Yvonne Aburrow's Blog, page 15
September 23, 2023
Maybon Biscuits
Not a lot of people know that the custard cream biscuit was originally called the Maybon to link it with its sister biscuit, the Bourbon. The bourbon was named after the ancient Frankish spring equinox festival and the Maybon was named after the ancient Celtic autumn equinox. This was an early example of twinning to promote cultural harmony. Both of these festivals involved copious amounts of baked goods and a herbal infusion mixed with milk.
(Not a lot of people know that because it’s no...
September 20, 2023
A moment of balance
How do we celebrate the balance of night and day when everything is out of balance, off-kilter, disturbed?
The answer is that we celebrate anyway, to bring about the balance in ourselves.
We grieve for floods, fires, species loss, climate change, habitat destruction, and we celebrate the beauty of nature to remind ourselves that life is worth living, habitats must be saved, the balance must be restored.
The Anishinaabe people have a prophecy: the Seven Fires Prophecy:
It is this...
September 7, 2023
Dual faith folk witches
Polish Folk Witch (on instagram and Patreon) has an excellent article on dual faith practice and syncretism among folk witches: Dual Faith: the elephant in the room of the witchcraft community.
The topic of dual faith keeps returning on a regular basis in the broader witchcraft community online, especially on the intersection of folk magic, paganism and christian occultism.
Folk witches often practice some form of dual faith, developed based on the mixture their cultural background, relig...
August 6, 2023
I’m on The Magick Kitchen
Check out my conversation with the wonderful Elyse Wells (writer and podcast host) on The Magick Kitchen podcast, series 5, episode 9.
In conversation with Elyse at The Magick Kitchen (via the magic of Zoom!)Join Elyse in an interview with author Yvonne Aburrow where they talk the ins and outs, and complications surrounding, coming to witchcraft and finding your own spiritual path within it. Yvonne has been a Pagan since 1985 and a Wiccan since 1991. They have an MA in Contemporary R...
July 27, 2023
Colonialism in Peter and Jane
I’ve just seen a photo of a Peter and Jane book published in 1964. (Peter and Jane 1a, Keywords reading scheme, if you want to look it up.)
In the illustration, Peter and Jane are in a homemade “teepee” and Peter is wearing a children’s play version of a Plains Nation eagle feather bonnet.
When that book was published, Indigenous kids were still being sent to residential schools and dying there. The last residential schools closed in the mid/late 1990s.
For those who are not familia...
July 24, 2023
Review: The Moonday Letters
This book is outstanding. Bioethics, love, animism, shamanism, convincingly written worlds, beautiful prose, aching tenderness, and a deep connection to Nature. Also cats, David Bowie references, and orbital cylinder cities named Ursula and Octavia (because there was no need to explicitly state that they were for Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler).
The clever plot unfolds inexorably as Lumi becomes aware that beneath her spouse’s private side lies far more than she has realized.
The ce...
July 21, 2023
Review: Morgan is my name
Morgan is my name by Sophie Keetch is an absolutely wonderful version of Morgan Le Fay’s story. Unputdownable and gorgeously written.
All the characters are drawn so well, and the threads of Arthurian legend make sense in a way that they have not done before.
No spoilers but if you loved Mary Stewart’s trilogy or other retellings of the Arthur story, this is a must-read: a new feminist perspective on the story, and a psychologically convincing one. The descriptions of the castles are ...
July 19, 2023
July 14, 2023
Review: The Witch’s Path
Whether or not you’re feeling stuck in your witchy or Wiccan path, do yourself a favour and buy this book.
It offers sensible and inspiring advice for deepening every aspect of your witchcraft practice. Each chapter focuses on a specific area of witchy life: ritual, personal practice, community (both online and offline). The exercises at the end of each chapter are grouped by earth, air, fire, and water, thereby offering different approaches to deepen and/or revive your practice, dependin...
July 12, 2023
Review: The book of Cernunnos
A very moving collection of stories of encounters with Cernunnos, together with an analysis of what is known about him from history and archaeology. I’m glad people are willing to share such deep personal experiences, as it gives such a depth to books like this.
Intriguingly, if you piece together everything that is known about Cernunnos from historical sources, he is the Lord of Animals, a liminal figure between life and death, and a semi-aquatic figure (hence the boy on the dolphin on t...
