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Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on December 3, 2012 at 1:40pm

Yule & Solstice Ritual

 

The Solstice is a time for gathering resources out from deep in the subconscious.

Surround yourself with candles of red, green, and white, and evergreens and holly,

as you say:

 

Longest night and

shortest day,

Magick comes bright,

We gather now on this

longest night.

Honoring darkness,

praising light.

Dancers hail the

standing stones,

As growing solar light

returns.

Ancient ones at

Newgrange gathered,

Awaiting dawns first

light.

Hidden tombs and

carvings olde,

Illuminated by Solstice

sunlight bright.

World round, grateful

souls

Celebrate this nightof

returning light.

May we see this shaft of

brilliance,

A sign of summer growing,

Cut the evergreen

adornments,

And build the sacred fire

to coax the Sun higher.

Yule log embers and

torches bright,

Warm our dreams this

magickal night.

Memories and ancient

secrets,

Of the Druids come to

me tonight.

May this increase my

wisdom now,

The ancestors guide my

spirit.

Magnifying brilliance

and promises to come,

Spirals dance in Solstice

first light.

Visions planted, now on

this night.

Grow strong and clear

with the light.

Holly, mistletoe, ivy,

pine,

Magick be, on this day.

 

So Mote It Be.

by ~Abby Willowroot

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on December 3, 2012 at 1:34pm

by Quasizoid “Raunächten” means “raw nights” which begin after the midnight of Yule and end at midnight of the 5th of January. Aside from being the time when the harbingers of death, cold and hunger descended on the weak and sickly, the fates were also in the process of weaving the shape of things to come for the new year. Hence, the cunning folk carefully observed how each day passed to determine what the forthcoming months would bring; albeit the weather, how the animals behaved, how the wine tasted or if people argued. Whereas, the superstitious went about their affairs cautiously for fear of the impact it might have on the forthcoming. Then on the eve before the 6th of January on which the Perchten begins, the cunning folk went around the community in a procession of lanterns, smudging and blessing each home, which they noted by marking the runes of the three Norns above the main entrance. This ritual was Christianized by marking the initials of the three kings over the entrances, whereas the procession usually involves young children with star-shaped lanterns signing hymns, thus, referred to as the “star singers” (heralding the Star of Bethlehem). Originally the Raw Nights began on the eve of Winter Solstice and were celebrated over the course of 13 days. In ancient calendars, a lunar month was 28 days.

The Perchten is a tradition specific to the mountainous regions of central Europe and involves a variety of festivities and processions to celebrate the underworld goddess Berchta and all the otherworldly demons in her entourage. The object of this was to encourage her to call them back into their alpine enclaves where they were believed to come from. People enjoy dressing up in their various costumes of these fantastic creatures made of wooly sheepskins and horned masks carved of wood. For them it is a wilderness journey much like their shamanic ancestors, celebrated at mountain lodges with plenty of mulled wine and dance on their conclusion. Among these creatures are the ice giants, trolls and the much fabled Krampus, whose mythical existence began as a child snatching boogeyman much like the legends of the Big foot and the Yeti in other mountainous regions of the world. By the 17th century he was adopted by Catholicism as an alterego to St. Nicolas, giving children a birching instead of presents when they were naughty. Hence, he is also well known throughout eastern Europe under a variety of other names.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on November 29, 2012 at 1:38pm

Written by Steven Day on 2/20/2012(Note: In 2012 Yule (The Winter Solstice) actually occurs at 6:12AM on December 21st.)

 

Our ancestors would celebrate this night as they waited for the rebirth of the Oak King who was born of the earth itself that had started warming again after the winters coldness. Bonfires were often lit in the fields and crops and trees were "wassailed" by toasting them with apple cider.

Children were often escorted from home to home and they would give out gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were placed in baskets along with boughs of evergreens and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the evergreen boughs immortality; the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest and the flour represented triumph, light and life.

Holly and evergreen not only decorated the outsides of their homes but was also brought inside in hopes of inviting the Nature Sprites to come and enjoy the celebrations and a sprig of holly was kept by the door all year long as a constant invitation of good fortune to come into the families lives.

The highlight of the Yule festival came with the lighting of the Yule log. This was a log that either had to have been harvested on the households land or must have been given as a gift, it could not be purchased. Once it was taken into the house it was decorated with evergreen, apple cider or ale would be poured over it followed with flour and set on fire with a peice of last years Yule log that had been set aside for this exact reason. The log would burn through the night and be left to smolder for the next 12 days before it would be put out. Ash was traditionally the Yule log of choice as it was the sacred tree of the Teutons. Ash was thought to bring light in to the hearth at Solstice.

As Modern day practitioners of the old celebrations one might go looking for a piece of wood such as oak or pine that was flat on one side to be used as base and large enough to drill 3 holes into so that it will hold 3 candles (red, green and white for the seasons; green, gold and black to represent the Sun God; or white, red and black to represent the Great Goddess). Then continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves and dust with flour.

The deities of Yule are all the Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses and Triple Goddesses; of them might be the Dagda, and Brighid (daughter of Dagda). Brighid taught the smiths how to tend fire and how to shape metal. Brighid's flame shines like the flame of a new light and it pierces the darkness and shines into our spirits while Dagdas cauldron which is always full assures that Nature will always have abundance for its children.

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