Traditional Yule Winter Solstice Celebrations

This might be a blog that is a bit longer, so grab a lovely soothing warm drink, take a deep exhalation out and spend a few minutes in maybe your memories that get triggered, maybe journal along, or learn something about the traditional Celtic Yule Period.

I have been reflecting on what Christmas is to me, as I do the work on myself to move past my own limiting beliefs, and those that I have picked up from society, to move past the things that bind me. I feel as if I have been waking up from a spell cast over me by the capitalist society that I live in.

The other day, I pondered, what does the Christmas period mean to me and society and why do I feel drawn to celebrate Winter Solstice? 

As a child, I can remember it was about being together, crammed into my Nana's house, playing, laughing, just spending time together. It was chaotic, it was fun, it was family. I remember I loved opening presents, and yet I cannot remember what I got, I remember the FEELING of Christmas. 

I loved the twinkly lights, the Carols, the singing, the dark cosy long nights, the red checks in the snow. The slowing down, breaks from work and school, family time. 

JOURNAL PROMPTS:

-What does Christmas mean to you?

-What are your favourite parts of it and why?

-What doesn't resonate you with anymore and why? Note, you are allowed to change things, just because something has been done before, it doesn't mean that you need to keep doing it, tune into where you are now. 

As I pondered, more and more, Christmas felt Tribal, the gathering, the resting more, the celebrating, the carols more like group chants and mantras. 

As a shamanic practitioner, I have been trained with the Lakota medicine wheel, I love it, it is part of me, but I feel so drawn back to the Celtic traditions which I have never really studied before, the pull is getting stronger, my recent ancestors are from England and Ireland. So I researched and really wanted to share what I found for those of you who aren't already practising. 

The Winter Solstice this year is on the 21st of December. The energies are strong before and after, so if you are reading this a few days after, you can still practise it. Connection to nature, to abundance, to gratitude is not dependant on a date, it is more expansive than that. 

The Celtic Yule Celebrations are so beautiful, as I read more into them, I could feel a resonance buzzing inside of me, it was connection to each other, to nature, to the cycles of life, not capitalism, not buying meaningless plastic things, not feeding the system of more more more, no stress or perfectionism over a day. One day, all that focus. What about if we focused on the magic of the whole of the Winter period, of the magic of the seasons? The magic of slowing down for a few weeks.

JOURNAL PROMPT

-What do you love or not love about winter?

-What are you grateful for?

Back to the Celtic traditions that have been woven into religious ceremony over time. (That's another blog!)

The Winter Solstice was celebrated as it is the longest night of the year, a time to go within, to reflect over the past seasonal year and maybe think about the direction that you would like to travel in. It is a celebration of nature, of the cycles of the seasons, the cycle of life. 

During this time, as celebration and for ritual, MISTLETOE, was revered and gathered for it's magical and health giving properties, HOLY and IVY are both evergreens that the Celts believed to keep evil spirits at bay. They were symbols of protection and of health. A wreath was often made as a symbol of protection and health to be blessed upon the home. 

My favourite part of the celebrations that we are going to do today, is the TREE. An outdoor living tree was decorated with candles, or ornaments to represent the  celestial energy, the sun, moon and stars and also to remember loved ones, the ancestors. 

If you don't have a living outdoor tree, you could make a wreath, or an altar, with leaves and candles. 

Candles were used to symbolise the sun, to honour the beginning of it's return after the longer nights. 

In Nordic traditions, the Yule log, was actually a tree that was felled and burnt for 12 days, when the belief was that the sun stood still. This was to counter the darkness, to bring in the light. Today we have the chocolate Yule log. (also something I will be making, vegan of course!)

JOUNAL PROMPT

Which one of these traditions resonates with you? 

Will you make some space to play, if your soul calls you to try some? 

I am going to have a play with a few of them today, and I'll share on social media. 

I would love to hear from you, connect on social media and let me know what you did, or tag me in. 

Let's slow down, reflect and play. 

As I write this, I have been in isolation for a long time, with my family having the virus at staggered stages! So I have not done anything, no shopping, nothing and it has been delicious, I have sent some notes to souls that I am grateful for, just who I was called to honour.

Nature is calling me, gathering with friends is calling me, not the shops. For me thats where life lives. 

Sending love Karen