Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
If Brigid visited your house with a blessing last night, show her your gratitude by beginning your spring cleaning in her honor. If you have a woodstove, today is a good day to clean out the ashes and begin spreading them on your garden beds. (If you live where the soils are already saline, especially… Continue reading The Daily: 1 February 2025
Snow Moon The Wolf Moon went dark yesterday at 7:36am and Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, began with all its riotous color and spark last night. Today, the Snow Moon, the fourth moon in my lunar year, is new. In my calendar this is the season of Imbolg, the stirring of spring in… Continue reading The Daily: 30 January 2025
Today, we are not talking about the travesty of an inauguration that is happening somewhat south of here. I am doing my utmost to draw lines around my world and stay within those lines. I am not paying attention to things that I can't change and that don't truly affect me directly anyway. On that… Continue reading The Daily: 20 January 2025
In my town, it has snowed every day but one in 2025, not that you'd know it by looking at the weather forecast, nor the officially "recorded" conditions. For example, yesterday it was supposed to be sunny with a high of 34°F. I thought I might finally be able to shovel my walk and maybe… Continue reading The Daily: 14 January 2025
Plough Monday Plough Monday is an ancient rustic holiday that became attached to the Christmas holiday tradition. Plough Monday may trace its descent back to the Roman Compitalia, celebrated by slaves when plowing was over. But by the mid-15th century it became the traditional end to the Christmas season, the end of the season of… Continue reading The Daily: 13 January 2025
Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ-child, the savior deity of the Christian faith. Today is also the birthday of Mithras the cult deity of the Roman legions, who began his existence as a sun god, the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, of which the emperor was the earthly avatar. Today… Continue reading The Daily: 25 December 2024
There are many ways to divide up the year. We all use several different calendars — one based on months, one based on seasons, perhaps a school calendar or a business calendar. Some cultures emphasize the moon, with varying degrees of correspondence to the solar year. Some cultures don't bother with a framework and base… Continue reading The Daily: 24 December 24
The weather is finally settling into winter. The highs are in the single digits and the lows don't bear repeating. I've got all the heavy curtains closed tight, and draft blockers are wedged tight against the thresholds. And yet the furnace is still running far too much for my comfort. I fear the next oil… Continue reading The Daily: 23 December 2024
Green Man in the cold morning light Today, 21 December 2024 at 4:20am, the sun appears to stand still at its most southern point in its apparent journey along the horizon. We call this period of slow change, where day length changes incrementally and then not at all, the solstice, the “sun pause”. In the… Continue reading The Daily: 21 December 2024
Halcyon Days Now, here is an idea that seems to have forgotten its roots entirely. In our times, “halcyon days” refers to a golden past, a time when everything was wonderful. Sometimes it just means “youth” with overtones of innocence and insouciance. But this name has nothing to do with nostalgia. In fact, it’s an… Continue reading The Daily: 14 December 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 