How to Celebrate Yule Season as a Witch

The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (additionally identified as Yule) is without doubt one of the oldest winter celebrations on this planet. In the northern hemisphere, Yule is widely known round December 21, and within the southern hemisphere, round June 21. Yule is widely known for 12 Days.

Every year I like to write about Yule, and this text beforehand appeared on our different sister web site Black Magic Witch. For , I would like to share a little extra details about how one can have a good time Yule with out a lot of fuss as a result of let’s face it, who has time in the course of the finish of December for 12 days of rituals!  I’ll additionally share another excuse why you might have a good time throughout this time of year, with a little dialogue about The Saturnalia pageant.

So what’s in it for you? An opportunity to step away from all the BS, the newborn Jesus story, the advertising and marketing stuff, all the stress, and simply concentrate on you for a minute. It will be tremendous lonely throughout main holidays if you’re transitioning out of the old-fashioned traditions and onto a magical path. I’m hoping to encourage you into creating some new fabulous traditions for your self, so you may embody your self in your loved ones rituals, and different public occasions, realizing that you’ve got your individual private cause for celebrating this time of year.

A Little History

Around this time of year, and earlier than Christ was born <eye-roll>, there have been two main pre-Christian festivals that roughly coincide with Christmas: the Roman Bacchanalia, or Saturnalia, and the Yule Feast of the Norse nations. So let me share a few ideas from every of those festivals.

“We put lights on our entrances and porches and on the roofs of our garages to scare away the darkness. We have a good time THE RENAISSANCE OF LIGHT on the longest night time of the year. The winter solstice is a time to collect, for love, peace, goodwill and, extra importantly, for FORGIVENESS. In this austere and chilly season, we use branches and foliage to symbolize life; shiny colours, photos of wealthy harvests and mountains of presents to thrust back hardship or concern of it “

——–   Cerridwen Iris Shea

Northern Yule Feast

Symbolically talking and in accordance with Neopagan traditions, Yule represents the rebirth of God after his dying in Samhain and it’s the first seasonal ritual of the Wheel of the year.

Yule is anticipated to final for twelve days which represents the twelve months of the year. Many Asatru additionally calibrates every day of the 12 days of Yule as an expression of every of the months of the year. Such as Yulmonath which coincides with December. It is the month of Yule, St Lucy Day, St Nick Day and the Winter Solstice.

Some say that the 12 days of Christmas started in historical Egypt. It is claimed the twelve-day celebration could have been designed to honour the zodiacal wheel. Something else to contemplate!

The Roman god Saturn (agricultural god)

“The Saturnalia” pageant started across the seventeenth of December and lasted for a week. “Starting off as a one-day holiday the Saturnalia eventually expanded to cover a week by the Late Republic. Augustus reduced the festivities to a more modest three days, but his successor Caligula increased it to five days, and it seems that, in practice, ordinary people celebrated for the full seven days anyway, despite the official decrees.” [1]

It is instructed, faculties had been closed, no criminals had been punished, slaves had been allowed to swap locations with their masters, and one was elected king at some point of the pageant. The rich distributed presents to the poor.

“One peculiarity of the Saturnalia was not merely the relaxing but reversal of ordinary roles and social conventions, whereby, for example, masters would wear the freed-slave felt hat (pilleus) and wait on their slaves (or at least eat together in the same room) who were permitted to do as they wished and even display a touch of insolence.” [1]

So let’s get artistic if we’re to introduce this into our finish of year festivities. If you might be a mum or a dad, why not make it a household custom that the youngsters now are liable for serving the adults! While the youngsters is probably not ready to do among the heavy cooking, they definitely will be liable for setting the desk, maybe making ready the meals and greens alongside the adults, after which cleansing up afterwards. It must be seen as a ritual of gratitude for all the trouble the dad and mom undergo in the course of the year.

I’m certain you’re laughing out loud proper now, nevertheless it’s a good thought.

How did Christianity get pulled into Yule?

Back earlier than Christ, when most of us had been pagan and celebrated the turning of the wheel, a.okay.a. the seasons, we celebrated every season in a very particular means. EG. In Norway, on the night time of the winter solstice, it was widespread to hoist a big log onto the fireside to have a good time the return of the solar every year. The Norsemen believed that the solar was a big wheel of fireside that rolled away from the earth after which started rolling again once more on the winter solstice.

As Christianity unfold by means of Europe, the custom grew to become a part of Christmas Eve festivities. The father or grasp of the home would sprinkle the log with libations of mead, oil, or salt. Once the log was burned within the fireside, the ashes had been scattered about the home to defend the household inside from hostile spirits. This might be one other concept for you to strive when celebrating with your loved ones.

Who was Santa Claus?

Once once more it depends upon who’s telling the story of the origin of Santa Claus. In some legends, Odin bestowed presents at Yuletide upon his folks, driving a magical flying horse throughout the sky. This legend could have mixed with that of St. Nicholas to create the fashionable Santa Claus. Father Christmas as a jolly previous man with a white beard was certainly thought to be primarily based on St Nicholas, who will be traced again to Asia Minor in about 350 AD (across the time Pope Julius was fixing the date of Jesus’s delivery).

Christmas roots come from the traditional Roman vacation of Saturnalia, which was a pagan pageant that was celebrated from December 17-25 every year. There are many tales from world wide as to the place the roots come from, however like with all historic data, the true reality is within the eyes of the storyteller.

You could discover this attention-grabbing: Satanic Holidays

Celebration Ideas

During this time, nature is asleep so that’s the reason it’s a excellent time to meditate, recollect and make plans for the brand new year. Here are another concepts that I get pleasure from with my Coven, and my household throughout this time. You could also be stunned how easy these solutions are, and that’s as a result of we’re all very busy this time of year. Still with easy every day rituals you may really feel tremendous magical.

Set up a tree & beautify your private home

The “Yule tree,”, or Christmas tree, is a adorned tree, often an evergreen conifer species, such as pine, fir, cedar, juniper, or spruce. The custom has origins with historical civilizations within the center east, Asia, and Europe.

Decorate the Yule tree & and make your private home look festive, as you’ll have a good time Yule for 12 days!

Don’t neglect to beautify your private home. You may begin on the entrance door and place a wreath. The round form of a wreath symbolizes life eternal, the unending cycle of delivery, dying and rebirth.

Make a Yule Log

There are two kinds of Yule logs, and I believe I want to write a separate article for every of them. One of them is the Yule Log which you burn each year, and also you don’t eat it 😉 The different is a cake, and we make this cake within the form of a Yule Log. This is the recipe we used last year, and the year earlier than that. It was a easy cake to make and everybody cherished it.

To the Celts the Yule Log was symbolic of the Oak King and was adorned with evergreens symbolic of the Holly King. The important ritual for a lot of is the ritual burning of the Yule log for 12 hours. Like all the things, nothing is about in stone, and it’s possible you’ll like to change this burning of the Yule Log for 12 hours, and alter it for burning a candle on prime of the log for 12 days.

The log will be a particular sort of wooden, or, relying on the place we’re on this planet throughout this time, we are going to discover a piece of wooden that we discover pleasing to our eye, and produce that inside for adornment. This can present a stunning desk ornament in the course of the 12 days of Yule. Sometimes we like to set a candle on prime of the log, and that is the candle we burn for that particular day of Yule.

In coven rituals – The complete ritual is directed by the priestess or priest in command of the celebration. The trunk is specifically chosen by the ritual chief, (or somebody who communicates with the bushes to ask for his or her permission and know which log can be excellent to be used).

The plum pudding

Personally, I can not stand plum pudding. It tastes disgusting. But I do like taking a slice and right here is why. You can use the plum pudding, as a supply of divination. And even when your loved ones don’t consider within the stuff we consider in, it may be actually enjoyable to see if one thing distinctive is in your slice of pudding.

The one who makes the pudding, is absolutely creating a magical Desert. In the desert, they might place a trinket, and say one thing like “….. each of the trinkets will manifest its benefits to the recipient within the coming year, so be it.” As you drop every curio into the pudding, you’d state the purpose of that trinket (curio).

Ideas: A Ring (The ring stood for marriage); A Coin (the coin for wealth); A Button (the button and the thimble had been symbols of the everlasting bachelor or spinster) and so forth. If considered one of this stuff turned up in your serving of pudding it foretold your private standing in the course of the coming year.

Savannah started this practice/custom after dwelling in New Orleans, the place they’ve the annual king cake pageant.

“A miniature plastic baby, which symbolizes baby Jesus, is placed inside of each cake to signify the Epiphany. The person who gets the slice that contains the baby is known as the king. They are charged with the responsibility of bringing a king cake to the next event.”

This year my house is the communal assembly place, so we won’t be having plum pie. I will likely be making a blackberry pie. I’ve additionally determined to add into the pie a pentagram. From this second ahead, the one that receives the slice of pie containing the pentagram will likely be identified as the seasonal king or queen, and will likely be charged with the duty of holding the annual occasion! Nobody is aware of this as but, and I assume they are going to discover out after they learn this weblog publish.

So It Is Done!

12 candles for 12 Days

A easy means to do that is to put together 12 candles, one for every day of Yule. Personally, I like to arrange 12 candles in a row, every in their very own little candleholder, and on every day I’ll mild one candle and say a prayer of thanks. The prayer that you just say will rely on your custom, your loved ones, and the deity you observe.

You may use candles within the correspondence of the season, see beneath for correspondences, or if you happen to’re working with a particular God or goddess, you might use a color relating to that God or goddess. There aren’t any arduous and quick guidelines.

Perform Spells of prosperity 

Lastly, that is the right time of year to carry out spells of abundance for the approaching year. If you might be within the southern hemisphere this is probably not as related, as it isn’t New Year’s Eve throughout your Yule celebration. I’d work with the correspondences of this time, and carry out magic which can increase my luck and prosperity.

You may additionally maintain a very particular ritual that the entire household can take part on. Have every member of the family write down needs, place them within the log (the one you don’t eat). Some folks like to tie little bows round their want, so it’s stored protected from prying eyes. You can tie these ribbons across the log.

There is not any arduous and quick guidelines on what to do with this log.

• Some folks will burn it, when you’ve got a hearth or when you’ve got out of doors area to achieve this.
  •  As you watch the flames devour it, talk about how grateful you might be for the great issues which have come your means this year. It’s a excellent time to discuss your hopes for abundance, good well being, and happiness within the subsequent twelve months.
• I like to preserve the log particularly whether it is a particular trying piece of wooden, and produce it out year after year. It type of turns into a household heirloom, and might symbolise the custom of the year.

In Druidism, Yule additionally means the time of the best quantity of energetic energy so magical rituals carried out at the moment are often very highly effective.

The Altar & The Gods

If you’re like me, you like establishing a little altar for the season. I’ve so many concepts for the altar area, that I haven’t dedicated to how I’ll beautify my altar as but. If you have got any concepts I’d love to hear your concepts for my very own inspiration!

Firstly, Savannah will likely be again in Sydney throughout this time, and we are going to most likely dedicate a day to every of the Gods of the season. This does change from year to year, and I don’t know which gods we’re working with this season. Each day, one particular person will likely be inspired to converse on one of many Gods, and the importance of that God. We will say a prayer and light-weight a candle. We are additionally inspired to take into consideration how we may gain advantage by working with this God.

In the left-hand path teachings, we’re inspired to search for alternatives for development, and by asking the suitable questions and for the suitable blessings, we are going to develop in direction of enlightenment. Ultimately, we’re asking the gods for knowledge, so we are able to unlock the blockages of our thoughts.

Once once more, there isn’t any particular rule on which God is for which day, and so it may be up to you to utterly create your individual 12 days of dedication. Every year, these gods are all the time honoured: Isis (Astaroth)& Ishtar; Bacchus; the green man (plenty of completely different variations of who that is together with Cernunnos, Harlequin, Holly King, and naturally Santa Claus); Ra; Freya (if you happen to favor a feminine model of Santa Claus, then Freya is your goddess! Freya spent the twelve days after Solstice being transported in a sleigh, giving presents to the great and distress choices to the naughty); Odin (bear in mind, it was instructed Odin bestowed presents at Yuletide, driving a magical flying horse throughout the sky – so after we discuss Santa Claus, we are literally referring to Odin!).

I actually like the concept of dedicating my altar to Saturn. Saturn was described as a god of power, energy, a lot, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation. I can also discuss Saturn and the advantages and knowledge of celebrating equality, particularly throughout this time of acceptance.

I’ll come again and replace this text with images as soon as I full my altar set-up for this season.

You could discover this attention-grabbing:

Celebrating Yule

Yule Spells & Rituals

What are another rituals throughout this time?

• During the corresponding TWELVE nights, some say the lifeless ones seem in numerous types to go to their relations. Christmas Eve is historically a time for stressed spirits to stroll the earth, one thing previous Ebeneezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol!
• This is a time for religious-level initiations

Correspondences

The colors of Yule in pagan observances embody red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow and orange. These colors have been adopted into Christian Christmas celebrations. So even if you’re new to celebrating this season together with your prolonged household, they gained’t even know you might be practising paganism or witchcraft as a result of all the colors will look very related this time of year.

Colors: Red / Green / Gold / Silver / White Symbols

• Rebirth of the God
• The longest night time of the year

Work:

• Plan for the long run
• Reborn
• Peace, Harmony, Love, Happiness, Light.

Incenses and oils:

• Cedar
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Frankincense
• Juniper
• Myrrh
• Orange
• Pine
• Ginger
• Peppermint (fav)

Herbs :

• Laurel
• thistle
• juniper
• oranges
• lemons
• chamomile
• cinnamon
• evergreen bushes
• holly
• ivy
• juniper
• mistletoe**
• oak leaves
• pine pine
• cones
• poinsettia
• rosemary
• sage

Stones:

• Emerald
• Ruby
• Diamond
• garnets
• tiger eye
• zirconia

Food:   Nuts and fruits such as; apples, pears, caraway truffles soaked in cider, the well-known Yule trunk. Traditions:

Gods: 

• Apollo
• Attis
• Balder
• Bacchus
• Dionysus
• The Green Man
• Helios
• Lugh
• The King of Oak
• Wotan
• Ra
• Sun
• Odin

Goddesses:

• Brighid
• Isis
• Ishtar
• Demeter
• Gaia
• Diana
• The Great Mother
• Athena
• Freya
• Frigga

  Ritual Bath:

• Pine branches
• Laurel
• Leaves Rosemary leaves

Simple Decoration for Yule:

• – Decorate the homes with ivy inside and holly and mistletoe outdoors to defend themselves from undesirable visits
• – Decorate with red and green colours. The red coloration symbolizes delivery whereas green is a image of the earth.

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Author: Lady Hannah

Reviewed by: Savannah & Edwin

Sources

1. https://www.worldhistory.org/Saturnalia/
2. https://www .style of residence. com/ assortment/ how -to-make-a-yule-log/view-all/
3. https://www.thoughtco.com/make-a-yule-log-2563006
4. http://www.circulodebrujas.com/sabats/yule/
5. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
6. https://blog.hellofresh.co.uk/christmas-baking/
7. http://www.souland  spiritmagazine. com/the-magic-of -yule-with-white-witch-patricia-weston/
8. https://www.elbloga lternativo. com/2010/12/18/yule- solsticio-de -invierno-la-noche-mas-larga-del-ano/