Moon Magic: December and the Winter Solstice (Yule)

Moon Magic: December and the Winter Solstice (Yule)

I will admit I am a total festive season fanatic, in fact if I am honest our Yule celebrations usually start around 1st November (don’t judge).  This time is not about shopping and material things, but it is about the existing positive energy of the season.  Spending time with family and friends.  Wishing compliments of the season to strangers and bringing festive cheer wherever you go.

December hosts the winter solstice, the ending of the darker nights and the very slow beginnings of the greater light.  This is a celebration of the returning sun, albeit that it will take a long while to arrive!

What to do:

• Spend time with family and friends, reminiscing over old memories and making new ones.
• Light candles to celebrate the return of the sun.
• Light a bonfire outside and have an outdoor BBQ or party (wrap up warm!).
• Go wassailing.  Wassail is a hot spicy drink usually made with apple juice or cider.  People process to the local orchard and pour wassail under an apple tree to bring a good harvest.
• Go for a walk in the woods and collect pine cones to decorate with glitter and hang on the Yule tree and collect a log to make into a Yule log.   When collecting pine cones, it is important to leave behind the cones that haven’t opened. The seeds from these cones should be left so that the animals such as squirrels have something to eat. Find the cones that have the tips spread open.

Magical Energies:

To endure, die, be reborn; Earth tides turning. Darkness. Personal alchemy. Spiritual paths. Introspection. Purification. Meditation. Reach out to friends and family, the lonely and needy. Revitalisation. Divination. Relaxation and reflection.

Creating prosperity and setting goals for new projects and ventures. Planning for the future.

Being thankful and gratitude rituals.   Peace, harmony and love.  Bringing in happiness.  Work prosperity magic and a bit of the passion stuff too.

Yule Spell:

Make your Yule decorations magical:

Tie cinnamon sticks together with red ribbon for love and passion.   Or tie them together with green ribbon for prosperity and success.

Pinecones are plentiful at this time of year, burn one in your cauldron to banish negative energy and purify ritual space.   Put a pinecone in the corner of each room in your home for protection.

Dust pine cones with glitter and place a whole heap of them in a glass vase, not only do they look pretty but they will also work magically for prosperity and protection.

Pine cones can also be carried with you for fertility.

Note: Glitter does not degrade so if you want an eco friendly option you can use salt coloured with food colouring or look out for ‘bio-glitter’ which is making its way onto the market.

Yule Wish Tree:

Using a small evergreen Yule tree in a pot, during the days leading up to Yule get each member of your family and group of friends to tie a coloured ribbon (red, green and white ribbons work well) onto the tree to represent a wish or a blessing.

Once Yule is over keep the tree well-watered and looked after until.  Then on the 1st February take off all the ribbons and burn them, casting the ashes to the wind.

Moon Names:

Cold Moon, Oak Moon, Wolf Moon, Moon of long nights, Long Nights Moon, Aerra Geola, Wintermonat, Heilagmanoth, Big Winter Moon, Dark Night Moon, Bitter Moon, Peach Moon, Younger Hard Time Moon and Moon of popping trees.

Correspondences:

Herbs: Apple, bayberry, birch, cardamom, cedar, chamomile, cinnamon, cloves, comfrey, elder, fir, frankincense, hazel, holly, ivy, mistletoe, myrrh, nutmeg, oak, pine, rose, sage, sandalwood, sunflower, thistle and wintergreen

Colours: Red, white, black, green, silver and gold

Stones: Alexandrite, bloodstone, blue topaz, citrine, clear quartz, diamond, emerald, garnet, green tourmaline, jet, kunzite, pearls, peridot, ruby, serpentine

Trees: Pine, fir, holly, apple, cedar, juniper, oak, yew and chestnut

Animals: Mouse, deer, horse, bear, boar, rook, robin, pig, tiger, snow goose, wren, snowy owl, squirrel and reindeer of course

Sign: Sagittarius

Hathor, Hecate, Neith, Athene, Apollo, Balder, Dagda, Minerva, Ixchel, Osiris, Norns, Fates, Aphrodite, Fortuna, Gaia, Hel, Frau Holle, Skadi, The Green Man, Odin, Ra, Ishtar and Isis