Solstice Best Wishes

Winter Solstice is tonight...the longest night of the year. We consider all our animal friends, those living wild in woods, water or wind and the beloveds in human homes or fields. 

By lynnbywaters

We live in times when it can be difficult to live grounded and connected to the earth that sustains us. Taking time to mark the seasonal changes has given us a new sense of gratitude and taught us to appreciate the darkness as well as the light.

Yule: A winter festival that was incorporated into Christmas and the Christmas season during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples. An ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around Winter Solstice, when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial sphere and the Earth's equator. Since ancient times, people all over the world have recognised this important astronomical occurrence and celebrated the subsequent “return” of the Sun.

At the entrance to Newgrange, Ireland. There's an opening above the lintel of the doorway.

The sun shines through the window above the lintel along the passage at Newgrange on Winter Solstice.

A link to experience tomorrow's dawn live at Newgrange may be found with The Office of Public Works, Livestream Now.

Sharing with Saturday's Critters

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.Winter Solstice Deer by Rion Wang

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The Twelve Nights of Yule & The Mother Goddess (as shared on The Raven and the Mystic FB page in 2022, but I can't find it again)

The first night of Yule, or "Mother Night' ('Módraniht') is December 21st, as Solstice breaks, and ends on January 1st. - 'Twelfth Night'. Many mystery pre-Christian traditions observed the Mother Goddess as the giver and nurturer of life, and celebrated feminine ancestors on Yule Eve.

The Mother Goddess gifts the world with the newly risen Solstice Sun, on the longest night of the year. Our Celtic/Norse/Pagan ancestors created feasts and fires in gratitude for the Spring to come and renewed life in the fields and flocks.

The Lunar Calendar which many earth-centered societies followed left 12 days outside the Roman* calendar. These twelve days were considered outside of the old year and new year, a liminal space where they could connect easily with ancestors, the realm of the Fey, or when the gods walked the earth; unseen yet accessible.

The thirteenth day after the Twelve Days of Yule, began the new cycle, or New Year.

* In Roman tradition, these are known as intercalary days (days inserted into the calendar to line up with the Lunar Calendar) December 26th to January 6th. January 6 is also known as Old Christmas, the date it was observed on before Pope Gregory XIII chopped 11 days from the calendar and moved Christmas Day to December 25th.

Whichever you choose to follow or observe, these are also known as the Omen Days, where one can look to signs from the Natural World each twelve days to predict what the next twelve months may hold for us personally.

There is a wonderful, mystical feeling to these Yule days out of time. I have always felt their mystery, even as a child. Everything seemed somehow suspended, until the thirteenth day, when I could palpably feel the transition to the new cycle.

Blessed Yule days Wise Ones! How will you live them?

xo Monika.

Art: Mary Feywood

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The Book of Secrets by Loreena McKennitt

I first heard this tune while watching a great video about goddesses, "Goddess Remembered," produced by Donna Read in Canada, in three sections. 

This documentary is a salute to 35,000 years of the goddess-worshipping religions of the ancient past. The film features Merlin Stone, Carol Christ, Starhawk, Luisah Teish and Jean Bolen, all of whom link the loss of goddess-centric societies with today's environmental crisis. This is the first part of a 3-part series that includes The Burning Times and Full Circle.

I think the other two segments are also on YouTube

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Happy Hanukkah! The sixth candle on menorahs is being lit tonight at sunset.