Writing Prompts for The Feast of the Charities

image from pubaicdomainvectors.org

I don’t want to be tone deaf.  I know right now some people have to work and feel unsafe (are unsafe).  And I know others need to work and can’t.  And still others are cooped up at home and may receive pay without working or be struggling with the reality of working from home and all the other distractions that come with that.  

A lot of us want to remain productive or on an even keel.  I’m making these writing prompts for folks who find a creative project distracting and helpful but might need a suggestion to get started.  If writing isn’t healthy for you right now or if you can’t write, it’s ok.  Please don’t take this as a condemnation.  We’re all coping differently and do what’s best for you.  The last 3 prompts incorporates pandemic themes as part of the prompt.  If you’re struggling, that may be one to skip.

Introduction: 

This series has a simple goal: provide basic history on a holiday/event and use that history to spring board potential writing prompts and themes. For some, the history on its own will be enough.  For others, I’ll suggest prompts I thought of.  

Happy writing and please share a snippet or link to your inspired works ^_^ I’d love to read them.

Feast of the Charities: 

There isn’t a lot of information on the Feast of the Charities. The day of this holiday vary but one suggested date is April 18-19, and the holiday itself is so little known that neither Wikipedia nor Encyclopedia Britanica.  I found these dates in Shirley Twofeather’s pagan calendar and she sources  Llewellyn… which isn’t encouraging for historic accuracy.   The only creditable resource I could find on the day itself is ancient.eu and they write: 

“The Graces were the subject of cult worship across the Greek world, but especially southern Greece and Asia Minor. They were particularly important at Orchomenus in Arcadia where they had an annual festival, the Charitesia, held in their honour.”

But ancient.eu doesn’t give any dates or times for the Charitesia.  They expound on Charities cult worship and imply that different charities were integrated into local celebrations. 

The “charities” also known as “graces” were Aglaica (splendor), Euphrosyne (joy), and Thalia (mirth).  They are minor goddesses or nymphs descended from Zeus and the Oceanid, Eurynome (nymph of water ways and clouds).  They attended Aphrodite and Hera.  Their major relationship with mortals was to inspire attraction to wisdom, love, culture and social interaction.  The three are most often depicted dancing naked.  They have associations with spring flowers and are the youthful embodiment of beauty from physical to intellectual, artistic, and moral. 

It’s worth noting the Feast of Charities seems to celebrate these three charities, but there are at least nine different Graces/Charities.

Llewellyn suggests orange as a predominate color and sage as the preferred incense.  Given what I could discover about the charities, I’d think offering any spring flowers/scents would be more appropriate.  A drawing or free write dedicated to the charities ideas could also be a fun way to pass the day.

Llewellyn writes, "Get some friends together and dress up. Arrange each other’s hair. Dance and sing, or perform some sacred theatre. Visit an art gallery or walk through a street fair. Alternatively, do something nice for the less fortunate. Bundle up old clothes you never wear anymore to recycle for the less fortunate, or hold a food drive and donate the results to a local charity."

Other days for The Feast of the Charities include: January 17-18, January 30-31, May 26, July 9-10, or October 13. 

I like a holiday which inspires creativity and kindness.  Its floating date is a positive because you or your character could celebrate/honor/acknowledge the Charities multiple times a year or whenever it’s relevant. 

Sources:

http://www.talesbeyondbelief.com/nymphs/three-graces.htm

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Kharites.html

https://www.ancient.eu/Graces/

https://www.llewellyn.com/spell.php?spell_id=2651

https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/pagancalendar/feast-of-the-charities/

Writing Prompts:

1. What are some Spring blooms in your area?  Do they have any associations?  Mash up those local correspondences with The Graces.  How would splendor, joy, and mirth impact these flowers, are they inherent with blooms?  

2. Write a scene with your characters embodying one of these three characteristics (splendor, joy and mirth).—Can I suggest the villain interact with these elements?

3.  Have one of your characters meet one or all three Graces.  

4. Depict your characters performing an act of kindness or charity.  

5. Create a scene where an early act of kindness/charity is rewarded.  

6. Create a scene where an early act of kindness/charity is punished.  How does your character react?  Does this diminish their desire to do good?

7. Create a scene where your main character (or villain) receives charity from a stranger.

8. It seems like the Feast of the Charities was a time to bring people together for a meal and performance.  We’re in a time of social isolation where we can’t get together in sizeable groups.  How else could one honor the ideals of the Charities (using a video chat or virtual Meetup/play is cheating, come up with something wacky or wild for you or your characters!). 

9.  What in our current world embodies the Charities’ virtues?  What doesn’t? 

10. During this pandemic, many of us are being asked to act not for our own health but to safeguard the health of others.  How does this play into the virtues of the Charities? Are these themes you could bring into your writing?  

Looking for more prompts?  Check out April's full moon,  Mid-summer prompt or Matralia

Writing Prompts For April's Full Moon

image from publicdomainvectors.org 

Introduction: 

This series has a simple goal: provide basic history on a holiday/event and use that history to spring board potential writing prompts and themes. For some, the history on its own will be enough.  For others, I’ll suggest prompts I thought of.  

Happy writing and please share a snippet or link to your inspired works ^_^ I’d love to read them.

April’s Full Moon: 

Names include: the Wind Moon, the Seed Moon, the Hare Moon, the Growing Moon, the Pink Moon, and the Egg Moon.

April’s moon has obvious associations with growth (seed moon or growing moon).  In the Northern Hemisphere we’re experiencing differing phases of spring.  Euro-centric countries enjoy early blooming flowers like daffodils and tulips steal the gardening show.  April can be a wonderful to celebrate early progress on a goal, to start new goals if current efforts haven’t yielded results, or to continue to nurture past commitments.

Old folklore suggests the full moon until the last quarter is the best time to kill weeds, thin or prune a garden, mow the lawn, cut timber, and to plant below ground crops.  If you’re looking for more lunar-based gardening information, check out alamanac.com.

Some claim April is the Pink Moon because creeping phlox is in full bloom this time of year (and it’s a pink flower).  Others claim April became the “Pink Moon” because pink is Venus’ color and she is the governor of the house of Taurus (The horoscope sign we’re about to enter).  The connection to Venus, Goddess of love, can make April a delightful time to work on relationship magic, whether it’s a plutonic or romantic relationship.

While we portray March as a stormy month, April is the windy one—hence “Wind Moon.”  It’s suggested one meditate on seeds carried or pollinated by the wind.  Allergy season intensifies around this time.   Patti Wigington suggests this moon can be an excellent time to meditate on the power of the air element and how winds from different directions have varying associations and energies one can use.  

This moon happens after Ostara (spring equinox), why some may call it Egg Moon and it is the last moon before Beltane (May day).  Often people reflect on the building fertility/growing energy during this time.  They either wind down their Spring Equinox celebrations or they charge and prep for Beltane.

This year April’s moon will be the biggest super moon of 2020, so if you have a clear sky, it might be worth a gander.  April’s moon falls in the house of Libra this year, so it’s an agreeable time to check in and seek to rebalance any element in one’s life.   

Sources:

learnreligions.com

simplewiccanmagickspells.com

magicalrecipesonline.com

almanac.com

earthsky.org

Writing Prompts:

1. Stare at the moon, free write and associate with whatever suits.  

2. What aspect of this moon lore would your character most identify with?  

3. Is what your character identifies with the same as what they most need?  

4. Use any of the elements of the April moon to write a quick scene with one of your characters.

5. Create a character who embodies any of the April moon’s energies.

6. Write a full moon induced romance scene.  

7. Write about something that grew under the light of the April moon.  

8. Write a scene where your character reacts to what’s carried on the wind (a smell, a conversation, a note or seed, ect).  

9. Write a story where the moon actually appears pink—why—what happens, does anyone even notice?

Looking for more prompts?  Check out the Mid-summer prompt or Matralia

Writing Prompts for Midsummer

image under public domain via publicdomainvectors.org

Introduction: 

This series of posts has simple goals: provide some basic history on a holiday/event from the past and use that history to spring board potential writing prompts and themes. For some, the history on its own will be enough to come up with some story ideas.  For others, I offered some starting points with themes, scenes, and possibilities I see for the holiday at hand.  

Happy writing and please share a snippet or link to your inspired works ^_^ I’d love to read them.

What is Midsummer/Summer Solstice/Lithe/Litha

For the Northern Hemisphere Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year.  For the Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice is the shortest day of the year.  For this post, I’m exploring the Northern Hemisphere’s experience of Solstice (sorry southern hemisphere folks).  So today we’ll explore a day where the sun appears to stand still.  The day floats on our calendar between June 20th and June 21st.  

Many cultures knew about Summer Solstice and had varying practices around it.  In the history section I will only cover the smallest bit of information I’ve uncovered.  

History

Ancient Egyptians marked the Solstice as the beginning of when the Nile would flood.  Floods were necessary for good crops (black is the color of life in ancient Egyptian mythology because it’s the same color as good growing soil) but these floods came on quickly and were life threatening to the people living along the banks.  Solstice signalled a time that could bring great bounty and danger all in one needed package.

General British/Irish/Wales lore has a tradition of lighting a bonfire on the eve of the solstice to greet the coming day.  People would jump the bonfire, and if they got through the flames without a burn, they had good luck for the year.  Others would carry out a “wishing traditions” where they would pick up a pebble, hold it walking around the bonfire three times wishing for thing X and then tossing the stone into the flames.  After the bonfire flames subsided, people had uses for the ashes.  They could make a protective amulet to wear for the year or they could sow the ashes into the garden for bountiful harvests.  

Sunwheels, a wheel lit on fire or a ball of straw lit on fire were also popular.  People would light the wheel and roll it downhill into a river.  The burnt remnants go to a local temple and displayed.  In Wales if the fire wheel went out before it hit the water, it promised a good harvest.

Midsummer is a Faery holiday.  The veils between the worlds are thin at this time and many faeries come to our world to celebrate and make merry.  Some suggestions to see faery folk included: staying up all night on the evening before Solstice, wearing a sprig of thyme so you can see the faeries dancing, or summoning the faery with moonstone, a bowl of milk and/or something sweet.  

There are multiple warnings against dealing with the faery folk.  One such story is of a girl Kathleen who went out on the eve of Midsummer to find the faery.  She dances with them and sought to draw the Fae King’s attention.  The King did take an interest in her, he came to her and embraced her.  Kathleen died that evening.  Her body was recovered by a faery fort with a smile on her face.

There are several suggestions on how to protect yourself against the faery folk.  Some sources suggest wearing a jacket inside out to confuse the faery folk as they come to spirit you away.  Others suggest sticking to ley lines where you can escape quickly.  Some sources suggest wearing rue and others St. John’s wort to repel the faery folk or to prevent the more malicious faery folk from approaching.

Other interactions with faeries are positive.  Some people were known to be “faery doctors” like Biddy Early of Connacht.  In her case the Faery Queen came upon the village celebrating midsummer and politely asked the villages to go home so the fae may celebrate in private.  The village complied and Biddy seems to have been gifted faery knowledge.

Sources:

The Farmer’s Almanac

learnreligions.com

witchesandpagans.com

The Sacred Wheel: a Guide to a Pagan year for beginners in Witchcraft and Wicca (new age& spiritual books)

Writing Prompts:

1. The focus on fire in what is the day with the most natural light, is curious, why is fire so integral to most Midsummer celebrations?

-Are people obsessed with their own power to create or mimic the natural world?

-Do sun deities only respond to flames?  

2. What does summer mean to you or your characters?

3. Jumping over a Midsummer Bonfire in more modern literature is often used as a bonding ceremony used instead of a wedding—do you have any characters who appreciate this ascetic?  

-Write you version of a Midsummer bonding ceremony.  What do the people promise each other, do they invoke gods and/or fae to witness their bonding or conescrate it?

4. Gods/Goddesses worshipped in Midsummer center around the sun, the fae, and sex.  Write a steamy scene in honor of this day.

5. Write a wishing ritual scene.  What does the character wish for, is this an act of desperation or a common occurance?  Does the wish come true?  Do gods or supernatural beings get involved?

6. Horror often happens in dark places and there is a lot of speculation on 24hrs on night, but what about 24hrs of daylight?  Is this a magical time where no evil can befall us or does the light simply expose the darkness of our souls?  

7. Write about a fae encounter (chance or summoned).  Good, bad, or neutral, just write a scene with the fae on this day where they travel.

8. What happens to fae who don’t return through the veil before midsummer’s close? 

9. Why do the fae travel in our realm on this day?  Do they wait for Midsummer on their side of the veil?

10.Are humans found dead after faery revels gone forever or have they gone back with the fae to the faery realm?  

Looking for more writing prompts?  Try my post on Matralia.

Personal Goals for 2019

image from openclipart.org by johnny_automatic

1. I want to finish my second draft of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils.”  I hesitate to announce this because every time I wish something for my novel, it feels like I stop working on it, but I want a 2020 publication, more than I can say.  I have the whole marketing campaign laid out in my head.

                 - Launch book early/late Jan, when the book begins in real world time, further connecting my urban fantasy to a sense of real world time and place.
                - Post blog/deleted material supplements along with the real passage of time during the first year of sale.  Continuing to reinforce that sense of Roxi and the other characters existing in our world and also providing some nice shorts/extra material for people who like the book.
                -Have a huge sale/set of giveaways in Sept leading into October book climax and have a ton of blog/deleted scenes going into the mega holiday.
               -Work more on sequel,  “Follow Me: the Realms of Gods and Monsters,” because I’m super hyped for that book

2.  I want to maintain my blogging habit, but I am rolling back the intensity of posting.  I really focused July-Dec on getting the NAWG blog up and running and returning to this more introspective blog.  There were great results.  I feel more established as a writer in a community.   This has led to more positive feelings regarding my work, it’s helped me become more organized, and it’s driven me to feel more connection to my projects and goals.  Creatively, I’ve had the chance to pitch small ideas and little quips on Twitter.  Marketing wise: I’ve increased my audience and with the time/tools at my disposal, I think I’ve maximized growth.

All this focus meant: little creative writing could happen and this year I want to tear through “Follow Me” and launch it, so the blog work has to step back.

3. Reconnect with esoteric magic and folklore.  My wellspring for creativity comes from melding the fantastic with the mundane.  And I haven’t been keeping my store of “fantastic” elements full.  I spent a few hours looking up ancient Roman festivals and from a few readings I have five new ideas for stories.  Better, I “took a break from research” and edited 3 chapters in “Follow Me”.

4.  Stop making more goals.  Last year, I had a whole spreadsheet of goals. It was awesome, because no matter what direction I went in, I was moving toward success.  This year I want to zero in on specifics, keep my eye on one goal.  It might mean I don’t feel as successful all the time, but I’m hoping it leads me to seeing my novel completed this year and on the road to publication.

My Complicated Past with Writing Prompts

by openclipart.org by j4p4n

As a lifelong writer, I’ve used a lot of writers’ prompts in my time.  The short story: good ones rock and bad ones make you question the others’ intelligence.

Have I ever used a prompt?  Yes.   Prompts have helped me out of writers’ block and sometimes I even have a cool story to show from the experience.

Can prompts help cultivate a daily writing habit? Yeah, but all things considered, I’d rather journal or do daily gratitude as a daily practice than a writing prompt a day.

Would I recommend a prompt to other writers?  Maybe.  My knee jerk reaction to prompts is that I hate them.  They often feel forced, and often I read on and want to defy whatever suggestion it makes.  I assume others hate these things as much as me though a friend pointed out that this might just be my issue.  Most people like when some work is done for them.

All of that said, I’d enjoy creating writing prompts for others.  My favorite part of writing is creating ideas.  I enjoy forming some of them into a story too, but I’ve got more ideas than I have time to make stories.

What do you think about writing prompts?  Do you use them often?  Are they life savers or creativity drains?  Talk to me.