Writings

I began my writing life at an early age, passing short stories back and forth with a friend who lived around a corner and up a dirt road.  I wrote poetry throughout my teen years more as therapy than artful expression and have always felt a little uncomfortable writing poetry given my name.

I took a playwriting class in graduate school, and that encouraged me to write plays for the next decade or so. I  have several scripts available.  These plays have been produced and the rough edges smoothed out.  Some are original and some are adaptations of folklore and world literature. They include 

 

  • The Odyssey
  • Beowulf
  • MotherSongs: the Story of Witchcraft from the Paleolithic to the Present
  • The Burning Times: a Study of the Continuing Inquisition
  • Carolina Folk Tales: Haints and Boogers
  • The Blue Bird (an adaptation of the Maeterlinck classic)
  • Three Sisters (an adaptation of Chekhov’s work)
  • Moby-Dick
  • Leviticus: the Fifth Book of Moses

 

Now I write nonfiction – books mostly. I have published seven and am editing number eight. My books are predominantly concerned with Appalachian folkways, which is my practice as well as my study.

The Village Blog: Writings and Musings

The Bride’s Bed

...and about that cow. When I had a child at home, we did all kinds of things to prepare for holy days.  Imbolc is especially nice for that. One of our favorites was making the Bride's bed. In some legends, Brigid walks the land on Imbolc eve with her little cow. They...

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Imbolc Memory 2016

I’ve Forgotten the Bhrat…again It is Imbolc and there is still much to do. With one eye, I am following the results out of Iowa and wishing NC had a caucus process because it seems so interesting. With another eye, I am reviewing the Mother Grove Imbolc ritual for...

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In Brigid’s Keeping

Another prayer as Imbolc approaches... Each night and each day, I speak the blessing of Brigid. I am under the shielding of Good Brigid each day, I am under the shielding of Good Brigid each night. I am under her keeping, early and late, every dark, every light....

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Available for Purchase

Coming Soon: 

The Ragged Wound: Tending the Soul of Appalachia
Feral Church

 

I welcome readers and friends to join my Matreon to read the very latest writing. I share brand-new thoughts and experimental writing there.

http://patreon.com/HByronBallard

Writings and Blog

Anthologies:

  • Which Witch is Which by Patricia Telesco (Essay on Mixed-Gender Dianic Wicca)
  • Women’s Voices in Magic, edited by Brandy Williams  “Cove Witches and Curanderas”
  • Christmas Presence, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham.  “Getting the Tree Story”
  • Clothes Lines, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. “Boots”
  • Birthed from Scorched Hearts: Women Respond to War, edited by MariJo Moore. “The Daughters of Boudicca”
  • The Crone Initiative, edited by Jay Louise Aldred, Pat Day, and Trista Hendren
  • New World Witchery: a Trove of North American Folk Magic, edited by Cory
    Thomas Hutcheson
  • In Defiance of Oppression: the Legacy of Boudicca, edited by Trista
    Hendren, Joey Morris, and Pat Daly
  • My Wandering Uterus: Tales of Traveling While Female, edited by Kate Laity
  • Warrior Queen: Answering the Call of the Morrigan, edited by Trista
    Hendren, Jessica Johnson, and Pat Daly
  • Brigid’s Light: Tending the Ancestral Flame of the Beloved Celtic Goddess,
    edited by Cairelle Crow and Laura Louella

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