Casting Light…

2013-Light-Darkness[1]

Midwinter Eve – traditionally a time beset with the magic upon which our myth and legend is built. Until recently, I worked as a fantasy writer and my life revolved around creatures like the Gan Ceanach, the Caointeach or the Ban Nighechain who were particularly active at the darkest times of night. It was even considered a time when we as humans could pass through the curtain between us and the fey life.

This post is meant to be shedding light upon the dark, and my historical fantasies could do that – they could beguile you, light your torch, take you on a dangerous dancing journey led by the flickering golden illumination of the Teine Sidhe.

ChroniclesOfEirie_Banner

But here, where I live, it is midsummer. Whilst you in the north celebrate the longest night and the shortest day, we are celebrating the longest day and the shortest night.

So how do I shed light on your dark?

I think the best way is to give you some of our light, just for this day.

DSC00051

DSC00206

DSC00312

DSC00052

DSC00731

DSC00762

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The images are taken from an island, Maria Island (pronounced like Mariah Carey).

It’s not far from House and is where we spend a lot of time in all seasons bar winter. It’s small, inhabited only by a ranger, seasonal walkers and boaties and has an eccentric history beginning with our original Australians through colonial convict settlement, on to later odd business developments that all failed, to now being a World Heritage site. I am sure you can see why…

Feel free to use it to illuminate and warm your way through the rest of winter and into the burgeoning light of spring. After all we’ve got plenty of light and can share…

Please visit all the other blogs who are Casting Light and have a wonderful winter solstice if you’re in the north and summer solstice if you are living in the south.

  1. Helen Hollick : A little light relief concerning those dark reviews! Plus Prize Giveaway!
  2. Debra Brown  : The use of Light on Book Cover Art
  3. Alison Morton ‎ Shedding light on the Roman dusk
  4. Anna Belfrage  Let there be light!
  5. Beth Elliott : Steering by the Stars: Stratford Canning in Constantinople, 1810 -12
  6. Melanie Spiller : Lux Aeterna, the chant of eternal light
  7. Janet Reedman   The Winter Solstice Monuments
  8. Petrea Burchard  : Darkness – how did people of the past cope with the dark?
  9. Richard Denning title to be announced
  10. Pauline Barclay Shedding Light on a Traditional Pie
  11. David Ebsworth : Propaganda in the Spanish Civil War
  12. David Pilling  :  Greek Fire
  13. Debbie Young  Fear of the Dark
  14. Derek Birks Lies, Damned Lies and … Chronicles
  15. Mark Patton : Casting Light on Saturnalia
  16. Tim Hodkinson : title to be announced
  17. Wendy Percival  : Ancestors in the Spotlight
  18. Judy Ridgeley The Twelve Days of Christmas
  19. Suzanne McLeod  : title to be announced
  20. Katherine Bone   : Admiral Nelson, A Light in Dark Times.
  21. Christina Courtenay : link and title to be announced
  22. Edward James  : The secret life of Christopher Columbus; Which Way to Paradise?
  23. Janis Pegrum Smith  : title to be announced
  24. Julian Stockwin  : Ghost Ships – and a prize Giveaway!
  25. Manda Scott : Dark into Light – Mithras, and the older gods
  26. Pat Bracewell Anglo-Saxon Art: Splendor in the Dark
  27. Lucienne Boyce We will have a fire – 18th Century protests against enclosure
  28. Nicole Evelina What Lurks Beneath Glastonbury Abbey?
  29. Sky Purington  : The Scotch-Irish Impact on American Holidays. 
  30. Stuart MacAllister (Sir Read A Lot) The Darkness of Depression