Winter gifts?

 

Winter gifts?

books for long, dark nights

Waiting for the quiet feathers,

That drift through the trees,

That smother the world into silence.

 Waiting, still waiting, for the snow.

Waiting for the snow, Gordon MacLellan

As the nights are drawing in and our thoughts turn to the lingering darkness and a need for something to keep us busy other than sitting knitting socks for sheep, and there are gifts to pursue for Christmas, Midwinter, Yule and All, Creeping Toad would like to offer a few extra treats for you, for a loved one or maybe for someone whose complacency you would simply like to disturb….

Books

Sacred Animals: creative, reflective and adventurous ways of exploring relationships with the animal world (or apply similar ideas to trees, other plants, fungi and stones: it’s up to you!) Here are ways of building meditations, composing poems, making outfits, masks, tokens and totems, £15.06 *

Waiting for the Snow: my most recent collection of poems: words for dark evenings and  desire for open spaces, for the northern seas on the rocks of Orkney, for ravens watching the world go by and for the kelpie who waits in dark still poems

50 pages, A5, £5.97

There are cracks in the pavement 

Where the bears live,

Feeding on the careless words we drop

Between one step and the next.

Whisper along the Wind: or you can listen and be drawn into stillness by the beautiful music of Gifts from Crows and words from myself: Orchards are here and the dark night of Vigil and the sharp Beaks of Raven

Baba Yaga: tales of an old witch: a small collection celebrating one of the wildest of the wild witches from her house that follows you through the crowded woods to herself polishing the rust off her teeth, £4.36

Old stones and ancient bones: an older collection poems with words from hollow hills, of bones and skulls and the satyr who waits on the Dancing Lawns

£5.00 direct from me

*Please don't blame me for the strangeness of pricings!  But you can order direct - cheaper! Email below

Ordering: you can go through eBay: the links will take you there. If you want the full set, message me directly as that might be easier!

Email: creepingtoad@btinternet.com

Hide a witch,

Inside a house,

Inside a wood,

Inside a beck,

Inside a bog,

Inside a crag,

Inside a world,

Inside a doll.

 

Witches, snow and wonderful creatures!

Waiting for the Snow and Baba Yaga: tales of an old witch
New Books from Gordon MacLellan

Where would you hide a witch?

Where would you hide THIS witch?

Because when the witch in question is magnificent, ancient and flies through the old woods of the world in a mortar, rowing herself along the winds with pestle, and when her house is likely to wander off on its own and play with the capercaille in the shadows...hiding isn't really the idea....

 

Anyway, I've got two new books out now. One ( small spellbook of a booklet) is about Baba Yaga, that wonderful old witch who challenges, tricks, confronts and transforms just about anyone who survives the encounter (and if you don't, never mind, your long bones and skull will feature in the Yaga's garden fence!). The other book is gentler (perhaps). Waiting for the Snow is a new collection of recent poems of mine

 

From the cold stillness of a woodland in winter, to the wonder of bluebells, the perils of still water and the richness of orchards, Waiting for the Snow invites a different connection to the world around us.

Look outward, walk on the riverbank with open eyes and a willing heart. Turn inward and step carefully around the cracks in the pavement. There are mysteries here as well, watchful shadows lurking. Threatening, they still hold their own promise and the possibility of change.

Step out. Step away from the familiar and let Waiting draw you into a world of enchantments.

 

In Waiting you will find charms from birch trees and the wild frolics of the Birken Hoss. There are quiet reflections among bluebells and a dark, cold brooding menace that sits behind the Arctic nights. One of my personal favourites is Vigil that grew out of regular visits to the windswept, story-shrouded hilltop of Fin Cop here in the Peak District

 

BUYING COPIES (yes, please do!)

LINKS TO SALES ON EBAY:

Baba Yaga: tales of an old witch

 12 pages, 80cm x 150cm

Waiting for the Snow, 40 pages, A5 sized

If you would like a full set of recent books: Baba Yaga, Waiting... and Sacred Animals, message me directly and I'll send payment details and post the set to you directly

There is also a set of colourful postcards for sale if you want that extra touch of something tree-ish to send a friend or convince a foe that you're really a very nice (if rather leafy) Person....  

Hide a witch,

Inside a house,

Inside a wood,

Inside a beck,

Inside a bog,

Inside a crag,

Inside a world,

Inside a doll.