Ten-year-old Shanna has an uneasy feeling about a stranger her seven-year-old brother Rye met on way home from school. Is she just a silly chicken or is this what Momma calls intuition? Shanna and Rye are also disturbed by an angry presence in the shadows under some pine trees and by a mysterious raven. Their mother shows them how to use the magic of Imbolc to protect themselves and stand up for their beliefs. This is the first book in the Children's Wheel of the Year series for earth-centered, Pagan and Wiccan families. It is also a useful book for anyone teaching children about...

The gift of a friend,

The promise of the pentacle,

A new beginning...

And the courage to stand your ground.

Here is a story for Pagan, Wiccan and earth-centered families to share the wonder of the Wheel of the Year. Ostara is a time for buds and shoots, for the smell of wet earth and for asserting your true self. A new beginning can be hard but it's worth it after all.

Ten-year-old Shanna and eight-year-old Rye are starting out at a new school just before Ostara. A teacher notices Shanna's pentacle necklace and asks her to take it off. Brandy, the...