To you and me of course this means the Winter Solstice - Yule! It doesn’t feel like 5 minutes since I was writing about my Samhain/Halloween plans but already there’s more to do. I’m certainly not complaining though, I absolutely love this time of year and I could do with working some more on my Samhain led focus!
I’m going to do the same thing again, posting all of my plans as I go along, sharing the final spell when I’ve completed it. I’ll also include some of the Yule traditions celebrated by others so this may give you some ideas or inspiration for your own merry making :)
In the meantime, here’s some little nuggets of Yule info to warm the cockles:
- Winter Solstice for 2009 is 21st December. (I’m planning to spread out my spells, rituals and honouring between the 21st and the 25th, for convenience sake as much as anything. Don’t want to be a stick in the mud on Christmas Day either!)
- This is the longest night of the year - it’s all uphill from then on! The sun will be returning to us (in the shape of longer days), bringing life, food and light back into our lives. The fire of the traditional burning of the Yule log represents the sun.
- Mistletoe, holly and ivy were all brought into Pagan homes due to them being evergreen and therefore representatives of the greenery that was to return in the coming months.
- In many Pagan traditions, the winter solstice is the new year.
- This is the time in the Wheel of Life when the God is reborn to the Goddess so birth and regeneration is celebrated.
- Oh, and apparently there’s also always been a tradition of exchanging gifts. Don’t know what happened to that one, eh?!
