Hello dear you,
I hope you are well.
I’m working behind the scenes and my apologies for not posting more often. I am creating, just not so much online and in sight 😉 I am experiencing a good busy, a creative busy, in the flow. And for me to focus means being offline and get rid of distractions.
Let me start this post with this week’s ChaChaChat and tarot card for this week:
Holiday, Celebrate
Some of you are already immersed in the holidays (Thanksgiving (US), Sinterklaas (Netherlands), Hanukkah starts today). We have Christmas coming up and Yule.
I hope you are all taking good care of yourself and don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by all the holiday pressure and preparations. The holiday may also bring up sadness, a missing for those who we have lost and also hard times for those who are alone or have nothing to feel cheerful about at this time. This is a time of memories and ghosts of Christmas past.
I find myself reflecting and reviewing the past year.
This month brings back so many memories, echoes of the past, some sad, some filled with joy and laughter.
Here in The Netherlands we celebrate Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) on December the 5th. I have memories of my brother and I sitting next to the radiator (as we didn’t have a fireplace and chimney), singing songs and leaving a carrot and water for Sinterklaas’ horse, leaving our shoe next to the heater, to find it filled with gifts and sweets the following morning. Oh those days were magical and so exciting. And then the days leading to Christmas. My mother always made a huge effort in decorating the house and I loved staring at tree and the magical feeling of this time of year. I loved all the angels and the lights.
And I still do. Even after Christmas lost it’s shine with all the fighting at Christmas dinner, my parents’ divorce, the family falling apart in a family feud, all the shouting, alcohol and tears. For years I tried to escape Christmas by going to far away tropical countries where Christmas just felt far away (even though there is no escaping Christmas even in those countries). I turned into a Scroodge and it was all bah humbug. Also memories of my mother first getting sick (coughing a lot and having pain) at Christmas and dying a year later of Lung cancer is not helping my warm feelings towards Christmas. She was in so much pain at the Christmas table the weeks before she passed and couldn’t eat a bite even though she so wanted to.
But this year I have decided to stop fighting and resisting as deep in my heart I am a hopeless romantic and a sucker for Christmas. My heart feels warm and filled with joy and I am looking forward to watching the same old Christmas movies and dream of white snowy days and warm fireplaces.
And instead of waiting for Santa to drop goodies in my shoe, I decided to play Santa this year and buy a friend a Christmas tree which I hope will bring her some light in these dark days.
With Thanksgiving having just passed and Christmas coming up it is a great time to focus on gratitude and focus on the things we do have in our life. Don’t let all the buying, Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, whatever, distract you from what matters, and that is you and how you show up in life. What you focus on, you have a choice. Don’t wait for something or someone outside of you to make you happy. That is your responsibility.
Yule
I don’t really celebrate Christmas, I don’t have a tree, but I am having a friend over for a meal this Christmas, and perhaps we will go and see a movie. I do however celebrate Yule.
The Sabbat of Yule celebrated around December 21st is often referred to as the witch’s Christmas. In much the same spirit as most other midwinter festivals Yule is a time of celebration and joy. Yule is a time to celebrate the strengthening of the Sun and the return of the light. It is perhaps this idea of the returning Sun that led to the festival being adopted by Christianity to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yule is a time of peace and happiness as the wheel turns from the dark to the light. Again, as with many winter festivals, Yule offers a message of hope, not just for lighter times but for a greater awareness of humanity. In the past Winter meant hardship and survival and people turned to loved ones for comfort and the bonds were strengthened and nourished. The caring for family and friends is honored among Pagans as part of their Yule celebrations.
Yule marks the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. It is at this point of the year that the days start to lengthen and the nights shorten until the Spring Equinox at Ostara when the length of the day once again overtakes the length of the night. For those of us going to work in the dark and coming home at night in the dark it is a very welcome reminder that eventually we’ll be going to work in the sunshine again. That’s very a cheery thought on the shortest day of the year!
The symbolism associated with this Sabbat is very heavily concentrated on images of the light such as candles, bonfires and the Yule log. The Yule log is traditionally a piece of an ash tree, a reminder of Yggdrasil, the eternally green tree of life. The log is lit from the remnants of the previous year’s Yule log and left to burn on the longest night of the year.
Traditionally Yule is a time of rest as the crops have been harvested and the planting season is yet to arrive. The dressing of the Yule tree symbolizes the return of Spring. The winter blooming flowers of the mistletoe were a symbol of life returning to the earth once again.
Yule activities
- Sing pagan solstice carols.
- Decorate the Yule tree.
- For personalized wrapping papers, cut a pattern on a halved potato, then dip it into tempera paint and on to plain wrapping tissue paper.
- For prosperity, burn ash wood.
- Yule blessings: wreath on the door, mistletoe indoors, food and clothing donations, sunflower seeds outside for birds, ring the bell to greet the Solstice Morn, and perform magick for a peaceful planet.
- Gather up Yule greens after 12th night and save. At Imbolc, burn the greens to banish winter and usher in spring.
- Make and burn a Yule Log.
- Bake a Yule Log Cake.
- Read Bran the Blessed, A Faery King Myth.
(References: _Green Witchcraft_ by Moura, The 1998 Witches Calendar, _Sabbats_ by McCoy)
What about you? How are you celebrating the holidays this month or are you letting it all pass you bY?
What’s left to do before you close out the year?
If the holiday stress and the time we are living in generally is eating at you and you escape to angst, sugar, alcohol, whatever your choice of numbing out, remember that you have a choice, you are allowed to say ‘NO’. Find healthier ways to deal with stress such as meditation, yoga, walking in nature, grounding, dancing, taking a shower or bath with sea salt, and don’t forget to breathe!
Gift idea (for yourself or a loved one)
Start 2018 with met helderheid & visie – bestel jouw jaar consult/reading nu!
Start 2018 with clarity & vision – order your year ahead reading now!
