Waking to the summer sunshine beaming into your room, inspiring you to jump out of bed and run outside, joining the singing and chirping birds, deeply breathing the fragrant morning air. There is something wonderful about a rainstorm. The joy of snuggling in the covers, listening to rain beating on the windows. The excitement of pulling on boots and a raincoat with a colorful umbrella to stomp through puddles and wet grass, filling one’s senses with damp, clean air. The glorious sparkle of bright new snow and feeling joy in building the first snowman of the season to greet everyone going by. Catching snowflakes on your tongue until you are almost frozen, then enjoying the warmth of the kitchen as you come in from the cold, to sip hot cocoa. The stunning sight of brilliant colorful trees in autumn, and the anticipation of this glorious season with the ending of summer, beginning a new school year. Butterflies in your tummy, with the feeling of bursting excitement like invisible fireworks. Every season truly is, magical.

Waking to the summer sunshine beaming into your room, inspiring you to jump out of bed and run outside, joining the singing and chirping birds, deeply breathing the fragrant morning air. There is something wonderful about a rainstorm. The joy of snuggling in the covers, listening to rain beating on the windows. The excitement of pulling on boots and a raincoat with a colorful umbrella to stomp through puddles and wet grass, filling ones senses with damp, clean air. The glorious sparkle of bright new snow and feeling joy in building the first snowman of the season to greet everyone going by. Catching snowflakes on your tongue until you are almost frozen, then enjoying the warmth of the kitchen as you come in from the cold, to sip hot cocoa. The stunning sight of brilliant colorful trees in autumn, and the anticipation of this glorious season with the ending of summer, beginning a new school year. Butterflies in your tummy, with the feeling of bursting excitement like invisible fireworks. Every season truly is, magical.

"Honest, authentic, heartbreaking and healing. I devoured it in one day."—Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author Wade Rouse, bestselling author under the pen name Viola Shipman, finds solace with his dying father through their shared love of baseball in this poignant, illuminating memoir of family and forgiveness. Before his success in public relations, his loving marriage and his storied writing career, Wade Rouse was simply Ted Rouse's son. A queer kid in a conservative Ozarks community, Wade struggled at a young age to garner his father's approval and find his voice. For his part, Ted was a hard-lined engineer, offering little emotional support or encouragement. But Wade and Ted had one thing in common: an undying love of the St. Louis Cardinals. For decades, baseball offered Wade and his father a shared vocabulary—a way to stay in touch, to connect and to express their emotions. But when his father's health takes a turn for the worst, Wade returns to southwest Missouri to share one final season with his father. As the Cards race towards a dramatic pennant race, Wade and his father begin to open up in way they never thought possible. Together, inning by inning during their own magic season, they'll move towards forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace. Heartfelt, hilarious and lovingly rendered, Magic Season is an unforgettable story of love, family and forgiveness against the backdrop of America's favorite pastime.

An invitation to return to a simpler time of earth-based spirituality and ritual living, through writings from a small forest-farm in the Appalachian Highlands. This book looks at the agricultural year as a starting space for a deepening of earth-centered spirituality. It gives a set of backstories to ease the reader into a time between the pre-industrial era and the modern one, into a place where the fast-moving stress of American life can be affected by a better connection not only to the natural world but to the elegant expression of the year as expressed through seasonal festivals and celebrations. The chapters are broken into four seasons, with the quarter days a highlight within each, and feature simple skills that accompany each marker in the year. Author H. Byron Ballard offers advice on spiritual and physical immersion into the seasons that applies to readers from all areas: rural, urban, and suburban. This is also a deeply practical book, including insights into the following: Farming & gardening: composting, manure, soil preparation, pests, seed-saving Food: cooking, preserving, foraging, the summer kitchen, mushrooms and mycelium Fiber arts: knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, decorative cut-work, and embroidery Sewing: treadle machines, electric machines, hand sewing Household crafts: candle-making, soap-making, broom-making, sharpening tools Health: medicines, tending the dying, death and death rituals A glossary is included for any unfamiliar terms.

Take a look at the incredible changes that take place in the natural world and learn all about the season! From the science behind the seasons and how they affect the world around them to myths and legends and practical tips to enjoy the seasons, in this incredible ebook for children aged 7 to 9. In Vicky Woodgate's follow up title to The Magic of Sleep, we will learn everything there is to know about the seasons. How do we measure a season? Why do we divide our years up and when did we start doing this? Are seasons the same for everyone? How do they work? All these questions and many more will be covered in The Magic of Seasons, a practical guide to everything there is to know about the way we measure changes in weather, ecology and daylight hours and how it affects us and the world around us.

The Celtic seasonal wheel is based on eight festivals – Winter Solstice, Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lughnasadh, Autumn Equinox and Samhain. Together, these lead usthrough the cycle of the year, aligning our awareness with the seasonal pattern of the earth beneath our feet.In this book on the solstices, equinoxes and other festivals within the sacred cycle, Danu Forest reveals the secrets of each festival in turn and skilfully revives ancient traditions, encouraging us to reconnect with nature, and ourselves, with a host of practical ideas and rituals. Decorate your home with beautiful seasonal crafts and altars to manifest sacred space. Make gifts to give to friends, cast spells for creativity, fertility and blessing, and use the abundance of nature in recipes that can be enjoyed as part of your seasonal celebrations or for self-healing and empowerment. Meditate on the changing heavens throughout the year with Celtic star lore. Deepen your experience of the turning seasons, from the rest and renewal of winter through the revels of spring and summer to the soul or spirit nights of autumn with magical guided visualizations. This cycle of conscious celebration helps us, year on year, to align with nature’s rhythms with greater wonder and insight. Based on sound extensive research, as well as many years of practical experience through both personal practice and teaching, the book will act as a guide for weaving a new, more soulful way of living into readers’ everyday existence.

• Presents four loving, feisty old witches, one for each season, who share earth-honoring wisdom, rituals, and spells to help you embrace your journey through the sacred latter half of life • Filled with magical recipes, inspiring ceremonies, playful activities, and meaningful meditations You are invited into the magical world of four loving, feisty old witches, one for each season, who share earth-honoring wisdom, rituals, and spells to help you embrace your journey through the sacred latter half of life. In the season of Winter, the earthy Root Witch reminds us that bodies are made for pleasure and that Winter is made for dreaming. She offers spells, rituals, and ceremonies to reframe your perspectives on aging and promote acceptance of your changing appearance. She also shares secret recipes for a healthy, happy body, focusing on preparations that help maintain and restore hair, skin, and bone. In Spring, the airy Winged Witch offers a witchy approach to spring cleaning, both in the traditional sense and in self-understanding and relationships. She shares recipes and rituals for jettisoning the dead past, discovering your own authentic style, adding magic to your clothes, and feathering your nest so it feels like home to your spirit. The fiery Summer Merwitch helps us to be more joyfully creative, with activities and wisdom to help overcome the obstacles that prevent us from fulfilling our creative dreams. She honors the senses, encourages us to embrace our sexuality, and gives us ways to express our fiery anger cleanly and powerfully. The watery Autumn Kitchen Witch shows us how to honor our harvests and our ancestors, how to make peace with death, and how to make every meal a celebration of life, with magical recipes and rituals that bring joy to the soul. The Kitchen Witch also explores several goddesses and wise old women from folklore who can offer templates for a rich and spiritualized maturity. Offering practical and enjoyable ways to make aging an empowering, magical, and transformative adventure, this book of spiritual guidance will help you love yourself through the aging process.