Today is the midwinter solstice, the longest night of the year. Pagans or naturelovers like myself celebrate this day as yule. However, I tend to be rather stupid and forgetful, so I only realised this about two days ago. Now what lies before me is a quest to figure out what to do in this particular day, because I was not lucky enough to be raised according to the ways of nature. What follows here are my discoveries of how I will spend my evening.
The first thing I will most definitely execute is the making of a beverage known as glühwein, which is a common winter drink where I'm from. It is made by heating a very shitty wine and adding a bunch of spices. Considering I am rather witchy I will add spices with a bit more thought to it. Here you can see what they are:
| Ingredient | Correspondence |
|---|---|
| 1 liter wine | love, pleasure, vitality, connection to spirit realm |
| 1 orange | Functions as a representative of the heart. It will apply the used magic to heartly matters such as love and relationships. Element of fire Love, divination, luck, money |
| 1 apple | Functions as a representative of the soul. Element of water Love, healing, garden magic, knowledge |
| 1 lemon | Element of water Longevity, purification, love, friendship |
| 3 cinnamon sticks | Element of fire Spirituality, success, healing, power, psychic powers, lust, protection, love |
| 3 cloves | Element of fire Protection, exorcism, love, money |
| 3 pieces of star anice | Element of air Psychic powers, luck |
| 3 bay leaves | Element of fire Protection, psychic powers, healing, purification, strength |
| 3 pepper balls | Element of fire Protection, exorcism |
| 3 spoons honey | happiness, offerings, sweetness, love, prosperity, healing, passion, spirituality, attraction |
| 9 pieces of allspice | element of fire luck,money,healing |
Now that all of the ingredients are clear I will ellaborate a but on why I have included herbs of this nature. Although to be honest I mostly pick them based on what feels right and I feel like what I have above would make for a fun combination. The sources for the above are a combination of some sites I found and Scott Cunningham's books.
But anyway. The winter solstice is the longest night of the year, and generallt the period of the year with the longest nights. Nights like these ask for some extra protection, but in much more than the literal sense. We must stay warm during these times, both in body as in soul. The inclusion of love-related ingredients will make sure we will not succumb to the sadness of winter. Some extra luck and healing will also help with keeping our spirits up. Lastly I will also be reading tarot cards for me and my friends later tonight, so some extra psychic powers will do me good!
The next steps will occur during the making of the mulled wine. I will have to stir clockwise to trap all of the good intentions from the spices into the drink. The apple and orange will be cut into an uneven amount. The reason for the large amount of odd numbers is because I am rather obsessed with them.
I am not sure what incantation I will use yet, that is something I will discuss with my friends tonight, considering they are as mcuh a part of this as I am. But it will probably have something to do with protection, self-love, staying happy, staying optimistic, and looking forward to longer days
As I am someone who reads tarot cards quite often (sadly not as often as I would like to but oh well) I will of course be reading my cards. I found a spread on tumblr earlier today that I think I might use.
1. What needs my attention the most in the coming year?
2. What has pushed you forward this year?
3. What has held you back this year?
4. What gifts do you carry?
5. How can you best use those gifts?
6. A message of guidance from your deities/ancestors.
Whilst I was looking for the spread from above, I came across a picture of the goat they always illegally burn in Sweden, as a tradition. It is called the gävlebocken.
Me and my friends are not from Sweden, but we do live relatively nearby. Asides from that my friend is a Nordic pagan. Also we do like to think of ourselves as a bit rebellious and wild, eventhough we are losers, I am so sorry my friends when you read this which fits the illegal burning theme quite well. But considering these factors I thought it will be a fun idea for each of us to create our own little goat. I will probably use mine in my offering, which I will talk about in a little bit.
Another thing I will make is dried oranges and lemons to decorate my room and altar with. These are quite simple to make, simply pop them in the oven!
One of the books I used for my research: The way of the witch by Lunadea, contained an idea that I thought rather cute. It is a small ritual in which one writes three wishes, one for your yourself, one for somebody else, and one for the world, and hangs them on a christmastree branch.
I will acquire the branches through the noble art of stealing. My town has a big christmas tree in the middle of the square, which is the perfect victim for my winterly crime.
The branch of wishes will function as a decoration till the yule season is over, and then it will be burned.
I do not think a seasonal feast is quite complete without some offerings. Now I do not work with any deities, considering I am mostly an elemental witch. However, a big inspiration for my magic has always been the things I remember from my early childhood. One of these figures is father winter, he guards over the winter times, and his place will soon be taken over by another figure, which I will have to do some more research on before I can talk about that. However, I do think he would be an appropriate figure to give some offerings for this winter. The winter here hasn't been strong in quite some years, so I feel like some extra offerings are quite in its place. Aside from that it is ncie to think that there is someone watching out over us on these cold and barren days.
As to what I will offer, well of course a bit of the glühwein I'm making, and the straw goat. Combined with that also some dried oranges. I will put the offerings on my altar, which I will have to make a some free space on. Then when at the end of the yule period the offerings will be burned together with the wishing branch.
Now that all my prepatory work is contained on this page, it is time to execute my plan in a couple of hours. I am rather looking forward to it. I have probably forgotten some things, but those will we added in my later update. Everything I have written here is simply a plan, but reality rarely sticks to a plan. I am very curious how my night will proceed, but as long as I am happy and warm with friends, anything will be fine for me.
I'm writing this on the 24th, it is Christmas tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. Anyhow. Like I predicted, I barely did any of the things I planned. The only thing I ended up doing was making glühwein. I drank it with my friends and we had a wondeful evening. This alone is enough for me. At the end of the day the important thing isn't doing a bunch of rituals, but having a warm and cozy evening to celebrate. So eventhough I didn't get to do all the things I wanted, it was still a succes.
The next day I read my cards with the reading from above. I won't share the outcome, but it was rather accurate and positive, I'm really looking forward to next year!