Seasons of a Magical Life, H. Byron Ballard
Seasons of a Magical Life, H. Byron Ballard
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Seasons of a Magical Life
A Pagan Path of Living

Author: H. Byron Ballard

Narrator: Christine Kiphart

Unabridged: 6 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/01/2021

Synopsis

This audiobook looks at the agricultural year as a starting space for a deepening of earth-centered spirituality. It gives a set of backstories to ease listeners 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 also 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 listeners 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

About H. Byron Ballard

H. Byron Ballard, MFA, is a teacher, folklorist, and writer who was born and raised in western North Carolina. She has served as a featured presenter at Sacred Space Conference, Southeast Wise Women's Herbal Conference, Glastonbury Goddess Conference, and other gatherings, and has spoken at conferences at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Ballard is senior priestess and cofounder of Mother Grove Goddess Temple and the Coalition of Earth Religions/CERES. She writes a regular column for SageWoman Magazine and is the author of many books, including Staubs and Ditchwater.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nicole on October 18, 2021

I was expecting a more factual, information based book. This was more or less the author describing how she celebrated the wheel of the year on her small-holdings farm and in the small town she lives in, in the Appalachia mountains. She waxes very poetic about self-sufficiency, and living from the l......more

Goodreads review by El W. on January 27, 2024

good for homeowners and the spiritually curious homesteader This is a book best for someone who has land or a place they call their own. For someone nomadic and always adrift between homes I have no control over it actually was sort of sad to read! The first half however has incredible resources for......more

Goodreads review by Laurie on June 15, 2022

At first glance, this book is yet another ‘wheel of the year’ book for pagans. But it’s different from most; for one, the author adds in some celebrations. Surprisingly, she chose to name and time them to the Christian calendar, adding in Rogation days and Ember days. She also explains how the Chris......more

Goodreads review by Vanessa on September 29, 2021

This is such a cozy, homey, loving book. I started it the day before Mabon (Autumnal equinox), so I read the Mabon part and after the sabbat was over, started at the beginning. I just loved it. It’s different from other Wheel of the Year books I’ve read in that it is deeply rooted in southern Appala......more

Goodreads review by Miranda on January 28, 2022

A bit too personal for my liking. Very much from the authors perspective qhich wasn't what I was looking for in a introductory book. Wasn't any activities or spells so overall a little disappointed. Nothing wrong with it but it wasn't what I wanted.......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List