A Girl Grows Through the Seasons

If you are looking for the perfect way for you and your children to stay relaxed and focused on the deep roots and true meaning of the upcoming holiday season, Seasons of Magic: A Girl’s Journey should be on your pre-holiday family reading list. Whether you celebrate Winter Solstice, Christmas, or Chanukkah, this book will remind you of the great and wonderful mystery of light emerging from darkness. And, although it begins at Winter Solstice, Seasons of Magic follows the complete circle of the year of seasonal celebrations, making it a great gift which will be read over and over throughout the year.

Though directed towards a preteen and teen-age audience, Seasons of Magic speaks to anyone who has ever felt the lure of nature, the magic of the revolving seasons, and the mysterious connection which binds us humans to the universe in which we live. And its workbook section will allow individuals, groups, and families to create meaningful ways of honoring that connection, separately or together, year-round. This section allows even younger family members to take a leadership role in these celebrations.

The main character is a 12-year-old girl named Erin who is growing up in a pagan household. Though steeped in these traditions since birth, Erin, like so many of us, lacks a deep understanding of their true, spiritual nature. Seasons of Magic is an account of Erin’s seeking out of a wise old woman named Evangeline, who takes Erin under her wing and gently guides her toward an understanding of the sacred bond connecting us to the earth in all its many manifestations. In the course of one magical year, Erin learns about the eight major earth festivals, from Imbolc through Winter Solstice. In the process, she learns how to dance, how to speak from her heart even when it is frightening to do so, and how to honor the interplay of light and shadow that is life. Two friends, one old and one new, one a girl and one a boy, one a Christian and one undefined, join Erin on her journey. Together they learn to celebrate not only the wonders of the universe, but their own diverse natures which make life the rich and fascinating adventure which it is. The magic they discover and weave for the earth and themselves is the magic of life itself‚ from the appearance of buds on a tree’s seemingly dead branches to the budding of passion, creativity, and joy deep inside. Erin and her friends learn to nurture a safe haven for the earth and its creatures, only to discover that they have been nurturing a safe place inside their own hearts as well.

Seasons of Magic: A Girl’s Journey works as a primer in alternative spirituality and ritual for young people and their parents. But it also works as an invitation to any sensitive reader, regardless of belief system, to rediscover the pure mountain stream deep down inside each of us that is never contaminated and runs true, if we would but take the time to listen.