Wonder-guides in the form of a tiny marching band, led by a mouse, jump start this heroine’s strange journey, after she receives an invitation to a winter solstice gathering, yes, in a house in the far-away woods... though she gets trapped for awhile in a town where she is forced to work off mysterious debts, and overall there is a lot of random singing, including the Solstice Lullaby found below (along with more spoilers from the recap at episode 19 of 25, and the preface) — but nevermind all this: the story really tells itself…and can be downloaded from the link.
Enjoy ~ Carli Castellani
download here:
The House in The Far-Away Woods
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Solstice Lullaby (from #21 of 25)
The shortest days should not be feared;
The sun has not disappeared!
It’s merely resting now,
on the other side,
as we should rest,
here and now;
It shall return,
it shall return —
with burning love
and blazing light;
We shall make it through,
this darkest night;
We shall make through,
this longest night —
Heart of hearts and love of lives;
With friends we make, old & new,
We shall make it through,
this hardest night ~~
The sun shall return,
with burning love and
blazing light ~~ “
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Episode #19 of 25 (spoilers up to this episode…) As a recap:
Our heroine received an unexpected invitation;
had anxious dreams;
met what might be one of world’s tiniest marching bands;
tumbled down a flight of stairs;
crawled and clawed her way through a nasty tunnel, filled with bones and feathers and rotting things;
emerged at a rowdy roadhouse in the middle of nowhere, where customs are strange, the customers stranger, and the languages many;
was aided by a she-goat;
took up residence in a treehouse inn;
became – not willingly – a washer-woman of sorts;
and was woken in the night by some sort of horse-drawn ruckus…
More or less.
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From the Preface to the e-version:
“The House in the Far-away Woods” is a series of vignettes I wrote daily, and illustrated with collages, during the advent-solstice season of December 1-25, 2015. The ritual practice was intended as a way to honor the magic of the dark season, with daily story-telling and art.
I had not had any specific work in mind to begin with, as I entered into that creative devotion. I had left the doorways open for whatever might emerge. But a funny thing had happened just prior to the start of advent. When I was returning from a Thanksgiving road trip to upstate, New York, in late November that same year, I had fallen asleep in the car, which, fortunately, I wasn’t driving. It was a long ride back, and I was worn out. When I woke, there was a ringing in my ears. A strange little song was repeating itself on a loop in my mind. High-pitched, animated voices were singing:
“We’re your happy-time, happy-time, wonder guides…”
That is how the song starts, anyhow. If it was related to a dream, I didn’t remember it. The music stayed with me for several days. Then, on the first of December, 2015, I begin writing and collaging. Usually in the mornings I wrote the text and later in the day I assembled illustrations. The following is the story that unfolded, and it turns out there were some wonder guides involved, and they did like to sing.
~ Carli Castellani
at December 18, 2021
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