Awaken the darkness, welcome back the fires of light!
This is the season of Yule, also known as the Winter Solstice. It is the
shortest day of the year, and the first Solar celebration of the pagan new
year.
Yuletide, as it is called in the Teutontic tradition, begins on Mother
Night, December 20th and lasts through Yule Night, December 31st. This is where
the "12 Days of Christmas" originated.
Yule night is when the Goddess gives birth to the Sun Child. This marks the
promise of new beginnings. This birth-death-rebirth cycle is again complete,
and we realize that new life will come again. Fires are lit in celebration,
and to give the Sun strength for its journeys back to the skies.
Many of the Traditions that we have today are originally of pagan decent.
Santa's reindeer actually represented the Horned God in his paternal and
natal aspects. The "Christmas Tree" was a Representation of the "Tree of
Life", being decorated with nuts and fruits to appease the tree spirits and
bring fruit back to its bare branches. The Yule log is also symbolic of the
"Tree of Life", being burned at the fires of the Yule celebration. A portion
of the log is kept and used to light the following years' fire, and to bring
Protection to the home throughout the coming year.
Yule is also a time for new awareness, new projects and to make changes in
your life. Decorations of Evergreens, Holly and Mistletoe are used for
protection, fertility, luck and dream magic. Aquamarine stones can be placed
upon your altar for motivation and courage. Bayberry candles are burned in
the home to bring wealth and happiness. Colors for the Yule celebration are
Green and Red, representing life and the life blood that flows through all
of us.
"The lady never slept, but lay in a trance
All night within the fountain, as is sleep,
Its emerald crags glowed in her beauty's glance.
Through green splendor of the water deep
She saw the constellations reel and dance
like fireflies and withal did ever keep
The tenour of her contemplations calm
With open eye, closed feet, and folded palm."
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Books in PDF format to read:
Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - I BelieveMichael Prescott - Darklore
Aleister Crowley - Oracles
Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - You Forever
Aleister Crowley - Gargoyles
