Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Tonight is the night that Shakespeare had faeries running amok in the woods around Athens. This is Midsummer's Night, tomorrow being Midsummer's Day. Folklore has it that this is the best time to go find the Good Folk, though lore also makes it pretty clear that you may be in for trouble if you do.… Continue reading The Daily: 23 June 2025
June 22nd is the feast day of St Alban, one of the first British martyrs to the Christian faith, a sort of protomartyr, in fact. It is said that Alban was beheaded by Roman authorities on this date, though the year this happened may be any time between 209 and 304. Stained-glass portrait of St… Continue reading The Daily: 22 June 2025
Last night was the shortest night of the year. Tonight will be just a bit longer. Tomorrow's sunrise will be ever so slightly later. Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to note the difference even with a very flat horizon that reveals the exact moment of sunrise. Exact moments are difficult to catch even when you… Continue reading The Daily: 21 June 2025
The Season of Renewal This year, the Vernal Equinox happens on March 20th at 5:01am. This is, I think, the most nebulous of the solar festivals. Yes, it does mark an actual solar event, but it’s not the one we typically hear about. It’s not much of an event at all. This festival is less… Continue reading The Daily: 20 March 2025
St Joseph, Patron of Fatherhood To me Christianity seems to be rather quiet on Joseph, the husband of Mary and the step-father of their deity. That may be because I've never lived in an Italian neighborhood where Joe is the patron saint of roughly half the male population (though I did get a faint whiff… Continue reading The Daily: 19 March 2025
Today is Mardi Gras. I don't much celebrate Fat Tuesday. I like the pancakes, but that's about it. I don't drink much, certainly not when I have to be at work in the morning. I've no use for purple plastic beads. There aren't any parades round these parts — because who wants to be standing… Continue reading The Daily: 4 March 2025
What does magic mean in the context of connectivity and a general lack of hierarchies and selves? What is religion for a whole Earth? What is paganism, the path of the land? I have been chewing on these and similar questions for decades. So far I have not found any answers in print. Mostly I… Continue reading The Daily: 25 February 25
February First Fruits & Quirinalia To highlight just how different the seasonal cycle is depending on latitude, mid-February, the last ides period of the ritual year in Rome, was a festival of the first-fruit offerings. While here in Vermont we are barely thinking about the growing season, never mind able to see actual earth, during… Continue reading The Daily: 16 February 2025
Like many people, I find the American version of Valentine’s Day and the saccharine and monochromatic view of love it promotes to be repulsive. In my younger days I assumed the whole farce was invented by the greeting card and gifting industry, along with the rise of all manner of fake holidays intended to get… Continue reading The Daily: 14 February 2025
It is the middle of February. Time to address that age-old question plaguing the minds of men: What do women want? I once tried to explain to someone why I no longer read John Michael Greer. It wasn't the fussiness revealed in that name nor the association with deeply disturbing organizations like the Freemasons. Nor… Continue reading The Daily: 11 February 2025
By My Solitary Hearth 