Longest Day or Shortest Day

by Diana McCollum

 The June solstice in the Northern Hemisphere the December solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Northern Winter Solstice is in December and the Southern Hemisphere winter solstice is in June.

“Let the energy of the summer solstice help you to balance, release, recharge.” – Unknown

“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” – Pablo Neruda

(my picture: Monterrey, CA)

“One way of celebrating the Solstice is to consider it a sacred time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach     

It may be the “longest day,” but it’s not the latest sunset. Nor the earliest sunrise!" (author unknown)

(My photo sunset Paradise, CA)

Winter Solstice or the shortest day of the year is for new beginnings.

The Winter Solstice is the time of ending and beginning, a powerful time -- a time to contemplate your immortality. A time to forgive, to be forgiven, and to make a fresh start. A time to awaken.  Frederick Lenz

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. You only truly, deeply appreciate and are grateful for something when you compare and contrast it to something worse.” — John Steinbeck

(from memes and bams)

Hope you've enjoyed these memes of the Solstice and the winter solstice.

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

Tis The Season!

 Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction that honors pagan spiritual practices. My stories show you what life could be like if, in the darkest nights, you choose love and light.

Tis The Season! starts by the middle of October and runs through all of November and December and into January. October 2020 started and ended with Full Moons! And the last one in 2020 is 12/30/2020. I love standing out on my back decks under a Full Moon, drinking in the glory of night and the quiet light of the Moon.

All Hallows Eve, Halloween are the first “official” holidays of my tis the season.

Then comes November, my birth month. I choose something special as a gift to myself over a period of time that equals one day for each year of my life. I started this tradition when I celebrated my 50^th and have never looked back. This year my birthday season goes into January!

Also, since I love Winter – the darker and drearier days – I’m in my element much of the time. Even though I have a fireplace, I do not spend my days curled up in front of it with a hot cup of tea and good book. Usually you’ll find me in the next room, my office, at the computer.

Of all the December tis the season spiritual holidays, I celebrate Winter Solstice and Christmas. The latter because I have great grands and grands and that is the spiritual holiday they celebrate.

There are about sixty-two days from Hallow’s Eve or Halloween to Thanksgiving (USA) and through the December spiritual holidays.

And then comes The New Year!!!

I’ve never been one who goes forth and parties although I did spend one memorable New Year’s Eve and Day at the Oregon Coast watching waves dash upon the rocks!!!

For this New Year’s Eve I’m already planning. Fire in fireplace, bottle of something sparkly (not sure what yet), paper and multiple pens in different colors. Once the fire is blazing, I will curl on the couch and consider the year past jotting down thoughts and feelings about what did and didn’t happen.

Lt. Col. Boyd C. Yaden with fans

What didn't?
I lost a longtime friend in June to CoVid-19, I didn’t get that week visiting my great grands, months went by and no hugs and without Zoom, those months would not have included seeing friendly faces. I’m a writer, a published author and my plans for 2020 in that department did not materialize at all.

What did?

I became somewhat proficient with Zoom, figured out how to use Insta-Cart, relied upon a neighbor to do some fresh produce shopping for me when she went to the store (yes, we independent types see that as a huge deal). I’ve a friend with dementia and I figured out a schedule for myself so I keep in touch with her.

I’ve also bitten one of my proverbial bullets and have taken two on-line classes with Maggie Lynch to learn Search Engine Optimization and how to reinvigorate my mailing list. I’ve started by giving my newsletter a name: Choices. My plan is to write about once a month. And I highly recommend you check out Maggie’s website. She is an excellent on-line (and in person) instructor!

I swept leaves off my front decks which has been beyond my physical strength for some time. I did pay a price with a sore shoulder for a few days but looking back I see it as a milestone regarding the regaining of strength and stamina.

I was pro-active and asked for a new doctor (of my choosing) when I learned my current PCP was leaving the group practice. And I chose Well! I battled and won the war against a mild Shingles outbreak (do get the immunization done).

Last but not least during my tis the season time frame, I signed up for two online courses in Divination Card Reading. I’m now a Certified Angel Tarot Card Reader and will have my general Divination Card Reader Certification by the end of December. There is magic in the cards or as I’ve learned within me.

As you can see, in many ways 2020 was a very good year!

What about 2021?

I’ve already started planning!!! By this time next year I will have spent a week at the beach, a week with my great grands. I’ll have Yes, You Can Create A Life You Love published.

I will have all the metadata up-to-date for my books and uploaded to all the vendors who sell my books.

I will have at least one in person author event.

Choices will be going out to my mailing list in about a month with tips on how to make choices that create the tomorrow we want to live in as well as news about authors and books I enjoy reading. Contests, updates on my writing, new releases and information I hope will entertain as well as inform.

You can sign up for my mailing list here. 

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.

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! 

© 2020 Judith Ashley

Happy #WinterSolstice!

Hi, I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and supernatural stories to engage your emotions. Are you all excited for Christmas? I may be celebrating something a little earlier...
Aside from Christmas itself, the winter solstice is my favourite day at this time of year. Why on Earth would the darkest day of the year and the first day of true winter be anyone's favourite?!

Well, not only do most of the Christmas traditions come from this pagan holiday, but it means after today...the days start getting longer again. Yay! Of course, we still have a couple of cold, dark months to go before we're back to spring, but those few extra minutes of daylight each passing day can make all the difference, even if in reality it's more the thought than any actual sunlight thanks to the traditional gloomy British weather.

The solstice marks the point when the sun is at its most southerly point, directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. Technically that will take place at 22:23 GMT today. Here, the winter solstice is still a major pagan festival celebrating rebirth, with many visiting Stonehenge to watch the sunrise. Many of the things we now associate as Christmas traditions have come from the pagan holiday, including Christmas trees, Yule logs, and mistletoe - evergreens such as holly and mistletoe being symbols of everlasting life.

It has also been the inspiration for a story that I'm working on. After struggling with the concept of Christmas in Spaaaaaace!, I went back to basics. Since many of our modern holidays came from pagan origins based around seasonal changes (which in turn have planetary causes), I figured that while holidays like Christmas might not survive in its current form, perhaps colonizers of other planets would go back to astronomical events. Landing Day, of course, but whatever the planet it would have its own solstices and equinoxes that could be used for celebrations new or old. So instead I wrote a winter solstice story (and maybe one day I'll actually finish it!).

So while Christmas is the big holiday for my family at this time of year, I will raise a glass of hot berry cordial to toast out the day as I look forward to those few extra minutes of even the murkiest daylight tomorrow, and maybe use the cold and gloom to help me finish that solstice story.

A Different Take: A Kiss for Solstice by Elizabeth Allyn Dean

Solstice is important to Alaskans--we notice the difference in daylight as it swings from summer to winter, and many of us celebrate Winter Solstice as a separate holiday. So just to give a different take on the holiday romance, I introduce A Kiss for Solstice by my friend Elizabeth Allyn Dean.

Her kiss brought him back from the dead…

Dax Rand has a knack for finding trouble, and this time he’s won the grand prize—eternity in an unmarked shallow grave. When an angel brings him back from death with her magical kiss, he’s sure his luck is finally changing for the better. But would an angel make him feel such sinful things? 

Zelda Melik is no angel. Just a magnet for the dead, which makes her a valuable asset to her coven’s power-hungry high priestess. But taking Zelda’s sister hostage to ensure her obedience is going too far. Zelda needs help, and the Fates deliver in the form of a mostly dead, and incredibly hot, werewolf with a talent for kicking ass.

To win their freedom, Zelda is willing to do anything. Even bring a werewolf to a witch fight.

Adventure; romance; spunky, kick-ass heroines; hunky, take-charge heroes; a dash of humor… Elizabeth Allyn-Dean writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy stories that blends these elements to get to a happily ever after.

To learn more about the book, go to Amazon at http://a.co/h7ZqujH

or see Elizabeth's website at https://elizabethallyndean.wordpress.com/

or follow her on Twitter at @EAllynDean

Happy holidays, whichever ones you celebrate! 

Lynn Lovegreen

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Summer as a Leading Character (because season matters!)

 

by Kristin Holt

 USA Today Bestselling Author of Sweet Romance set in the Victorian American West

Today is March 21st. Spring Equinox. Halfway between the Winter Solstice (longest night of the year) and Summer Solstice (longest day of the year). The solstices and equinoxes (spring and fall) have been celebrated all over the world since before Christianity, before much written history, simply put: before. The Wikipedia page is so long you'll zone out before you're 1/10th of the way through. Unless you're a history geek like me.

Let's talk about something else.

The SEASON of the year is a strong and valued player in fiction.

I've written dead of winter romances and peak of summer romances. Whether the bitter cold and short days become the vital antagonist, stealing the hero's hope of saving the girl (The Marshal's Surrender) or long, hot summer days bring the hero and heroine together in surprising ways (Courting Miss Cartwright), I tend to ensure the season is a valued player.

Why?

Fiction doesn't happen in a vacuum.

1. Fiction doesn't happen in a vacuum. If you've ever read a "Story In Vacuum"--fiction before a green screen--you know readers need a setting, and that setting had better matter.

2. Heat, long days, and short nights lend summertime to one kind of romance (I write only Rated G or PG--and yep, matters to "sweet" too), while numbing cold, limited daylight, and tight quarters (who wants to be out in that blizzard?) suit another.

3. Remember the truth about fiction: No Conflict, No Story. Weather is a natural conflict-producer. Cue storms from delicate spring shower to a monsoon/ tornado/ blizzard.

I've shared why Weather (winter, in this case) can assume the role of villain. Now I'll flip to the light side and share why summer can (and should) assume the role of a leading character...villain, sidekick, friend, instigator.

Summer, as Leading Character:

Every summer does indeed have its own story.

1. Entirely different range of possibilities for out-of-doors scenes than in other seasons. I really hate writing a book with every scene cooped up in the same log cabin. Not good conflict to build a story.

2. In the nineteenth century (my scope), people were on the move in summer. Winter was iffy. Throughout the 1880s alone, winter conspired for ten long years to keep trains from moving, people locked down, and let's not even talk about the flooding that followed. Hot and dry? Vegetation for animals? Let's go!

3. Summertime put nineteenth century folk to work from sunup to sundown with the work of living. Farmers had time to sit and play cards in winter. Maybe. Virtually everything in life revolved around natural sunlight--time to go to bed, time to arise, how much work could be accomplished, what crops were growing and had to be irrigated, keeping the equipment functional, raising and training new animals, and getting enough to eat. Note: this is setting, not story.

4. Summer can just as easily take the starring role of villain: tornado season, killing heat, droughts, crop failure, sun exposure, etc.

5. Because. Summertime equals BEACH READ, in any romance category. Who wants to lay on the beach and read a Christmas story?

We might not be quite ready for a beach read...so, what are you reading this Spring Equinox (March 21st)? Is it important to you to read a book set in the same season as you're personally living?

Please scroll down and comment in the space provided. I'd sincerely like to know!

Hi! I'm Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author.

I write frequent articles (or view recent posts easily on my Home Page, scroll down) about the nineteenth century American West–every subject of possible interest to readers, amateur historians, authors…as all of these tidbits surfaced while researching for my books. I also blog monthly at Sweet Romance Reads, Sweet Americana Sweethearts, and Romancing the Genres.

I love to hear from readers! Please drop me a note. Or find me on Facebook.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

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