The Sacred Village

Yule is tomorrow. I wanted to highlight this day and share something written by a dear friend of ours. Sheryl (who you may remember from one of our Top 10 Tuesday posts) wrote this as a note on her facebook page and gave me permission to share it here. Please enjoy and have a beautiful Holiday Season!

What is Yule to me? This pretty much sums it up! It's about the giving to those around you, spending time with your loved ones, and giving back to Mother Nature. I've taken my kids out to drum up the sun on Yule morning and it's been amazing and beautiful. I'm thinking I might put together a little something and make it a yearly tradition for my family just like any other holiday! Yule has the longest night of the year but, it's the turn around. The days after Yule get longer and the night shorter. It means that Mother Earth is that much closer to harvest time again. It is the start of the 'New Year' and what the god/dess will bring to all.

I wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. No matter what you celebrate this time of year. It is about the giving (not recieving) and spending time with those that you love!

(Now a little note about Yule)

Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.

Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift... it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze be a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.

A different type of Yule log, and perhaps one more suitable for modern practitioners would be the type that is used as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.

Deities of Yule are all Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses, and Triple Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the secrets of metal work. Brighid's flame, like the flame of the new light, pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda's cauldron assures that Nature will always provide for all the children.

Symbolism of Yule:

Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspect, Planning for the Future.

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, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule

Spellworkings of 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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Hello all you lovely villagers!
Thanksgiving is over, and it was a very nice holiday.  Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, and probably many other holidays are coming up! I hope they are all beautiful for all of you!  I hope to do a post to highlight each of them throughout the month.

I have a Hindu proverb that I want to share that totally inspires me every day, and I think is especially appropriate during the Holiday season.

There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading to the same place, so it doesn’t matter which path you take. The only person wasting time is the one who runs around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.
via
Roots of She

Lots of Love
~~~~~~~
Kristina
XOXO

I was sitting around thinking about health issues and weight which I have now dealt with for over ten years. I was one of those kids who ate everything I wanted and never gained a pound but after I had my first son that was not the case anymore. I have had to learn to eat differently through the years and exercise. I have tried so many fad diets and plans that Kristina teases me and says that someday I will write my own get healthy book. I am not sure about that but I have decided to put myself to a challenge starting on November 20th and going through the end of the year. I am going to do it in spurts and see if I can find something’s that really work for me such as do I feel better? Have I lost any pounds or inches? How hard was it for me to fit this into my schedule?

I welcome anyone to take these challenges with me and I am open for any advice. This is not permanent and will just be a trail until the end of the year. Starting 2012 I plan to put together a regular diet and exercise plan, so please stay tuned…….

As for now we start Amanda’s Tips to the Sacred Body!!!

Tip 1 November 20th- November 24th 

(Duration 5 days)

Calorie intake each day is no more then 1500 calories

Remember its only 5 days

No Soda Pop

No Fast Food

No eating after 8pm

Drink 8 glasses of water a day

Exercise intake 30 minutes in the morning and at night of cardio 2.5 mph at least

Start by weighing on the morning of November 20th and don’t weigh again until November 24th  

Measure your neck in inches

Measure your thighs in inches

Measure your stomach/waist (around belly button) in inches

The following chart can be printed to use for the 5 days

Good Luck everyone
Lots of Love
Amanda

I wanted to include a Pagan perspective in our series about Halloween. But while doing my search for a good perspective, I found this amazing article and I knew I needed to share it! 
I absolutely love her perspective on Halloween! We need more people with this open acceptance!

The article is called:
Boycotting Halloween? Mom Talk


How people worship is entirely up to them. So long as we don’t hurt each other, I don’t typically judge other peoples' religions. So when it comes to Halloween, I have to chuckle at all the religious fervor ­— and idiocy.

So right off the bat, let me just 'fess up to being a devout Christian who is also a practicing Roman Catholic. I attended Catholic grade school and university. I am also Irish, which has definitely influenced my opinion on the matter.

With that said, I don’t get my undies in a bunch or hide under my bed when it comes to Halloween. I don’t believe the devil is out to get me on Oct. 31 more than he would other days of the year. I don’t think evil needs an appointment to rear its head.

Halloween is fun. Ghosts and witches and goblins and devils are festive. Trick or treating is a childhood rite of passage. It is a tradition — one of America’s very few. I support it. I encourage it. Big green light on Halloween from me.

Halloween is not a celebration of evil, although I am sure there are a slight fraction of wackos out there who take advantage of the day to go extra nutty. By and large, I interpret Halloween as a celebration of our history and culture.

I invoke the name of the late, great Father Kevin Shanley, a Carmelite who taught me incredible things about Celtic pagan traditions, which are still honored in Irish Catholicism today. He taught me that the Celts believed there was a thin veil between the living and the dead. This is what I mean by my Irish roots having influenced my attitude about this holiday.

On Oct. 31, that veil was the thinnest, they believed. They called it Samhain, (prounounced sow-ahn). It was a harvest festival. Later, it was called All Soul’s Day (or Eve), and Nov. 1 is still celebrated in the Catholic Church as All Saint’s Day.

Catholics everywhere profess our faith to the communion of saints, regularly calling on them to intervene from heaven to matters here on Earth. Yes, saints may be dead, but they are not gone, I believe.

In America, all these crazy loop-de-loop Halloween rumors have been spread about poisoned candy and witches killing babies and Lord knows what else. Well, I’m here to tell ya, they were pretty much false. Here’s why I know.

Back in the day, I reported on Halloween’s occult, including Wicca. I had an enlightening interview with an FBI agent who specializes in these groups. (And before readers jump up and down on me, I am using the classic definition of "occult," which means hidden. The meaning doesn't suggest good or bad. It is a broad definition, which includes the Free Masons, who are a secretive society.)

He told me that hidden religions are not responsible for the hoopla they get blamed for. The poisoned trick or treat candy back in the '80s was a father trying to kill his little girl (not a religious motive).  He said Wiccans do not sacrifice humans of any age. All the hype was nonsense and fear.

Wicca, aka witchcraft, is a pagan, nature-based religion. In general, they believe in goddess and god, not heaven or hell. Hence, there is no devil to worship. I’ve read several versions of the Wiccan Rede, and all include a phrase similar to “and ye harm none.”

The Samhain celebration I attended reminded me of a lot of Catholic rituals, actually. It was a cross between my Sunday Mass and something a Native American would practice. No, it wasn't my cup of tea, but it didn't hurt anybody either.

A lot of people freak out on Halloween, keeping their kids locked up at home. I don’t think God is going to mind if you dress them up as Dorothy or Spiderman to go door to door.

My message is this: use the same kind of parental discretion that you would in any other situation. Choose costumes that are respectful and age-appropriate. Knock on doors of people you know. And talk to your kids about what the holiday means.

My 2-year-old received a stuffed Frankenstein that sings “Monster Mash.” I don’t think he’s going to hell because he likes pushing the button on and off.

All religions have extremists and crazies. Nobody has the monopoly on that. I don't think any particular day does either.


Happy Halloween! XOXO Kristina