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Writing Prompts and Rituals for Winter Solstice (Yule!)

Jaclyn6 Comments

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. 

  1. 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. 
  1. 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?
  1. 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?
  1. 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. 
  1. 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. 

  1. Write about a time of starvation.
  2. Write a narrative that begins with finding a word written in the snow.
  3. Start with a memory of a smell you associate with winter.
  4. Write about an unexpected creature killed during a hunt. 
  5. Write about your biggest accomplishment this year. What kind of future does it propel you into?
  6. Write about a scarcity.
  7. You kiss someone under the mistletoe, and in that kiss, you gain some of their powers. 
  8. Write about what happens when the light comes back.
  9. 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. 
  10. 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.
  11. Write about giving birth to the sun.
  12. Write about overcoming the darkness.
  13. Go outside if you can. Take a walk with no set destination and let your intuition guide you. Write about where you end up. 
  14. Write about the naughty list.
  15. Write about a party that lasts as long as the ale keeps flowing.
  16. What percentage of your day is darkness on Winter Solstice? Do an erasure of a text that blacks out that percentage of the words.
  17. Write about a fruitcake.
  18. Write about being caught by the Wild Hunt.
  19. 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.
  20. Write about a fire that burns all year. 
  21. Write a story that begins with an ending. 
  22. Find out how long the shortest day is where you live. Write a story that takes place in that amount of time. 
  23. Write about the first sunrise after the long dark.
  24. This image by Hernan Sanchez on Unsplash.
  1. This image by Tamara Bellis on Unsplash.
  1. This image by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
  1. This image by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash
  1. This image by Brigitta Schneiter on Unsplash. 
  1. This image by Andrej Nihil on Unsplash. 
  1. This image by Vladislav Nahorny on Unsplash.

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.

Writing Prompts and Rituals for a Magical Samhain (Halloween!)

Jaclyn1 Comment

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 Writing Prompts and Rituals Samhain for Writers Creative Writing Prompts for a Magical Halloween

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). 

Samhain Writing Prompts and Rituals Samhain for Writers Creative Writing Prompts for a Magical Halloween

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.

  1. 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. 
  2. 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.
  3. 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? 
  4. 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. 
  5. 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!
  6. 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.
  7. 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!

  1. Honor your ancestry. Do a little research into your past. Write about an ancestor you find compelling. 
  2. Write a eulogy for someone who has passed.
  3. Go outside and find something that is dying. What is the destiny of this thing? What happens to them in the underworld or afterlife?
  4. Write a story about a ouija board session gone terribly wrong. 
  5. 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?
  6. Write about someone who marries into the underworld.
  7. Do an erasure of your favorite scary story. Don’t have one in mind? Check out the stories here and here. 
  8. Write a story that begins with passing through a veil. 
  9. You look in the mirror. What you see is your worst nightmare.
  10. 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. 
  11. Write about an undead horseman who brings messages from beyond the grave. 
  12. Create a recipe for the dead.
  13. Write about a drunken pact made with the devil.
  14. 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.
  15. Write about a musician who emerges from the underworld and puts everyone to sleep with his songs. 
  16. 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? 
  17. Write about tricking the dead by wearing a disguise.
  18. Do some divination. Next time you have tea or coffee, look closely at the grounds. What do you see? Start your story there. 
  19. Write a story about guiding a lost soul to its final resting place.
  20. What comes inside when you leave the window open while the veil between the worlds is thin?
  21. Write about an evil spirit who is thwarted by pumpkin spice.
  22. 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!)
  23. Write in detail about a memory that is not yours. 
  24. Try out one of these writing prompts from Marrow Magazine.
  25. This photo by Bee Felten-Leidel on Unsplash.
  1. ​​This photo by Paul Cuoco on Unsplash.
  2. This photo by Thalia Ruiz on Unsplash.
  3. This photo by Jennifer Marquez on Unsplash.
  4. This photo by Eleanor Brooke on Unsplash.
  5. This photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash.

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.

Writing Prompts and Rituals for Mabon (Autumn Equinox)

Jaclyn5 Comments

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 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.

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.

  1. 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.
  1. 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 writing might have changed.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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. 
  1. 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!

  1. 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. 
  2. Write about gratitude for something unexpected. 
  3. Write about something gained by letting go.
  4. 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. 
  5. Write about a child being held in the underworld.
  6. Write about the longest sunset.
  7. Create a recipe for getting through winter.
  8. Write about using the first artificial light.
  9. Write about what’s hidden under the fallen leaves.
  10. 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.
  11. Write about harvesting a forbidden fruit.
  12. Write about being stuck in the middle. 
  13. Mine your memories. Think of a time when everything felt in perfect harmony. Start your story there.
  14. Write about something blossoming too late.
  15. Write about a god making their exit.
  16. Find a place with a lot of fallen leaves and explore in the detritus. Write about what you find.
  17. Write about the takeover of pumpkin spice.
  18. Write about a harvest that’s not enough.
  19. 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?
  20. Write about someone tilting toward the dark side. 
  21. 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. 
  22. 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.
  23. Write a story about perfect timing.
  24. Write about the biggest blessing of the year.
  25. Write about something that needs to be preserved, and how to do it.
  26. This photo by Mohammad Gh on Unsplash. 
  1. This photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash.
  1. This photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash.
  1. This image from Providence Doucet on Unsplash.
  1. This image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

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

Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Lughnasadh and Craft a Magical August

Jaclyn1 Comment

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.

Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Lughnasadh and Craft a Magical August

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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. 
  6. 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.
  7. 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?
  8. 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?

  1. Write about your first taste of the harvest.
  2. Write about a corn doll that comes to life.
  3. Write about a great sacrifice.
  4. 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.
  5. Write about someone who doesn’t know they are in decline.
  6. Write about a plant inhabited by the spirit of the divine. 
  7. Create a narrative in which a wicker man takes on all the negativity of the people around him.
  8. Write about the dimming of the sun.
  9. Create a recipe for bread that makes dreams come true.
  10. Write about a king who sacrifices himself for the people. 
  11. Finish a piece of writing you have already started. Craft it into something fulfilling.
  12. Write about a skill you know well as if it were the favorite sport of the gods.
  13. “This is just the beginning of the fall…”
  14. Write a poem, story, or hermit crab essay in the form of a contract.
  15. Make something greater than its parts. Free write about summer. Cut out the best lines and make them into a poem.
  16. Write about an athletic competition that takes place at a funeral. 
  17. Write about collecting seed from something as it dies.
  18. Research a local fruit. What is its lifecycle from fruit to seed to fruit? Tell its story.
  19. Write about a prophetic dream that is spawned by an ash leaf under the pillow.
  20. Write about what happens when you eat the body of the sun god.
  21. What is a smell that you associate with baking? Write about that smell and the memories around it.
  22. Write about a habit that goes up in smoke.
  23. Write about someone sharing their first fruits. 
  24. Spend time outside. Document every detail you can. Soak it all up. Use this as the basis for a story, essay, or poem.
  25. Write about the first whispers of darkness.
  26. Use your memory. Think of one moment you wish you could capture. Write about that moment in as much detail as possible. 
  27. This photo by Cerqueira on Unsplash.

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  1. This picture from Ivan Rohovchenko on Unsplash.
  1. This picture from Étienne Beauregard-Riverin on Unsplash. 
  1. This picture from Ashley Light on Unsplash.

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.

Writing Prompts and Rituals for a Magical Summer Solstice

Jaclyn2 Comments

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. 

Writing Prompts and Rituals for a Magical Summer Solstice Litha for Writers 30 Creative Writing Prompts for Litha

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. 

Image of a snowy May 9th and a Green June 9th

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.

 

Pictures of mandalas for summer and winter solstice, circles made of natural materials to celebrate Yule and Litha
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. 

  1. 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?
  2. 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!
  3. 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.
  4. 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. 
  5. 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. 
  6. 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. 
  7. 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?

  1. Write a story about a character whose fate is changed when they jump over the fire.
  2. Write from the perspective of bees. 
  3. Go for a walk and note the first yellow thing you see. Use this in your first sentence.
  4. Write about what happens when the sun doesn’t set.
  5. Find a flower that calls to you. Do a bit of research about its reproductive processes. Write about people who undergo these processes. 
  6. Write something that features a medicinal herb.
  7. Craft a story that centers around something that has stopped growing.
  8. Write a story that takes place over the course of the shortest night.
  9. If you were an herb, what sort would you be?
  10. Write what happens when the fairies come out.
  11. Create a character who starts their story at their peak. It all gets darker from here.
  12. Write from the point of view of the sun.
  13. 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.
  14. Write about the freshest feast.
  15. Create a narrative that takes place entirely in a ‘tween-time, when everything is standing still but also in transition.
  16. Write about the sunrise after the longest day.
  17. Let yourself go skyclad and write about it.
  18. Write about a pregnant goddess on the eve of giving birth.
  19. 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.
  20. Craft a piece that centers around a meal that has been foraged.
  21. Write about a dance that never ends. 
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. Write about twins who battle for the sky. 
  25. This photo by Julia Caesar on Unsplash.
Litha for Writers 30 Creative Writing Prompts for Litha 
  1. This photo by Ashraful Haque Akash on Unsplash.
  1. This photo by Claus Jensen on Unsplash.
  1. This photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash
  1. This photo by Houcine Ncib on Unsplash
  1. This photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

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.

Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May

Jaclyn4 Comments

Beltane, also known as May Day, is the beginning of summer and a great time to connect with your creativity. This post includes 30 creative writing prompts for Beltane, an explanation of what Beltane symbolizes, some Beltane ritual ideas, and how to celebrate Beltane as a writer. 

30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May

What is Beltane?

Beltane is a pagan holiday that celebrates the coming of summer. This sabbat takes place around the halfway point between the spring equinox (Ostara) and the summer solstice (Litha). In the Wheel of the Year, it is even considered the first official day of summer. It is a celebration of fire, flowers, passion, romance, and creativity. It is the time of year when the outside world begins to teem with life. Reproduction is on display, from the birds to the bees to the flowers and trees.  

Beltane is usually celebrated around May 1, though the exact date of the astrological middle between equinox and solstice can vary quite a bit. Beltane is also known as May Day or May Eve and shares similarities with Walpurgis Nacht and Floralia, the Roman celebration of the flower goddess. 

Beltane Rituals

Beltane Fires

Beltane is a fire festival, and bonfires are central in celebrating the holiday. My favorite Beltane ritual is the idea of lighting your hearth from the communal fire. Traditionally, all hearth fires would be put out and people would light their home fires from the larger communal Beltane bonfire. Fires were also used for cleansing and protecting livestock. Fire, even in the form of a candle or small fire in a fire pit can be a great way to mark this day. 

May Pole

Perhaps the most famous ritual of May Day is the May Pole. The most recognizable image of the May Pole is that of a large pole with ribbons strung around it. Often in the celebration of the May Pole, participants will erect a large pole or branch and dance around it. Beltane is a time of gathering after the harsh weather of winter, when everyone can finally come together outside and dance.

May Bush

One of the most beautiful traditional rituals for Beltane is the ritual of the May Bush, which is a small tree or even just a branch decorated with flowers and ribbons. The participants could decorate the tree to represent their wishes by writing them on ribbons, decorating the tree with something symbolic of the wish, or making the wish while they decorate. This ritual is easy to adapt to an at-home practice. Anything from decorating a tree in your front yard with ribbons to tying a wish on a favored houseplant will do the trick. Let the life and fertility of the plants around you help you find your own vitality and creativity. 

Beltane Symbolism and Correspondences

Beltane is especially known for flowers. Celebrants make wreaths and crowns and adorn themselves, their houses, and their beloved ones in flowers. White, red, yellow, and orange flowers are perfect for celebrating the strength of the sun and the arrival of summer.  Hawthorn, birch, and rowan are also associated with this sabbat. 

Oats, wine, and dairy are all foods associated with Beltane, so eat some oatmeal cookies after your wine, or drink some oat milk. But also, it’s an ideal holiday for feasting in general, so invite over some friends and be merry.

In case all the fires and phallic poles and vulvic flowers didn’t tip you off, this particular sabbat is also associated with romance and sacred sex. Beltane is often seen as the time of year that gods and goddesses come together to copulate and marry, so it can be associated with weddings, love, lust, and new unions. 

Colors associated with Beltane are green, silver, white, and the fiery romantic colors: red, pink, yellow and orange. In the same vein, crystals of these colors can also be used around Beltane. Emerald, malachite, carnelian, rose quartz, garnet, and bloodstone are all excellent crystals to celebrate this time of year.

How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer

For writers, Beltane offers new, exciting ways to connect with the creative energies around us and inside us. As the landscape bursts forth with new life, so too can we find these fertile forces in ourselves and our own writing practices. If you have felt stuck as the winter dragged on, or are looking for something new and inspiring to light your writing fire, Beltane is the ideal time to act on those impulses. Here are some ideas for how to bring the celebratory, fiery, creative energy of Beltane into your writing practice.

  1. Experiment. Beltane is an excellent time to let yourself play, let yourself dance around the metaphorical fire of your writing. Try new prompts. Try a new form. Draw your story. Beltane is a great time to try something new and see where the fires of creativity take you.
  2. Honor your ancestors. At Beltane, like at Samhain, the veil between worlds is thin. This is an ideal time to think about your literary foremothers. Who has inspired you and your writing? Reread the things that lit your literary fires and let yourself reconnect to what got you writing in the first place. 
  3. Lose yourself in music. Have you been wanting to create a writing playlist? To find music that helps you write? To create your own background music? Beltane is an optimal time to immerse yourself in the ecstasy and rapture that music can add to your writing practice. 
  4. Let nature guide you. Take your writing utensils outside and let nature be your muse. Find a flower, animal or tree to inspire you. You could use this prompt about plants, or just allow a nature bath to renew your writing. 
  5. Light your candle from the communal fire. As we all begin to come outside and rejoice in the warmth of the sunshine, it’s an excellent time to connect with other writers. Join or start a writing group. Attend literary events or conferences. Find community that will inspire you and get your creative juices flowing. 
  6. Connect to your creativity. One powerful way to connect with your creative side is to establish a writing ritual. Here’s a guide to developing your own ritual and here’s a ritual specially made for connecting to creativity. 
  7. Start a union. Beltane is also a fortuitous time to hook up with other writers (did you see what I did there?). Find an artist or another writer whom you’ve always wanted to collaborate with and ask! Beltane will be supporting the endeavor! 
  8. Adorn yourself. Perhaps you are the kind of writer who is inspired to wear flowers in their hair. Ahem. Or perhaps some bright red lipstick, a new scent, or a particularly special piece of jewelry might help you connect to a different side of yourself as a writer.
  9. Adorn your space. If your writing space is a little on the tired side, this is a great time of year to introduce plants, flowers, and fire elements. Buy a bouquet for your writing space and see if the beauty of the flowers rubs off on your writing. Get a new candle or a new plant to help transform your office (or kitchen table) into a place where magic can happen.
  10. Explore your sensual side. If ever there were a time of year to explore the more sexual side of your writing, this is it. If you’ve wondered about spicing up your stories or trying your hand at writing romance or erotica, Beltane is ideal.

Creative Writing Prompts for Beltane

  1. Write about a marriage that happens when the veil is thin.
  2. Write about two characters whose hands are fasted together.
  3. Write about a character who jumps over a broom and finds themself in a new life. 
  4. Go outside and find a plant or animal that piques your interest. Research and write about their reproductive habits. (Here is an example.)
  5. Write a story or poem that centers around the different wishes tied to a May Bush. 
  6. Write from the point of view of a flower.
  7. Write about something good that comes from a fire.
  8. Create a character based on a dangerous plant. 
  9. Use music as inspiration. Put on something entrancing and just let yourself write whatever comes to mind. 
  10. Write about a sexual fire being rekindled. 
  11. Start a collaboration. Find another writer or artist who inspires you and create a story, poem, or work of art together.
  12. Write about a romance that sets the world on fire. 
  13. Write about a union that starts at the May Pole.
  14. Write about a dance that changes everything. 
  15. Spend time in a wooded area and listen for nature spirits or fairies. What do they tell you? What are their stories?
  16. Write about a sexual ritual. 
  17. Write about what happens when the spirits of nature come out to play.
  18. Use your favorite line from a song as the premise for your own piece of writing. 
  19. Write about your wishes. 
  20. Create a character who is transformed when they adorn themself with flowers.
  21. Write about an old woman decorating a may bush. 
  22. Listen to a tree (bonus points for birch, hawthorn, or rowan, which is also known as mountain ash). Find one particular tree and connect with it. What are its stories? Write what the tree knows. 
  23. Write about what grows when the veil is thin.
  24. This photo by Jacob Rank on Unsplash. 
30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May
  1. This photo by Molly Mears on Unsplash. 
30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May
  1. This photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash
30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May
  1. This photo by Sasha on Unsplash.
30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May

28. This photo by Jennifer Marquez on Unsplash. (Seriously, check out her work for more inspiration. I had trouble picking just one!)

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29. This photo by Gaspar Uhas on Unsplash

30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May

30. This photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash.

30 Writing Prompts and Rituals for May Day How to Celebrate Beltane as a Writer Writing Prompts and Rituals to Celebrate Beltane and Inspire a Magical May

What are you doing to celebrate? If you use any of these prompts or rituals, please let me know how it goes! Your work could be showcased here. 

If you are looking for more prompts and rituals based on sabbats, you can find them here. For more creative writing prompts, look here. If you’re interested in reading creative work based on some of these prompts, they are here. To deepen your writing practice with rituals, check out this post.

Rituals and Writing Prompts to Celebrate Ostara and Inspire Your Spring

Jaclyn20 Comments

The spring equinox, also known as Ostara, is a special time of year when the day and night are in equal balance. You can use these rituals and writing prompts to celebrate Ostara and inspire your Spring. The energy of this time can help you strengthen your writing practice, develop your creativity, and plant the seeds you will harvest in your writing. Embrace your potential as a writer and get inspired by the light and new growth the earth is offering. 

Creative Writing Prompts for Spring Equinox Ostara for Writers Rituals and Prompts for Ostara The spring equinox, also known as Ostara, is a special time of year when the day and night are in equal balance. You can use the energy of this time to strengthen your writing practice, develop your creativity, and plant the seeds you will harvest in your writing. It’s a wonderful time to embrace your potential as a writer and get inspired by the light and new growth the earth is offering.

What is Ostara?

Ostara is the pagan celebration of the spring equinox, the time when there is equal amount of daylight and night. It is the beginning of spring and usually falls around March 21st in the northern hemisphere and September 21st in the southern hemisphere. Astronomically, it can shift a few days from year to year. Ostara is considered the first day of spring and the last day of winter. It is the day that the earth begins to wake after the long winter. 

It’s a time of rebirth and a time of perfect balance. It’s a time to plant seeds and cultivate hope for the future. It’s a celebration of fertility and fecundity and creativity, which makes it an excellent time of year to harness the power of creation and imbue your writing practice with some magic. Things change on Ostara because it’s when the daylight begins to outweigh the darkness. Starting on Ostara, we get more hours of light than we do darkness, and it signifies the time of year when the light has overcome the dark. 

Ostara is the dawn of the Wheel of the Year. Ostara is named for the Germanic goddess of Spring, Eostre, which is also where the word Easter comes from. (Easter, by the way, is celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Basically, it is the celebration of the first full moon of the Wheel of the Year.) Eostre, in turn, may be derived from the Proto-German Austro, meaning dawn. Though Easter and Ostara do not often correspond in terms of dates, there are many shared correspondences. Both holidays celebrate spring, rebirth, eggs, and hares. 

Ostara Correspondences

One of the most notable Ostara correspondences is the rabbit or the hare. The females of the March hare species can get pregnant with a second litter while they are already pregnant with a first, which is part of why they are a symbol of fertility and fecundity. Eggs are also a symbol of Ostara, and it’s easy to see why, given their connection with spring and new life. 

Ostara is also associated with spring flowers: daffodils, crocuses and pussy willows, all the flowers that are the first to come up in the spring. The colors of these flowers also correspond to Ostara: green, yellow, and purple. Also, pastels are always great for this holiday. The spring equinox is also a time to celebrate the trees coming back to life, so all kinds of seeds and seedlings are appropriate, as are venerating birch trees, alders, and ash trees. Crystals that are particularly relevant for Ostara are rose quartz, moonstone, and aquamarine, which are all associated with growth and new growth. 

Lemony and herbal teas and scents are also good representations of spring and freshness. Floral scents are also good: Rose, lavender, jasmine, and any kind of flower-scented incense or candles will help freshen up your space and make things feel renewed and abundant. 

​​How to Celebrate Ostara as a Writer

Ostara can be an magical time for any artist, and for writers especially. It’s a great time to set new intentions, let yourself be reborn, find more balance, and try something new. If you celebrated Imbolc, maybe you set new intentions and resolutions already. Here are some more ideas for developing your writing practice at this time. 

  1. Balance your writing practice. How can you create more balance in your practice? Are you pushing yourself too much in terms of marketing and not spending enough time on your writing? Are you concentrating on plot and not enough on character? Are you focusing on word count and ignoring your playful, creative self? Think about how you can find more balance in your writing practice and endeavor to use this time of balance and new beginnings to reset and begin new practices around your writing process.
  2. Start something new. As the buds begin to bloom on the plants, think about where you can also begin new growth. This is an awesome time to start a new project. A new draft, a new book, a new genre, a new job, a new writing ritual. What project have you been waiting to begin? What changes have you been wanting to make? The time is now! 
  3. Be playful and childlike. There is a childlike freshness to this time of year, and you can embrace that in your writing practice as well. This is an excellent time to take yourself less seriously, to inject some play into your writing practice. 
  4. Let yourself be reborn. You may have ideas about what kind of writer you are, and sometimes these ideas need to shift and change. Are there ideas about your writing or about yourself as an artist that you need to let go of? Maybe you think you are not creative enough, not fast enough, not prolific enough. Now is a time to let yourself be born into the writer you were meant to be. What can you do to begin to embrace your potential and new growth as an artist?
  5. Be intentional about the seeds you are planting. Take some time to think about what you want to see grow and blossom in your writing practice. Make a plan to take concrete steps to develop that. Maybe you want to develop a daily habit, be more inspired, read more. This is a great time to plant those seeds so that you can harvest what you have sown later in the year. 
  6. Do some planning. It can be invigorating and exciting to make a plan to start something new. This is a great time to use the energy of new beginnings to start planning and goal setting in new ways.
  7. Embrace your creativity. Ostara is all about fertility and creativity. It is the perfect time of year to tap into your creative juices and the fruitfulness of your writing practice. Here is a ritual you can do to enhance your writing practice and really open up your imagination. 

Creative Writing Prompts for Ostara

Use these creative writing prompts to support your creativity and writing fertility.

  1. What’s new this spring?
  2. Write about something just beginning to emerge.
  3. Do an erasure in which you delete exactly half of the words in order to make a new poem or story. 
  4. Write about an egg that hatches into something unexpected.
  5. Write about the world restarting, being reborn completely anew. 
  6. Go outside, and let the way the earth is changing inspire you. It’s a great time of year to take your writing outside and look for the small details. They are growing into something beautiful. 
  7. Write about the dawn of something new.
  8. Write about someone who is green.
  9. Write about someone who finds a strangely decorated egg. 
  10. Write about overabundance, the problems that can happen when you have too much of a good thing. 
  11. There is a folktale about Eostre changing a bird into a hare, which is why the Easter bunny is said to bring eggs. Write about an unbelievable transformation that radically alters the way the character gives birth or brings life into the world. 
  12. Write a story that takes place completely at dawn.
  13. Write a story about reconnecting with your inner child.
  14. Write an aubade, a morning love song about the ways that lovers have to separate as the sun comes up. 
  15. Sit with your back against a tree (bonus points for birch, ash, or alder!) and listen. Write the story of the tree. What does it see? How does it experience the world differently? What kinds of stories can it tell?
  16. Write about someone emerging from a long period of darkness. 
  17. Write about a death that is actually a rebirth.
  18. Write a piece inspired by Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits by the Magnetic Fields.
  19. Write about finding a frozen creature and nursing it back to health.
  20. Write a piece about someone who dies every evening and is reborn every morning. 
  21. Write a piece that centers around seeds being planted. 
  22. Write a story in which someone brings in a new dawn. 
  23. Write about someone who begins completely anew and reinvents themselves from scratch. 
  24. Write a story in which someone whose wings are frozen finds a new life because they cannot fly. 
  25. Pick one of the greens in the Sherwin Williams color families and create a piece based on the name of the color. 
  26. Go outside and write a haiku (or set of haikus) based on the new growth and signs of spring that you find.
  27. Spend time with a child and write about the world through their eyes. 
  28. Wake up early and observe the dawn. Free-write everything you see, hear, and experience in the first hour of the day.
  29. This image by Annie Spratt from Unsplash

30. This image from Ashley Bean from Unsplash

31. This image from Tangerine Newt on Unsplash.

32. This image by Sydney Rae from Unsplash.

33. This image by Chris Jarvis on Unsplash.

34. This image by Jessica Felicio on Unsplash.

For More

If you are looking for more writing prompts, you can find them here. If you want more creativity in your writing routine, check out this post about creating your own writing ritual, or this post for a ready-made creativity ritual. 

How to Keep Writing through Difficult Times

Jaclyn13 Comments

How do you keep writing when it feels like the world is burning? This post offers some advice on how to keep writing in uncertain times. Break through writer’s block and find motivation to write when times are tough. Your writing is important even in difficult times. This post will help you get back to work.

How to Keep Writing through Difficult Times Overcome Writer’s Block in Uncertain Times How to Write When the World Is Burning

How to Keep Writing When It Feels Like the World Is Burning

I don’t know about you all, but I am tired of living in unprecedented times. It seems like the “unprecedented” hits just keep on coming: wildfires, pandemics, hurricanes, grid failures, winter storms, political strife, and even war. 

You are a writer because you feel things, because you see what is happening around you and you’re moved by it. Maybe you are particularly affected by it even, because writing takes a kind of empathy and observation that not everyone has. But this is exactly why you need to do it. It is the most important time for you to make art. 

You are a writer—writing is what you are here to do. It’s not selfish of you to keep writing in difficult, uncertain times. In fact, you need to do it. 

It’s not easy. Even Toni Morrison wrote about feeling the crushing weight of everything happening in the world and not being able to write because of it. There’s something comforting to me in the idea that even a writer as seasoned and accomplished as Toni Morrison also felt the difficulty of sitting down at the desk in hard times. As important and influential as her work is, she too felt the resistance to creativity when times were tough. 

But her advice to herself is important for us all to remember: 

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

Step 1: Remember Why Writing is Important

This is probably the most important step. If you take no other steps today (even writing!), take this one. Your writing is important. Remind yourself why it is important, why the world needs it. Even if all your writing does is make yourself feel better, that has made the world a better place. Peace begins within each of us. Find your peace.

There are many reasons to keep writing, even in the face of overwhelming global hardships. Here are just a few of them:

  1. Writers bear witness. If you write about what is happening in the world or your experience of current events, you help shape the way that future generations understand the events happening around you. Write what is happening, as you see it. 
  1. Writers offer solace. Everyone is having feelings about political situations, global crises, and massive upheavals. Not everyone has the ability to put words to these emotions, but you do, my friend. When you put your thoughts onto the page, you are giving voice to others who may not be able to form their experiences into words. There are others out there who feel the same way you do; giving voice to your experience will also give voice to theirs. It is comforting when you find the words you need to express yourself. It makes people feel seen. Your writing can be a comfort.
  1. Writers offer relief. I know it is not easy to keep writing your fantasy novel when it feels like there is way more important stuff happening in the world. Climate change. Pandemic. War, even. It can be easy to succumb to the feeling that whatever writing you are working on is trivial unless it directly addresses whatever the current problems are. But people don’t just need to be informed or enlightened about what is happening in front of them. Sometimes they also need a break. Sometimes they need to allow themselves to get lost in art so that they can come back to the world refreshed and able to do something. You can offer that break. You can give them that relief.

Step 2: Take care of yourself.

We writers can be sensitive types. This is part of why we are good at writing. But in times like these, being sensitive is not easy. It’s not all creativity and dreaming and intuition. It is also empathy and compassion and suffering at the thought of others suffering. Sometimes it is also vicarious trauma. (Here is a helpful article about how to ease vicarious trauma if you are feeling that.)

If you are not feeling up to writing, you probably need to do something to take care of yourself.

I know there’s a lot of talk these days about self-care, but it really is important. You can’t get to work unless you take care of yourself first. So do what you need to do to get yourself right. Take a walk. Meditate. Take a bath. Bake a cake. Find solace in poetry. Do something to help if that makes you feel better. Whatever you need to do to get yourself in a mindset that is grounded and safe. Here is a huge list of ideas for different ways to take care of yourself. Pick one and help yourself feel better.

You need to take care of yourself so that you can do the necessary work. 

Step 3: Change your plans.

I was going to create a post today about candles for creativity, but that seemed ridiculous right now given what’s happening in the world. I am a planner. Every quarter, I make detailed writing plans and I have goals, dammit! But working on that blog post didn’t feel right. 

Then there was the part of me that wanted to just have some wine and watch MasterChef and try to tune it all out. 

Instead, I am here writing through tears.

It’s not easy. It’s not easy to keep going. There’s suffering and frustration and heartache and sadness and anger and injustice and all of it might be rattling around in your chest, in your brain, in your gut. So maybe writing that meet cute you had planned is simply not going to happen today. 

Maybe you need to change your plan. How can you move forward given the emotions you have? Maybe it’s just journaling. Maybe you just need to get your own feelings out so you can get back to your project. Maybe you can channel those feelings into another scene, or another project all together. Or maybe you need to write about what’s happening around you in the best way you can. Give yourself the grace to let go of whatever you had planned to be working on and allow yourself to respond to what you need. That is what the world needs.

Step 4: Channel your feelings.

This brings us to a related step. Change your plans so that you can channel your feelings. Find a way to make something beautiful out of what you are feeling. That is your superpower as a writer, to take conflict and uncomfortable feelings and to make them into something exquisite. There are several ways to do this.

  1. Journal. You might just journal to get your feelings out. This can actually be really helpful in getting yourself to a good place. Maybe it doesn’t feel important to journal, but most writers begin writing because it offers us some kind of relief. If you can get your fears and rage out on the page, they are no longer taking up space in your head. These prompts might help if you need a place to start.
  2. Write the situation. Maybe you can’t move forward on what you had planned to work on today, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create something. Let yourself write an unexpected poem. Document the chaos from your perspective. Write a letter to someone about what’s happening. Sometimes the most important writing is not planned, sometimes it’s what wells up from within when the unexpected knocks us down. Allow yourself to let those unexpected feelings well up. It could be the most important writing you ever do.
  3. Find the connections. Another way to channel your feelings but also move forward in your work is to find the connections between what you are feeling and the project you had planned to work on. Maybe this is the day you write that heart-wrenching scene. Maybe the wrench you throw your character is a pandemic, a forest fire, a war across the globe that somehow touches her life. Maybe you channel your anger into dialogue with the villain. Think of the butterfly effect. Everything is touched by even small actions across the globe. There are definitely connections between what you are working on and world events.

Find something that makes sense for you. How can you create something useful, something beautiful? How can you give a gift to the world formed from the chaos?

Step 5: Write.

And then, you have to get to work. Like Toni Morrison said, there’s no time for self-pity, no room for fear. There’s no more important time to be writing than now. By all means, remember your why and take care of yourself and channel your feelings and change your plans. But then, write. 

Do not let yourself give in to the feeling that you are powerless or that there is nothing you can do. Do not let them fool you into thinking that creating art is not important. 

As John F. Kennedy said, “Strength takes many forms, and the most obvious forms are not always the most significant… When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.”

Whatever you do, you need to sit down and write. That is how civilizations heal.

If you need help getting started, you might think about creating a writing ritual to lower the threshold for beginning. Or you might try a prompt to get the words flowing.

And if you still can’t write, go back to step one. Think again about why it matters and take care of yourself. Give yourself some grace. The words will come.

28 Creative Writing Prompts to Celebrate Imbolc and Inspire Your February

Jaclyn3 Comments
creative writing prompts for imbolc

Can you feel it in the air? It’s the depths of winter, but there’s something stirring. Even as the snow is still coming down, the end of winter is in sight. Even here in Alaska, the birds have started singing. 

It’s Imbolc! Imbolc is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and it’s a great time to start new projects. In celebration of the day, I’ve created 28 creative writing prompts based on the sabbat. 

Imbolc is the first day of February, and in the year this post is written, it is also a new moon and the lunar new year. So, the number 28 is no accident. Try one writing prompt for each day of February, if you feel inspired. Or, you could think of it as one prompt for each day of this Snow/Storm Moon. A moon’s worth of writing prompts. Write your way out of winter, and start your lunar new year off right!

What is Imbolc?

Imbolc is a traditional Celtic holiday that falls halfway between Yule (winter solstice) and Ostara (spring equinox). It’s the day the tide changes in favor of spring. The world is waking up from the slumber of winter’s darkness. The sunlight is coming back in a way that’s actually noticeable and though the world is still covered in snow (at least here!), the earth is beginning to awaken with the light.  We are now closer to the balance of the equinox than we are to the drastic darkness of the solstice. It’s a time for hope and preparation.

It’s also celebrated as Candlemas, St. Brigid’s Day, or February’s Eve. Imbolc honors the goddess Brigid, especially in her roles as the goddess of the hearth, of fertility, and of creativity. It’s traditionally a fire festival, a time when baby lambs are on the way, and when there is the promise of spring and new life. 

Imbolc is, to me, one of the most underappreciated pagan holidays. One of the things I love about Imbolc is that it is really a time for a fresh new start. Imbolc is a recognition that you need a period of rest and readjustment after the busyness of the winter holidays. It’s hard to start fresh the day after New Year’s Eve, especially if you’ve been out celebrating. If you are already falling down on your New Year’s resolutions, never fear! Imbolc has your back. It’s time to start anew.

How to Celebrate Imbolc as a Writer

Imbolc is an especially powerful holiday for writers. Why? It’s Brigid’s day, and Brigid, in addition to being the goddess of hearth and home, is also the goddess of poetry. This means that anything we do to boost our words and our creativity will be supported. 

There are lots of ways to use the Imbolc energy to move your writing forward. It’s a great time to start a new project, to daydream and to plan. It’s the original spring cleaning. Here are some ways that writers can observe Imbolc to support their writing practice:

  1. Spring Clean your Writing Space. Out with the old, in with the new inspirational space. Imbolc is a great time to declutter, rearrange, and create a space that will inspire a new year of writing.
  2. Start a new habit. It’s a great time to start something small and daily that could have a big effect in the long term. Read a poem a day, start a new writing habit, start a new hobby, pick something new to learn about, journal, or pull a tarot card each evening. Find something small and manageable that will help support your writing. 
  3. Set some new writing goals, or spend time daydreaming about your vision. It’s time to focus on the new year and this fresh start. Now that the hustle and bustle of the depths of winter is over and we can finally see the light again, it’s a useful time to make a new vision board, or create goals for the new year.
  4. Create a new writing ritual. Especially if you (like me) are the kind of person who has trouble getting in the mood for writing, a little ritual to start you off could be just the thing to connect you with your muse. Put on some music, light a candle or some incense, do a meditation, wear your sassiest lipstick or cozy up in the sweater that makes you feel like your best self. This is the time to think about how the small actions you take can be seeds that grow into a new way of being. 
  5. Spend some time writing outside. It’s not always easy to get outside this time of year, but Imbolc is a great reminder that it still does the soul good to be out in the trees and under the sky. 
  6. Try something new. Imbolc is a time of new beginnings, and sometimes the most refreshing thing you can do for your writing is just to try something new and get out of the same-old-same-old rut. You could do this with your writing (take a playful stab at a new genre, or a new voice), but I also think trying any kind of new thing can revitalize our writing. Go ice skating, go to a new park, or try a new activity. Anything that can give you a fresh perspective also helps make you a better writer.
  7. Start a new project. See below for prompts to help with this one! 

Creative Writing Prompts for Imbolc

  1. Celebrate Brigid with some poetry. Use the Poetry Foundation to find one line of poetry that really speaks to you, and start there. You could create a poem, a story, or even nonfiction. Use the line of poetry that spoke to you as the starting point for your own writing.
  2. Write about something waiting to be born. 
  3. Write about someone who meets the goddess Brigid.
  4. Go outside and see it with new eyes, and ears, and… Use synthesia to describe what you see. What do the colors taste like? How does the sky smell? Bring us there by mixing all your senses and letting your metaphors run wild. 
  5. Write a story about a character who finds something magical while cleaning out their home. 
  6. Use this Image, from Tiffany Laura Danyelle on Unsplash.
  1. “The world has been still. But something has started to stir underground…”
  2. Write about what happens when the snow starts to melt. 
  3. Check out the Ace of Wands tarot card. This is the card of new growth and emerging to a new state of being. Use this card as the jumping off point for your writing. 
  4. What happens when St. Brigid and the Goddess Brigid meet?
  5. The nuns of Kildare, the monastery founded by St. Brigid, were tasked with keeping an eternal flame. Write about keeping a flame alive. 
  6. It was rumored that if a man crossed the hedge of the Church of Kildare, he would be cursed or be driven insane. Write a story about a man who crosses the hedge and goes insane.
  7. Clean it out! Do an erasure poem of the wikipedia page of Imbolc. (Or another related page of your choosing).
  8. Use this image from Foundry Co on Pixabay.
  1. Write about making a bed that never gets slept in. 
  2. Write about a girl made of reeds who comes to life.
  3. Do a meditation. (You can find Imbolc-specific meditations here.) Jot down the images that come up and create your work from there.
  4. “It’s time to burn it all down. She lit the match…”
  5. Write a story that begins with an initiation. 
  6. Find three things that need to be cleared out of your house. Use those three things to describe growth, without using the word growth.
  7. “When I looked into the water of the well, it was not myself looking back at me…” 
  8. Write about something that has died within you, thank it and lay it to rest.
  9. Winter is ending, and this means new beginnings are on the horizon. Write a story that begins with an ending. 
  10. Write about something unexpected “in the belly.”
  11. “The serpent awakens…”
  12. Write a story that takes place at the exact moment between seasons.
  13. Write about starting a small new habit that changes the character’s life (or yours!).
  14. Use this image, from Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

As always, if any of these prompts inspire you, I would love to read what you create. Drop a link below or send me a message. Truly, nothing makes my heart happier than helping people create, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate this special time of year than to write new possibilities into being. 

Enjoy!

For more writing prompts, click here.

Top Blog Posts of 2021

Jaclyn2 Comments

It can be so important to reflect every now and then. I am taking a moment to look back on the top Lightning Droplets blog posts of 2021. These are the posts that were most popular last year. Maybe you will find them useful as well?

Enjoy!

Most Popular Blog Posts of 2021

  1. Planning and Goal Setting for Writers: A blog post that takes a look at Sarra Canon’s HB90 Planning Method, which is designed especially for writers but can work for any kind of creative entrepreneur. The method walks you through the process of visualizing your ideal life, outlining specific goals, and making a plan to see them through each quarter. This way of planning has been a game changer for me!
  2. Dangerous Plants: A Writing Prompt for Character Development: A unique writing prompt paired with craft advice about developing characters. It includes instructions for the prompt, the three most important to ask any character, and an explanation of why this prompt works. If you do this prompt, definitely share it with me. I would love to see what you come up with. This was my personal favorite blog post to write in 2021. I would love to create more posts like this, so if you like it, let me know!
  3. Seen Like the Sea: A poem for my daughter’s third birthday. This was the only bit of poetry that I shared this year, and it was a hit. If you’re a parent or love the ocean, check this poem out. You might like it!
  4. Writing Roulette: Plot Generators to Spice up Your Literary Life: This is one of the oldest prompts I posted (2014!), and it’s still a favorite. A round-up of several online plot generators to get your creative juices flowing. Sometimes inspiration out of nowhere can really get the juices flowing in new directions. Also, you can see my own response to this prompt here.
  5. How to Design a Writing Life: This blog post looks at Publish and Thrive, a course by Heart Breathings that is designed to give indie writers all the info they need to launch their career, or develop their skills even further. It is a five-week course that encompasses the process of developing your ideas into publishable books, marketing those books, and building a writing life that will bring more than money (but also money!). This course really changed the way I think about my writing and the possibilities of a writing life.
  6. What Counts?: NaNoWriMo Days 16-18: A possibly-controversial blog post about how to decide what to include in your word counts for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I did a whole series of blog posts for NaNoWriMo this year and this one was the most popular.
  7. Falling off the Horse, A Haiku for NaNoWriMo Days 9-12: An ode to all those who are trying to grab the reins of their goals and still sometimes fall behind.
  8. 20,000 Word Reward: A blog post about the importance of celebrating your wins, even when you are behind, and about appreciating and loving your cheerleaders. All progress on that novel is something to celebrate. Don’t forget that!
  9. Novel Excerpt from the WIP: A small snippet of The Snow Witch, my current work in progress. It’s a surreal scene in which the main character falls into a tree well. Did you that’s something that’s possible? I love the places novel research can take you.
  10. It’s November!: NaNoWriMo Day 1: Another post from the NaNoWriMo series. An announcement about my intention to blog every day during November, which I turned out to be a very inspiring goal. This post got lots of love, which ultimately inspired me to keep going later in the month. I so appreciated that.

Looking back, you do really learn a lot just looking at what readers responded to most over the course of the year. I know January 2022 is mostly over already, but the Mercury Retrograde has been calling me to look back and reflect, and sometimes, that’s the most useful way to move forward.

Thank you for reading!