Summer Solstice – More Than Just
the First Day of Summer
It's Also My Beautiful Granddaughter's Birthday Tomorrow!
(June 20th 20:50 UTC, 1:50 PDT)
(June 20th 20:50 UTC, 1:50 PDT)
In historical terms, the Solstice is
the exact point of time when the daylight outstrips the night in
length. That’s hard to reckon, particularly since the exact point
in time depends on where you live. Why should that be?
Take a look at model of the solar system, specifically look at earth. If it’s properly oriented, then it’s a bit tilted, not straight up and down as you might think. Stand back a bit further, and you can see the earth doesn’t travel in a circle around the sun, but in a big oval called an ellipsis.
Since the Solstice varies when it
occurs (anywhere between June 20th -23rd), most
people won’t know exactly when the earth moves from Spring to
Summer. Instead, a variety of festivals from different countries and
people celebrate Midsummer. Fortunately, astronomers are available to
let us know exactly when the solstice occurs.
Many cultures celebrate the Summer Solstice. A few of these celebrations are: Adonia, St. John's Feast Day, Jani, Liða, Midsommar, Ivan Kupala Day, Juhannus, Mittumaari, Alban Hefin, Gwyl Ganol yr Haf, Sankthans, Jaanipäev, Keskikesä, and Rasos. Oh, my. That’s a lot of celebrating! Wherever you live, you can have a party.
Many cultures celebrate the Summer Solstice. A few of these celebrations are: Adonia, St. John's Feast Day, Jani, Liða, Midsommar, Ivan Kupala Day, Juhannus, Mittumaari, Alban Hefin, Gwyl Ganol yr Haf, Sankthans, Jaanipäev, Keskikesä, and Rasos. Oh, my. That’s a lot of celebrating! Wherever you live, you can have a party.
Another group of professionals other
than astronomers who can tell you when the solstice occurs are
witches. No, not the evil witches with warts and ugly noses, but the
Wiccans who inhabit my books and Galdorheim Island in the Barents
Sea. This is a fictional place, but is quite close to some very real
islands in the Arctic with very real people who live on them.
Midsummer for Wiccans is called Litha.
Just like every people who had some means to really look at the
movement of the stars and planets Well, the earth is moving, but from
where we stand, it appears the stars are the ones in motion. They
are, but I’d refer you to Doctor Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the narrator
of the Cosmos series, for exactly what’s going on in the universe.
In the second book of my Witches of
Galdorheim series, “Midnight Oil,” the exact time the Solstice
occurs is crucial to the plot. The magical midnight oil is a curative
required by a tribe of mutant Nenets tribespeople to heal the
radiation poisoning which deformed them. It must be administered at
the exact time the Solstice occurs. The year I selected had to have
that event occur (somewhere in the world) at almost precisely
midnight on June 20th (close to this year's 11:43pm Murmansk Oblast Time). Some confusion about the exact
moment of the Solstice almost leads to the restorative oil to arrive
late at its destination. After all, the Solstice usually occurs on
the 21st, but not this year.
A lot happens to thwart my heroes from
delivering the oil on time and in good condition. An evil forest
spirit happens to possess the oil. But this isn’t simply a “find
the magical thing and deliver it” plot. There’s a lot going on in
“Midnight Oil.” A kidnapped boyfriend, mutant tribesfolk, Ajatar
the forest spirit, a man who was tragically disemvoweled (lost the
ability to pronounce a, e, i, o, or u and sometimes y), a witch
trapped on the lost island of Atlantis with the Loch Ness monster,
and, um, there’s lots more to discover in the book.
So, back to Litha, the Wiccan midsummer
celebration. One of the most famous places in the world to observe
the Solstice is at Stonehenge in England, but only if the Solstice
occurs during daylight hours (not this year). Nevertheless, the midsummer
celebrations (June 25th) take place no matter what time the Solstice actually
happens. Stonehenge would be a great place to
party.
Fun thing to do: Find out when the
Solstice occurs where you live (compare your local time to Greenwich
Meantime).
All the Galdorheim Series books are all on sale at Smashwords in July. Amazon prices vary with various marketing campaigns. Keep checking back. The Compleat and True History of the Witches of Galdorheim (all books and stories) is only $5.99.
BAD SPELLING
A klutzy witch, a shaman's curse, a quest to save her family. Can Kat find her magic in time?
If you’re a witch living on a remote arctic island, and the entire island runs on magic, lacking magical skills is not just an inconvenience, it can be a matter of life and death–or, at least, a darn good reason to run away from home.
Katrina’s spells don’t just fizzle; they backfire with spectacular results, oftentimes involving green goo. A failure as a witch, Kat decides to run away and find her dead father’s non-magical family. But before she can, she stumbles onto why her magic is out of whack: a curse from a Siberian shaman.
The young witch, accompanied by her half-vampire brother, must travel to the Hall of the Mountain King and the farthest reaches of Siberia to regain her magic, dodging attacks by the shaman along the way.
All the Galdorheim Series books are all on sale at Smashwords in July. Amazon prices vary with various marketing campaigns. Keep checking back. The Compleat and True History of the Witches of Galdorheim (all books and stories) is only $5.99.
A klutzy witch, a shaman's curse, a quest to save her family. Can Kat find her magic in time?
If you’re a witch living on a remote arctic island, and the entire island runs on magic, lacking magical skills is not just an inconvenience, it can be a matter of life and death–or, at least, a darn good reason to run away from home.
Katrina’s spells don’t just fizzle; they backfire with spectacular results, oftentimes involving green goo. A failure as a witch, Kat decides to run away and find her dead father’s non-magical family. But before she can, she stumbles onto why her magic is out of whack: a curse from a Siberian shaman.
The young witch, accompanied by her half-vampire brother, must travel to the Hall of the Mountain King and the farthest reaches of Siberia to regain her magic, dodging attacks by the shaman along the way.
Shipwrecked on a legendary island, how can a witch rescue her boyfriend if she can’t even phone home?
Kat is a nervous wreck waiting for her boyfriend's first visit to her Arctic island home. He doesn't show up, so she's sure he’s given her the brushoff.
When she learns he’s disappeared, she sets out on a mission to find him. Things go wrong from the start. Kat is thrown overboard during a violent storm, while her brother and his girlfriend are captured by a mutant island tribe. The mutants hold the girlfriend hostage, demanding the teens recover the only thing that can make the mutants human again–the magical Midnight Oil.
Mustering every bit of her Wiccan magic, Kat rises to the challenge. She invokes her magical skills, learns to fly an ultralight, meets a legendary sea serpent, rescues her boyfriend, and helps a friendly air spirit win the battle against her spiteful sibling. On top of it all, she’s able to recover the Midnight Oil and help the hapless mutants in the nick of time.
A magical trip to Stonehenge lands a witch in the Otherworld where an ancient goddess is up to no good.
Kat expects to have a great time on her graduation trip to Stonehenge. However, from the moment she leaves the witches’ arctic island, Galdorheim, she gets in nothing but trouble. Her younger half-brother tries to horn in on her trip, she gets lost in the magical Otherworld realm, is led astray by a supposed friend, then she has to confront a Scottish goddess who’s fallen on hard times.
While dodging the goddess’ minions and trying to find her way out of the Otherworld, Kat soon learns she shouldn’t underestimate the old has-been for one second; the crone still has a few tricks that can drain a witch’s magic in a flash. To make matters worse, Kat's brother secretly followed her into the Otherworld. Now he’s in danger too. Kat has to go one on one with the goddess to save herself and her brother.
BLOOD TIES TESTED (Sequel Story)Unfortunate events lead a half vampire boy into indulging his vampire side, leaving him with regret and sadness. Can dear old Dad help him forgive himself?
Following the events in the series Witches of Galdorheim, this additional tale relates what happens to Katrina the Witch's younger brother, Rune. Half vampire and half warlock, he faces life with a wisecrack and some powerful magic. Whatever happens, he does not want to be a vampire like his father. Unfortunate events lead him to fatally call on his vampire half. This failure leaves him in anguish. How can he assuage the guilt he feels? His mother thinks he needs to visit dead old dad, a vampire residing in the Tatras Mountains of Slovakia.
What does a teenage half-warlock, half-vampire do to have fun? Why build an old west town on a glacier in the Arctic. There he can play at being the good guy sheriff up against mean old Black Bart.
That things will go horribly wrong is a given. But how does Rune get into and out of the predicament?
This prequel story to the Witches of Galdorheim series gives the reader a chance to get to know the smart-aleck kid, Rune, before he got his magic down pat.
No comments:
Post a Comment