A warm welcome to Colleen who is here to celebrate the launch of her new book, Fairies, Myths, & Magic II. I have had the pleasure of reading book I too! Both are wonderful books.

I was delighted to receive an early copy of Fairies, Myths, & Magic II to beta read and review.

It is a delight and will definitely get you in the mood for winter and the Christmas season.

More about that below … and a review for now… A Lovely Celebration Of The Winter Solstice.

Day Fourteen: 12/14/22 Yule Blessings Book Tour

1. Why you wrote your book, and how much research you did for it.

Hi, Marje. Thank you for the opportunity to share the news of my new book, just in time for the winter solstice and Yule.

In writing Fairies, Myths, & Magic II, I spent a couple of years researching the different winter and Yule celebrations from around the world. I might have slipped down the rabbit hole of research for a year or so. It was interesting to find that almost every culture celebrated the winter solstice in some form.

The poetry and short stories took months for me to write. I’m not a fast writer, and often mull things over before deciding the story or poem is what I meant it to be.

This book is the second in the series. The first book included poetry and short stories dedicated to summer and the summer solstice. In the coming months, I’ll make this a two-book series boxed edition.

• I’d also like to know which winter customs you follow.

We’re Buddhist and Pagan, so we don’t celebrate Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, when our children were still at home, we celebrated Christmas with them. After they all grew up and moved away, my husband and I decided to celebrate the winter solstice which has become our main winter celebration.

I usually start the day with some prayers and meditation. I like to do some light cleaning to sweep out last season’s energies to let in the new.

Later, we fix a lovely dinner. Some years the food is special, other years we eat whatever we have. We always share a toast to the return of the light. I always leave some honey and bread out for the house elf and the good neighbors. I want to keep them all happy.

When the darkness falls, we light white candles to chase away the darkness. White is a symbol of hope and purification. This color of candle helps to clear your thoughts for a new season. Candles also help to purify your thoughts so you can release negative energy and celebrate the longest night of the year. The winter solstice is all about celebrating the return of the light… what better way to celebrate than with candles.

We have these wonderful built-in shelves next to the fireplace. They were perfect for my winter altar for Buddha. As you can see, I have my white winter solstice candles ready to light on December 21^st.

Some years we exchange a small gift with each other. This year, our gifts were various house renovations. We’re happy to have finally finished our reno project, so no other gifts are necessary—it’s good to have each other and be together.

In past years, we always hosted friends and family for the winter solstice. What better way to bring in the magic of the new year than to celebrate with those who matter most to you.

• And which is your favourite personal poem/story in the book and why, include excerpt of that. And anything else you would like to ask yourself.

When I started researching the myths of Yule, I found all this wonderful information about the forgotten women of Yule. I was captivated by the idea that women were the first figures to influence our modern holiday celebrations.

In fact, my research shared that many of the Pagan traditions were adopted by the Christians because many of the myths were firmly rooted in the culture of the people. It was easier to change the women of Yule into saints or witches. Over time, the changes took hold. Instead of goddesses, we began to describe these female figures as fairy godmothers.

Slowly, men replaced the likes of Frau Holle with Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and the Russian, Ded Moroz. These male characters are all believed to be inspired by Odin himself!

Mōdraniht, which translates to Mother’s Night was really a surprise. On December 20^th, families used to celebrate motherhood and female ancestors, as the feminine ancestors were also considered to be the guardians of the family line.

The Winter Solstice is celebrated as the rebirth of the sun, so it made sense the ancient people would celebrate the feminine connection to fertility and crops. It all goes back to our humble beginnings as an agrarian society.

I love the idea of celebrating the women we came from. Here’s a syllabic poem to celebrate our female ancestors on December 20th:

Mothers Night

Rejoice on the Night of the Mothers

pay homage to our female roots

toast your mother, grandmother,

the women in your life

who touched you with love

be brave, protect

family

blood lines,

thrive

the

mother

goddess soon

rebirths our sun,

we honor with food,

grateful messages sent

to the women who gave of

themselves, they made us who we are

we offer you our lasting respect

To Our Mothers!

Thanks so much for helping me celebrate the release of Fairies, Myths, & magic II, Marje. Happy Yule.

It’s my pleasure Colleen and I love that poem.

About the Book:

In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.

From Autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, The Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.

Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.

Fairies, Myths, & Magic II Links:

Colleen’s Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Colleen-M-Chesebro/e/B01N9MV2RX

Amazon Universal Link: https://mybook.to/FairiesMythsMagicII

About the Author:

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.

In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry. 

Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch.

In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books.

Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

Find Colleen here:

Word Craft Poetry: https://wordcraftpoetry.com

Colleen M. Chesebro, Author, Poet & Unicorn Cats Publishing Services: https://colleenmchesebro.com

Facebook Page: Colleen M. Chesebro, Poet & Author: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085941528913

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/colleen-m-chesebro-6b856b237

Here is a tentative schedule:

12/1/2022: Diana Peach

12/3/2022: D.L. Finn

12/5/2022: Elizabeth Gauffreau

12/7/2022: Willow Willers

12/9/2022: Ritu Bhathal

12/11/2022: Robbie Cheadle

12:13/2022: Annette Rochelle Aben

Me on the 14th