Hello everyone!

Well, well, well, I did manage to finish the novella during the week, which I'm pleased to announce. It was on Thursday that it happened and I think, with a word count on that day of over 4,700 words, I think its the most productive day I've had in a while. The novella now weighs in at a little over 25,000 words so far. 

I've yet to do an edit on it though and I think that it will be cut down a bit, but I'm expecting that. I'm sort of aiming to self publish this novella and as long as it totals more than 8,400 words in total, I'm happy as there are minimum restrictions to stuff being published in the way I'd like to.

Anyway, it has now been added to a 'to be edited' pile with a couple of short stories in the same series. I want to do another couple of novellas and about 4 short stories that I'd like to have down in first draft form and then I'll work through the stack, editing it.

Though with the next few stories, I'd like to make that post four thousand word daily total an average. Perhaps I am being hard on myself with that as I am sort of comparing my productivity to what I was able to do a handful of years ago, but those days saw me working so hard, I ended up in hospital. So that's something to work around. Anyway, the 1,400 words a day average I did during the novella, I'm happy enough with.

Anyway, what have I been doing since Thursday?

I've been planning the next couple of stories: that's what. There is a short story based on what happens when a wizard college pub has a bar room brawl and  there is a novella based on a three way battle over a trans dimensional portal to a pocket dimension at the centre of a Fimir village. Pirates are involved.

Friday saw me also attend a birthday party. The lady who inspired the sidekick in my novella had her 50th birthday, which was nice.

Also, yesterday was May Day, a day of celebration for me, and celebrate I did. I'm feeling much the worse the ware for it today though. But after seeing my dad, I went to The Dolphin and The Flowerpot in Derby and a few friends were bumped into there, which was nice. Though I had pencilled in meeting a friend in the suburbs for an afternoon trip, but things were left a bit late to organise things with that.

But anyway, if you like Vikings, history and folktales, take a look at his YouTube channel here.

The Flowerpot, Derby

The Dolphin, Derby

Hello all!

I woke up today to find that I had had a new book delivered. It's called Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards. I got my copy from Blackwells, but Amazon has it as well. Blackwells of Oxford is a curiosity in it which is almost next door to the Bodleian Museum and seems like a curiosity in itself and I'm impressed by its service and website. I even got a bookmark with my order, which is nice. But I was mainly going to talk briefly about Backwoods Witchcraft.

Backwoods Witchcraft mainly talks about the folk magic from the Appalachian Mountains, which seems to have preserved many old European practises as well as practises from Voodoo and Hoodoo because of its secluded settlements. The author, Jake Richards is very knowledgeable on the subject as he comes from one of those communities and has grown up with these practises. I'm still to delve into it properly, but there is a curious section about the use of the bible and the role of Christianity in the area - which the book is quite complimentary about so would accommodate any Christian Witches or any wanting to incorporate Christian entities into their craft.

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards

I picked this volume up for two main reasons. The first is that I wanted to look into some of the practises that had arrived in the Americas from Europe. As the communities were secluded, they seem to have been bypassed by some of the witch hunts that plagued Europe and much of New England or The South, so many practises and a mentality that was present at the time of the colonisation of America, before even the English Civil War could very well be present. It would be curious to explore some clues into it at least.

The second reason to get this book was because a friend of mine had received a copy as a gift and had recommended it. She is covering it chapter by chapter on her YouTube Channel called Jenn The Taxidermy Witch ifer. She has covered the introduction, and has, as of today, completed reading the second chapter of eleven.

Apart from this, today sort of feels like its been a bit of a none starter. I helped a bit with moderating a new tarot Youtuber page on facebook and also, a Viking Folklore channel I'm involved with called Northworthy Sagas and Stories uploaded an unboxing video and I had something to do with its promotion. Here it is:

The host of Northworthy Sagas and Stories also wanted to restart a gamer channel on a site called Mixer. He has a good concept - a Viking plays Viking games - which is curious and he would be able to tell historical anecdotes while playing and answer questions, as he is planning of playing the games while in period dress. I think its a cool concept. Unfortunately, I'm still a little unsure what I'm doing with the main site.

Other than that, I'm behind on writing up the article on the first Aicme of the Ogham Runes (batch of five). And that's somewhat irritated me, even though other things have been happening. I have also been planning a short story that I'm eager to start, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a little while before I start. I'd much prefer to have a fair stretch of time to devote to it and I think it could be roughly a week before that happens. I also think it could take a bit of time to organise the information about the Aicme of the Ogham Runes into something I would like to put up on here. I'm probably going to need to spread out properly as my Book of Shadows is quite large and I'm probably going to need other note taking things about me.

That also reminds me, could some pictures of my Book of Shadows be of interest? I made it by hand.

Anyway, let me know and until next time, may your sleep soothe your soul and may you wake refreshed.

Hello all!

I had a slow day today and I wish I could say that I got more done. Its been so warm that I've been so drained and still feel that, even at 2am, that I haven't woken up properly.

But it's been pleasant. I was down by the river earlier, on my way home and was entertained to witness a raven chase off a hoard of ducks who had the audacity to nest on dry land. Those damn water birds! Coming and dominating dry land! It tickled me that a raven could be such an arse.

Other than that, I've been watching some Carolyn Emerick. Particularly a talk she recently did on Animism. She does curious talks about the history of paganism and paganism in the modern age.

I also managed to order a couple of new books and found myself getting quite emotional for past and lost moments while ordering them. I may cover it more as time goes on. But anyway, these should be quite curious books. Both are by Philip K Dick. I managed to get his The Divine Invasion (second in the Valis Trilogy, I have the others) and also his Exegesis which has been collected into one volume quite recently. Both were heavily influenced by some very strange and very personal events that happened To Philip K Dick in 1974. I have an urge to try and clitique them at some point, but it may be some time before I do so.

I did get some reading done today. There is a book I've been particularly enjoying since I started. It's called Brunt Boggart by David Greygoose. I know little about the author, but anyone who has reviews by Alan Moore, John Reppion, Kevin Crossley-Holland and Emily Portman must be good. It's a collection of interconnected folktales, written in a very narrate-able style. The common factor is that the tales lead a boy found in the woods on a journey to find his mother. I'm not far in but I can well imagine that these tales could be read in front of any mead hall audience of mixed members.

A Tapestry of Tales: Brunt Boggart by David Greygoose

Today, I found that a YouTube Channel called Madwitch that I follow is a big fan of books by Tylluan Penry of the Wolfenhowle Press and is a lover of her own YouTube channel as well. She makes some lovely and well researched books on numerous pagan and witchcraft topics.

Otherwise, I've been trying to help set up a Facebook group for small time Tarot Youtubers. If you are one, please visit.

I also mustn't forget that today saw Northworthy Sagas upload a new folktale for Folklore Thursday. I hope you enjoy it:

I haven't managed to do much in the way of writing up the first five Ogham Runes yet. I have an idea of how I will go about it. I have a feeling that could take a few days to do properly. I want to condense the information down properly so that I portray them properly and so that it can be part of a decent 'how to cast Ogham Runes' page that can be added to in stages. I would also need to give a brief history of the Ogham Runes as well. I wouldn't be doing them justice if I didn't put them in context. I'm really enjoying learning about them.

That is today's news. Not much, but things are progressing. I would like to leave you on a curious quote I found by WB Yeats which I found today:

"I believe in the practise and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in the visions of truth in the depths of the mind when the eyes are closed; and I believe in three doctrines, which have, as I think, been handed down from early times, and been the foundations of nearly all magical practises. These doctrines are: 1) That the borders of our minds are ever shifting, and that many minds can flow into one another, as it were, and create a single mind, a single energy. 2) That the borders of our memories are as shifting, and that our memories are a part of one great memory, the memory of Nature herself. 3) That this great mind and great memory can be evoked by symbols."

WB Yeats

Hello everyone,

Phew, that's the Christmas period over, and sorry that it's been such a while since I last was in touch.

A few things have been in the pipeline over Christmas. I have a short story coming out soon that will be incorporated inside a heavy metal album. There will be more about that later on, nearer the album's release date, then I can give you lots more details.

I will be adding a few more pages and a bit more content on here. I would like to re-upload parts of Thomas of Newburgh's History of English Affairs from my old blog. These will be the juice parts that involve curious phenomena and the supernatural, which include zombie revenant sightings, twin suns in the sky and the Green Children of Woolpit. I hope you will enjoy those.

The other thing that will be seen on my blog will be a sporadic series of curious folkloric, supernatural and historical things that tickle my imagination. I would like to upload them when I can in the hope that they will put some fire in the imagination of others as well.

Also, I have been working with Northworthy Sagas and Stories. I was impressed by their ethos of wanting to record and archive tellings of Dark Age folklore. Alongside that, they aim to share as much as they can about Dark Age history, myth, legend and culture. So I will soon be on YouTube as either a Viking or an Anglo Saxon. I am also working on their blog, which I hope will be ready soon, so watch their space, I applaud their effort.

One thing that's related is that I am planning a fictionalised short story that will be part of a saga for a persona that I'm developing for Northworthy Sagas and Stories. It will be based at Repton, and old capital of Mercia and involve Vikings, Saxons and a Lovecraftian god. It is based on a short story that I wrote many a year ago that I was unhappy with and didn't do anything with.

One thing that I will be doing with this story is that I will be using tarot readings to help me better develop the story. After a bit of interest, I will be converting some of my methods and planning involving the tarot readings into blog articles that I shall put up on here! So watch out for those.

Well, that is all that I've been up to recently and I hope the New Year is treating you all well. I wish you all good health and a good bye.

Hello all,

This is being put up a little later than I thought it would be, but better late than never, as they say.

This last week or so has been very good to me. I've completed a short story and its to be published! Which I'm immensely pleased about. Hopefully, by the end of the month, it'll be in print, if not, it should be out before Christmas at least. I'll Keep everyone updated on what happens there. I'll also provide links to where you guys can get your hands on it. It'll be part of a multi-media package that I'm excited to be included in.

Something else that I've been working on is for the Northworthy Sagas and Stories YouTube channel. The blog is coming along and soon there will be some new banners made for the blog as well as the YouTube channel itself. After that, once I've built up some content, the blog will go live.

I am now an admin on their channel and you'll be able to come and chat with us when a video goes up via YouTube's canny premiere facility.

With Northworthy, I have been invited along to perform in some of their videos. So I have a Saxon persona that I am currently working on, replete with my own Saga that will hopefully will be performed as a milestone and also be published as a book that is accompanied by a series of short stories and some Skaldic poetry that I am learning the formula for. So watch out for that.

Alongside all of that, Northworthy Sagas and Stories may also be introducing a series of black-smithing videos and videos on how to tailor Dark Age period clothing. Hopefully, I'll have a hand in that. I await with baited breath.

As always, I'll keep you lovely people updated on my exploits and progress.

Farewell!