Tea with Tolkien

@teawithtolkien.com

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An online community and free book club inspired by the life, works, and faith of JRR Tolkien.

A baby lays on a white blanket wearing blue footie pajamas
A screenshot from the film A Christmas Story with the subtitles “she won that. That’s a major award”
My book “Into the Heart of Middle-earth” on a table beside a tea cup
An old tweet from 2024 reads: “it has taken so long for The Rings of Power to finish making their second season that I am going to have a whole other baby before the season two finale airs!!” with a photo of myself pregnant at the season 1 premiere and then a photo of myself pregnant again in 2024. Then it’s quote-tweeted with the caption “you’re never going to believe this”
A photograph of JRR Tolkien overlaid with the words “Happy Birthday JRR Tolkien”.
Kaitlyn sitting at a table at the Prancing Pony Podcast moot 2025, pictured with a variety of postcards and bookmarks to promote her book.
Elendil holds Narsil
Lord Celebrimbor holds the book cover art for “Into the Heart of Middle-earth” while gazing upon it reverently.
Image of my book cover art: a watercolor painting of a landscape with mountains and two trees prominently placed in the foreground. There is a giant golden ring in the background. Text: "On the eve of the publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote that in doing so he had 'exposed his heart to be shot at'. Kaitlyn Facista here lifts that heart up, to show how it speaks to our own, of hope, faith, mercy, courage, and self-sacrifice; and invites us to ponder that heart, to discern how we might each embrace and embody the virtues it espouses in our own ways, in our lives and in our world." — Carl F. Hostetter Editor of The Nature of Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien Coming from Ave Maria Press in February 2026 Learn more and pre-order at www.teawithtolkien.com/book
An image of the cover art for my book, Into the Heart of Middle-earth: a watercolor landscape painting of two trees amidst mountains. A golden ring looms in the background. There is a small star at the top of the cover. Text: "You will finish this book with your hope and courage restored, ready to tackle the adventure of your own life." - Haley Stewart Editor of Word on Fire Votive and author of Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life Coming from Ave Maria Press in February 2026 Learn more and pre-order at www.teawithtolkien.com/book
Bilbo from the Hobbit movie running through the Shire saying IM GOING ON AN ADVENTURE
*Artanis Name given to Galadriel by her father. *Artano   ‘High-smith’, name given to himself by Sauron in the Second Age. See Annatar, Aulendil.
Celebrimbor drinking his tea in a “girl who is going to be okay” kind of way
Celebrimbor Crying
Image of a YouTube thumbnail: two trees painted in watercolor paints with a grassy background. The text over the picture says “Tea with Tolkien’s Pocket Guide to Middle-earth”.
Image of an “O-Cedar” spin mop
Kelly holds a copy of my free booklet “Pocket Guide to Middle-earth”
An email from Dabble: Hey there, A week ago, we sent out a survey asking how you felt about Al in writing tools. We wanted to hear directly from you, the Dabblers, to understand exactly where you stand. Your responses were overwhelmingly clear: you don't want Al in your writing space. We hear you and we care about what you have to say. For that reason, we're keeping Al out of Dabble.
A video of my hands writing in a blank notebook with a felt tip pen - “Into the Heart of Middle-earth”
Frodo with a mischievous twinkle in his eye saying all right, then. Keep your secrets” to Gandalf.
A cover image for a booklet I created. The background is a watercolor painting of two trees in a meadow of flowers. The text on the image says: Tea with Tolkien’s Pocket Guide to Middle-earth “Welcome to Arda” The first age: Fëanor, no! The second age: Annatar, yes! The third age: Hobbits???!
Black text on a white backgrounds, the image looks like an old newspaper: BOOK VICH. 3 * THE ONE RING DESTROYED * 25 MARCH 3019 REJECT WORLD DOMINATION! EMBRACE SECOND BREAKFAST FOOD AND CHEER AND SONG ABOVE HOARDED GOLD
A toddler scribbling all over her mother’s manuscript (it’s fine, I told her it was okay. 🤎)
An Illustration of a hand, open and reaching towards something. On a tan background. In a whimsical font the caption reads: “Take off your golden ring! Your hand’s more fair without it. - The Fellowship of the Ring
Screenshot of an email receipt: Item description - Parma Eldalamberon 17: Words, Phrases & Passages: by J. R. R. Tolkien Paperback-Books Physical
A laptop open to discord where several users are present in a voice channel.
Video of myself flipping through the pages of my 200 page manuscript. There are scribbles and notes all over the pages.
a hand (my hand) holds approximately 200 sheets of paper in front of a book shelf
A watercolor painting of a light pink flower on a green background. The caption is in a whimsical font in white letters and reads: “For if we fall, who shall stand?” - The Return of the King This is an excerpt from a longer quote that I couldn’t fit in the post text: “‘Yet, Master Peregrin, we have this honour: ever we bear the brunt of the chief hatred of the Dark Lord, for that hatred comes down out of the depths of time and over the deeps of the Sea. Here will the hammer-stroke fall hardest. And for that reason Mithrandir came hither in such haste. For if we fall, who shall stand?’” - The Return of the King
'Raise the Shire!' said Merry. 'Now! Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be important, but don't at all understand what is really going on. But Shire-folk have been so comfortable so long they don't know what to do. They just want a match, though, and they'll go up in fire. The Chief's Men must know that. They'll try to stamp on us and put us out quick. We've only got a very short time. - The Scouring of the Shire, LOTR
Text from a Variety article: "Particularly with regard to the family history, his grandfather made the silver oils.”
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself having anything to do with such nonsense, said Sam. 'You used to like the inside of an inn better than the outside yourself. You were always popping in, on duty or off.' 'And so I would be still, Sam, if I could. But don't be hard on me. What can I do? You know how I went for a Shirriff seven years ago, before any of this began. Gave me a chance of walking round the country and seeing folk, and hearing the news, and knowing where the good beer was. But now it's different.' But you can give it up, stop Shirriffing, if it has stopped being a respectable job,' said Sam. 'We're not allowed to, said Robin. 'If I hear not allowed much oftener, said Sam, 'I'm going to get angry.
Elrond looking at Isildur in terror as he has decided against destroying the Ring. Of course this did not happen like this in the books!
A whimsical illustration of a white duck looking up cheerfully, paired with the caption" "Something Tookish woke up in him..." - The Hobbit
An illustration of mushrooms on a yellow background. A quote written in a whimsical script: “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size).” - The Letters of JRR Tolkien, 213
Tea’s kitchen where an instant pot sits along with a bread box and an echo show playing the rings of power
A handmade plushie of the Dutch Bilbo
My notion dashboard for Tea with Tolkien: my content calendar database is titled “true content creation requires sacrifice” with a photo of Annatar from the moment in The Rings of Power where he says “true creation requires sacrifice”
Image from the LOTR movies of Galadriel tempted by the one ring. She is covered in a dark green light and making a tense expression with her arms outstretched
Image of Frodo lounging in a tree, a still from the LOTR movies, captioned “in my Frodo era.”
Isabelle, the blonde dog from Animal Crossing New Horizons, sits behind a cartoon desk smiling. The caption reads: Island superstar tea is also celebrating a birthday today!
Image of a painting of Philip Neri - he wears red and white, holds white flowers and looks up to the side of the portrait. Full caption: Did you know JRR Tolkien chose St. Philip Neri as his confirmation saint? During his lifetime, Philip Neri was known for his gentle and friendly disposition and love of humor; he would would later be called “the Apostle of Joy.” The young John Ronald took 'Philip' as his confirmation name when he was received into the Catholic Church at the Birmingham Oratory in 1903. Today, 26 May, is St. Philip Neri's feast day!
text in black letters across a paper white screen. The text is obscured by a black illustration of thorns. Gandalf’s words to the Mouth of Sauron: “But as for your terms, we reject them utterly. Get you gone, for your embassy is over and death is near to you. We did not come here to waste words in treating with Sauron, faithless and accursed; still less with one of his slaves. Begone!”
Gandalf speaking to the mouth of Sauron: 'But as for your terms, we reject them utterly. Get you gone, for your embassy is over and death is near to you. We did not come here to waste words in treating with Sauron, faithless and accursed; still less with one of his slaves. Begone!'
Saruman: “We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."
“No admittance except on editing business”
Giant poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Bilbo looks towards a small hole in the mountainside which is illuminated by an ominous red orange light.
30 Bananas Incident of SDCC
Tolkien’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo
Da pope sticker on my water cup
A sheet of sticker paper with three designs Babygirl Sauron with photos of Sauron from The Rings of Power pope Leo XIV waving “Babygirl Sauron” text in pink and black letters
YouTube search history: me watching videos new rings of power interviews in between the conclave live stream
A white coffee mug with the text “Ave Maria Press” in black letters with a blue icon of a book above
screenshot of a sketch in progress - 42 teacups as different Tolkien characters in black pencil. Some are in to-go cups, some are in various shapes of mugs. Ilúvatar is a pot of tea becuase all tea comes from him :)
Black text on a beige background Recent Reviews for our free Silmarillion Reader's Guide Bernadette H Jan 14, 2025 5 out of 5 stars This is so good and helpful to keep track of things. I read the Silmarillion a while ago and downloaded this as a refresher and it is literally the niftiest little tool. Have recommended this to so many people!!! Download it now! It's free! Joshua M January 13, 2025 5 out of 5 stars This (free!) guide helped tremendously to keep the many names, relationships and associations clear while reading. Useful, helpful, and well-written. Robin E January 3, 2025 5 out of 5 stars The Silmarillion Reader's Guide was helpful for my first reading of this book! I used it alongside some of the youtube videos (because my brain appreciated the summaries both visually and aurally). The charts were especially helpful to keep track of different groups of people. Thank you for all of the effort you put into this resource! Tea with Tolkien
Dark blue background with black text: The Dagor Dagorath
Light brown background with black text: The Return of the King
Light grey/brown background with black text: The Third Age
Pink background with black text: The Fall of Númenor
Brown/Grey background with black text: The Rings of Power