On Holiday Stories and Dithering

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, stories that show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights and choose love and light.

Do you ever dither?

I will admit I’ve become more of a ditherer than ever these past few years. I will also admit that I don’t like to dither. I understand procrastination better than I understand dithering although they do have some similarities.

What does dithering have to do with the Blog Queens’ November writing prompt?

I can only answer for myself for several reasons the main one being I’ve no idea if Sarah McDermed, co-Blog Queen, is dithering…I am.

How do you know that? I’ve blathered on for 85 words without really saying anything. My normal process is to sit down at the computer, remind myself of the monthly prompt and start typing. For this month, I’ve been dithering since August!

What’s so hard about the topic “Holiday Stories”?

First: I’ve not read any. I’ve been rereading my keeper shelves’ books and while there are a couple that have a holiday somewhere, it hasn’t been The Focus and I’ve probably already talked about them in previous years.

Second: The holiday story I was working on last year Winter Solstice: Charlie and Amethyst is still waiting for a bit more editing, tweaking before it’s published. 2022 has not been a good year for my writing life. Please hold positive thoughts it will be featured in 2023!

Third: The phrase holiday story or holiday stories when talked about in October and November brings to mind the fall and winter holidays (Halloween through New Year’s focusing on Thanksgiving and Christmas). That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just not where my mind and writing goes.

So where do my mind and writing go? The eight High Holy Days of the pagan calendar:

Samhain
Yule aka Winter Solstice
Imbolc aka Candlemas
Ostara aka Spring Equinox
Beltane
Lithia aka Summer Solstice
Lammas
Mabon aka Fall Equinox

It’s been 30 years since I began adding these days of celebrating the cycle of the earth into my more traditional upbringing. I don’t remember exactly when I began dropping some of those traditional holidays. However, within the last decade they are pretty much gone. For example, no more turkeys for Thanksgiving because I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving on the 4^th Thursday of November. I make an effort to give thanks be in gratitude each and every day. And I do not enjoy large family gatherings. Actually any large gathering is stressful because of my hearing and some vestibular issues.

What changed?

In some ways, nothing. When I look back on my life, I see a strong spiritual path from my childhood wending its way through to now. What is different is how I manifest it. These days I use Gaia, Mother Nature and Earth-based practices to express my spiritual self.

On this path, one of the greatest gifts came when the women in my Sacred Women’s Circle series began showing up in dreams and visions, their voices clear and insistent about what they wanted me to say not only about their life journeys but how they manifested their dreams into reality?

I’d already been involved in women’s circles for almost decade when I started writing so I had a foundation. I’d attended close to a dozen Women of the 14^th Moon gatherings. I was celebrating the pagan holidays so the foundation to tell their stories was there.

The stories

When you read my books, you’ll see that these women have created their own earth-based or pagan spiritual practices. And as they find their happy-ever-after, they choose to marry on one of the High Holy Days…although not Samhain. This High Holy Day marks the beginning of the pagan calendar for many.

For myself, I choose to start my new year on Winter Solstice. I love the dark of night, the colder temperatures, the firelight by which to read or contemplate who I am and how I fit into the world around me. And there is always much to contemplate as both the world and I are evolving, changing, adjusting.

This year I’ve much to review as 2022 has been a bigger challenge for me than most of my eighty plus years. I hope that as I sit in front of the fire, drumming on my horsehide or maybe my elk drum, I’ll hear new voices and see new visions and 2023 will be a year for sharing those stories with you.

I also write non-fiction. Learn more about Staying Sane in a Crazy World.  If you take the time, you end up with a Personal Staying Sane Plan tailored to help you through the challenging times.

You can find all of my books at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource. If you want a print copy? Ask your local independent bookstore to order it for you. If you are in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, my books are carried at Jan’s in Beaverton and Arte Soleil in SE Portland.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshley.net

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2022 Judith Ashley

Spring Equinox and Equilux

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

March 2017 the Genre-istas are talking about the changing seasons and/or the Spring Equinox also known as Ostara.

This year the special day falls on March 20^th a Monday. I know I’ve said this at least once before in a blog post however it bears repeating. In ancient times, the people knew their environment to the point they knew when Yule or Winter Solstice, Ostara or Spring Equinox, Lithia or Summer Solstice and Mabon or Fall Equinox fell. They erected wood and stone circles around the world to mark those occasions.

Gabriella learns as she studies Sacred Geometry that Eratosthenes c.275-194 BC used two sticks and a measuring wheel to measure the earth’s circumference = 24,461 miles.

Using the most advanced, expensive technology we now know it is 24,891 miles! A 430 mile discrepancy.

Ostara is the day when day and night are equal and it marks the beginning of the time of the year when light has more power. Plants and people breathe a sigh of relief after winter’s dark months. Hope and life as well as flowers bloom bright.

It is Valentine’s Day as I write this. A few hardy plants in my yard are pushing their way to the surface (daffodils, crocus in particular). Soon tulips and hyacinths will make an appearance. When I look at my Larch Diana (the larch tree loses its needles in the Fall), I can see a reddening where the new needles will appear. Right now the tree seems edged in red, so different from the stark black of a couple of weeks ago.

We had a hard winter where I live and my yard has suffered. My plan is to prune back many of the plants to see if they can recover from their base or roots instead of just at the end of the limbs. My Larch also lost a limb from the heavy snow and ice we had in January. I’ve pulled it to the side to inspect more closely later in the spring. I think making a wand from that branch would be a way to appreciate the gifts this tree gives me each day.

If you read my December post on Winter Solstice, you know that I follow the Wheel of Life through the year and that in my tradition, Winter Solstice is the beginning of the year because that is when Light overcomes Dark and begins to strengthen.

Celebrating Ostara is about acknowledging the power of light, of life, of the continuity or flow as the Wheel turns.

You may not know this but when Christianity was coming into its own as a world religion, many earth-based religion or pagan customs and sacred days were assumed by the new church. Ostara is one of them.

Easter is determined by the following formula: The first Sunday after the first Full Moon after Ostara or the Spring Equinox.

I’m already looking forward to Spring and new growth. The rebirth of my Armistead Salvia will bring butterflies and the hummingbirds who love it so. From my window next to my computer, even when writing, I have a view (albeit small) of nature. This view feeds my writing with inspiration. And I look for the messages the natural world has to tell me.

What have you learned about the natural world that bring amazement and wonder into your life?

And, my March posts on my JudithAshley.blogspot.com site delve into the aspects of Ostara in more detail. Please join me each Monday as I explore The Wheel of the Year: Ostara.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on her website. Sign up for Connections and receive a free digital copy of Lily.

Follow Judith on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB!

© 2017 Judith Ashley 

Spiritual-themed Romance Novels

By Judith Ashley

While I’ve done some reading this year, unfortunately I’ve not read a holiday themed romance novel. And this time of year when people see “holiday themed” romance novel, they often think the holiday will be Christmas.

All of my books in The Sacred Women's Circle series include one or more of the Sabbats, holidays that celebrate the turn of The Wheel of Life:

10/31 - Samhain

12/21 - Yule/Winter Solstice* this date does move because it is the longest night

02/01 - Imbolc

03/21 - Ostara/Spring Equinox* date also moves because days/nights are even

05/01 - Beltane

06/21 - Litha/Summer Solstice* date also moves because it is longest day

08/01 - Lammas/Lughnasa

09/21 - Mabon/Fall Equinox* like Ostara the days/nights are even

Did you know that the Christian Easter’s date is determined by when Ostara falls? Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after Ostara which is why it is celebrated in late March or sometime in April depending on the moon’s cycle.

For many people who follow earth-centered spirituality, The Wheel starts at Samhain. For Lily Hughes, the heroine in the first book in The Sacred Women’s Circle series, The Wheel starts with Yule or Winter Solstice. She marries her hero on the Summer Solstice or Litha.

Elizabeth Elliott, the heroine in the second book in the series, marries on Yule.

Diana Pettybone makes a momentous decision about her marriage and her relationships with her women’s circle. Marking her journey using The Tarot along with the Sabbat’s she finds her happily-ever-after on Lammas.

Ashley Kenner’s fight to survive a bout with recurring breast cancer is supported by her animal totem, the dragonfly. Struggling with the effects of chemotherapy, she finds solace in celebrating Samhain and Yule and marries on the Spring Equinox.

Hunter Compton thinks she’s lost everything when her daughter Logan runs away. Instead she finds love again. She and Grant find their way from the past to the present and marry on Mabon or the Fall Equinox.

The first five books are available through major distributors, my website and Windtree Press. The next two books will be in 2016.

Gabriella Montcrief struggles to overcome an abusive childhood believing no one would want her if they knew. With the support of her sacred women’s circle, she does find her way out of the darkness and is able to marry her hero on Imbolc, the Sabbat of light.

Sophia Stewart has always loved life, loved her garden, loved her work and loved her friends. When she lost her husband in a senseless traffic accident, she knew she’d never love again. Since I write romance novels, you know she does find her own HEA. Fittingly, Sophia marries on Beltane.

As you can see, although my stories are not traditional holiday-themed romances, each does include one or more of the Sabbats. My version or understanding of the Ceremonies surrounding these sacred days are included in each book. In addition you get a peek at how these women celebrate them. And if you read the series starting with Lily, you’ll have information to create your own sacred women’s circle.

Questions? Just ask.

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

You can find Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s website.

Judith has an author page at Windtree Press.

Judith posts every Monday here.

Follow Judith on FB

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