A Simple Morning Ritual

In our fast-paced, hectic lives sometimes it can seem like adding a mountain to a molehill in trying to work in our spiritual lives with our mundane lives. While reading a book on Feng Shui the other day I came across a very simple morning ritual that takes only about five minutes out of your morning . . . longer if you have the inclination to meditate on the points.

It's called "Invoking by Pentagram". Light your favorite incense or essential oil. Facing East towards the morning sun if you can, take a few deep breaths and start by placing your right hand fingers to your brow, just between your eyebrows. Say, "I am Spirit". Next, touch your left hip and say, "I am Earth". Touch your right shoulder and say, "I am Water". Touch your left shoulder and say, "I am Air". Touch your right hip and say, "I am Fire". And finally, touch back to your brow completing the pentagram and say, "Thus I seal my affirmation". Inhale the incense or essential oil for a few breaths and then begin your day!

The Winter Solstice

What is a solstice? The earliest humans knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments, such as Stonehenge, to follow the sun’s yearly progress. Today we can see the solstice differently, from the vantage point of space, and we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by the Earth’s tilt on its axis and its motion in orbit around the sun.

Because the Earth doesn’t orbit upright, but is instead tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees, the Earth’s northern and southern hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly. That’s what causes winter and summer.

At the December solstice, the Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the North Pole is leaning 23-and-a-half degrees away from the sun. As seen from Earth, the sun is directly overhead at noon 23-and-a-half degrees south of the equator, at an imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Capricorn. This is as far south as the sun ever gets. All locations south of the equator have day lengths greater than 12 hours at the December solstice. Meanwhile, all locations north of the equator have day lengths less than 12 hours.

You can see signs of the solstice everywhere in nature because for all of the Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of daylight. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of all light and warmth on Earth.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you can notice the late dawns and early sunsets, and the low arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might notice how low the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the December solstice, it’s your longest noontime shadow of the year.

Many people have an unfavorable response to this time of short days and long nights in the form of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I myself suffer from this disorder and use special lighting, although I wouldn't say no to a vacation on a warm, sunny beach somewhere south of the border!

The 2010 December solstice takes place on Tuesday, December 21 at 23:38 (11:38 p.m.) Universal Time. That’s the time at the longitude of Greenwich, England. To find the time in your location, you have to “translate” to your time zone. Here’s an example - I live in the midwest and use Central Standard Time. So I'd subtract 6 hours from Universal Time. Therefore, the time of the solstice for me would be 5:38 p.m. Central Standard Time.

An ancient belief is that the Wheel of the Year stops briefly at this time of the Winter Solstice. It was taboo to turn a wheel or even a butter churn, on the shortest day. This time of stillness was a precious opportunity to consider the year gone by and to look forward to the increasingly active months to come. It's also a time to choose what to take with you into the New Year and what to leave behind.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice by lighting candles around your home and for a few minutes during your celebration or ritual, turn all the lights on in the house welcoming and celebrating the rebirth of the Sun God.

This year, Brian and I will take part in a Winter Solstice/Full Moon Ritual at Circle Sanctury. Afterwards we'll come back home to enjoy a quiet evening, set our Yule log on the fire and perhaps look out at the stars meditating on the darkness, and light, of the world.

The Winter Solstice & Yule

I have to admit I'm feeling somewhat discombobulated this holiday season. It is the first for me as a Wiccan and although I embrace all that being Wiccan entails, those old belief systems are there in the back of my mind. I expect that as I go through the month and enjoy all that it has to offer in the way of the Winter Solstice and Yule celebrations, that feeling will go away and I'll be left to revel in the mysteries.

My Yule Altar

Brian and I are going to the Winter Solstice/Yule celebration on December 21st at Circle Sanctuary. Although I practice as a Solitary, it will be nice to celebrate the Sabbat with others who share in my beliefs.

As the Wheel of the Year turns and the days get shorter, the skies become gray and it seems as though the sun is dying, it's in this time of darkness we pause at the Winter Solstice to celebrate something wonderful. On Yule, the sun stops its decline into the south. For a few days it seems as though it’s rising in exactly the same place . . . and then an amazing, wonderful, and miraculous thing happens - the light begins to return!

In celebration of the Sun's return, the most important part of any Yule festivity is light which could include candles, a fire in the hearth or even a bonfire. It is customary to burn a Yule log to honour the Lord Cernunnos or the Horned God. Because each type of wood is associated with various magickal and spiritual properties, logs from different types of trees might be burned to get a variety of effects. Aspen is the wood of choice for spiritual understanding, while the mighty oak is symbolic of strength and wisdom. A family hoping for a year of prosperity might burn a log of pine, while a couple hoping to be blessed with fertility would drag a bough of birch to their hearth.

This year we'll be making our Yule log out of pine. Here's how to make a basic Yule log . . .

You'll need:
A log about 14"–18” long; pinecones; dried berries (such as cranberries); cuttings of mistletoe, holly, ivy and pine needles; feathers and cinnamon sticks; some festive ribbon (use paper or cloth ribbon, not synthetic or wire-lined types) or rafia; fruits and nuts; and a hot glue gun.

A picture from the internet - I'll replace it once my own Yule log is made. Isn't this one pretty?

Most of these items can be gathered outside or found easily enough at craft stores or the supermarket. Just keep in mind you'll be burning the log on your Yule fire so you'll want to use as close to nature as you can. And remember, only pick up items found on the ground, rather than taking cuttings from live plants.

Begin by wrapping the log loosely with the ribbon or rafia. Leave enough space that you can insert your branches, cuttings and feathers under the ribbon or rafia. In our house, I'll be placing nine feathers on our Yule log – one for each member of the family (yes, I include the birds and dogs in that count). Once you’ve gotten your branches and cuttings in place, begin gluing on the pinecones, nuts, cinnamon sticks and berries. If you're adding fruit (such as apples) try piercing them first with a floral stick and then 'sticking' them in. Add as much or as little as you like.

Once you’ve decorated your Yule log, use it as a centerpiece for your holiday table. A Yule log looks lovely on a table surrounded by candles and holiday greenery. You could also use your Yule log as our ancestors did and burn it in your hearth or in a bonfire outside if you're lucky enough to have a space available for that purpose. Before burning your log, write down a wish on a piece of paper and insert it into the ribbon or rafia. It's your wish for the upcoming year and should be kept to yourself in hope that it comes true. While watching the Yule log burn, share in a cup of hot cocoa, discuss how thankful you are for the good things that have come your way this year and how you hope for abundance, good health, and happiness in the next.

In many Celtic-based traditions of neopaganism, there is the enduring legend of the battle between the Oak King and the Holly King. These two mighty rulers fight for supremacy as the Wheel of the Year turns each season. At the Winter Solstice, or Yule, the Oak King kills the Holly King, and then reigns until Midsummer, or Litha. Once the Summer Solstice arrives, the Holly King returns to do battle with the Oak King and defeats him. The Holly King then rules until Yule.

In some Wiccan traditions, the Oak King and the Holly King are seen as dual aspects of the Horned God. Each of these twin aspects rules for half the year, battles for the favor of the Goddess, and then retires to nurse his wounds for the next six months, until it is time for him to reign once more.

Often, these two entities are portrayed in familiar ways - the Holly King frequently appears as a woodsy version of Santa Claus. He dresses in red, wears a sprig of holly in his tangled hair, and is sometimes depicted driving a team of eight stags. The Oak King is portrayed as a fertility god, and occasionally appears as the Green Man or other lord of the forest.

Ultimately, while these two beings do battle all year long, they are two essential parts of a whole. Despite being enemies, without one, the other would no longer exist.

The Yule season is full of magic, much of it focusing on rebirth and renewal, as the sun makes its way back to the earth. Focus on this time of new beginnings with your magical workings!