BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--A CELTIC HALLOWEEN WITH AUTHOR CORNELIA AMIRI

Cornelia Amiri and her muse, Severus the Cat, live amid the hustle and bustle of humid Houston, Texas, as does her wonderful son and granddaughter. She’s currently working on her 40th book —a sci-fi comedy romance with a Celtic goddess as the heroine. Learn more about Cornelia and her books at her website.  

Cool Things about Celtic Halloween and a Wolf Shapeshifting God 

 

As an author of Celtic/Paranormal/Romance novels, my favorite holiday is Samhain, the Celtic festival which gives us our Halloween traditions. Samhain, pronounced SOW-uhn, is the Celtic New Year, October 31st or November 1st. Samhain falls between the old year and the new; it is a day without time. Spirits of the dead and supernatural beings easily cross into our earthly dimension on this day, since the veil between worlds is at its thinnest.

 

In our modern Halloween celebration, one of our favorite supernatural creatures are werewolves. The ancient Celts liked shapeshifters probably even more than we do. All their gods had shape-shifting forms. 

 

For instance, the Welsh God Gwydion, that name means born of trees, which sounds very Druidry and for good reason, he’s basically the druid of the gods.  Along with that, he’s a powerful sorcerer, a master of illusion, a trickster, and a poet.  Plus, one of his main shapeshifting forms is a wolf. 

 

Gwydion is the hero of The Wolf and the Druidess. It’s set at Samhain rather than Halloween and instead of a werewolf, the hero is the Celtic god Gwydion. It’s my version of a sexy, romantic Halloween werewolf tale. And it does have a Little Red Riding Hood vibe.

 

The Wolf and the Druidess is the first book in my Druidry and the Beast series. All are all set in Iron Age Britain during one of the ancient Celtic festivals. The hero is always a shapeshifter god and the heroine a smart, strong druidess. All the druidesses are from different tribes, so you get to know a little about the tribal culture of those times. 

 

The series is complete at five books. All are available individually or together in a box set. 

 

The Wolf and the Druidess

Druidry and the Beast, Book 1

 

A Celtic Tryst with A Shape Shifter Twist

 

In days of old, deep in the dark woods, Druidess Seren discovers a wolf shapeshifting into the bare, muscular Celtic God, Gwydion. Seren's mind turns from the Samhain feast to wicked thoughts of Gwydion's gorgeous body. Is the love Gwydion and Seren share strong enough to overcome barriers between an immortal god and a mortal woman? Or will a warning of danger from beyond the grave destroy the sensual magic brewing between the wolf and the druidess?

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AUTHOR CORNELIA AMIRI ON DRUIDS, UNICORNS & THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IN WINTER

Today we welcome back Cornelia Amiri who says her superpower is turning her imagination into thirty-seven published sci-fi/fantasy romance books. Learn more about Cornelia and her books at her website.

Experience The Summer Solstice In Winter

In many parts of the US and the world, it’s still bitterly cold, and what better way to warm up than to think of summer, specifically the Summer Solstice. This was an important day in ancient times. The Neolithic tribes and later the Bronze Age and Iron Age Celts lived off the land, so the sun's heat and light were vital to survival. The Neolithic British built monuments, such as Stonehenge, that framed the rising or setting of the Sun on the solstices. And, the Celts celebrated the sun’s movements on the shortest day of the year in winter and on the longest day of the year in summer with Solstice Festivals. 

The word Solstice comes from the Latin sol meaning sun and sisto which means to stand still. But Alban Hefin, the name the Druids gave to the Celtic Summer Solstice means the Light of the Shore or Light of Summer. The shore because it’s where the elements of land, water and sky meet, which the druids considered a place that’s in-between worlds, and the light of the summer because that’s when it shines at its broadest.

The Druids saw the Summer Solstice as a time to open up a path towards light and abundance and banish evil spirits through the light of the sun. They’d pray for a good harvest, as it was halfway through the growing season. Also, as the Summer Solstice was seen as a time of change, nature, and new beginnings, it was associated with fertility. Feasting and dancing took place and bonfires were lit in celebration. And lovers traditionally clasped hands and leaped over bonfires. Some believed the higher the couple jumped, the higher their crops would grow. 

The ancient Celts also told and acted out the legend of the Oak King versus the Holly King. On the 21st of June the Oak King is at his strongest. But his power gradually weakens until the Winter Solstice on December 21 when the Holly King reins again.

In many regions (especially Europe), June 24 marks the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest, and is called Midsummer. People also have festivals for Midsummer where they feast, dance, and sing.

In 2020 the Summer Solstice takes place in the Northern Hemisphere on Saturday, June 20th at 5:44 eastern time. The Farmer’s Almanac has a sunrise and sunset calculator to calculate  how many hours of sunshine you’ll get in your location on the solstice.

My latest book, The Unicorn and the Druidess, is set in Iron Age Britain during the Summer Solstice. With it you can experience the Summer Solstice even now, in winter. 

The Unicorn and the Druidess

Dridry and the Beast, Book 4

At Summer Solstice people aren’t what they seem—they could be…a unicorn…a god…or someone you fall in love with.

Druidess Maelona pursues a unicorn into the woods and returns with a runaway slave boy she takes under her wing. Before she can go back to look for the unicorn, a handsome stranger ignites a fiery attraction within her. But she can tell he’s keeping something from her. She suspects that he may be a Roman spy.

God Epon’s blood burns at first sight of the gorgeous Druidess. Goaded by his desire for her he passes through the portal from the otherworld as a unicorn. Then he runs into the forest and she gives chase. There he shapeshifts into human form so he can get to know her better. Plus, to win her trust, he fights the Romans and saves her tribe. But even then, will he and Maelona be able to overcome the surmountable odds of a romance between a mortal and immortal being anything more than a summertime tryst?

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AUTHOR CORNELIA AMIRI TALKS ABOUT #SAMHAIN AND #HALLOWEEN

Cornelia Amiri’s superpower is turning her imagination into thirty-seven published sci-fi/fantasy romance novels (with the help of her muse, Severus the Cat.) Today she joins us to talk about Samhain and Halloween. Learn more about Cornelia and her books at her website. 

Ways Samhain is the Same as Halloween

Samhain, pronounced Sahvin, is the Celtic New Year. It falls on October 31st to November 1st, and it’s where we get many of our Halloween traditions. As an author of Celtic Fantasy Romance novels, my favorite holiday is Samhain or as some say Halloween.

The Celts believed that the veil between worlds was at its thinnest on Samhain. The dead easily crossed into our earthly dimension and were honored by their living kith and kin, who left plates of food out for deceased relatives, visiting for Samhain. 

Samhain was celebrated with games, (like hurling, foot races, and horse races) a rowdy feast, and a massive, blazing bonfire. In Ireland, druids held the Samhain celebration and lit the great fire at Tlachtga each year, about twelve miles from Tara.

Turnips, apples, and hazelnuts were popular food for Samhain. The ancient Celts carved out mangel-wurzels, a type of turnip, and placed tallow inside to use them as Samhain lanterns. The Celt’s believed that on Samhain, a type of shapeshifting fey—puca in Gaelic (pwca in Welsh and bucca in Cornish) spit on any unharvested apples rendering them inedible. That’s why the ancient Celts picked all the apples before the Samhain feast began. So, don’t buy any apples picked after Halloween, those puca could still be creeping around the orchards. 

Hazelnuts ripened in Autumn and were believed to impart wisdom as well as strength to anyone who ate them. Maybe I should try some hazelnuts and see if that works. Since Samhain was the end of the autumn season, any of the livestock (cows, sheep, pigs) deemed unlikely to make it through the coming winter were slaughtered at this time. So, there was a bounty of delicious boiled and roasted meat to feast on. And of course, there was plenty of heady ale or mead to go around.  

The Wolf And The Druidess  

In days of old, deep in the dark woods, Druidess Seren discovers a wolf shapeshifting into the bare, muscular Celtic God, Gwydion. Seren's mind turns from the Samhain feast to wicked thoughts of Gwydion's gorgeous body. Is the love Gwydion and Seren share strong enough to overcome barriers between an immortal god and a mortal woman? Or will a warning of danger from beyond the grave destroy the sensual magic brewing between the wolf and the druidess?

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paperback 

ebook