: a copy of your manuscript, your favorite pen, a new notebook. Leave this item in the sun from sunrise to sunset, so it can absorb the entirety of the sun’s power. Make sure it isn’t something too precious (For the love of goddess, do not put your only copy of your manuscript or your laptop outside all day!). Alternatively, you can leave it inside next to a sunny window.
Let go. Like the sun, we all need to ebb and flow. What is holding you back from reaching your fullest potential? Are there people, situations, or beliefs that are standing in your way? As the earth begins to tilt away from the sun, you can use this energy to move closer toward your most potent self by letting go of those things that no longer serve you. Write them on a paper. Throw them in a bonfire. Let them go.
30 Litha Writing Prompts
Here are 30 summer solstice prompts to help get your creative fires burning! I have created these prompts to be interpreted in many ways, so don’t worry about “what it means.” Just let yourself get writing and see where the little jog of your creativity takes you.
Many of these prompts are intended as inspiration for creative projects, like poetry, short stories, or memoir. However, I’ve tried to leave them open-ended enough that they can also function as summer solstice journal prompts. Imagine yourself as the main character. How would you react in these new or different situations and what can your behavior tell you about yourself?
Write a story about a character whose fate is changed when they jump over the fire.
Write from the perspective of bees.
Go for a walk and note the first yellow thing you see. Use this in your first sentence.
Write about what happens when the sun doesn’t set.
Find a flower that calls to you. Do a bit of research about its reproductive processes. Write about people who undergo these processes.
Write something that features a medicinal herb.
Craft a story that centers around something that has stopped growing.
Write a story that takes place over the course of the shortest night.
If you were an herb, what sort would you be?
Write what happens when the fairies come out.
Create a character who starts their story at their peak. It all gets darker from here.
Write from the point of view of the sun.
What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of the summer solstice? Type this word into relatedwords.org and use as many of the words that come up as possible.
Write about the freshest feast.
Create a narrative that takes place entirely in a ‘tween-time, when everything is standing still but also in transition.
Write about the sunrise after the longest day.
Let yourself go skyclad and write about it.
Write about a pregnant goddess on the eve of giving birth.
Pull the Sun tarot card. (If you don’t have a deck, you can find pictures of the sun card online. I particularly like this one.) Looking at only the picture (Don’t use the description!), write everything that comes to mind. Don’t stop writing for ten minutes.
Craft a piece that centers around a meal that has been foraged.
Write about a dance that never ends.
Listen to fire. Light a candle or a small (safe!) bonfire and watch the flames. What do you see? Make a list of everything you see in the fire (Think looking for shapes in the clouds — but with flames!). When you feel you have a good list, create a piece that includes everything you saw.
Open a book to the exact middle page, and find the exact middle sentence on that page. Use this sentence to begin your own piece.
I hope you enjoy these writing prompts for summer solstice and that these seasonal writing rituals help you connect a little more, create a little more, and let your inner light shine. Litha is summer, it is light. It is the full flowering of the fecundity of the earth. This is the time of year to spread your arms to the universe, or at least to your backyard, and let yourself burn as bright as you can. Collapse on the earth and contemplate the universe, then sleep deeply and wake up to the year’s next moment of change.
Do you have summer solstice traditions that you observe? How are you going to celebrate? Our family will be making our traditional mandala, and this year I am hoping to introduce the little one to suncatchers. I personally am hoping for the chance to write through the shortest night. If you use any of these prompts or rituals, please let me know how it goes.
If you are looking for more prompts and rituals based on the Wheel of the Year, you can find them here. For more creative writing prompts, look here. For more ideas about how to deepen your writing practice with rituals, check out this post.
Teach Your Daughters to Love the Moon is a mother’s manifesto about how to raise daughters who burn, flow, hunt, sow, bare, howl, and shine. Now more than ever, we need to raise strong women who are in touch with nature and themselves.
Teach your daughters to burn. Teach them to fly their flaming chariots across the sky, even in daytime when the sun can see.
Teach them to turn their faces toward the light even when it is dark, and that the darkness can help them see the stars and allow them to appreciate the smallest specks of light.
Teach them that if they dare to glow the ocean will reflect their light, sending ripples in all directions.
Teach your daughters to flow. Teach them to allow for phases, for cycles, for the way everything waxes and wanes.
Teach them to sway toward the moon’s pull like the tides, to follow the oceans and currents, to move with the rhythms of the earth and the stars so they can take part in the dance of creativity.
Teach them to love the ebb and flow, to know that sometimes they will be more or less full, but that they will never be stagnant. Every phase is passing and there will always be more growth.
Teach your daughters to hunt. Teach them to learn to listen to the wild inside and around them, and to find their own sustenance so they can survive.
Teach them that even if they are small, they can eclipse much greater forces, for life is all about perspective and sometimes everything will align.
Teach them to embrace their dark side, to know that part of being whole is embracing the fault lines, the craters, and deep seas.
Teach your daughters to sow. Teach them they are always on time, always right where they should be, because time is measured by the way they grow. Teach them that there is a time for planting seeds and a time for letting go. That they can feel that time and reap the harvest.
Teach them that they can be harder than rock and break to pieces in catastrophe and still pull themselves back together into something brighter and more beautiful than before.
Teach them that night is necessary, that dreams and rest and destruction are the things new life is made of.
Teach your daughters to bare. Teach them to be unafraid of moonlight on their skin and comfortable with shadows, comfortable with shades of gray and reflection.
Teach them that they don’t have to be perfectly round or smooth to be beautiful, that even pockmarked and stretched, people will stare in awe, and they will be sublime.
Teach them to love the wax and wane of Luna’s body, the way it grows full and round and the way it becomes a sliver, at just the right times, so that they can also love the wax and wane of their own bodies.
Teach your daughters to howl. Teach them to call their kin and gather beneath the moon’s light, to know that they are more powerful together than they can ever be alone, and that the gravity of a group can support so much more beauty than a rock floating alone.
Teach them to look up, that there are worlds outside themselves, outside their houses and cities and countries. That no matter how small they feel, their actions send ripples across space.
Teach them to search the sky for answers and allow the moon to light the answers within. To know that everything they need is within themselves, precisely because they are part of the whole.
Teach your daughters to shine. Teach them that the world needs their light, their pull, their words, their movement, for life is fuller and brighter with their influence.
Teach your daughters to love the moon because you have shown them how.
