By Fire Well and Tree

 As what has become usual, my yuletide observances have been derailed by illness.  This time, it's a third dance with Covid.   In year's past I've done an 'omen for the year' by choosing a rune on each of the twelve days of Yule, starting with Solstice Eve, and ending twelve nights later.  You can see examples of prior years  2023 ,  2021 ,  2020 , ... starting as early as  2017 .  At least as far as what I archived here.  I'd have to dig into  my old Livejournal account  to see about earlier... I'm not sure where I got the idea for a rune pull a day. I do somewhat dimly remember recognizing the twelve days and then twelve months of a year is convenient coincidence, and combining that with the use of divination during liminal times, made it a good idea.  Sometimes I post it, and then don't go back to it. Other times I do, and I notice my interpretation changes, as is correct. I always say readings are a snapshot, what...

  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 des...

(I started this on 1/2 and then the world went kerblooey again....)  Once again, I was happy to host a Twelfth Night Celebration and Sumbl at our house. Well, it was via Zoom.  And there were a LOT more oaths this year, so we'll see :) The toasts were moving, the boasts were worthy, and the oaths were  S.M.A.R.T.   Because of the pandemic, it was all on line. I really hope we can be all together next year. I don't know why I can never center these! Throughout the Twelve Nights, I took an omen each night for the coming year, each one a rune to describe the energies for a month. So on the first night it was January, second night February...you get the idea.  I used Taren Martin's Anglo-Saxon deck, so some of the names may be different that you may be used to (and some don't appear in the Elder Futhark systems).  My mind has been all a-jumble with all things pandemic and politics, and I don't see either of those ending any time soon. 2021 will be as challengin...

It’s  ALMOST  that time again, for the Solstice-A-Long!  As with last year, I have devotionals for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.   The solstice itself is days away, but I wanted to at least put this out there so folks can prepare and get their ideas going  for the  wave of druidic en ergy circumnavigating the world  continuously for 12 days!  You don't have to be a druid though!   The entire  devotional can be seen as a ritual, with movement into sacred space and honoring an “otherworldly guide” at the start and then also at the end.   As with year’s past this is a guide and a guide only. Feel free to adjust to suit your own ecosystem, climate, and especiall y pantheon preferences.  This was originally developed with a  Norse  pantheon,  HOWEVER, it can be easily  Celtified , Hellenized, Romanized,  Vedicized , etc.   As always, I ask that if you do that, pleas...