Bright blessings to everyone for the Winter Solstice and Yule! Apologies for the lateness of this newsletter.  As many of you already know, Mr B and I moved house at the end of October and we’ve been so busy since then unpacking and making the new house into our home.  We both have large families and we’ve had a constant stream of visitors since moving here - we’re very lucky indeed but it does mean that there’s never a quiet moment.  I’m very sorry if anyone has e- mailed me and not had a reply - please re-send it and I will try to catch up with everything. I’ve now finished my stint of promoting the Stonewylde books in bookshops all over the south of England.  I haven’t actually added up how many I’ve done since Magus was republished in May, but it’s an awful lot.  It’s been an interesting experience and I’ve met so many lovely people in the process.  Since the Samhain newsletter I’ve been to four Waterstones’ branches:  Portsmouth, Staines, Reading (the Oracle) and Cheltenham. Many thanks to all the brilliant staff for hosting me. As soon as Yule is over I shall be going into semi-hibernation and will only emerge to the world from time to time.  I’m under a very strict deadline from Orion for completion of the fifth and final Stonewylde book and must avoid all distractions such as the Stonewylde online community and the Internet in general.   In our new house I have my own writing room upstairs, overlooking the beautiful garden.  There’s a little area of woodland at the end, and a constant stream of birds (mostly starlings, great spotted woodpeckers, all types of tits, robins, magpies, crows, jays, wagtails but most of all - red kites!) and squirrels.  I’m really looking forward to sitting with my laptop in the armchair surrounded by my reference books, gazing out of the window and writing more Stonewylde.  It’s a very daunting task, completing the last book in a five book series.  My children and Mr B have long discussions about how the series will end - so far none of them have guessed right!  I’m hoping to resurrect my old Moongazy Girl blog and try to blog reasonably regularly about the whole process of writing.  I receive a lot of queries from people asking how to get published and my answer is always this - buy a copy of the latest Artists’ and Writers’ Yearbook and read all the relevant chapters before approaching a literary agent.  My 2012 blog will be all about the ups and downs of writing a novel - that’s the idea anyway and I hope I can stick to it.  It’ll be great if people can leave comments on the blog for me. Thank you to everyone for your support during 2011. It’s been a strange but exciting year, with four books published.  Sales figures have been good and the Stonewylde promo-pixies were brilliant, helping to tell the world about the series.  For all of you who’ve asked, I’m afraid the promotional film shot by Orion during the Avebury book- launch in August is still not available, but it has been promised for January so fingers crossed!  Mr B has some great ideas about a home- grown campaign for promoting Stonewylde using You-Tube - news about this and how you can help in the Imbolc newsletter.  Please subscribe to my Moongazy Girl blog and join me as I write the fifth book.  I shall be revealing snippets and asking for advice and opinions on the blog, so do join in.  A very happy 2012 to you all, and I hope you have a wonderful Yule/Christmas/Midwinter celebration.  Our first house-guest arrived today with several more to come - so it’s back to the kitchen for me! Bright blessings to all Stonewylde readers from Kit xxxxxxxx     Do join us and become part of our amazing Stonewylde Community.      Stonewylde Newsletter 40 December 21st 2011 Bright blessings at    to all Stonewylders What’s been going on ... So many cultures celebrate a mid-winter festival, in both ancient and modern times. The Winter Solstice is one of the four fire festivals, the time when in the Northern Hemisphere, the night is at its longest and the day at its shortest. To our ancestors it was a crucial time, when the sun reached the point in the calendar where it apparently "stood still" in the sky (the literal meaning of the word solstice) before beginning the return to longer days and shorter nights - something very significant for people whose survival centred on growing enough food and keeping warm. If you watch the sunrise and sunset from the same spot you'll be able to mentally mark your own solstice alignments - the point where the sun rises and sets on its shortest day. Stand in the same place on June 21st and compare these winter points to where it appears and disappears at the Summer Solstice. You'll realise the huge difference the Earth's tilt and orbit makes, although to our ancestors of course it was the sun which appeared to move. Corn Dollies in Winter  © Cornmother So many of our modern Christmas customs date from pagan times. Evergreens have long been part of the decorations for this festival – holly, ivy and fir. Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids and a venerated plant. Light, candles and wreaths have always been important for Yule, and the word yule comes from Old Norse “jul”. Christingles, St Lucia, St Stephen – all have their roots in ancient customs celebrated at this mid- winter festival. Even Father Christmas is said to perhaps have morphed from the shaman who would play a vital role in the  proceedings in the Northern Hemisphere. Some early art depicting this mid- winter benefactor portrays him in green robes – maybe a version of the Green Man? Herne the Hunter was a horned deity sacred to this time of year – a man with antlers sprouting from his head. Wassailing, when the orchards would be visited by bands of singers performing rituals around Visit the Stonewylde Website the trees, singing and drinking from a Wassail Cup to toast the trees and ensure their well-being for the year ahead – perhaps a forerunner of the bands of carol- singers who once traipsed around the village. What a mixture of cultures, beliefs and customs! At Stonewylde, the festival of the Winter Solstice and Yule is celebrated with fire and light. Candles are lit everywhere, a massive Yule log is decorated and lit in the Great Barn, which smoulders throughout the twelve days of the festival. The ashes of this are ploughed into the fields at Imbolc, along with the remains of Lammas’ corn dollies, to ensure fertility for the coming year. Evergreens are brought into the cottages and the Barn, particularly holly to represent the Holly King, who traditionally dies at this time to be replaced by the Oak King. Mistletoe is the sacred symbol, full of ancient and mystical significance. As a traditional, non-commercial community, Stonewylde doesn't indulge in a shopping frenzy and no gifts are exchanged. But children hang a green woollen sock by the hearth and the Yule Elves come out of the woodlands at midnight to fill the stockings with nuts, fudge and little hand- made gifts. Every cottage hangs an evergreen wreath made from woven holly, ivy and mistletoe on the front door to symbolise the never-ending wheel of the calendar. A candle in a lantern shines from every cottage parlour window to welcome back the sun and the Oak King. In the Great Barn there's feasting, dancing and party games every night during the Yule festival, which begins with a huge bonfire ceremony at the Solstice in the Stone Circle. All celebrations at Stonewylde begin here - the heart of the community. ©Steve Perry Mell Dolls © Cornmother