Yule - Blog Posts
Small things you can do for Yule 🌲✨
Decorate your Altar with Pine cones, Holly leaves and Pine leaves 🌲
Wear winter colours of dark greens, Black, Grey and Maroon.
Grown indoor plants during the winter🌱
Cleanse your space with Musky incense and candles and be fresh for the colder months ahead ✨
Use various nuts in cooking for any correspondenses in your kitchen Witchcraft
Cook veg stews (or meat) with herbs to keep you warm ✨
Put birdhouses in your garden to keep the birds warm and feed them seed 🐦
Do some winter inspired make up looks and outfits with your glamour spells ❄️✨
🎄Yule Mulled Wine🎄
This time of year is the perfect excuse to inject a little magick into the dark evenings and some steaming Mulled Wine is a delicious addition to a cosy night-in of Yule preparations :)
This recipe is scaled so it works for one 750ml bottle of red wine.
YOU WILL NEED:
1 teaspoon crushed cinnamon sticks (warmth and protection)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (love, luck and warmth)
1 teaspoon slightly crushed allspice (fire and healing)
½ teaspoon cloves (fire, love and purification)
½ teaspoon ginger (fire, energy and passion)
1 ½ teaspoon orange peel (uplifting, the sun)
1 ½ teaspoon lemon peel (purification, the moon)
Orange & Lemon slices
5 teaspoons honey (sweetness, stability and good health)
A clean pair of old tights that you no longer need
Take the dry ingredients and the peel, combine them all and give them a little mix to start releasing those flavours!
Take the tights and chop the feet off them - we’ll be using these as our bag to keep all the ingredients in. Cut them long enough so that you can tie the top off easily to stop everything falling out.
Add all the mixed ingredients into our newly chopped bag and give it a little squeeze.
Grab a saucepan and decant your bottle of wine into it, also adding your orange and lemon slices and your honey.
Keep on a low heat for 25-40 minutes (do not let it boil).
For that extra witchy goodness, be sure to stir some strong intent into the mixture. While I made it last night I focused on the joy, love and togetherness of this sabbat and tried injecting all those feelings into the wine ❤
Voila! Festive goodness for everyone :)
Enjoy, my pagan witchy babes xxxx
A Yule Ritual
Spell originally by Cassandra Eason.
What you need:
12 white candles or tea candles (in a circle)
A red candle in the center
Festiveness around the candles (greenery, baubles, etc.)
Timing: Between December 21-23 in Northern Hemisphere; June 21-23 in the Southern Hemisphere (Yule’s timing)
1.) Light the red candle and from it the circle of candles. Say “I walk into the darkness without fear at the turning of the year, knowing the light will return. Candles no more burn.”
2.) Extinguish the candle circle so only the central candle flame remains. Say “ Let the old sun die, carrying away what must go, the illusions, the excuses, the inertia, and open the door to a new tomorrow.”
3.)After a few minutes relight each candle in the circle, clockwise from the red candle, saying “ The sun is reborn and light returns to the world. The dark times are ended.”
4.) Let the candles burn and use the decorations around the home (keep an eye on the candles so you don’t burn down the house :D )
Yule ball
Ingredients:
🌙 salt/sea salt, pine needles, dried rose petals, rosemary, dried orange peel, lavender, star anise, *coffee beans
Process:
🌙 First add the salt, then your herbs. After this you can add *optional items like crystals, ribbons, sigils, ...
As you add your items, state your intent and the purpose of each one.
Now you can decide, were to hang youre Yule ball - I prefer it in the corners of the room or near the window.
Please feel free to put other ingredients in it and hang the ball wherever you like. ❤ Try to collect some ingredients outside. 🌙🌲
Have fun. 🌙
Winter Solstice Spell
Happy Winter Solstice! I’m excited to celebrate the longest night of the year and hope we can reflect on ourselves together. I’ve created a spell that enchants us with winter wonders and helps us calm down so we are able to look inside ourselves. I like to drink this tea before I go to bed. I hope you have a wonderful night!
Ingredients
1 cup or mug of water
1 candy cane
half a tbsp of chamomile
half tsp on vanilla
Directions
heat up the water until at your preferred temperature
stir in the vanilla counterclockwise and place the chamomile in to steep
let it sit for about four minutes and strain out
mix again with the candy cane, but this time stir clockwise and chant
“A tired sky closes its eyes to dream,
creating a wondrous dance with the stars.
Time is remembered through its color and gleam,
but when the sky opens and light begins again so do we.”
Make sure you imagine a blue color swirling around you like snow in the breeze. A white snow with a tint of blue and although it feels cold on your skin, it creates a warmth underneath.
Then let your mind wonder in the past memories that swim around your mind. Take in the good and the bad and come to a peace and reflection stance. Slowly blance your mind and body. And take your first sip.
I hope you all have a happy holiday!
- Kenzie!
☀️ Yule Energy Sun Spell ☀️
Recently I’ve been feeling burnt out, and I was struggling to find a spell to do on Yule, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone!
feel free to alter this spell as needed
ingredients
☀️ a gold/yellow candle
☀️ orange, lemon, and grapefruit* slices, preferably dried
☀️ one full orange
☀️ a cup or chalice
steps:
☀️ lay your fruit slices in a circle around you and your altar and say: “with each slice that i place, i make this circle my sacred space.”
☀️ light your candle
☀️ grab your full orange and wave it through the smoke, visualise the energy of the sun transferring into the orange
☀️ once you’ve decided you’ve waved in the smoke for long enough, take your orange and squeeze its juice into the chalice/cup
☀️ when you have enough juice to drink, stop squeezing and drink all the juice
☀️ once finished, thank the sun for lending you his energy and blow out your candle
…and there you have it! Merry Yule!
* you can substitute these with any citrus fruit, lemon, orange, and grapefruit are just my preferred fruits for this spell
A Bit Bout Yule
Hey lovely witches, Yule is almost upon us so here are just a few things about Yule that I would consider useful for everyone
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Also known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, the sun’s “rebirth” was celebrated with much joy. On this night, our ancestors celebrated the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth. From this day forward, the days would become longer.
Symbols of Yule:
Yule log, or small Yule log with 3 candles, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, christmas cactus.
Herbs of Yule:
Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.
Foods of Yule:
Cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb’s wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).
Incense of Yule:
Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.
Colors of Yule:
Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.
Stones of Yule:
Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.
Activities of Yule:
Caroling, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe
Best spells during Yule:
Peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.
Deities of Yule:
Goddesses-Brighid, Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother. Gods-Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man, The Divine Child, Mabon.
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End of the Year Spell
As Yule passes and the new year is beginning, I have a spell I enjoy using this time of year as it brings good things to come whilst helping to remember and learn from the past.
1) Think of what you want to manifest in your life, and the hardships that you have endured to make it as far as you have. Be proud, you’ve made it so far and will go much further.
2) Say the following:
As the sun warms my skin,
May it heal me within.
As the dark slowly leaves,
May I remember the night’s mysteries
As the wheel turns once more,
May happiness find me evermore.
Yule Logs
The Yule Log is a long-standing Yule tradition. This tradition has evolved over time and has been represented in many ways, including the traditional French and Dutch desert cake (“bûche de Noël” or Kerststronk). In this entry, I will cover different traditions, the history of the Yule Log, and ideas so you can make your own this holiday season!
A. HISTORY
The Yule Log has its roots in the Nordic tradition, where Yule was celebrated as one of the two solstice festivals. It was originally an entire tree! The tree would be carefully chosen for the ceremony and taken into the home. Then, the thickest end of the tree would be placed into the hearth while, quite comically, the rest of the tree stuck out into the living room. The Yule Log would then be lit with the remains of the previous year’s Yule Log, which had been carefully stored in the home during the year. It was strictly stated that the person relighting the fire must have clean hands. The old Yule Log was then slowly fed into the hearth fire over the 12 Days of Christmas (Christmas Day – 5th of January). The Norse believed that the sun was in fact a massive fiery wheel that rolled away from the earth and began its journey back to earth at the winter solstice.
The French Yule Log tradition stipulates that the whole family must help cut the Yule Log. They would burn a little bit of the log each night, and if there was any log left after the 12th night, they would store it in the house because it was said to protect the home from
lightning. The Netherlandish tradition said that the log must instead be stored under the bed to bring protection. Other Eastern European countries waited and cut down a tree on the morning of Christmas Eve. The people of Cornwall, United Kingdom called the Yule Log “The Mock”, and the bark is taken off before it enters the home.
As Christianity became more of a presence, the tradition of the Yule Log melded with the Christmas Eve traditions. The log was sprinkled with libations of mead, oil, and salt by the head of the household. The ashes of the Yule Log would then be tossed into corners of the house to protect it from evil spirits.
As for the kind of wood used for the Yule Log, different countries have different traditions. The English use Oak, the Scottish use Birch, and the French use Cherry. Some traditions say to use Ash twigs instead of a log! This comes from the Christian tale of Christ’s birth, where the shepherds gave Mary and Joseph twigs of Ash to burn so they could keep baby Jesus Warm.
B. BUCHE DE NOEL
This take on the Yule Log tradition is a cake that is made up of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream covered in wonderful little sugar decorations. When I talked to my mom about baking one this year, she told me I was on my own because they are very hard to make! I guess one too many of her Yuletide bakes went terribly wrong…
The Tradition of the Yule Log cake stretches back to the Iron Age. After the Christian religion took over, it was becoming more and more impractical to have large trees in one’s home, especially when the hearths were also getting smaller and smaller. Because of this, it seems, the advent of a cake version of a Yule Log was created. This fit much more nicely into the hearth of Iron Age Europeans, and was also very delicious. Sponge cake, the base of the Yule Log, is one of the oldest forms of cake! The first appearance of sponge cake is in
1615 in a tome called “The English Huswife”. It wasn’t until the 19th century when Parisian bakers popularized the Yule Log, and used it as a vehicle to show off their decorating skills.
I don’t have a reliable Yule Log recipe because this is the first year I will be attempting to make one! There are plenty of recipes online, so make sure to share which ones work for you!
C. WHY A YULE LOG?
Yule or The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and therefore the darkest day of the year. If we look at other traditions, we see many of them bringing forth light in the darkness. The Jewish tradition lights the Menorah, Kwanza is celebrated with the lighting of candles, and the Christian tradition as well as secular traditions see the lighting of a Christmas Tree. Yule is a celebration of the death and rebirth of the God and the return of his light as the days get longer once more. The Yule Log has become a very easy way to celebrate this return of the light.
D. CELEBRATING WITH YOUR YULE LOG
There are a few different ways of celebrating with a Yule Log, and all of them are entirely up to you! For a Kitchen Witch, you can use your Yule Log as a centerpiece for your Yuletide feast. This can be especially effective when surrounded by candles and in dim lighting.
One Yule Log ritual I came across in my research very meaningfully connects us to our ancestors. Write a few wishes or resolutions for the next year on a piece of paper and attach them to the Yule Log. Place the Log into the fire and meditate on all those who have come before you who followed this tradition. Ask them to aid you in fulfilling your wishes and resolutions during the next year.
E. IDEAS
Wood Correspondences: make your Yule Log from wood that corresponds with your intent! Aspen may be used for spiritual understanding and Oak may be used to symbolize the strength of the God. These are only a few suggestions, and I would recommend taking the Correspondences Series where you will learn more about Tree Magick! We also have a Tree Magick series at the school.
Decorations: this is up to you and your own correspondences! Traditionally, pine cones, mistletoe, holly , pine, and cinnamon are used. It is also traditional to decorate with candles to represent the return of the God. You can easily attach these with a glue gun, or by melting some of the candle wax on the log and sticking the end of the candle to the wax until it hardens. You can also tie a festive colored ribbon on your log to complete the look!
Location: sure, you can burn your Yule Log inside, but it would also be fun to burn outside! If you have a fire pit it might be fun to bundle up, bring a few cups of hot chocolate, and watch your Yule Log burn in the fire pit while surrounded by your friends and family.
Colored Flames: certain chemicals, when sprinkled on wood, will cause the fire to turn different colors! Perhaps you could correspond the flame color with a ritual or spell intention on the night of Yule. Make sure to take proper precautions and be careful!
Barium Nitrate: Apple Green Borax: Vivid Green Copper Sulphate: Blue Potassium Nitrate: Violet Table Salt: Bright Red
Disposal: you can follow any of the traditions stated above or make your own! It is important to also note that ashes from a Yule Log are also wonderful fertilizer for plants, so keep that in mind if you have a garden.
! Be very careful when disposing of the ashes of a Yule Log. It is considered very unlucky to throw the ashes out on Christmas Day, so wait before disposal.
F. WORKS CITED
James Cooper (2000-2019), T he H istory of the Y ule Log, Why Christmas?, https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/yulelog.shtml
Patti Wigington (October 14th 2019), Make a Yule Log, Learn Religions, https://www.learnreligions.com/make-a-yule-log-2563006
Stephanie Butler (August 31st 2018), T he Delicious H istory of the Y ule Log, History Channel,https://www.history.com/news/the-delicious-history-of-the-yule-log
Catherine Boeckmann (December 12th 2018), What is a Yule Log?, The Old Farmer’s Almanac,https://www.almanac.com/content/what-yule-log-christmas-traditions
Dried orange slices = Mini Solstice Suns The perfect decoration for a Yule Log. Here’s a way to dry some for our event this Saturday! https://www.thehappierhomemaker.com/diy-dried-orange-slices/ Event invite: https://facebook.com/events/2455125771377780/ #InnerCircleSanctuary #ICSEvent #Wicca #witchcraft #Yule #YuleLogs #crafting #solstice #WinterSolstice https://www.instagram.com/p/B5q1ArGndfb/?igshid=utay482dm2zp
Ways you can celebrate Yule that aren’t just Christmas.
Celebrate on the correct days!: Yule is a solstice sabbat, which means it’s on the day before, of, and after the winter solstice*. It’s NOT December 25th.
Hang all kinds of evergreens everywhere: Do you know why? Because while snow is very pretty at first after a while the never ending blinding white and brown and black starts to drive you slowly insane. Holly and Mistletoe are the two brightest green plants you could get your hands on during winter so of course they were everywhere!
Light a massive bonfire**: It’s dark and cold and everyone is miserable. Burn some shit! If you aren’t a heathen then Yule is about the rebirth of the sun god(dess?). Welcome that guy back with the best sun imitation you could get!
Leave feed out for Odin’s Horse: Kids would leave out hay or treats for Odin’s Horse(Sleipnir) to eat while he road in the wild hunt. A gift given means a gift must be returned and so Odin(also known as the parents) would leave treats for the kids. Yes this is where Santa came from.
Make winter clothes: Winter was the time when all the housework was done because, well, you can’t plant when the field is under five feet of snow. Clothes were often made during this time and given to the family.
Welcome guests into your home: If there was one thing the Germanic people valued it was hospitality. Friend who has no were to go? Come on over! Your kid’s friend who comes from a tricky home? Why don’t they stay a night or two. Everyone is invited!
Anything that still has Yule in the name probably comes from the original: Yule log, Yule boar, Yule goat. These are all from the original feast day.
Yule is a feast to celebrate the wild hunt: So make a feast!
And finally, throw one hell of a party***: Yule is a Norse holiday guys. There was no such thing as a low-key party in that culture. The majority of their myths can be summed up thusly; partying, beating up someone who ruined the partying, partying because they beat someone up. Have fun!
*These are the days I do it because celebrating for 12 days - 2 months is impractical.
**Don’t be dumb with fire.
***Don’t do anything illegal.
I’m not a heathen, and also observe Yule very low-key because I still live in my parents house. If there is anything I missed or got wrong please add onto this!
My Yule Traditions:
Warding The Home
On the shortest day and the longest night of the year, the veil between the spirit world and ours becomes thin. This allows wandering spirits the cause mischief and possibly invade your home. Unfortunately, if you live in an apartment as i do, or just don’t have a chimney to burn the infamous Yule Log, you’ll need to resort to other measures to protect your humble abode through the long night. What I do is place one seven-day candle with a protective sigil drawn on it in every window of the house. Placing snowflake obsidian or black tourmaline stone in the corners of the window can add an extra boost of protection, sealing your house up good and tight.
Offerings for Wondering Spirits
This year, instead of just shutting out spirits, I want to provide them with some goodies while they’re on their journey. Currently, I’m planning on baking yummy Yule cookies and placing a good travels charm on them for any spirits who find themselves at my front door.
Spiked Spiced Apple Cider
Sorry baby witches, this one isn’t for you. However, the recipe can be used without alcohol. This year, I’m placing a protection charm over the cider while it simmers, protecting anyone who indulges in this yummy sweet nectar. Later on, I’ll be posting a recipe for the cider as well as the spell.
Yule Logs
Despite much uncertainty surrounding the initial beginnings of the Yule Log tradition, today, the Yule Log is a way for witches, pagans, and non-practitioners alike to celebrate the winter solstice. What we do know about the traditional Yule Log is that it was a piece of wood burned, at least, for the day/night of the solstice itself (though perhaps for the entirety of Yule, which originally lasted many days) and part of the log was always kept unburned so that it could light next year’s Yule Log, passing the light from one log to another throughout the years. This unburned part was said to bring luck and protection to the home it was kept in throughout the year. These days, we use the Yule Log to light and warm the home, ward off dark and danger, and remind us of both the darkness of the solstice and the soon-coming light.
Here are a few ways to bring a Yule Log into your solstice celebration this year.
For a sweeter option you can always bake a Chocolate Yule Log - time consuming, but not overly difficult, a dessert Yule Log can be a fun way to bake alongside family and friends while you warm your home and fill your stomachs.
If you do happen to have a fireplace then choosing, buying, finding, or chopping your own large wooden log or bundle of logs (usually Oak, but many sources vary) is certainly an option if you want the more traditional experience of tending a fire throughout the longest night of the year.
My favorite option for adopting the tradition of the Yule Log, however, is to decorate a log with ribbons and foraged items and drill holes for candles to burn throughout the night, lighting your home without the need for a small blaze. Here are two sources on how to make one and what they can look like when finished.
Happy Yule!
A Brief Guide to Yuletide Plants & Herbs
MISTLETOE: love, protection, luck, reconciliation, banishing.
SNOWDROP: hope, cleansing, beauty.
LEMONGRASS: banishing negativity, attraction, purification.
CINNAMON: love, happiness, money.
SAGE: longevity, wisdom, protection, wishes. aiding in grief.
ROSEMARY: purification, dreams, healing.
GINGER: power, manifestation.
ORANGE: divination, fortune, health, love, good luck, money.
BAY LEAVES: cleansing, psychic abilities, wishes, dreams. banishing, protection.
ASH: prophetic dreams, luck, attraction, energy channelling.
THISTLE: vitality, cleansing, purification, uncrossing.
CEDAR: protection, attraction, healing, invocation.
PINE: positivity, protection, fertility, warding.
FRANKINCENSE: cleansing, consecration, banishing.
CHESTNUT: longevity, intuition, grounding, focus, success.
IVY: fertility, protection, healing.
HOllY: prosperity, protection, luck, dreams, rebirth, banishing.
JUNIPER: protection, warding, divination, secrecy, love.
OAK: money, success, strength, fertility, stability, health, healing, luck.
SANDALWOOD: healing, purification, consecration.
YEW: necromancy, astral travel, death.
CYPRESS: purification, stability, focus.
MYRRH: purification, banishing, protection, healing.
Disclaimer: do your research before using or handling any plant or herb. Some herbs are dangerous when burned or ingested.
