A new Fair Folk podcast episode & my appearance on Nordic Animism Channel
September as the Holy Month & re-enchanting Northern European song traditions
Good day!
Yesterday I went for a walk up a nearby moor to visit a nearby sacred spring and I couldn’t help but notice a new chill in the air. Despite the fact I was walking steadily uphill, if I stopped for even a few minutes to sip some tea, or to greet that lovely running spring, I had to re-apply my wool winter coat and scarf and tuck my hands deep in my pockets.
I can feel winter whispering on the horizon, winter which in the old Germanic and Celtic calendars would have arrived on the first full moon after the new moon after the equinox. If October holds the gates of winter with the Samhain and Winterfylleþ moons marking its entry, then I wonder if the upcoming equinox, September 22nd this year, is winter’s polite knock on that frosty gate.
A few days ago I released a new almanac episode of Fair Folk podcast, where I shared about ritual and natural features of this month, including its paradoxical position as a holy month of harvest, as the Old English name Haligmonað suggests, alongside my own (debatable of course) observation that the equinox was not specifically a matter of much ritual activity in the last thousand years or so, relative to other months. Aside from the harvest, that is. It’s complicated, and fascinating, and if you haven’t I hope you’ll give it a listen!
In the episode I also speak to traditions surrounding the spirits of the grain with the harvest of the last sheaf, the upcoming lunar eclipse and its possible folk song accompaniments, apples as love letters from the ancestors and the Earth, and Michaelmas — when supernatural beings do unkindly things to the blackberries.
I hope you’ll listen on the podcast platform of your choice. Here it is on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts. If you’ve already heard it, I encourage you to share it with someone you think would enjoy it, or on social media. I find it sweet and fitting that the main way people find my work is through word of mouth. I appreciate it so much.
Northern European Singing Tradition and Animism on Nordic Animism channel
I’ve known Rune Hjarno Rasmussen, host of Nordic Animism channel and author of the (excellent, essential) book, the Nordic Animist Year, for a few years now as a fellow heathen/pagan researcher, and finally we made a little something together to share with the world.
Rune interviewed me a few weeks ago for his YouTube channel to chat about singing traditions in northern Europe and their relation (historical and present) to animist ritual. And now that interview is live online!
It was an absolutely lovely and, I think, very rich conversation. If you take the time to watch or listen, I hope it brings you some inspiration!
And! spend the dark days dreaming by the fire with us
A reminder that my new collaborative workshop series with Scottish storyteller Daniel Allison, Cave of Dreams, starts September 22nd!
You get all four workshops at £30 instead of £35 if you join before the series starts.
All the best to you,
Danica
I am so very grateful for you Almanac podcasts. They are magical and they ground me as the seasons of the year shift and change. Thank you so much for creating and sharing!
Appreciate you!