Monday, 20 January 2025

Rounding the Year: Wassailing the Apple Trees

I enjoyed a traditional winter wassail on Saturday. It was a lovely community celebration in an orchard local to me, in Beckenham, Kent, on the border of south London. Wassailing the orchards is an old British tradition to ensure a good harvest. 

The word 'wassail' originally comes from an Anglo-Saxon term 'waes hael', meaning ' be well'.  It now means sharing a drink of mulled cider or lambswool punch (warm ale mixed with baked apple pulp), or a blessing of orchards. Both the drink sharing and the blessing are associated with this time of year. Any chance to have a bit of fun is welcome in the cold month of January, but especially if it might help bring good health in the year ahead. 

The picture at the top shows the master of ceremonies with the wassail bowl and Morris dancers who performed at the event. 

A few years ago I did a private wassail in my own garden with a traditional brew of lambswool punch. You can read about that here: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/01/wassailing-my-apple-tree-with-lambswool.html

Sharing seasonal photos

Inspired by ideas in my book Rounding the Wheel of the Year, I share seasonal pictures, art, crafts, words and customs as well as a record of what's happening in nature. 

Where to Find my Books
If you want to buy Rounding the Wheel of the Year or any of my Pagan Portals witchcraft books, or my Gothic novel Erosion cheaply, now's your chance. My publisher Moon Books, which is part of Collective Ink, is offering 50 per cent off all e-books until the end of January. All you need to do is:

  • Click here > https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com
  • Choose your e-book(s)
  • Click 'Add to basket for direct download.'
  • Click on your shopping basket
  • Click on 'Do you have a coupon?'
  • Apply promo code WINTER50  and Validate.
  • Proceed to Checkout.

You can order any e-books from any of Collective Ink's imprints. Moon Books publishes well respected titles on magickal topics, particularly the Pagan Portals series. Other imprints cover mind, body, spirit subjects, culture and politics, history and fiction.

If you want to search for my books, you can go straight to my Lucya Starza author page. I've written on candle magic, poppets, guided visualisations, scrying and the wheel of the year as well as my novel Erosion

You can also view Pagan Portals - Rounding the Wheel of the Year on Amazon. 

(Note: I earn commission from advertisers for some links.)

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