Celebrating the winter solstice can be a sacred rite rich in meaning and symbolism. Here, Marian Preselo, practitioner of the Old Ways, describes the plants at the heart of her Yule gathering in Wimborne.

Yule
The midwinter solstice – December 21st/22nd

A burnished glow in the Western sky from a low slung golden sun on a cold and frosty December afternoon, heralds the arrival of Yule ~ one of the 8 Sabbats in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year ~ They mark significant points in the seasons and cycles of Mother Earth. The midwinter Solstice is one of the solar festivals ~ it is the shortest day of the year, when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky.  Night overshadows day and the moon’s power is at its zenith.     

For our ancestors, the lengthening shadows and the sun waning in its life-giving strength and power, the vegetation dead or dying, made them fear that life and light would never return.

So that the sun would be encouraged to return to a world that was darkening, and to entice Mother Nature to awaken, huge bonfires would be lit from the Yule logs ~ traditionally oak or ash.

Holly, ivy, and mistletoe were important plants of the season, brought in to homes as symbols of everlasting life and fertility. Candles and fires lit so as to share warmth and light, reaffirming life in the midst of death. A time of great celebration ~ the light is once more returning to the land.  Yule is one of the festivals that are celebrated in similar ways by pre-Christian and Christians alike.

Mistletoe, associated with Male energy (Viscum Album ~ toxic) was especially venerated by the Celtic Druids, who cut it with a golden sickle on the sixth night of the moon, and believed it to be a magical aphrodisiac, hence its use in love spells and the origin of ‘kissing under the mistletoe’. (Photo: G. Bradley)

The Holly (Ilex Aquifolium)  associated with the female energy with its glossy vibrant dark green spiky leaves and crimson red berries is one of the best protection herbs, holly guards against lightning, poison and evil spirits.  

The common ivy (Hedera Helix) is a sacred plant, revered of old by the ancients as much as it is today by contemporaries.  Its most common association is with the Holly tree, the “Holly and the Ivy” being used extensively worldwide as a Yuletide decoration. Women carried ivy to aid fertility and general good luck.  

There is something very magical about a walk in the woods on a cold and crisp Winter's day.  As the frost sparkles and glistens in the light of the sun, gathering the sacred woods and greenery to craft a Yule log, wreath and decorations. Remember to firstly seek permission and then give thanks to the spirit of the plant.

Each footfall on the ground connects us deeply to the energy of Gaia.  Deep within her core, stirrings of new life begin ~ regeneration within ourselves and nature.  The sun in its infant god form ignites the embers of another cycle of renewal.

Pictures from a Yule gathering

 Yule Log ©  Altar Layout ©

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