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racheldeering.bsky.social
Rachel Deering
@racheldeering.bsky.social
22K followers 8.1K following 15K posts
Onemorething on ABCtales, Bath Poet. First collection Crown of Eggshell pub. 2020. @BookWormSat w/ Signe Maene. Literature, art, myth, folklore, the gothic. Left wing. 🇪🇺 She/her 🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Ally https://linktr.ee/rachel_deering
https://ko-fi.com/kofisupporter68929
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racheldeering.bsky.social
Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · Dec 23
Please review my collection on Amazon or Goodreads if you have been lovely enough to buy it. It really helps. www.goodreads.com/book/show/21... In the Shadow of Gods amzn.eu/d/gRaCt0j
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
"All this foolishness
About moons and blossoms
Pricked by the cold’s needle."

(Basho)

🎨 Shoun Yamamoto

#wintersky
A delicate monochrome woodblock print in shades of grey and black. Two crows perch on a bare, snow-laden branch: the upper bird leans forward under the weight of falling flakes, wings slightly spread, while the lower bird turns its head upward with its beak open as if calling into the storm. Fine white specks of snow scatter across their glossy black feathers and through the misty background, where faint silhouettes of winter trees rise below. The composition is quiet and atmospheric, capturing both stillness and life in a cold, drifting snowfall.
January 6, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
"And Eira sung and spun on. But on this St Distaff Day the spindle slipped, grazing her finger. A single drop of blood bloomed crimson on the pale thread, and Eira found herself standing in a world of perpetual twilight."

www.tumblr.com/whatthecrowt...
Post by @whatthecrowtold · 1 image
💬 0  🔁 0  ❤️ 0 · Today, O best beloved, Yuletide is over, and work began again in days of yore. And when the day’s work was done, the females of the species in the household usually took the dista…
www.tumblr.com
January 7, 2026 at 6:45 AM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
signemaene.com
1/3 According to a Flemish folktale, the neighbours of a suspected witch were jealous because she managed to churn more butter than they did. When her neighbours asked her how she did it, she showed them a little key.

#WyrdWednesday
Pictorialist photograph by Léonard Misonne. A woman with buckets. Two children stand on the other side of the river near a watermill.
January 7, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
Yuletide is over today and work begins anew and since "work" meant "spinning" when you had nothing else to do for the female population back in the day, 7 January became known as St Distaff Day...

But what if your distaff was made by dark elves?

Read it in our first #winterfolklore story below
A quiet, monochrome drawing in charcoal-like tones. A woman sits in profile, turned slightly away from the viewer, her face partly hidden beneath a white bonnet. She works at a tall spinning wheel that fills most of the foreground, its circular rim catching the light in a pale halo against the surrounding darkness. One hand steadies the distaff of bundled flax, the other guides the thread as it twists. The background is largely in shadow, emphasising the simple figure, the old wooden wheel, and the meditative stillness of the act of spinning.
January 7, 2026 at 6:45 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
An Angel Playing A Flageolet, Edward Burne-Jones, 1878.
Painting as described, Angel is dressed in white, gold border.
January 7, 2026 at 7:57 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Winter Aconite, Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt, 1596 - 1610.
Illustration of plant and yellow flowers, little black caterpillar.
January 7, 2026 at 7:53 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Winter, Edvard Munch, 1899.
Snow scene, forest painting.
January 7, 2026 at 7:51 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Wednesday plans:
🖼️ Chris Dunn
Badger from WITW sat in a green armchair reading his paper at the fireside in a cosy sitting room, illustration.
January 7, 2026 at 7:47 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
🖼️ Steve Sanderson
Portrait of fox’s head on black background.
January 7, 2026 at 7:43 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Tit of the Day:
Tawny Tit-Spinetail
🖼️ Andy Walker
Photo of this bird perched on a branch.
January 7, 2026 at 6:20 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Book Cover of the Day:
Snow by THELMA HARRINGTON BELL drawings by CORYDON BELL Dark Green cover with light green waves, white lettering for title, black for author/illustrator, decorated with white snowflakes.
January 7, 2026 at 6:00 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Morning.
Birds Beneath White Flowers in Winter, c.1875.
Illustration is attributed to the English School (19th century) or published by L. Prang & Co. Little sparrows huddle beneath flowers and foliage as snow falls.
January 7, 2026 at 5:53 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Fallow Deer and Wood Duck, John Leigh Pemberton.
Midland Bank series illustration as described; fallow deer in front of tree, ducks on water in foreground.
January 7, 2026 at 5:45 AM
racheldeering.bsky.social
Goodnight. May we sleep deep and dream our own tangled branches of magic, another dawn will be here soon enough.
🖼️ Philippe Fix
Illustration of a forest scene at night, a dark blue sky with stars. A large, ancient-looking tree with gnarled, twisting branches and roots is on the right side of the image. An owl is perched inside a hollow in the trunk. In the foreground, there are pink foxgloves, various fungi, and rocky terrain. A small, thatched-roof cottage with a warm light glowing from its window sits atop a grassy mound in the middle ground, nestled among the roots and smaller trees.
January 6, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

(Shelley)

🎨 Wiktor Kriżanowski

#wintersky
A richly textured, icy scene in pale blues and greys. A dense winter forest fills the image — evergreens, bare branches and snow-laden trunks — but their curves and shadows subtly combine into the outline of a huge, half-hidden human face, as if the spirit of winter lies sleeping in the landscape itself. Delicate white frost traces the branches in the foreground, while mist and snowfall soften the background trees. The composition feels both natural and enchanted, suggesting a world where the forest is alive with ancient, seasonal magic.
January 6, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
bookwormsat.bsky.social
Dear bookworms, we have added themes for #BookWormSat until April! If you would like to know what's to come, you can have a look over here: signemaene.com/bookwormsatu...

Happy reading and see you Saturday! 📚🐛
Painting by Emil Pap. Interior scene with a woman reading near the window. A vase of pink roses on the table.
January 6, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
“He laid a spell of utter darkness and forgetfulness… and for many days indeed she could neither hear, nor see, nor stir by her own will. Then Glaurung left her standing alone upon Amon Ethir, and he went back to Nargothrond.”

(J.R.R. Tolkien “The Silmarillion”)

🎨 ZDrava
A dramatic, monochrome-blue illustration composed almost entirely of tiny letters and lines of text. On the right, a massive dragon with a long, sinuous neck and coiled body rises over a snowy ridge, its form outlined by black and dark blue text. Opposite it, on the cliff’s edge, stands a slender white figure of a woman with flowing hair, rendered in pale text, facing the creature in stillness. The background fades from light grey to deep black, filled with drifting vertical streams of letters like falling darkness, while bare trees stand in silhouette to one side. The scene evokes a moment of enchantment and despair from The Silmarillion, where Glaurung casts Niënor into forgetfulness.
January 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
oliviaarmstrong.bsky.social
In Ireland today is Nollaig na mBan: Women's Christmas, Little Christmas. A day when men would take over the "traditional" jobs of women (!) and women could rest! In lore, it was also when well-water would turn to wine although it was unlucky to observe...! #Epiphany #January
A white woman with combed dark hair in white blouse, blue skirt strikes a defiant pose, hand on hip. Her other hand is holding a clay pot by her side.
January 6, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
“I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight.”

(Mary Shelley)

🎨 David Blackwood

#wintersky
A finely detailed black-and-white print of an Arctic seascape. In the background rises a huge, sculpted iceberg, its ridges and planes catching a soft, luminous light. In front of it, a small sailing schooner with dark sails glides across calm water, its reflection mirrored on the surface. Two smaller chunks of ice float in the foreground, emphasising the scale of the towering berg. The scene is hushed and atmospheric, suggestive of fragile passage through a vast, frozen world.
January 6, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
abctales.bsky.social
One to bring a smile in the sludge of January! This is GlosKat's different take on a fairy tale: www.abctales.com/story/gloska...
January 6, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
signemaene.com
One more just for you. 😽
Tuxedo cat in snow
January 6, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
signemaene.com
'Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.'
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

🎨Akira Kusaka
Whimsical illustration of a figure sitting on a bench inside a street lantern. Snow descending. Night.
January 6, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wyrdwednesday.bsky.social
#WyrdWednesday falls on St Distaff’s Day this year, when in olden days spinning commenced again after the holidays.

A great time for storytelling, so we give you:

"Wyrd Women's Tales!"

As this week’s topic – come and tell your story!
January 5, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
wunderkammertales.bsky.social
… and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him.”

(Kipling)

🎨 Pascal Campion

#wintersky
A quiet, atmospheric illustration in cool grey-blue tones. Snow falls steadily over a city park, softening the outlines of bare trees and a gently arched stone bridge in the background. In the centre of the image stands a tall street lamp, its warm yellow light spilling onto the snow beneath it and catching the drifting flakes. Footprints curve along the path, where a small black cat moves across the scene with tail raised. The surrounding city buildings are only faintly visible through the mist and snow, giving the scene a hushed, solitary feeling — as if the cat truly owns the night.
January 5, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Rachel Deering
robertsnickc.bsky.social
‘Orient Express.’ #Illustration by Andrew Davidson #art
January 5, 2026 at 8:58 AM