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...

Borage  Hello!! Post festival droop is a real thing. I had wanted to do a review of the latest  festival I attended, Sirius Rising, but I jumped right into a surprise party planning and execution, and juggling family and misdirection, and haven't had a chance to really GROUND back in to the mundane.  I'll be heading to another one next week, so I need to get some stuff off the blog-plate. First, we moved into both a new calendar month and a new spot on the wheel of the year, at the same time.  The rune pulled at Yule for August was Ingwaz which is about the best rune you could pull for the beginning of the harvest!  Literally the name of an Anglo-Saxon deity, and associated also with Freyr, this rune can sometimes be about fertility but also about the frith and fellowship that comes with the harvest. This is the time for fairs, and I'll do another post some day comparing ancient and modern fairs, but both are about larger communities coming together, to meet, to...

  Photo by Simon Berger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/purple-flowers-in-bloom-1353126/ Yay!  The sun is at her peak, and there were some days even in the cooler-than-I-wanted-it-to-be Spring that part of me  doubted we'd get here.  But here we are! A couple of notes. One of the names assigned to this holiday is Liða, sometimes spelled Litha.  I have never known many people locally to call it that (usually Midsummer or Summer Solstice). But if you're going to call it by the Anglo-Saxon name, PLEASE pronounce it correctly!  The "i" is a long e sound (so ee). The ð is called a 'thorn' and it is a hard-Th sound, like "that."  (It's kind of like saying my name with a weird lisp on the 's' really).  I may have talked about midsummer before (sorry to repeat), but it falls between the planting season and the harvesting season. So, really, there's not much to DO besides just maintenance.  If my memory serves, this may have been prime time for ...

 <insert photo of Twelfth Night altar> While my liturgical year ended and began two months ago, the rest of the world* turned the page two days ago.  And so, the Twelfth Night of my Yule celebration conveniently coincides with New Year's Eve. As the five or ten of you who read along regularly know, I like to have a party that evening to celebrate.  It can be a bit much for this introvert, but I do it because I genuinely love hosting and making food and serving beverages to those that I care about.  Yuletide, and really all our holidays, began as group and family activities, and while I have done these things solo, it doesn't really put the cap on the season the same way.   Our whole Yuletide season prefaces with the Krampus walk on the first Sunday in December. One grove member has a Wassail party soon thereafter to really kick things off, and then I bookend it on the other side, and then usually Yule and Winter Solstice rites in between.  During...

 ... I mean, it is THE pagan holiday... The first one I ever celebrated WITH people. I think it was 1992, and my roommate and I went to the now-defunct PCCO's "Take Back the Rite" Samhain gathering at what is now Bicentennial Park (maybe it was then?)  The Faith Mission bus was there to pick up homeless since it was cold but decided to attempt to disrupt our rite and then stand in a circle around our circle lobbing prayers at us. Yay. There are probably Neopagans out there that don't like Samhain... But I don't really know them.  I try to explain it to non or new Neopagans as a combination of Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and New Year's Eve.  In reverse order, the connection with the Celtic New Year and fire festival of the same name has many groups (including one of mine) marking the end/beginning of their liturgical year.  And if you have a hard time with resolutions, this is one of the many cultural new year celebrations that you can get a do-over (if you phr...

(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...

 I remembered to do this! And now I've remembered to share it! I used the Druid Oracle.  These are TWO sets of cards designed to work together.  The Druid Animal Oracle I am more familiar with. The Druid Plant Oracle complements it, and I'm less familiar with it. Normally, I take pictures, but as there are likely copywrite issues there, I will kindly request that you Internet search.  They also have a phone app, but I did use the physical cards.  I drew 9 cards from each deck.  There is one for each high day to reveal the energies (animal) and insights (plants) at play starting on that high day through to the next.  The ninth cards are sort of a keynote or theme of the whole year. (I do this type of thing often. Sometimes it's interesting to compare the Samhain card themes with the Yule Rune spread for the year, and then my own Tarot horoscope thread... but that's kind of crazy obsessive too, so I don't know if I can recommend it. So, with out further ...

As usual, I pulled a rune for each of the Twelve Nights of Yule that we just finished (or 12 Days of Litha, if you prefer).  Each rune was pulled after the spirit of that day was honored, except for days 10 and 11, because I had a really hectic time with family those days.  Those got pulled before the sumble, and the Twelfth Night rune was pulled after we did the three rounds. I did NOT pull a rune for the year all together (a keynote or significator). Everyone has their own path, and hopefully by now you know what yours is for the year. (If not...contact me!) So, without further ado... January -- Algiz Interestingly enough the beginning of the year brings the rune of protection, and given the way the year has started, with the drums of war beating, it makes more sense to me than it did on the first night of Yule.   The protection here is divine; Algiz is associated with swan maidens and valkyries, so look to your spirits for insight on how to best protect you...

Good day! And welcome to Day 12 of the Three Cranes Grove Solstice-a-Long! Even though “Twelfth Night” is attested to at the end of Yule, our modern calendars only allow for New Year’s Eve to happen in December. But that does not mean some sort of gathering can’t happen!   We might need to juggle mundane obligations to have a fitting ending to the celebration but find some time to transition out of this sacred time.   Light the last candle, have an evening gathering in the South, or a daytime gathering in the North and celebrate!

Twelfth Night Altar We pulled a rune for each of the nights of Yule.  In my head, I was thinking that each rune would be for a month, BUT THEN, I realized two things: I was going to do it all again in June for Midsummer, a mere 6 months away rather than a whole year. My philosophy, based on nothing more than a hunch, is that long-term readings are only for about 6 months into the future. There's just too much other stuff out there that can impact the energies for me to feel comfortable going out any further than that. As with everything, others' mileages may vary. Therefore, each night was still a rune pull, but the pairs of runes will go through the first half the year. One last caveat, I also believe that all runes are in play at all times, but that at certain times, some move to the forefront. January:  Fehu - Ehwaz The new year starts off with extra fire and energy, and perhaps a little extra in our wallets, too. Fehu's abundance extends beyond the...

***These are copies of postings to our ADF folks, of a home devotional system one can do on the Twelve Days of Yule.  There are ideas for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. I'll try to keep up with this throughout, but as it is a busy season for everyone, I may have to double up!*** 12/31 : Good Day! And Welcome to Day 12!   Twelfth night!   New Year’s Eve!  Traditional parties work well here, but a more spiritual aspect can be observed either quickly at home or as part  of the party!   Activities include divination (so placement of runes  or other divination tools  on the altar).  There’s also a suggestion I quite like  from the Matthews’ book  to gather  juniper  (if it wasn’t gathered on Day 9)  and letting it dry by the fire (or wherever that is in a modern home) for use to bless the home tomorrow.  In addition,  we burn the yule log, wreath, or whatever, at midnight as  we ring...

***These are copies of postings to our ADF folks, of a home devotional system one can do on the Twelve Days of Yule.  There are ideas for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. I'll try to keep up with this throughout, but as it is a busy season for everyone, I may have to double up!*** 12/23: Good Day! And Welcome to Day 4! On Day 4 we honor the spirits of nature.   Placing symbols and figures of Nature Spirits, and offerings of appropriate foods.   I like to offer birdseed and then make sure it goes to the birds on my land.

***These are copies of postings to our ADF folks, of a home devotional system one can do on the Twelve Days of Yule.  There are ideas for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. I'll try to keep up with this throughout, but as it is a busy season for everyone, I may have to double up!*** Good Day! And Welcome to Day 1!   On Day 1, we ritually move from mundane to sacred time.   The evening before the  December  solstice  wa s traditionally Mother’s night,  ( Mōdraniht ) to honor the female ancestors ( the  disir ) , and also Holda, who was connected with both winter and with women’s activities, such as spinning.   Holda may be related to Diana,  Aradia ,  Perchta , Hecate,  Artio , the  Matronae , and  Epona .   The time of Yule was a time to set aside spinning and other activities, so if you sew, crochet, knit, or whatever, place these things aside.  Our modern society often...