Bring It Back(list) ~ Oak, by PG Forte

Happy Winter Solstice everyone! I posted a few days ago about yoga and how similar a yoga practice is to the act of writing, but I was in class again today—on the Solstice—and we did several variations of Tree Pose, which took my mind right to OAK. For those of you who don’t know this book (which was previously released under the title The Oak King) it’s a reframing of the Oak King, Holly King story as a Solstice-centric, MMF, holiday ménage romance, set in 19^th century Ireland.

Because who doesn’t love a little genre blending? And it just wouldn’t be the holidays without a Holiday Menage (I’m looking at you, Finders Keepers).

Anyway, back to yoga. Several of us were having more problems this morning than usual with our balance (in life as well as on our mats, I think!) and so my teacher spent a lot of time discussing the importance of finding the balance between alertness and relaxation. While we were in Reclining Tree Pose she also talked about how the mind has a tendency to drift away from the body…

Which was when my mind left the room entirely, and went directly to this scene at the end of Oak. It’s the morning of the Winter Solstice, and Fionn has just begun his six-month reign as The Oak King:

The world was not what it once was. Of that Fionn O’Dair was certain. It was a bright and beautiful place this pristine morning. A world reborn. Though it still slumbered in its snowy bed, he could feel the life within it. Curled up and folded in upon itself, it was like a seed in the dark, awaiting the light of the sun’s rays to quicken it and bring it forth. As his mind expanded outward, Fionn was aware of the joy that lay at the center of all creation. He could feel it aching to break free and explode into the world in swollen creeks after a spring thaw, in sweet-scented blossoms unfurling on a leafy branch, in newborn lambs dancing in the meadow.

He felt like dancing himself, if only that were possible. It was not, however. It would be several long months before he could dance again. This morning, even that was all right. He was content to stand here, tall and proud, ruling over the woodlands, protecting all that he held dear…

the Oak King’s thoughts drifted and spread, traveling throughout the forests and the woodlands, all across the Greenworld; life calling to life. Far and wide his thoughts went, to the ends of the earth and back again, whispering the world awake on this perfect winter morning.

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Twice each year, Aine Murphy ventures into the woods to hold ceremonies to honor the Oak King and the Holly King, never dreaming these Lords of the Forest could be anything more than myth. When the legends spring to life in front of her, how can she help but fall for the sexy demi-gods she's loved all her life?

From midwinter to midsummer, Fionn O'Dair rules the Greenworld as the Oak King--a role he feels is beyond his abilities, and one that dooms him to a loveless future, forever craving the one man he can never allow himself to have. How can he resist what Aine offers--the sweet devotion that soothes his aching soul, and the slim chance to live a "normal" life as her husband, if only for half a year?

Holly King Kieran Mac Cuilenn never desired a human lover--until now. Seeing Fionn and Aine together fills him with longing for the love he threw away and awakens feelings he thought he'd buried with the last Oak King. Is there enough magic in the solstice to correct the mistakes he made years ago? Or is he doomed to be forever left out in the cold?

https://www.amazon.com/Oak-Celtic-Legends-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07GJCYKTL

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Just as a reminder, I'm still offering these Free Reads for the Holidays! Also, I'd like to invite you to join my Facebook Group, The Crone's Nest. I'm not sure yet what I'll be giving away to my group this year, but join it and find out! 

Free For The Holidays

This Winter Night

Winter Hearts 0.25

Newlyweds Dario and Ophelia Leonides are passionately in love. There are only two things marring their happiness this holiday season—Lia's homesickness and her continued inability to conceive a child.

Dario would do anything to make his wife smile again. He's hoping to use the miraculous technology his father-in-law has pioneered, combined with the magic inherent in his native land. But calling upon the forces of Kokopeli may have unintended consequences. 

This prequel to This Winter Heart is available as a FREE READ.

Click HERE  to download.

Counting On Christmas

An Ugly Christmas Sweater Story

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This Ugly Christmas Sweater short story features the characters Mike and Claire from Let Me Count the Ways (LA Love Lessons, book 3). Mike's been a very good boy this year and Santa Claire has the perfect present picked out for him--one that's both naughty and nice!

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***This story was originally released as part of the Nine Naughty Novelists' Ugly Christmas Sweater story collection ~ Volume I***

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Click HERE to download.

YULE - The ancient traditions live on

The shortest day and longest night of 2018 falls on Friday, December 21st.

We call it the Solstice, and it marks the point at which the days begin to lengthen. Our ancestors rejoiced in the return of the sun, seeing it as a rebirth of life as well as light. We get pretty excited about it too! 

The Solstice also marks the beginning of Yule or Yuletide, which will run for 12 days until January 1st, 2019. The word Yule is likely from an old Nordic word for wheel. With the coming of Yule, the “wheel of the year” has rolled around to its beginning once more.  

We still refer to the Christmas season as Yuletide. Many of the old traditions associated with the solstice have lived on, although some have evolved to better fit modern life. There are too many to list, but I've touched on a few favorites. See if you recognize them!

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THE YULE LOG

In ancient times, the Yule Log was not a tidy piece of wood but a whole tree! Selecting it was governed by a number of customs - sometimes the tree had to be a gift from someone else, sometimes it could be a tree already growing on your land. It could never, ever be bought. 

Once chosen, it was dragged into the house with great ceremony, and the wide end would be set in the fireplace, leaving the remainder of the tree extending far into the room! 

A piece of last year's log would be used to kindle the new one. And slowly the massive log would be pushed into the fire over the course of twelve days. Afterwards, the ashes were scattered over fields to ensure a bountiful harvest in the year to come. Some of the ashes might be kept to be used in medicines for both man and beast.

Medieval tradition favored a large ash or oak log rather than the entire tree. It was often decorated with evergreens, and pouring ale or wine on the log was customary. So was sprinkling flour or breadcrumbs on it, or even placing coins on the log. All were said to bring good fortune, and the blackened coins were later given as gifts.

In Victorian times the size of your fireplace dictated the size of your Yule log. As large fireplaces fell out of fashion, smaller logs were decorated and holes were bored into the wood to hold candles, which would then be burned for 12 nights. 

The French were the first to create an edible Yule log, calling it "Buche de Noel", and Victorian confectioners made these Yule cakes famous. You can still find them in bakery departments today.

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THE YULE TREE

The Celts were just one of many peoples who believed evergreens to be symbolic of immortality, of continuing life in the midst of death. In the coldest, darkest and dreariest of winters, evergreens held forth hope of returning spring. Throughout many cultures and over countless centuries, homes and barns have been decorated with evergreen boughs and other bright winter greenery. The branches were often believed to provide protection for both people and livestock from dark spirits, faeries, and other supernatural beings.

The practice of decorating actual trees originated long before what we know as Christmas today. Druidic customs called for the adorning of sacred trees, especially oak, which were leafless at this time of year.

The trees were never cut down and brought into the house, but left alive and decorated wherever they grew with offerings of trinkets, trophies, sacred plants such as holly and mistletoe, bits of metal and sometimes replicas of gods and goddesses. 

The Romans later adopted this tradition of decorating trees for their own solstice celebration called Saturnalia.


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THE YULETIDE WREATH

Wreaths have symbolized the wheel of the year since ancient times, and the word wreath comes from the Old English writhen, meaning "to twist".  In many European countries, evergreen wreaths were lit with candles during the darkest winter days, symbolizing hope that light would return. 

Holly wreaths were said to ward off the evil spirits that abounded during the darkness of midwinter, and holly might be kept near the door all year long to invite good fortune.

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THE YULE GOAT

The Yule Goat or Julbock was central to solstice traditions in Scandinavia and northern Europe. A human dressed in goatskins and wearing long horns acted out a skit in which he “died” and returned to life. This was symbolic of the sun’s resurrection at solstice. (The goat guise was chosen because the Norse thunder god Thor had two goats which drew his chariot across the sky. He would occasionally kill the goats and use them to feed guests, then would restore them to life with a blow of his magical hammer.)

Goats were originally slaughtered as offerings during Yule, but later, goats made of straw were created annually as both decorations and effigies. Since 1966, a 42-foot straw goat named Gävlebocken - who weighs 3 tons! - has made the town of Gävle, Sweden, famous. 

(PS - You can keep track of Gävlebocken on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Gavlebocken , and see if he makes it through the season this year. Many "Friends of Gävlebocken" watch over him and try to keep him intact, because a tradition has emerged to burn the giant straw goat to the ground in the middle of the night!)

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YULE GHOSTS

The Victorians were famous for telling ghost stories during the holidays, but they didn't invent it. The practice actually goes all the way back to pagan times, when the coming of Yule was believed to bring about a thinning of the veil between worlds as the death and rebirth of the sun occurs. 

Not only ghosts, but evil spirits, trolls, witches, faeries, werewolves, and many other supernatural beings were said to wander freely. Even the Wild Hunt was more active during the 12 days of Yule. 

In Scandinavia, gifts were often left outside at this time – bowls of pudding and cream, clothes, tobacco and even ale – in order to appease some of these creatures. The most perilous time occurred between cock’s crow and dawn, when supernatural beings were at the peak of their power. To go outside meant risking death or being carried off by them, never to be seen again.

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YOUR TURN - Do you follow any Yule traditions in your family? Do you know of any customs surrounding Yuletide that haven't been mentioned?
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This full-length novel is Book One
of The Haunted Holiday Series

THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

A Yuletide Paranormal Romance 
by Dani Harper


COUNSELING GHOSTS DOESN'T LEAVE ROOM FOR A LOVE LIFE...

Shopping for Christmas, author Kerri Tollbrook is more annoyed than startled when a ghost tells her a gift she's about to buy will end up in the nearest donation bin. He's right, and well... gorgeous with those haunted brown eyes and self-assured bearing. Unlike most men, he's not afraid of her unusual gift. And the connection she feels surprises her. But even she can't date a dead man.


INVISIBLE FOR A YEAR...

Firefighter Galen McAllister is stunned the petite redhead can see and hear him. It feels almost normal to talk to another human again, but if things were truly normal, he'd alread be asking her out. The woman is a triple threat – smart, funny, pretty, even if she's insisting he needs to "cross over". He can't, not after an ancient evil ripped him away from his body. And he refuses to leave as long as the creature is free to do the same to others.

A RITUAL TO PURGE EVIL...

There's no time to kiss under the mistletoe. The demon with a taste for human life force is coming back for a final feast. Helping ghosts is one thing, but Kerri is determined to banish the monster by any means necessary, even if Galen only wants enough "answers" to help him take the demon down himself.

She can't let Galen die for real. He can't bear to put Kerri in the creature's path. But if they don't work together on this, they aren't the only ones who will die just in time for Christmas.


The Holiday Spirit is available in ebook and paperback on Amazon 
https://www.amazon.com/DP/B013Z0F31M

It’s the End of the World as We Know It...and I Want Cocoa

Yes, I know; I’m probably the five-millionth person to write a blog post with this title today. Well, maybe not the cocoa part. ;)

If we’re all still here, I’m doing a special giveaway of a Mayan  Xocolatl hot cocoa gift set from Stella Leona and one of the books in my House of Arkhangel’sk series.

Xocolatl is a Mayan inspired hot chocolate beverage with a hint of cinnamon. Add milk and garnish with whipped cream. Um, yes, please. Yum!

Although the cocoa is Mayan, my series takes place in Russia, so I thought I’d share some Winter Solstice traditions from that part of the world.

It’s on this longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere that many of the rituals we now associate with Christmas originated. Celebrations of light emerging from darkness were common among pagan religions. In ancient Russia, Winter Solstice was the festival of Perun, the god of thunder and lightning, and of high places.

According to the website Trans-SiberianExperience, “The festivities for the Winter Solstice would have been led by Siberian shamans. They dressed themselves in a special festive hooded warm winter gown, adorned with exotic items. To work their magic, they would put themselves in a trance – in this trance they would fly through the air, in a sleigh drawn by reindeer. To celebrate the festival they would give attractive lucky charms to children, to bring them good fortune in the year to come. Does that sound like anyone we know?”

Perun, according to the same website, is the son of Bielobog, god of light. On the Winter Solstice, Bielobog triumphs over Chernobog, god of darkness, in their eternal battle. There’s some argument as to whether these are two separate gods or two aspects of one god (or whether these gods of duality are actually a modern construct and were never worshipped at all), but the message remains the same—the ascendancy of light over the darkness begins after the longest night of the year.

And in Russia, the longest night is seriously that. In St. Petersburg, there are less than six hours of daylight today, while farther north in Arkhangel’sk, it’s less than four. And if you aren’t lucky enough to have a fire demon to keep you warm through the longest night like my character Anazakia in The Fallen Queen, I’m sure it will seem very long indeed.

But there’s something especially magical about the longest night, wherever you happen to be, because we know the darkness has reached its nadir and things can only get better from here. Which, after recent events here in the US, I hope very much is true.

To enter my giveaway to win a copy of one of my Arkhangel’sk books and a cup of Mayan xocolatl to keep you warm while you read, see the Rafflecopter below. One winner will be chosen at random on Christmas Eve.

The House of Arkhangel'sk - A dark retelling of The Snow Queen, war in Heaven, and the last days of Imperial Russia. Epic fantasy with an urban twist.

a Rafflecopter giveaway