Tea with Tolkien

So if you’re listening to this right now in the Long Lent of 2020, we are currently in the midst of a pandemic due to the coronavirus! I hope if you’re listening at some point in the future that things have settled down and everything is just fine and we’ve put this whole thing far, far behind us…

But right now, we’re all struggling. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected by this.

On top of worrying about the actual virus, many of us are also experiencing a sudden loss of income, a dramatic change in our daily routine, some of you I know have been alone in your apartment for weeks and are having a difficult time adjusting to simply being alone all the time. You need a hug. I hope this can be like a virtual hug in whatever way that’s possible.

Healthcare workers like my husband and many of our friends are working extra hours under higher stress, and many others are navigating working from home… It’s just all around very stressful for everyone in a lot of different ways.

I wanted to share this episode with our current situation in mind but I think it will be useful for any time you find yourself having to stay at home for long periods of time, or honestly whenever you need a little encouragement or inspiration to be a bit more Hobbity.

I also wanted to say that staying home, social distancing, self-quarantine… whatever you call it… would naturally be very difficult for Hobbits as they loved spending time with each other, throwing parties, gathering at the pub to gossip about Bilbo and Frodo… and it’s okay that it’s hard for us too.

We were created to live in fellowship and we are being asked to make this sacrifice for the time being, and I just wanted to acknowledge that it’s okay if you’re struggling with this. That being said, I hope sharing these ideas will help you feel a little inspired and cheered up and ready to choose well what to do with this time that’s been given to you.

Read | This one might seem obvious, but log out of Netflix and pick up a book! Scrolling through twitter for 14 hours a day is not good for you, ask me how I know. Obviously I’m going to recommend reading Tolkien. If you haven’t read The Lord of the Rings yet, now’s your chance. And if you have but you haven’t read The Silmarillion, do it! If you’ll be ordering books online, check if any of your local bookstores offer online shopping, or try getting it straight from the publisher if possible. Smaller businesses are hurting right now, so try to support them if you can.

If you need any other book recommendations, visit teawithtolkien.com/bookshelf for all of my book reviews and my to-be-read list. Many of them are available on the Kindle, so you don’t have to worry about going to a bookstore or ordering anything online.

Go Outside | I can’t help but imagine a bunch of hobbits sitting on their front porches yelling to one another about potatoes and cabbages. If you have a porch, so sit on it! In whatever way you’re able, even if it’s just opening a window and breathing a little fresh air -- DO IT. I try to take a walk everyday with the kids and it helps so much. So if you’re able to take a walk, take a walk. If you can’t go outside at all, open your windows and let the sunshine in.

Pray | Tolkien recommended ‘making a habit of the praises’ in a letter to his son, especially in times of distress. He also wrote, “It is also a good and admirable thing to know by heart the Canon of the Mass, for you can say this in your heart if ever hard circumstances keep you from hearing Mass..." which feels very applicable as all public Masses in the US are currently suspended. The prayers Tolkien recommended can be found at www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/prayers.

Be Creative | Spend some time sitting with your own thoughts and then create something! Pick up a notebook and journal, write poetry, paint, or draw. I’ve noticed a lot of artists I follow on Instagram have been teaching mini courses in their instagram stories, and there is an abundance of free information on YouTube as well. Doing something creative can help relieve the stress you’re feeling so I really do recommend giving it a try even if you don’t feel like a “creative” person.

Write a Letter | Tolkien writes in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, “By no means all Hobbits were lettered, but those who were wrote constantly to all their friends (and a selection of their relations) who lived further off than an afternoon’s walk.” Following their example, write a few letters to a few of your friends (and maybe just one to a relative).

Cook | With more time at home and many restaurants and delivery services closed, now is the perfect time to learn your way around a kitchen if you don’t already. I know this is tricky because a lot of grocery stores are out of pantry staples like flour and such, but this is another opportunity to be creative. I’ll link to a few Hobbit-inspired food blog posts in the show notes: Food of the Shire, What Hobbits Like to Eat, The Feast Goes on and Ever On, and 7 Shire-Worthy Recipes for National Hobbit Day.)

Bake Lembas |If you’re able to get your hands on a few cups of flour, bake a batch of Lembas! I have my own recipe on my blog -- you can find it by searching “Tea with Tolkien Lembas” But maybe just half a batch for now since it does make quite a bit.

Become a Gardener | Depending on where you live, it may or may not be time to start planting! If it’s still a bit early, now is a good time to do your research and make your plans for your garden. Even if you don’t have a yard, you can start a little herb garden on your windowsill.

Donate Items | While I won’t be dropping off my donations for at least a few weeks, I’ve started going through different areas of the house and bagging up items we don’t use or need anymore. I’m keeping all the bags in the basement until we can go drop them off later. Also, if you do have an excess of any items that people might be needing right now (like, I don’t know, TOILET PAPER?), donate those right away!

Sit Beside the Fire and Think | Whether you light a big fire in your fireplace or simply light a few candles, take some time out of whatever else it is you’re doing (scrolling twitter and stressing out?) and read, think, pray, or write in the relaxing, warm glow of the firelight.

Do something inconvenient for the sake of another | This really is at the heart of what it means to be a Hobbit. Throughout all of their tales, Hobbits go out of their way to support and care for one another. If you have an elderly neighbor or know someone who is struggling right now, ask them how you can help. And while you’re at it, call your grandparents!

Obviously I’m not going to solve all of the world's problems with a podcast episode but I hope this brightened up your day and kinda helped get you thinking about ways to spend your time while stuck at home.

If you liked these ideas, I wanted to recommend my eBook, Thirty Days in the Shire! It’s only $6 and serves as a guide for becoming more of a Hobbit at Heart over the next thirty days. You can learn more and order your copy at teawithtolkien.com/30days if you’re ready to slow down, simplify, and grow!

Anyways, I’m so happy to be back talking to you all! I hope to have more episodes out for you soon, and if there’s anything you’d like to hear about please feel free to let me know on twitter or instagram @teawithtolkien. Have a lovely day!

In this episode, we are joined for Tea by Father Dan Bedel! We talked about one of Tolkien’s lesser-known works, Leaf by Niggle, as well as Tolkien’s Catholic faith, Harry Potter, and the upcoming Lord of the Rings tv show being produced by Amazon.

Tolkien writes that this story is “the only thing I have ever done which cost me absolutely no pains at all. Usually I compose only with great difficulty and endless rewriting. I woke up one morning (more than 2 years ago) with that odd thing virtually complete in my head. It took only a few hours to get down, and then copy out. I am not aware of ever ‘thinking’ of the story or composing it in the ordinary sense.” - Letter 98

“I recollect nothing about the writing, except that I woke one morning with it in my head, scribbled it down -- and the printed form in the main hardly differs from the first hasty version at all. I find it still quite moving, when I reread it. It is not really or properly an ‘allegory’ so much as ‘mythical’. For Niggle is meant to be a real mixed-quality person and not an ‘allegory’ of any single vice or virtue…” - Letter 241

This week our book club is discussing the first chapter of the Silmarillion, Ainulindalë. I know Ainulindalë can be a bit tricky for some to get through, so I thought I’d bring on two guests this week who haven’t read one page of Tolkien and introduce them to the The Silmarillion. They ask a lot of questions and I try to give my best explanations as we read, so my hope is that if you’re reading The Silmarillion for the first time as well, our discussion will be helpful! 

This episode is much longer than our usual ones, so I hope you don’t mind!

About The Guests

Alex Facista is a Catholic convert, husband (my husband, to be specific), father, and physician. You can find him on twitter at @DoctorCatholic.

Matt Baker is our resident Trad friend and co-host of the Roman Circus Podcast. You can find him on twitter at @HeyitsMattBaker or @RomanCircusPod.