Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

Book III: W heel of the Year 251
Christmas is appropriate for Yule as well. Make a wreath for your front door, and decorate
your house with string lights. “Deck the halls with boughs of holly,” fragrant pine, ivy, and
mistletoe. The Druids revered the white berries of the mistletoe as the semen of the God, and
this can also be placed on your altar, or hung in doorways for the traditional kissing beneath
it. (Probably our ancestors did more than kiss under this symbol of fertility!) NOTE: Mistletoe
berries are highly poisonous, so be sure to keep them away from children and animals!
Set up a Yule tree, and decorate it with special symbols, amulets, and hand-made talismans
(blown-out eggshells are great to paint and decorate). Citrus fruits (lemons and oranges)
to represent the sun are also traditional to hang on your tree. Put up a sun symbol as
a reminder of the sun’s return. If you have a fireplace, you can decorate and burn a special
Yule Log. As you light it, make pledges for new projects you wish to give birth to.
Fix up your altar with a Santa Claus figure, reindeer, and little decorations in the shapes of
animals, trees, presents, snowflakes, icicles, etc. Use a red and green altar cloth, or put a sheet of
cotton down for an altar cloth that looks like snow. Acorns, nuts, apples, cinnamon sticks, and
pomegranates are also appropriate for decorating your Yule altar. Burn lots of green and red
candles, since this is a celebration of light. And most important, make special gifts for your loved
ones. These can be artwork, crafts, projects, or collages (pictures made by cutting images out of
magazines and gluing then onto a background of cardboard or wood).
Give Yule presents to the birds and Faeries by hanging ornaments of fruits, nuts, seeds, and
berries on the branches of outdoor trees. Strings of popcorn and cranberries are fun to make,
and the wild creatures will love them! You can make them for
your own inside tree first, and then take them outside later.
Winter Solstice - December 21 st
Also called Midwinter or Yule (“Wheel”)
T heme: Conception/Communion 1
By Ruth Barrett
Winter Solstice comes at the dead of winter and marks the longest night. Being a solar
holiday, the exact date fluctuates each calendar year between December 20 and 23. The ancestors
saw this season as a time of faith and the rebirth of spirit. In ancient celebrations of midwinter,
fires were lit with ceremony on hilltops and in homes. People huddled around the blazing
Yule log and lit ritual fires outside to encourage the sun to return. In many old Pagan traditions
that were later adopted by the Christian calendar, it was at this time of the year that the Star
Child, sacred son of the Mother, was born. He represented hope during the hard months of
winter. 2 By projecting and energizing hope for the sun’s eventual return and the Earth’s renewal,
the people made a “spiritual cradle,” or psychic space, for the newly conceived light to eventually
fill. In Norway, people still wish each other Gott Jul, literally meaning “Good Wheel,” a
winter holiday blessing for a “good turn” around the Wheel of the Year once again.
In the darkest part of the year when the days are shortest, Nature asks us to slow down
and enjoy a cup of warm tea, to be with loved ones, to listen rather than to speak. Under the
ground, the Earth silently sleeps. Seeds rest in suspended animation and the animals hibernate.
In contrast, we humans rush frantically to the malls, stressing ourselves with activity
when we really yearn to rest, dream, and gather strength in our bodies for the coming season
of renewal. For many people living in the United States, taking time to rest and dream is seen
as a sign of laziness. However, nature teaches us that resting, drawing inward for a time is
present in all living things. Rest is necessary for growth that comes later in its season.
The sun will return: Our modern knowledge of astronomy tells us that this is a fact we
can depend on. Unlike our ancestors—to whom the cycles of light and dark and heat and rain