Welcome to the second and final part of Reading Myself Back To Life, in which I share some of the books that had quite the impact on me in 2020. If any of these books have found their way into your life too, I’d love to know. Or if you intend on getting any, I’d… Continue reading Reading Myself Back To Life: Books I Read In 2020 (Part II)
I had been avoiding my email inbox for ages, but yesterday, when my first poem of the year was refusing to come together, I found myself sneaking in to have a peek around and found an unread newsletter from the brilliant Austin Kleon. At the top of the newsletter was a link to Austin’s 100… Continue reading 2020 In 100 Good Things
Writing about the Slavic Pagan goddess Marzanna wasn't, for whatever reason, easy. Neither was capturing a portrait. It's happened a few times during the past weeks that things just haven't come together, no matter how hard I've tried. In theory, it should have been straightforward, she's the personification of my favourite season for crying out… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Marzanna
I can remember when I was told Father Christmas and his flying reindeer didn’t exist. I was eight and it was Christmas Eve. My auntie said she needed to have a word with me about something and took me into her room. When she closed the door behind us, I knew it was serious. I… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Deer Mother
I’m not quite sure what’s been going on the past few days. Everything had been going so well with this Darkest Days project…then I hit a block. My ideas were fucking awful meaning my photos were terrible, I couldn’t find the words to express what I wanted to say and my anxiety about my capability… Continue reading The Darkest Days – The White Witch
When I first started researching into the dark traditions surrounding Yule, I came across a few sentences (I can't remember where exactly...) about a Norwegian tradition that peaked my interest. The tradition is that, on Christmas Eve, folk across the land hide their brooms so lurking witches won't steal them for their night ride. However,… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Hiding The Brooms (Or Not…)
The Icelandic, child-eating ogress Grýla is, I think, one of the most fascinating figures in northern folklore. It's been about twelve or thirteen years since I first heard her name and became attached to the ancient mountain dweller. Though despite thinking about her on a pretty regular basis, there's still so much I need to… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Grýla
I never used to be nervous about writing a blog post. I never used to start and stall, start and stall. I never used to fret about what people might think of how I was expressing myself. But things are different now. I am nervous. I am starting and stalling. I do worry about what… Continue reading I Am In The Strangest Place
This time last weekend, two nurses from the Crisis Team sat in my parents living room, clad head to toe in PPE. They were asking me questions about how suicidal I was feeling, and trying to dissuade me from believing that the best place for me to be was in the hospital. I smiled (sadly)… Continue reading I Don’t Know How To Talk About This But I’ll Try Anyway
Celebrating the strange and the shadowy, the damned and unseen 