Seasonal: Winter Altar

YULE ALTAR Cut or find a lovely log to be placed at the center of your Yule Altar, traditionally Oak. (More on the Yule & the Yule Log below.) Place beautiful new white and/or red candles on your altar to represent the rising Sun. You can also include evergreen boughs, mistletoe and holly. Choosing an altar cloth of green will invoke the spirit of the north, but as always pick the colors that feel right to YOU. Invite the other members of your family to participate. Kids love altars and always have great ideas about what to put on them. The Winter Solstice is the time when the goddess is in labor to birth the sun child, when the darkness gives way to the light. Begin to meditate the night before on what you would like to release to the night and what you will allow to be birthed as the Wheel of the Year turns on the Solstice Morning.

Addie (age 3) with the Winter King

YULE LOG

The ceremonies and beliefs associated with the Yule log’s sacred origins are closely linked to representations of health, fruitfulness, productivity, and regularity. It was often decorated with evergreens and sometimes sprinkled with grain, wine, cider and/or ribbons before it was finally set alight. The Yule log was believed to bring beneficial magic and was kept burning for at least twelve hours and sometimes as long as twelve days, warming both the house and those who resided within. After the fire went out, a small fragment of the wood would be saved and used to light the next year’s log. The ashes were then scattered over fields to bring fertility or cast into wells to purify and sweeten the waters. The burning of the Yule log, the decorating of Christmas trees, the giving of gifts, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly, kissing under the mistletoe, etc. are all historically practices associated with Yule.

MAGIC WITH KIDS

This year we created a nativity scene with Addie’s toy animals – all eagerly waiting for the baby SUN/SON to arrive on Solstice morning. It’s just one more opportunity to create, teach and learn the importance of the Cycles of Life and the Wheel of the Year together as a family.

nativity_cc

ALTAR YOUR MANTLE

What is the feeling you are going for?
This Winter I created a display that is all about REST and hibernation. Giving ourselves permission to go into the cave, dream and rejuvenate.

SEASONAL VIBE

Evergreens: Pine, Fir, Cedar, Juniper, etc: Continuity of Life, Protection, Prosperity
Oak: Endurance, Strength, Triumph, Protection
Yew: Last Day of Solar Year, Death.
Silver Fir: Winter Solstice Day, Birth.
Birch: Month following Winter Solstice; Beginnings.
Holly: Protection, Good Luck
Myrrh: Healing, Death and Afterlife, Purification, Inner Peace
Frankincense: Sun, Purification, Consecration, Protection, Spiritual Illumination
Stones of Yule: Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds
Colors of Yule: Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange