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Moon Magic: A Handbook of Lunar Cycles, Lore, and Mystical Energies (2020) is a primer, a guidebook, on the phases of the moon.   In addition to practical aspects of moon-watching, this handbook highlights the different states of being and wellbeing for each phase of the moon, including the cycles of nature. It also contains chants and rituals for every celebration of the full moon.   There is a section on lunar herbs, such as lavender, jasmine, willow, moonwort, pumpkin, and sandalwood.    It can be taken as seriously or as frivolously as readers wish. Nevertheless, it has some interesting facts and it is beautifully presented and illustrated.  MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES    MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of:  The Paris Residences of James Joyce   (2020...

February 8, 2016, is the commencement of the Year of the Monkey. In particular, it is the year of the fire monkey, symbolized by the colour red. A Hong Kong news outlet reported that some couples in China have delayed the birth of their child to coincide with the Year of the Monkey, as monkey children are said to be crafty, clever, and charming ( The Bulletin , January 20, 2016). Consequently, reservations for maternity beds in one of Beijing’s 72-bed hospitals has increased by 30% compared with this time last year. Wards are being renovated, extra beds are being added, and more medical staff are being hired. The purchase of fertility drugs and medications increased late last year too. Suppliers of baby milk formula, diapers, and related medications will directly benefit from a higher birth rate as well. The Year of the Monkey is not the most favourable of the 12 Chinese zodiac years, but it’s ‘sandwiched between the Year of the Sheep and the 2017 Year of the Rooster...

Chapter 1: There is Nothing on the Land Mongolian Proverb: Good fort un e may forebo de bad l u ck, which may, in turn, disguise good fortune. When does nothing become something? When does the middle of nowhere become somewhere? If ever the middle of nowhere had a physical location, it was Ulaanbaatar. ‘The snow is early this year,’ said Temulbaatar Bagabandi. As he said, a punctured tire forced their vehicle off the road. The driver and Temulbaatar raised their sheepskin collars and deftly attended to the situation as if it were a regular occurrence. Neither emitted a grunt, a groan, a sigh, or any sign of complaint. Jorja Himmermann remained in the car. A dead pigeon lay on the cement pathway in a pool of melting snow. It was flat on its back, and flakes of wispy snow landed on its scaly pink feet. Another dead pigeon tangled in a chicken-wire fence dangled with its entrails exposed. Jorja watched a short, ruddy-faced Mongol, who had a small cart of fur pel...

The Water Babies: A Fairytale for a Land Baby (2011 Collins Classics version, originally published in 1863) is the strange adventures of Tom, set in the North country of England – the unofficial geographical regions of England that border Scotland. Tom, an orphan chimney sweep, is treated badly by his boss, Mr. Grimes, yet he was ‘the jolliest boy in the whole town.’ One day they go to the prestigious Harthover House – ‘built at ninety different times, and in nineteen different styles.’ Thinking he was a robber, the nanny grabbed him. He ran for the woods, climbed a wall, ran over the moorlands and heather, where he fell into a stream and drowned. The fairies turned him into a water baby … ‘being about four inches long … and having round the parotid region of his fauces a set of external gills.’ Tom was now ‘quite amphibious’ enabling him, like a frog, to live in and out of the water. The book is about his adventures as a water baby. This year will be 152 years ...