Gēola 2022!

 


Special guest appearance by Taco towards the back

 I am not 100 percent sure how I came to be so...YULE!!!  When I first became pagan, I felt like I was all about the Samhain, the spooky. And heck, yeah, I still love it.  But somehow Yule took hold and now I plan Yule Lad visit to my grove's kids, and Solstice eve vigils, and a Yule Along for the 12 days, and then Twelfth Night sumble....


Anyway, here we are again. The last two years there's been Yule-A-Long and Yule Lads, but that's it.  In 2020, we tried to have a Zoom Twelfth Night. I get that Zoom has been a godsend for many, and we certainly used similar technology (Blackboard Collaborate), but as much as they can help people with some anxieties, they do the exact opposite for mine. So in 2021 I didn't even bother, and was mostly too full of Seasonal Affective Disorder to even care. We didn't even decorate those two years.  

BUT, this year is all... well, different. Not normal, but close. (I despise the term 'new normal' no matter how fitting it is.)  

The first order of business is Yule rite at the shop.  We will be kicking off this year's ritual theme "Reconnection."

After that, things turn homeward, which of all the high days, seems to be the most appropriate for Yule.  With family coming in and out of town, it makes the most sense to me, but bookended by my larger spiritual community.  

I won't be doing individual posts for the Yule A Long; you can use the label 'Yule' and see earlier explanations, but I'll re-list the schedule here:

  • Tuesday 12/20  Solstice Eve and Mothers' Night
  • Wednesday 12/21    Solstice Day (at 4:47 pm EST), honoring the sun
  • Thursday 12/22  Honoring the bringer of winter, "the Winter Wanderer" (and also Yule Lads!)
  • Friday 12/23 Honoring the nature spirits
  • Saturday 12/24 Honoring the house spirits
  • Sunday 12/25 Honoring the child of light
  • Monday 12/26 Honoring the chaos/feast of fools
  • Tuesday 12/27 Honoring snow
  • Wednesday 12/28 Honoring the Evergreen
  • Thursday 12/29 Honoring the Hearth
  • Friday 12/30 Honoring the Cosmic Boar
  • Saturday 12/31 Twelfth Night
(Incidentally, if you're in the southern hemisphere, there's a companion list on many previous entries as well.) 

I'll be pulling a rune every night, and I'll post that when I am done (as I did for Samhain reading). I have delusions that I may want to do Facebook Live for each night, but that likely won't happen. 

Speaking of the reading I did on Samhain, the Yule eighth of the wheel is ruled by cruithneachd, wheat.  Even though it has a harvest motif, we should still focus on feelings of harvest and abundance as we roll through the twelve days.  As we proceed through our journey, may we all feel gratitude for those things that we have, and not worry at least for now about those things that we do not

I wish you all a very blessed Yule and a Happy New Year!

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