Tag: winter solstice

SOLSTICE JOURNEY + CRYSTAL MAGIC!

Posted on by Paula Cas

By Krista Mitchell

Solstice-magic / krista-mitchell.com

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

For those who keep the olde ways in the northern hemisphere, while the winter solstice (Yule) marks the longest night of the year, it also heralds the dawn of a new one.

The Oak King will triumph over the Holly King. The sun will grow stronger. Warmth and life will slowly return to the land.

It is a time of wish magic, setting intentions and divination work for the coming year.

Conversely, in the southern hemisphere, the summer solstice (Litha) marks the longest day of the year.

It is a time of fairy magic, manifestation, and celebrating the abundant splendors of the earth, before the sun begins to wane.

Here are some crystal suggestions for this magical day. You can wear them to tune into the energy of these magical days, and to enhance any of your manifestation, healing, ritual, or spiritual workings.

I’ve also included TWO FREE SPIRIT JOURNEYS below that you can do on solstice day as part of your magical ritual!

 

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Winter Solstice + the Full Moon => A Potent Combination

Posted on by Paula Cas
Dear all,
For the first time since 2010 and for the last time until 2094 we’ll have the Full Moon coinciding with the Winter Solstice!
The exact peak of the Full Moon is several hours after the exact moment of the Solstice but with the Full Moon energies active a day before a day of and a day after the actual peak — this is quite significant!
So the Winter Solstice on Friday happens at 5:23 pm EST, when Sun enters Capricorn.
Traditionally, this was a time of celebration, feasting and gift-giving — and with Christmas, it still is.
Energetically, however, the specific alignment of Sun and Moon signals that this is a timeto turn inward and start slowing down and unwinding.
The Earth Energy of Sun in Capricorn combines harmoniously with the strong Water Energy of the Full Moon to guide our bodies to downshift and start to relax.
One of the best qualities of the energy of this Full Moon due to its harmonious connection to Uranus is that it can help us see more clearly what we feel, what we need, and what we have outgrown. And then it can assist us with breaking those habits related to things we have outgrown more easily than at other times, if we so wish.
It may also bring you new information, new insights, new perspective, or new people who might help you in some way or to whom you will offer help.
Additionally, both Friday and Saturday are great for any creative pursuits, learning and spiritual immersion or even just dreaming them up.
So what can you do to further amplify the effect of energy in your life?
First, you may want to enjoy “wishing upon a start” as this weekend there will be a peak of the Ursid Meteor Shower. Last night California experienced an amazing one, captured on social media. To do that, hold or carry your Tektite or Moldavite while looking at the night sky and then see what shows up in your dreams.
Next, start making a list of habits that you know you want to change, and see which one is the easiest to change starting Saturday. You can use Moldavite while doing this.
Then, to connect to your creativity and bring more of it into your life, wear or carry with you Friday and Saturday Picture Jasper, Crazy Lace Agate (that’s actually a real name 🙂 ), Rainbow Obsidian, Chrysocolla or Opal.
Have beautiful holidays! May all kinds of blessings come your way!
Brana Mijatovic, Ph.D.

The Lessons of Nature at the Winter Solstice

Posted on by Paula Cas

The Druid's Garden

In the fall, I always feel like I’m fighting against the coming dark at the time of the winter solstice, and each year, I have to learn the lesson anew.  This year proved particularly challenging for a few reasons. After the time changes at Daylight Savings time, and the sun starts setting at 3:30pm.  It is down by 4:30 and completely dark by 5:15pm. As a homesteader, in preparation for spring planting and the winter to come, there always seems to be so much to do.  Bringing in the harveset, preparing the greenhouse, preparing and clearing garden beds, stacking wood, cleaning gutters, shoring up the hen house, and doing all of the necessary multitude of other preparations for the coming winter.  As the fall deepens, each day, the light continues to wane, and there is less light each day to work with. On many days when I go to work…

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Marzanna – Goddess of Winter

Posted on by Paula Cas

Elder Mountain Dreaming

By Phoenix of Elder Mountain – Its that time of year again to honor the Goddess of Winter Marzanna, an archaic night goddess, a primal connection to woman and her shamanistic and animistic mysteries of the past, present and future. These pre-religious rites are still done in very simple ways today and I hope you join us again this year in making her. Marzanna is a night goddess in her origins and is a sacred mystery. 

Marzanna is one such seasonal lunar goddess who represents the Winter time of year and are based on a goddess who represents mother earth. I moved away from the simplicity of the traditional Polish Marzanna ritual in Slavic paganism because it is too simple for such a powerful and prehistory goddess and because these rituals do not honor Winter or Winter Moons as a Winter Goddess. These pagan rituals only glorify Spring and leave out…

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Reasons for the Season

Posted on by Paula Cas

secretsoftheserpent

I have several new readers this year that are not familiar with some earlier works. This is the perfect day to show the truth of so many traditions that take place this time of year. Instead of  reblogging all of them, I will give a link to them in this post along with a summary of what they are about. Whatever it is you are celebrating this holiday, please keep in mind yourself. Everything about religion is for you to give your power away. The only truth in this world lies in yourself. So Happy (enter your name here)mas!!!!

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Making A Yule Log/Having A Old Fashioned Christmas

Posted on by Paula Cas

Good Witches Homestead

Make this Yule Log use as a handcrafted herbal gift for family and friends this holiday season.

Yule Log Recipe

The Yule log is traditionally burned on New Year’s Eve to usher in good fortune for the coming year. It is created in the spirit of prayer or ritual for the fulfilment of dreams, hopes, and wishes for prosperity, happiness, peace, or whatever you want the New Year to bring. As you create the log, perform each action with intention for your dreams to come true.

1. Start by tying a red ribbon around the middle of a large piece of firewood. There are many items that can be used to decorate the log such as moss, rosemary sprigs, cinnamon sticks, whole nutmeg, rose hips, frankincense resin, fir branches, pinecones, or prayers written down, rolled up, and tied with pieces of string.

2. Attach all of the ornaments with drippings…

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Wildcrafted Winter Solstice Decorations with Conifers, Holly, Ivy, Bittersweet, and More

Posted on by Paula Cas

The Druid's Garden

Decorated mantle with greenery, ribbon, and a nice candelabra Decorated mantle with greenery, ribbon, and a nice candelabra

Part of the fun of the holiday season is “decking the halls” and decorating for the season. By bringing the symbols of the season into our homes, for festivity and communion, we are able to deeply align with the living earth and her turning seasons. And the symbols of this particular season, at the winter solstice, span back millennia: deep red berries and dark green conifers, trails of ivy, mistletoe, and other evergreens. Adding to this, the symbols of the season are also reflected in mythology, such as the battle between the Oak and Holly king and the Goddess Frigga’s wheel of the year.  These symbols have been with us for centuries in one form or another, and weaving in and out of whatever dominant tradition that is present.  And so, in this post, I will explore how we might…

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As We Approach the Winter Solstice

Posted on by Paula Cas

Good Witches Homestead

If you are like me, December can be overwhelming…. As we approach the Winter Solstice, the gift of sunlight is hard to come by, causing light deprivation, circadian disturbances, and shifts in melatonin regulation.  The subsequent effects on mood, behavior and health can be difficult to deal with, especially since the reins of life’s expectations don’t loosen to accommodate these seasonal shifts.  Instead, the holidays bring their own unique stresses and can add to a sense of depletion and anxiety.

In my case, it’s the same each year.  The effects of light deprivation sneak up on me, much in the way that seasonal allergies seem to. I start feeling sluggish and apathetic.  My eyes take on a dull ache and my skin and hair feel like straw.  My sleep is less rejuvenating and I feel starved for more of it.  When the morning alarm rings, it takes me by surprise…

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Elder Mother, The Wild Hunt, And The Winter Solstice

Posted on by Paula Cas

If you follow the sun, you’ll find that, as fall edges into winter, it slips further and further south. The angle of the sun’s rays gets shallower, and the days become shorter with the sun in southern skies. But every year, it turns back and begins its northward course right around the time of the winter holidays: a new light is reborn, and we can start fresh in a new year. The Winter Solstice.That said, many traditional cultures used the moon as an easier form of time-tracking. Her course, when accounting for the earth’s orbit around the sun, runs about 29-30 days from full moon to full moon. The moon cycle also divides neatly into four segments of about 7-8 days each, making it a useful way to mark the more practical weekly calendar. The moon traces more intimate rhythms, while the sun holds the broad, seasonal cycles.But the lunar and solar calendars are offset: while there are about twelve full moons in a year, that’s not quite enough to account for all the days between one winter solstice and the next. In fact, there are about 11-12 extra days after twelve lunar cycles before the sun synchronizes with the calendar again. So, in order to keep the daily household rhythm and the seasonal agricultural rhythm aligned, our ancestors simply inserted twelve extra days at the beginning of the year, right after the Winter Solstice. These days existed outside of the normal lunar calendar, and after they were over, the weekly reckoning could recommence and be in line with the solar cycle again. This, of course, is the origin of the “twelve days of Christmas”.

Source: Elder Mother, The Wild Hunt, And The Winter Solstice

21 Ways to Celebrate Winter Solstice

Posted on by Paula Cas

Winter Solstice – also known as Yule – is one of my favourite times of the year…. okay, my absolute favourite time of year. But maybe I say that for all holidays!

And while I love the major celebrations of Samhain (the start of the Dark Half of the year in the Celtic Wheel of the Year) and Beltaine (the beginning of the Light Half of the year), there is something about Winter Solstice that touches so many. Virtually all cultures and faiths celebrate Father Sun and the return of the light at Solstice.

So what is Solstice? The word solstice comes to us from two Latin words, sol  (the Sun) and sistere (to stand),  referring to the standing sun that we experience twice a year. During the days around the solstice, the Sun appears to stop in its travels (particularly dramatic in polar regions!).

On Solstice, our ancestors celebrated the return of the Sun with feasts, music and art, rituals, greenery, camaraderie and – most importantly – symbols of the Sun such as bonfires and candles. And many carried on the tradition for a full 13 nights / 12 days (in the Celtic world, the day began and ended at sunset), a tradition some of us may recognize as the root of the Twelve Days of Christmas. […]

Read entire article at the Source: 21 Ways to Celebrate Winter Solstice