Letter 14: Yule & The Winter Solstice
“May you find peace in the promise of the solstice night, that each day forward is blessed with more light. That the cycle of nature, unbroken and true, brings faith to your soul and well-being to you. Rejoice in the darkness, in the silence, find rest, and may the days that follow be abundantly blessed.”
– Yule Blessing
This week we will discuss in depth one of the sabbats from the wheel of the year that is happening December 21st. Yule and the Winter Solstice! Which actually are not two separate celebrations but one combined festival that celebrates the shortest day of the year, the return of the sun, and rebirth! So get ready to delve fairly deep with me today as we discuss what Yule is as a pagan tradition, what it represents spiritually, how we can celebrate it modernly, and ways to incorporate the practice of the sabbat into your celebrations this year!
Let’s get into it!
The pagan celebration of Yule, also known as the winter solstice, is one of the oldest celebrations in the world. It is said to originate as a Norse tradition called ‘Jol’. It symbolized the end of the harvest and the beginning of the hunting season and traditionally began in November on the last day of autumn and went through until the beginning weeks of January. Though the actual feast of Yule was celebrated over three days in this time frame, and many sources say that there was a 12 day celebration period, it marked the beginning of a new year. But if you can remember, in celtic pagan tradition the mark of the new year was actually at the end of autumn. Although the traditions and reasons for celebration vary from culture to culture, there are common themes like that of fire, feast, and even gift exchange.
The celebration began back as far as the fifth century by Germanic pagans as a midwinter feast that would keep out the cold, dark and sparse and bring in blessings of survival, abundance, health and the return of the sun. King Haakon I of Norway actually rescheduled the celebrations of Yule to go along with the celebrations christian people were having for Christmas, which is why many Yuletide traditions are practiced during Christmas. Things like the yule log, the use of mistletoe, wassail, feasts and as I mentioned earlier, gift exchanges are all examples of Yule traditions.
It is important if you are a practicing pagan, to honor the old traditions but don’t be so hard on yourself if you can’t follow things to a T. We obviously can’t sacrifice our livestock to our gods, or wrap our towns with gold chains to bring abundance. But we can use fire magic, intention, and releasing rituals to celebrate. This holiday is as much about the physical acts of celebration as it is for the spiritual celebration of making it to another milestone.
Yule and the Winter Solstice meant a lot to our pagan ancestors. There are many different references, but it is my understanding that they spent weeks to months preparing and actually celebrating the fact that they needed the sun to return. They would make offerings to the gods hoping that they would bless them with abundance, filling them with hope that the winter wouldn’t last forever. This is symbolic in our lives now, even as we stray from ancient practices and become a more modern type of society. We can take the symbolism of the season and put it to work in our daily lives. Rekindling our hope for the coming seasons, especially as we settle into the middle of winter, where our fires are burning very low and we become more lethargic, slow, and stiff. So, spiritually and plainly speaking, yule is a great time to release and regenerate. Fill your cup back up, take plenty of time to rest, and clear out any emotions that may be stuck and stagnant, or frozen in your nervous system. In my last newsletter we talked more about warming herbs that can help you come out of winter slumps (if you missed that one you can find it on my buy me a coffee page) and trust me I wasn’t feeling it as much then but this week I am definitely feeling that “winter depression” settling in, so Yule celebrations couldn’t come at a better time!
Let’s take this time of hibernation where we haven’t had the chance to hibernate to slow down. This could look like slowing down your thoughts, taking a break from a project, taking a day off of work, or even taking time away from people before the activities start and you have to make more public appearances. Yule and the winter solstice are the shortest day of the year, signifying an importance to show gratitude for the small amount of light we do have in our lives as everything around us feels dark and cold. It shows us how to not only slow down and appreciate what we have, but it asks us to take a look inside for what we will carry with us to the new year and the things we can burn in the fire and release back to the universe.
Celebrating sabbats and pagan holidays in the modern world can pose somewhat of a challenge to the practicing witch, especially solitary witches who don’t celebrate in covens or large groups. I want to give some tips and tricks for celebrating in small ways that deepen our connection to our ancestors and are practical for our western society, as large feasts of freshly harvested food and freshly hunted game are not as accessible.
Yule and the winter solstice have many traditional practices, such as bonfires, or candles, feasts, yule logs, altars, tree decoration, gifts, mistletoe, wassail and the like. These are all simple enough to add to your own practice so let’s go into the specifics of what this could look like for you!
Things to include in a yule/solstice altar:
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Pinecones
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Candles (blue, white, green or red)
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Holly or mistletoe (or pine sprigs)
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Dried oranges
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Cinnamon sticks
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Crystals that are associated with yule (citrine, aventurine, garnet)
Some other easy to incorporate activities include decorating a yule tree, placing a wreath on your door, having a fire in your fireplace, drinking wassail or making a simmer pot and lighting a yule log.
Simple Wassail Recipe:
You will need -
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2 apples
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8 cups of apple cider
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2 cups of orange juice
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⅓ cup of lemon juice
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4 cinnamon sticks
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½ teaspoon of ground cloves or 15 whole cloves
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¼ teaspoon of ground ginger
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¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
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Poke the cloves into the whole apples on all sides
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Add all the ingredients including the apples to a large pot over medium heat
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Simmer for 30-45 minutes
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Remove apples and whole cloves
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Add sweetener or liquor if desired
Recipe from https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/hot-wassail/
You are probably finding, just as I am, that there are many ways Yule is being celebrated these days. Which is totally fine! As I was mentioning earlier, it isn’t totally necessary to practice traditional pagan practices as long as you are holding the same intention. Your intention of celebrating making it another year, instilling hope in yourself that the sun will return, and getting yourself fed, rested, and cleansed is good enough. If you can’t light fires, have a yule log or decorate a tree this year then keep in mind that magick is what you make it. Intention is everything, use what you have and you will be blessed regardless of the ingredients you used to make it!
My traditional Yule practice includes a deep cleansing of my energy, and a reset. I usually take the day to relax, treat myself to a good dinner, drink a warming drink, and pull some tarot cards. (I will include the tarot spread I created for this solstice.) Everyone’s sabbats look different in our modern days and that is the beautiful thing about our society. We can take into account all our ancestors did, and use their intentions to build on our own! This year I am taking a break from my newsletter and doing a technology cleanse to be present in the celebrations, as well as to recover from being seasonally drained like many of us are. I suggest you do the same by taking time to relax before the festivities begin!
Thanks so much for joining in this week! I hope the information finds you well and you are able to utilize it to your best intentions.