Tag: writing

Muse in Brief

The Tale of Mabon: A Bedtime Story » No Unsacred Place

Alison Leigh Lilly

In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I share the story from Welsh mythology of Mabon, son of Modron, in honor of the coming autumnal equinox. This story was originally published on the former site of Meadowsweet & Myrrh back in 2009. In the comment section of the original post, a reader asked, "I've never understood the connection between this tale and the Equinox. Can you help with that connection?" This was my reply: "In Druidry, the autumnal equinox is not actually called Mabon, but instead goes by the name Alban Elfed/Elued (Welsh, meaning 'Light of the Water/Sea'). ..."

Holy Wild, Mythology & History

Not Really Dead (or, Bigger On The Inside)

Alison Leigh Lilly

We know he can’t stay in his current state of denial — we know he has the potential for greatness that demands he rise to the occasion, to become better than he was before. But that doesn’t make that transformative moment any less painful, nor the grief at the loss of humble John Smith, the old, limited self, any less poignant. The truth is that we grieve the old self because we love the old self, deeply, and the old self was a self of love. It had to be. Otherwise, we could never have been able to transform in the first place.

Holy Wild, Poetry & Music

How to Become a Poet

Alison Leigh Lilly

When I was a sophomore in high school, I applied for a really exclusive summer school for aspiring student artists. I had been fancying myself a writer since first grade, and more specifically a poet since fourth or fifth. I was anxious but confident. I made it past the first round of interviews.... but I didn't get in. Today I stumbled across two pieces of internet flotsam that reminded me of that teenage, poetry-ridden self of mine. The second was an article by Jim Moore, who recently saw his seventh book of poetry into print. Moore writes: "People sometimes ask, especially parents of aspiring writers, 'What does it take to become a poet?' From my own experience I would say four things matter most. Everything else takes care of itself. ..."

Holy Wild, News & Announcements

New Anthology of Pagan Fiction!

Alison Leigh Lilly

It's finally here! The Scribing Ibis: An Anthology of Pagan Fiction in Honor of Thoth was officially released today, and it's now available in paperback through the Bibliotheca Alexandrina online store. It will also be available soon on Amazon.com and Amazon UK, as well as on Smashwords in a variety of ebook formats. There's more info available on the Bibliotheca Alexandrina website, but you can catch a sneak peek at the blurb and the Table of Contents here. Plus, keep your eyes peeled for the up-coming Meadowsweet Book Give-Away and a chance to win a copy of the anthology for yourself!

Contemplation & Meditation, Holy Wild

In the Wake of Controversy

Alison Leigh Lilly

Google Analytics is fascinating. For instance, this past week and a half, my readership shot up to more than 10 times the average of the previous week (thanks to my inadvertently controversial post, "I am a Conscientious Objector in the Spiritual War"), before dropping back down to pre-bump numbers. The majority of these referrals came from Facebook. Yet when I look at the statistics for time spent actually viewing pages on the website, a shocking 60% of those viewers spent 1 - 10 seconds on the site. Another 20% spent 11 - 180 seconds viewing the site. Which means that about 80% of readers from this past week spent less than three minutes actually reading the contents of the site before navigating away again.