I asked a bunch, or should that perhaps be a 'bibliography' of authors...whatever the collective noun for a group of authors is...a few quick snapshot questions.
This week is... HARMONIA SAILLE
Twitter: https://twitter.com/harmoniasaille
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HarmoniaSaille and https://www.facebook.com/HarmoniaSailleHedgewitch/
1. What or who inspires you the most and why?
Nature inspires me the most. I find my spirituality within nature. Nature is beauty and happiness. It inspires creativity. Spring is my favourite season. You can observe the cycle of life. Watch the earth spring back into being – the seedling, the leaves growing and coming to full maturity in the summer then dying off and resting to be reborn again the following spring. I’m drawn to the magic of trees and of water. The birds flying free.
2. Do you have any set daily spiritual practices?
My spiritual practice differs from day today. It often centres around the phases of the moon. One day I might be out connecting with nature spirits or trees, the next performing a ritual or creating a spell under a new or full moon. Another day I’ll find a quiet spot to hedge ride. I like to be on my own for this to avoid being disturbed. I wear earplugs and turn up my drum music.
3. What is your favourite subject to write about and why? Hedge Witchcraft/Riding comes top, but my practice also includes magic, divination, nature spirits, and trees. My interest lies in all these and I hope that shows in my writing. My fascination with nature and magic came when I was a child already. I would astral project as a child too, which led to hedge riding. My interest in runes came in the mid-90s when my friend Krystina showed me her rune set and I was fascinated. By 2000 I had put this all together as my hedge witchcraft pathway.
4. Do you have a sacred or spiritual place/area (anywhere in the world) that you feel connected to? Not one, several. The Burren in County Clare, Ireland is top. I lived there for a while and walked there daily. There is a hidden place with a hazel wood, sacred well, and cave, which I used to visit with friends. We would hedge ride or hold rituals. It’s hard to describe how magical The Burren is, but it’s very powerful, and the connection there with deity and nature spirits is strong. After that it’s the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, another place where I’ve lived. The area is steeped in myth and we lived facing the Mountains of Mourne with the Cooley Mountains to the side of us. In the UK, I would say it was Wiltshire. I lived there near Stonehenge. But Avebury was my favourite stone circle (along with Drombeg in County Cork). In all these places I tuned in to the local gods, goddesses, and fae folk.
5. Where do you work your magic/practice your faith? Do you have a special room or area set aside?
I’ve been very lucky in the past in that when I lived in Ireland, I always had private space for my magical practice, often with wonderful views. And mainly that was a room of my own. We live now in a cramped space with a shared office. My husband works from home so it’s difficult. Often, it’s the dining-room table, usually centring around magic. The floor is handy for divination. Everything else is done outside and we’re lucky to have a large and lovely garden. We live a five-minute walk from the river too. I prefer to be near water of any kind, the sea, a river, a lake. Choosing an area to live, centres around this. Water is spiritual, magical, beautiful, and cleansing, and brings it peace.
6. What book/talk/article of yours are you most proud of and why?
Hard one. I’d say in the Pagan Portal series it’s Hedge Witchcraft the sister book of Hedge Riding. Hedge witchcraft is where my heart is. I poured a lot of myself into that book. I’ve almost finished a third book in that series, Magic for Hedge Witches, which is for those hedge witches who are interested in, or wish to be, practicing magic. It includes folk magic and magic in hedge riding. The Spiritual Runes is the full-length book I’m most proud of, and was also my first, written in 2008. Runes and rune magic feature strongly in all areas of my practice.
My top three Moon Books sellers are:
The Spiritual Runes – A Guide to the Ancestral Wisdom
Pagan Portals: Hedge Witchcraft
Pagan Portals: Hedge Magic
