Winter | The heART of Ritual

The heART of Ritual

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This section of our online nest shares an extensive selection of articles, poetry, prose, videos, recipes, and tutorials that journey the natural cycles, seasons, elements, and archetypes in Irish tradition, and the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Feel free to peruse this community resource, and inJoy!

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Mistletoe', by Walter De La Mare

Sitting under the mistletoe (Pale-green, fairy mistletoe), One last candle burning low, All the sleepy dancers gone, Just one candle...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Hoar Frost', by Moira Cameron

In icy cover of the dark- too cold, the Arctic air can’t muster up the will or care to gust- strange magic thrives in stillness stark:...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'The Lamplighter', by Robert Louis Stevenson

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky; It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by; For every night at teatime and...

Wintering, and how Trees illuminate the Art of Self-Renewal in difficult times

“Wintering… is the courage to stare down the worst parts of our experience and to commit to healing them the best we can. Wintering is a...

The Complex Root Systems of Plants

Winter is the season of the earth element and earth, and it's hard to speak about earth without speaking about physical roots, our...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'A Wintry Sonnet', by Christina Rossetti

A Robin said: The Spring will never come, And I shall never care to build again. A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome, My sap will...

The Goddesses of January

As we approach Women's Little Christmas on January 6th, or 'Nollaig na mBan' as it is known here in Ireland, it is worth noting that...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Spellbound', by Emily Brontë

The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'The Legend of the Winter Rose', by Kenn Allan

The path beyond the garden gate Weaves 'round the olive trees And leads to where the flowers sway Upon a gentle breeze. Behind the heads...

What can we learn from how Nature spends Winter?

Life's adaptations to the cold and dark part of the year demonstrate how time and patience, in the end, teach us how to survive....

Hibernation

It’s that time of year when the call of winter invites us to retreat here in the northern hemisphere. To rest deeply into the boundless...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Old Christmas', by Mary Howitt

Now he who knows old Christmas, He knows a carle of worth; For he is as good a fellow As any upon earth. He comes warm cloaked and...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: The Legend of the Christmas Robin

"Legend tells how a Robin, On the night of the first noel, Braved the frosty winter night, So the baby might sleep well. Throughout the...

The Shortening Winter's Day is near a Close', by Joseph Farquharson

Joseph Farquharson (1846 -1935) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and died at Finzean, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He is most famous for his...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Holly', by Andrew Blakemore

At the edge of the field in a hedgerow so tangled, So thick and so dense where the holly does grow, Berries of scarlet are caught in the...

The Cycle of Form and Formless

We are taken into winter, when the leaves are fallen from the trees and the branches are bare. Winter is this barrenness that belongs to...

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 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...

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...

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