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Lucy Hounsom: Author

author, podcaster, mistress of strange

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09/04/14

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These pictures are also from the Salcombe Hill cli

These pictures are also from the Salcombe Hill cliff walk I did - you would never guess they were taken in the same place; wide ocean vistas immediately become tangled woodland. And while I love the expanse of blue, there's something magical about the way light touches bark and green. You very much feel as if you're walking in Fangorn or the outskirts of Lórien. Fairy foxgloves abound. And then we stumbled across that odd mound like a grassy cairn. While it reminded me of the way Tolkien describes Arwen's fate, there was also a marshy puddle nearby and the suggestion of something oval under the soil that made it seem a buried ship. Whenever I come across mounds like these, I can't help but wonder if there is anything human in them or about them – they are so deliberate. Anyway here's some more of the Arwen quote because I love it —
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𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘯-𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘢.
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#bookstagram #tolkien #thelordoftherings #lotr #arwen #burialmound #woodland #salcombehill #devon #woodlandwalk #foxglove #trees #green #fairy #springtosummer #sidmouth #lorien #fangorn #fantasy

Digging through the archives, I found the cover of

Digging through the archives, I found the cover of Heartland (book two in my trilogy) that never was and thought people might like to see it too! I always loved the colours in this one. It does exist outside of my computer because Amazon somehow got hold of it, but since we redesigned the series halfway through, this version wasn't actually printed. Still think it's cool though 😊
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#bookstagram #igreads #worldmaker #worldmakertrilogy #coverlove #heartland #starborn #coverdesign #fromthearchives #fantasy #fantasybooks #epicfantasy

Time to talk about Sistersong’s magic system! Bu

Time to talk about Sistersong’s magic system! But first I’ll start with the relationship between weaving, women, fate and magic and how the whole concept is bound up in the archetypes of the Goddess and the Wyrd Sisters. I think it’s interesting that Tantra, ‘one of the world’s most esoteric and primordial religions,’ as Martin Wall describes it, ‘derives from a Sanskrit word meaning “to weave”.’ The idea of weaving is a very ancient metaphor for creating and destroying life and controlling fate.
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Women hold a unique place in the collective cultural and spiritual imagination and weaving has long been considered women’s work. The Greek Fates measure, weave and cut threads in much the same way as the Anglo-Saxon Wyrd Sisters, presiding over the lives of men. It’s the meditative element of this that interests me – the repetition of warp and weft – as well as the creation of patterns.
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Funnily enough, I invented Sistersong’s magic system before reading up about any of this, which just shows how powerful archetypes are – they reside in the collective unconscious and we use them to navigate our world. The magic in the novel comes from the ability to see primal patterns in the landscape and plays with another ancient and cross-cultural idea: that there is a spiritual connection between the land and the people.
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Today we might say this is realised as respect for the natural world. In my alternate 6th century Britain, however, the connection becomes threads of power that can be woven into magic. There are patterns that call fire, turn the wind, cause earth to sunder beneath unwary feet... Restoring the bond between land and people and learning to see patterns, is a big part of my protagonist Keyne’s journey.
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#bookstagram #igreads #FolkloreThursday #fantasy #historicalfantasy #celtic #anglosaxon #mythology #thegoddess #archetypes #wyrdsisters #thefates #weaving #loom #Sistersong #magic #pagan #amagicalhistoryofbritain #britons #earlymedieval #6thcentury #writing #magicsystem

Fantastic walk on top of the cliffs at Salcombe Hi

Fantastic walk on top of the cliffs at Salcombe Hill today. Looking east towards Branscombe (and eventually Lyme Regis), and in the last pic looking west back towards Sidmouth. No.3 is of the famous Frogstone! Could not have asked for more glorious weather.
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#sidmouth #salcombehill
#cliffs #southwestcoastpath #southwest #eastdevon #devon #englishlandscape #summer #lockdownwalk #seaside #sea #bigsky #frogstone

I hit 90K words on my still untitled work-in-progr

I hit 90K words on my still untitled work-in-progress today. And I thought, well, shit. This isn't a scruffy twenty-odd page document anymore. This is a chunky slice of another world. Since 90K coincides with starting the third and final part of the book, I thought I'd give you a little introduction.
*𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲*
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La Serenissima, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, is ruled by the Council of Ten. It is the strongest city state in Europe. To the casual observer, the Ten appear human, but their borrowed faces conceal beings of immense power. Beneath the labyrinthine streets and canals lies another city, a Venezia inverted. It is the lowland, the domain of the Ten's opposites and deadly enemies, the Sleepers. These beings of light above and of darkness below, wage a silent war, forever at a stalemate. Because the only people capable of tipping the scales are the alchemists...and they were killed off years ago.
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Corvo is a bad actor with a big heart, who trusts too easily, rescues kittens and believes the best of everyone. Meren is the long time servant of the Sleepers, jaded, merciless, already on his tenth life.
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This is a story about a playhouse boy who discovers a talent for turning lead into gold. This is a story about the man who must kill him.
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*𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲* Of course there's waaay more characters — like Ghisola, the dead alchemist imprisoned in a philosopher's stone, Thusa, the corsair who loved her, now also dead and the self-styled Corpse King. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 nemesis, Kiyo, displaced death god, and Lucrezia Morosini, the aging noblewoman who builds flying machines while searching for a way to murder her brother, the current Doge of Venice. Phew. ✢
Anyway all of this means I've written something like Fullmetal AlchemistxNeverwherexGood Omens but stuffed full of Italian fairytales in a Renaissance setting. I just hope I can bring it to you when it's ready 😊
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You can find the art I included on the relevant pinterest board (@silvanhistorian) with links to the full images and artists.
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#bookstagram #aesthetic #amwriting #fantasy #venice #wip #alternatehistory #alchemy #alchemist #writing #newbook #italianfolklore

Rediscovered these the other day - the first three

Rediscovered these the other day - the first three Sevenwaters books by Juliet Marillier. I loved them as a teenager and have almost the whole collection though I haven't read anything by the author for quite a few years. Daughter of the Forest is based on the famous folk / fairy tale The Six Swans, where six young princes are bespelled by their stepmother. To break the curse, their sister must weave six shirts from nettles and neither speak nor cry for six whole years. The last shirt is missing a sleeve when she ends up tied to the stake accused of witchcraft. Her brothers save her, but the one whose shirt is unfinished bears a swan's wing instead of an arm forever after. I love the stories of cursed children and prophecies, though they are often tragic.
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Marillier brings Celtic Ireland so vividly to life and really captures a Pagan world under threat of Christianity - the sense of magic fading is palpable and the fae are capricious beings that sometimes help and sometimes hinder as befits their arbitrary nature. Recommended if you are keen for some rich historical fantasy!
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#bookstagram #igreads #booklove #femalewriters #bookworm #beautifulbooks #readersofinstagram #bookphotography #alwaysreading #booksbooksbooks #fantasy #fairytale #folklore #folktale #pagan #celtic #magic #fae #historicalfantasy #ladyoftheforest #daughteroftheforest #julietmarillier #sevenwaters #sixswans

Gorgeous walk to the seafront this morning. It is

Gorgeous walk to the seafront this morning. It is a perfect blue sky day. Very few people around and the sea is calm. Apart from the gull letting loose on my foot (which I washed immenditaly lol) it was lovely. The only thing missing was coffee, so I've returned to the garden to make an iced latte. I suppose I'd better do some actual writing now 😅
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Staring at the border of ocean and land reminded me of Emily Dickinson's wonderful poem, Exultation —
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𝘌𝘹𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘖𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘢,
𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 — 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 —
𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘌𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 —
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𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦, 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴,
𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯
𝘖𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥?
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#sidmouth #devon #eastdevon #lockdownwalk #seaside #englishseaside #ocean #summer #sunshine #walk #beach #seagull #sea #exultation #emilydickinson #poetry #poem

❝𝓗𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓲𝓷

❝𝓗𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓲𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓮, 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝔀𝓸𝓸𝓭𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓻𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼.❞
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After two months of lockdown walks around The Byes, everything is a riot of green. Hurray for summer! The last photo was taken in mid-March and is there for comparison. So bare!
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On this walk we found somebody's riverside swing, an insect hotel, a beautiful orchard, a woven storyteller's hut and a mysterious path. The tangled woodland, stream and fiery green fields feel very Tolkien.
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#bookstagram #tolkienquotes #tolkien #thelordoftherings #theshire #lotr #frodo #bilbo #hobbiton #woodland #lockdownwalk #sidmouth #thebyes #devon #spring #summer #river #woodlandwalk #fantasy #insecthotel #appleorchard #storytelling

My Sistersong post today discusses why I included

My Sistersong post today discusses why I included the Saxons as a major power in the novel. We talk a lot about the Anglo Saxons, the founding of England and the English identity out of a cultural melting pot, but we don't talk so much about the 400 years preceding - when large parts of the Westcountry, Wales & Scotland were still tribal. Germanic peoples had already begun settling in Northumberland, East Anglia & the Midlands - the latter establishing the famous kingdom of Mercia - but the Westcountry would face hundreds of years of struggle before it finally became part of the kingdom of Wessex.
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The origins of Wessex lay with the Gewisse Saxons. They were later very important to the Anglo Saxons under Alfred; the Anglo Saxon Chronicle took pains to trace the royal lineage back to Cerdic and his son Cynric who landed on the Hampshire coast in 495 (this date is widely disputed) and began to conquer towns, gradually moving west.
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Cerdic & Cynric appear in many stories, usually alongside the apocryphal King Arthur. Since both their names are actually Celtic in origin, there is evidence to suggest they were low level ealdormen who already had ties of blood to the Britons, and who only started their campaign once the last of the Roman yoke fell away. Still, they are people on whose shoulders stories can be built and I thought they would pose an excellent threat to the tribal kingdom of Dumnonia, which held the Westcountry around the time the book is set - 535AD.
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Sistersong is a fantasy too, so the Gewisse represent the antithesis of magic - but also the future of the country. Although the people of Dumnonia like to see them as bloodthirsty invaders, that is only a single narrative with a single blunt purpose. We have always feared those we perceive as different or other — racially, culturally, socially, sexually — and I wanted to explore the consequences of this attitude and the scars it has left on our history.
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#bookstagram #igreads #Sistersong #history #britishhistory #england #anglosaxon #wessex #kingarthur #pagan #romanempire #devon #writingcommunity #historicalfiction #fantasy

Following my last post about the Japanese postcard

Following my last post about the Japanese postcards Mum brought back from her 1976 Rocky Horror tour, here are some actual photos or her as Janet. Super impressed at the high kick. The last two were taken later when she played Alice in Dick Wittington alongside Barbara Windsor. I have a cool mum right?
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#therockyhorrorshow #rockyhorrorpictureshow #janetandbrad #downmemorylane #theatre #mum #acting #panto #barbarawindsor #70s #1970s #throwback #archive

Mum dug out these incredible (now vintage) postcar

Mum dug out these incredible (now vintage) postcards from 1970s Japan. Some of you might know she played Janet in The Rocky Horror Show which toured Japan in the summer of 1976 for 3 months. They visisted Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Hakodate, Kochi City, Kyoto and Beppu among other places and to be honest I'm gutted I wasn't born yet to see it!
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#japan #日本 #therockyhorrorpictureshow #therockyhorrorshow #vintage #vintagepostcards #postcards #showbusiness #1970s #70s #1976 #touring #tokyo #mum #bestmum #howcool #throwback #archive

The first of the roses is out in the garden. I kno

The first of the roses is out in the garden. I know they've become a cliche in popular culture, but if you look closely, they are such magical flowers, endlessly layered. I'm afraid that any rose related post calls for a quote from one of my all time favourite books - Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip. It's hard to get in the UK, it may even be out of print, which is a crime because it's an enchanting retelling of Tam Lin.
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𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆.
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'𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕,' 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅. 𝑰 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑰𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕; 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆.
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'𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎,' 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅. '𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.'
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#bookstagram #igreads #booklove #femalewriters #bookquote #patriciamckillip #winterrose #tamlin #retelling #folktale #fantasy #faerie #faeriefolk #roses #garden #gardenflowers

❝𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓸𝓵𝓭, 𝓖𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓵𝓯. 𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓲𝓽, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓫𝓮𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓲𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼.❞
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This anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings is probably the most dogeared paperback in the house. My dad bought it about 30 years ago and read it to us as children along with The Hobbit, which is where my love of fantasy began. While I don't reread LOTR every year like some, I do flip through it regularly (and carefully). I actually like the way it looks because it carries our personal family history in its thinning pages.
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➳𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸?
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#bookstagram #igreads #booklove #fantasy #bookphotography #alwaysreading #bookworm #beautifulbooks #wellloved #welllovedbooks #oldbooks #tolkien #thelordoftherings #lotr #thehobbit #booksbooksbooks #bilbo #tolkienquotes

Am deeply impressed at dad's calligraphy. He's bee

Am deeply impressed at dad's calligraphy. He's been going through old things and says he regrets not finishing the poems, which he isn't able to do now. But I still think they're beautiful. The first pages are of course from The Tempest, while the third is William Blake's poem, 'London'
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I've tried calligraphy myself, but haven't produced anything instagram-able 😅 Has anyone else tried it?
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#calligraphy #illuminatedmanuscript #poetry #shakespeare #thetempest #williamblake #london #bookstagram #ink #handwriting #illustration

My Sistersong post today is about Beltane, which t

My Sistersong post today is about Beltane, which takes place 30th April - 1st May. A fire festival celebrated across many regions by Celtic Pagans, it was a joyous day with a vital purpose. A great bonfire was lit -- the Tein-eigen, sometimes called the 'need fire' -- and people extinguished their hearth fires so that they could be relit from the main one, bringing cleansing, renewal and fertility. To bless and protect them from disease, cattle were driven through the smoke of the Tein-eigen or between two fires, out to summer pasture.
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The Bel in Beltane comes from the name of a Celtic divinity: Bel or Belenos the sun god, the shining one. If he bestowed his favour, it would protect the community and ensure a good harvest.
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My favourite tradition is the jumping of the Tein-eigen, which in Sistersong I've turned into a dance that calls the slumbering magic out of the land, something only the land's heir can do. Leaping the fire is an act of purification (and also encourages fertility) and couples would jump it to pledge themselves to each other. When I was writing this scene, I listened to Loreena McKennitt's wonderful "Beltane Fire Dance" - do check out both the studio and live at the Alhambra versions.
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Beltane heralds the start of summer and is a complement to Samhain, which heralds the start of winter, celebrated 31st October-1st November. Unlike Samhain, Beltane is a festival of flowers, symbolising the end of the dark days and the hope of a healthy harvest. So on that uplifting note, I wish you all a happy Beltane!
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Do you celebrate the festival in any special way? I've only been to a large Beltane gathering once two years ago, where we tied our wishes to a huge wicker man before it was set alight. I remember lots of dancing and food too!
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#beltane #bookstagram #igreads #Sistersong #FolkloreThursday #folklore #pagan #celtic #celticmythology #belenos #firefestival #festival #mayday #hellosummer #religion #samhain #bonfire #wickerman #loreenamckennitt #fertility

Prepare thyselves for... BLUEBELLS! I had a lovely

Prepare thyselves for... BLUEBELLS! I had a lovely walk on Salcombe Hill the other day and had no idea I'd see so many bells. Really an ocean. The light was perfect for photographs too, everything a riot of green.
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Bluebells have a lot of historical and mythical significance, it seems. Only today I read that their ringing heralds a faerie gathering. If a human hears the bells, however, calamity will fall upon them. Same goes for trampling or straying into a field of bluebells. But this might originate from the fact that the bulbs are poisonous. Their sap was also apparently used for book binding due to the toxicity discouraging insect damage and even for affixing the fletching to arrows - I'd like to know if the latter really is true because the idea is charmingly poetic. A kinder bit of folklore says that wearing a wreath of bluebells compels a person to speak the truth and that if you can turn one of the flowers inside out without breaking it, you will win your true love.
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#bluebells #bluebellwoods #spring #sunshine #salcombehill #sidmouth #FolkloreThursday #folklore #folkloreflowers #fairies #flowers #woodland #woods #dailywalk #outinnature #adobelightroom #mythology

Throwback to that time I thought it would be fun t

Throwback to that time I thought it would be fun to make scalemaille *hollow laughter* Scroll to see the underside! It was super fiddly because I used such small rings and the pattern seems simple but was a pain to get right. This phoenix gauntlet is my first and only attempt thus far. I can see why the style would in principle make good armour. It's light and flexible. The scales sit in a way that moves with you. Maybe I will try more if I can squeeze yet another hobby into my spare time 😅
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#scalemaille #scaillemaille #craft #fantasy #scales #dragonscales #armour #gauntlet

More photos of Devon! All of these were taken on t

More photos of Devon! All of these were taken on the Byes, Sidmouth, which is on my doorstep. Most are completely unfiltered because the light and colours are so phenomenal even though I've just taken these on my phone 😅
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#sidmouth #devon #spring #sunshine #blossom #trees #river #nofilter #naturephotography #sunray #naturalbeauty #nature #nationaltrust #eastdevon #threecorneredleek #riverside #flowers #dailywalk #lockdown

The magical practices of the Celtic Druids were of

The magical practices of the Celtic Druids were often quite dark. The nemetons were sacred spaces, hidden groves, where frightening idols were displayed alongside the skulls of slain enemies. These skulls could be arranged into 'ghost fences' - a spiritual perimeter with the purpose of keeping out hostile intruders. It also wasn't unheard of for these same enemy skulls to be used as drinking vessels.
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In his brilliant book The Magical History of Britain, Martin Wall writes of these places: "In the dense woodlands the devotees of horned gods such as Cernunnos or Herne were honoured...the Druids were particularly prevalent in the forested areas and may have worn costumes which displayed antlers or horns. It is easy to see how their later demonisation by Christians came about."
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I love the idea of these sacred groves deep in the heart of the forests, and that they are sources of power for Pagan kings. Their nature is hidden, liminal, a tangle of primal and spiritual urges - completely opposite from the Romans with their straight roads and civitates. I wanted to situate Sistersong on the cusp of a new world order, where a people who have used magic for centuries begin to be tempted by the ideas coming out of Rome, including Christianity.
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Sistersong is the story of what happens when the king throws away his crown of light, forgets the sacred songs, abandons the nemetons to neglect and invites a new power into his house. It's a power his people do not know how to wield: a world without magic.
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#Sistersong #bookstagram #igreads #FolkloreThursday #folklore #pagan #celtic #druids #nemetons #amagicalhistoryofbritain #martinwall #romanempire #romanbritain #fantasy #historicalfantasy #religion #magic #herne #cernunnos #hornedgod #ancientbritain

My Untamed art print arrived from @redbubble! How

My Untamed art print arrived from @redbubble! How beautiful is it? My boys, those watercolours ❤ If you haven't encountered Mo Dao Zu Shi, what are you waiting for?* *maybe don't if you'd rather not become obsessed 😅 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
#theuntamed #modaozushi #chinesedrama #weiying #lanzhan #art #artprint #redbubble #moxiangtongxiu

Excited to acquire a Natasha Pulley that I haven't

Excited to acquire a Natasha Pulley that I haven't read! Well I've read about 100 pages now and immediately love Merrick and the fascinating setting. Natasha's history always feels very modern, which is why it pulls me in, I think, and makes it easy to empathise with characters who might otherwise feel very far away. Has anyone else read The Bedlam Stacks?
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#bookstagram #igreads #booklove #femalewriters #bookworm #beautifulbooks #readersofinstagram #bookphotography #alwaysreading #natashapulley #thebedlamstacks #historicalfiction #magicalrealism #exploration #bloomsburybooks

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