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Mistletoe Myth & Lore
From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious, and sacred plants of European folklore. Kissing under the...
The Longest Night
"The Longest Night" - a stop motion cut paper animation for the Winter Solstice. By Angie Pickman aka Rural Pearl.


Flying Reindeer and the Fly Agaric
Santa and his fleet of flying reindeer can be traced back to a rather unlikely source: the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, or Amanita...


Irish Megaliths aligned with the Winter Solstice
The below list will of course continue to grow, but for now, here is a selection of Irish sacred sites with astronomical alignments on...


Women of The Outer Hebrides - Waulking Songs
A selection of short films on waulking songs sung by women while finishing Harris tweed in the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland. A...


Snow crystals and the work of Wilson A. Bentley
"The snow crystals come to us not only to reveal the wondrous beauty of the minute in nature, but to teach us that all earthly beauty is...


Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'The Warm Glow of Home', by Michael Traveler
I see it in the distance the warm glow of home As the dampness in the air sinks down beneath my clothes As the coldness tries to reach my...


The origins of Santa?
Let’s take a trip to the snow-covered fields of Lapland and Siberia, where the legend of Santa Claus may have originated. Hundreds of...


The Winter Solstice and the Birth of Sol
We have almost arrived at the winter solstice, the moment when the most northern point of the earth is tilted furthest away from the...


The Long Night
The ‘Long Night’ feels true of our wider collective experience. Layers of underworlds. Journeys through grief, fear, loss and sickness...


European Winter Solstice costumes; a ritualistic expression of Shapeshifting and Protection
These images of ritual and ceremonies from old indigenous customs in Europe from around the winter solstice, show a time when we were...


Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Mistletoe', by John Bannister Tabb
'To the cradle-bough of a naked tree, Benumbed with ice and snow, A Christmas dream brought suddenly A birth of mistletoe. The shepherd...


Perspectives on Death and Dying
This months BIOPHILIA Mentorship focused on themes of death, funerals, grief composting and trauma amongst other earth element...


The Deer Mother: Earth's Nurturing Epicenter of Life and Death
The animal mother is one of the most ancient images of birth-giving goddess, spanning continents, millennia, and cultures. Marija...


Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Everyday sort of Magic', by Charles de Lint
"I do believe in an everyday sort of magic, the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and...


The unearthing of Ireland's ancient Sweathouses
The sweathouses of Ireland date back to the 9th century and earlier. Now known as Bronze Age sweathouses, these ritual spaces were...


Ritual Headdresses in Celtic Europe
Antler headdress. Early Mesolithic, about 9000 BC. Photo: British Museum Wearing deer antlers as part of ritual has ancient roots in Celtic Europe – this antler frontlet was made 11,000 years ago probably for use by a ceremonialist, and shows that animals were important to the spiritual lives of Mesolithic communities. This headdress was excavated at Star Carr, five miles south of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, on the north east coast of England . It is made from the skull o


The Edge You Carry With You
You know so very well the edge of darkness you have always carried with you. You know so very well, your childhood legacy: that...















