“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Well said Mr Dickens sir, well said.
2020 has been a bizarre year that's for sure. My diary was full to brimming with all sorts of wonderful festivals, events and adventures. I managed to squeeze in the Wild Witchcraft Conference in February and a book signing at Treadwells, London at the beginning of March. Since then everything else was postponed or put online and I can count on one hand the amount of times I have stepped out of my front door and into the world in the last nine months. However, I am not going to dwell on the downsides, I will however focus on the ups this year had brought.
Friday Morning Shenanigans
The most exciting and fun side of this has been moving things online. In April I began talking live via facebook every Friday morning and I have had such an amazing time doing so. It has basically opened up the world...and I have made so many new friends. Friday mornings became the highlight of my week and I send my sincere thanks to everyone that joined me. I will be continuing the Friday morning chats throughout 2021, starting again on Friday 8th January, 9am UK time on my author fb page https://www.facebook.com/RachelPattersonbooks
(If you missed any, replays can be found on my YouTube channel).
Waffling Witches
We also had some really brilliant Waffling Witches chats with myself and fellow Hearth Guardians, you can catch the replays over on my YouTube channel. Expect to see more of us in 2021! https://www.youtube.com/user/Kitchenwitchuk
Online Rituals
Obviously our open rituals were cancelled so we moved them online and opened them up to everyone and it was fantastic. Huge big thank you to the Hearth Guardians who wrote the rituals. Again we will be continuing with these going forward. All our online rituals go live in the Kitchen Witch Coven facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/kitchenwitchuk
Replays can be found on https://www.youtube.com/user/Kitchenwitchuk
Live Sessions with Moon Books
One of my publishers, Moon Books also ran a session of weekly chats from various authors, myself included. There are some brilliant talks, do take a look at the replays, which can be found over on the Moon Books YouTube channel or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MoonBooks
Shooting the Wild Witch Breeze
It was through the Moon Books sessions that I met fellow author Elen Sentier and we came up with the idea of Shooting the Wild Witch Breeze. A fortnightly chat about all sorts of things, these will continue through 2021 but catch the replays on the Moon Books facebook page or my YouTube channel.
A round up
I also had the honour and pleasure of speaking online at several events, replays can be found here:
Witchfest – Talk on magical herbs and food – https://youtu.be/F-FCEAyo2mQ
Scottish Pagan Federation – Talk on Witchcraft into the wilds – https://youtu.be/saBHBqnc9rQ
Pagan Tribal Gathering – I have given several talks for the PTG in their private group, the recent talk on Samhain herbs and plants can be found on their public page https://www.facebook.com/PaganTribalGathering
Curative Magic – I gave a talk about my latest book, Curative Magic – https://youtu.be/0Mewh8o3QQA
Fika with Vicky – Vicky and I had a blast of a chat on her radio show, the podcast can be found here https://4680q.ca/podcast/ep25-06-04-20-fika-with-vicky-rachel-patterson-author-and-kitchen-witch-witchcraft-into-the-wilds-4680q/
PT Paranormal – recording of a live chat with the PT Paranormal chaps https://www.facebook.com/ptparanormal/videos/589994501616464
and the books...
Practically Pagan An Alternative Guide to Cooking was released by Moon Books in May 2020 and you have all been so fabulous in sharing photos of the recipes you have made. There is now a Practically Pagan facebook group for all of the books within the series. https://www.facebook.com/groups/681670499407598
Curative Magic is my first book to be published with Llewellyn and that hit the shelves in September, actually there was a delay because you lovely people placed so many pre-orders they ran out and had to scramble to get more delivered!
For 2021
Kitchen Witchcraft: The Element of Earth - the first book in my mini series of elements books will be released end of January 2021. There will be an online book launch with a chat and giveaway on the Moon Books fb page https://www.facebook.com/MoonBooks Sunday 17th February at 4pm UK time.
Pagan Portals The Triple Goddess was a long time in the making, several years in fact because I wanted to make sure I got it right. Hopefully I did. I wanted to bring the idea up to date and make it work for modern times. This will be published in November 2021. Cover artwork for this book was drawn by my lovely daughter Emma.
Events
I am booked for several festivals and events in 2021, I am keeping my fingers crossed that at least some, if not all of them will happen. For full details see my events page https://www.rachelpatterson.co.uk/events
For 2022
Yes I know that seems like a long way off but my largest book by far, and I mean large...somewhere around 800 pages...Beneath the Moon will be published in January 2022.
Thank you ♥
I look forward to catching up with you all in the months to come whether it is online or face to face. Hang in there people, we need to support each other and I cannot thank you all enough for the support I have received this year ♥
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