Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
We don’t like mothers very much in this country. Yes, today is Mother’s Day, but how do you feel about that? Obligated to make a phone call, a Zoom meeting? Did you slap your head, remembering that you forgot to get a card? Did you then remember that cards aren’t really a thing anymore in… Continue reading The Daily: 10 May 2026
The Feast of St Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich has been having a renaissance. Everybody knows the "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well" quote. Her books are ubiquitous. Her name tops the list of Medieval women writers, mystics, and famous people. But... we… Continue reading The Daily: 8 May 2026
Today, it is the exact cross quarter day of Beltaine. It happens at 7:42am in my part of the world. In other words, today is exactly halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. This may not mean much to most folks, but it does show that our holidays are rather more flexible than… Continue reading The Daily: 5 May 2026
May the 4th be with you! Hawthorn Day May 4th is Hawthorn Day. This is the traditional day to tie clooties on hawthorn boughs over magical springs. It's one of the days when villages compete to make the most astonishingly elaborate display of greenery and white flowers. It's the Feast of Bona Dea when we… Continue reading The Daily: 4 May 2026
the thorn queenshe waxes full in fertile gracequeen of quick and fay, she reignsin mantle green and seemly facequelling fear and mortal painseternal mother, ever maidundying wisdom in her glancedeathless weird is on her laidto spin th' unceasing wheel of chanceagain, she comes in crown of thornto lave the earth in blessed dewsthrough her travail… Continue reading The Daily: 1 May 2026
Walpurgis Night The last day of April has been a fraught time for millennia. This is a night when pranks are pulled, when spells are cast and wishes are granted, when the Good Folk pass through the veils to walk the woodlands, and when witches dance. The Beltaine fires were lit at midnight on May… Continue reading The Daily: 30 April 2026
Floralia Cosiddetta Flora from the Villa di Arianna in Stabiae near Pompeii, 1st century Roman fresco The festival of Floralia is a very old holiday. It honors Flora, the Roman idea of fertility that is embodied in spring flowers. Flora is one of the oldest deities in the Roman pantheon. She is older than Rome,… Continue reading The Daily: 26 April 2026
Don't plant on this day or your horse will die... so says the Old Farmer's Almanac... I don't have a horse, so maybe it's safe to plant my carrots today. A Red-Letter Day April 25th is a complicated date. It is St Mark’s Day, which is honored with a wide variety of celebrations; and it… Continue reading The Daily: 25 April 2026
April 23rd is St George's Feast Day, though in the Church of England it is moved until Monday when the 23rd falls between Palm Sunday and the Sunday after Easter. I find that all too complicated to track, so I just stick to the 23rd. I don't celebrate Easter, so there's no reason for me… Continue reading The Daily: 23 April 2026
The Sap Moon went dark yesterday at 7:52am. Today begins the Greening Moon. I have not written much about this lunation. Usually I am very busy in April because of Poetry Month with its various poetry readings and, to a lesser extent, because the garden is becoming demanding during this moon of leafing out. I'm… Continue reading The Daily: 18 April 2026
By My Solitary Hearth 