YULE / Winter Solstice

Yule, representing the Winter Solstice and following Samhain, is the eighth and final Wiccan and Pagan Sabbat of the year. It is one of the four solar festivals relating to the sun’s position in the sky, the other three being the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Fall Equinox.

The Winter Solstice marks the beginning of Winter and the shortest day of the year, which occurs on Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

Beginning on the Winter Solstice, Yule is a pagan festival that celebrates the sun's return as the days slowly start to get longer. The festivities, which involved lots of drinking and consuming of slaughtered animals, lasted up to 12 days. In 2022, Yule begins on Wednesday, December, 21and ends on Sunday, January 1, 2023.

Yule Origins

Yule is the point on the Wheel of the Year when we acknowledge the beginning of the return of light. The nights have reached their most extended end, creating a sense of darkness that is almost overbearing.

Yet as far as the Sun is concerned, this is a turning point toward increased daylight and the promise of warmth that the growing season will eventually return. The longest night will now be behind us, and the Sun will stay with us later each day, rising ever higher in the sky until the Summer Solstice. However, it will be a few weeks before this is noticeable. The word “solstice” comes from a Latin phrase meaning “sun stand still.” This is a time of turning inward, hunkering down, and tuning in to our deepest selves.

Of all the solar Sabbats, Yule is probably the one most clearly rooted in an ancient pagan holiday, as it takes its name from a festival held in Germanic and Scandinavian cultures around the time of the Solstice.

The Romans also celebrated Saturnalia, which involved feasting and exchanging gifts and ritual sacrifice. In Persia, this was when worshippers of the god Mithra celebrated his birth. And the Druids of the Celtic Isles are said to have gathered sacred mistletoe and sacrificed cattle on the solstice.

Yule Celebrations

Some of the traditions observed during these ancient festivals–such as the Yule log, decorating with evergreen boughs and branches, warm alcoholic beverages known as wassail, and group singing–continued through the centuries and are still part of many celebrations today.

The most apparent pagan remnant surviving in today’s holiday traditions is probably the use of mistletoe. This plant was significant to Norse and Celtic cultures and the ancient Greeks and Romans. The significance of mistletoe at the Winter Solstice likely comes from the Druids, who viewed the plant’s ability to stay green while it grew on oak without leaves as a sign of its sacred powers. The mistletoe was ritually harvested at this time with a golden sickle and fed to the animals to ensure fertility. It was also valued for its protective properties, particularly against fire and lightning, and was used in medieval times for healing.

In some Wiccan traditions, this is the time to ritually reenact the battle between the Oak King and the Holly King. These twin brothers represent the opposing poles of the Sun’s annual journey through the seasons. The Holly King, representing the dark half of the year, reigns until the Winter Solstice when he is cut down by the Oak King, who heralds the beginning of the waxing daylight. This cyclical story serves as a reminder that light and dark are both essential parts of existence in Nature–neither can exist without the other.

In many Wiccan traditions, Yule is the start of the new year. The seasons of the Wheel, and the annual story of the God and Goddess, have completed the circle and now begin again. The Goddess gives birth to the God, fulfilling the intention the divine pair set when they coupled at Beltane. As the Sun God, his symbolic death and return to the underworld at Samhain led to the darkness of the past six weeks, and now his rebirth brings back the light. The Goddess has transformed again from her Crone aspect back to the Mother, who will rest awhile from her labor and emerge rejuvenated in the spring.

This segment of the mythological cycle is at the heart of the Wiccan understanding of reincarnation–after death comes rebirth into new life. The Sun illustrates this truth through its process of disappearance and reappearance. The Earth, which never disappears, represents the never-ending presence of the divine Universe.

Many people see these short days and long nights as a time of self-reflection, spiritual study, and intention-setting for the coming year. Winter gives us renewal, a fresh start, and a quiet, slow time to take stock of the past year and evaluate what goals were realized, which ones weren’t, and what we want to do in the coming year.

Yule Correspondences

Also known as

● Winter Solstice, Midwinter, Alban, Arthurian, Saturnalia, Yuletide

Spiritual Focus and Keywords

● Rebirth, quiet introspection, new year, hope, setting intentions, celebrations of light

Magickal Focus

● House cleansing and blessing to start the new year; this is quite similar to the Japanese focus on nenmatsu ōsōji (年末大掃除), the central year-end house cleaning, including “mental” cleaning.

Symbols

● Darkness—quietness, solitude, exploration, revealing of the unknown

● Evergreens—tenacity, strength, rebirth, life cycle, fertility, fidelity

● Light—rebirth, renewal, energy, solar return, inspiration, intuition

● Mother and child—childbirth and life cycles describing turning of the seasonal wheel; regeneration

● Wreaths—the everlasting circle, magickal or sacred space, community

● Yule log—cleansing, blessing, the embodiment of winter/cold/death, augury

Colors (including for decorations or a Yule altar)

● Green—abundance, life, the living evergreen that thrives through the winter, new beginnings

● Red—vitality, inner and outer fire, life force; associated with holly berries and poinsettias, plants that thrive during winter

● White—calm, the “clean slate” of snow, peace, protection, silence

Crystals and Stones

● Obsidian–depth, divination, grounding

● Onyx–the balance between physical and spiritual energy, grounding, protecting

● Tanzanite—dispelling of negativity, lifting of depression, mental clarity

● Zircon—calming, healing

Herbs

● Cinnamon—access to astral and spiritual realms, psychic powers, strength

● Clove—attraction, divination, healing, protection, psychic powers, purification

● Mistletoe—healing peace, prosperity, security, rest, wellness; the ancient Druids harvested mistletoe at Yule, believing it to be a holy plant with protective qualities

● Rosemary—alertness, banishing, divination, healing, mental clarity, physical and psychic protection

● Sage—calm, concentration, confidence, divination, health and healing, safety, satisfaction

Trees

● Evergreens—natural symbols of rebirth and resurrection

● Cedar--banishing, courage, determination, discipline, healing, longevity, prosperity, purification

● Pine—fertility, health and healing, prosperity

Flowers

● Poinsettia—chakra balancing, energy enhancement

Foods

● Fruits, nuts, baked goods, cider, spiced cider, eggnog, ginger tea, wassail

Tarot Keys

● Hermit

● Magician

● Pentacles

● World

Animals

● Male deer, or stag, which remains sacred to the dark season as a symbol of the Horned God, who reigns during winter

Altar Decorations

● Candles, evergreen wreaths and boughs, holly, mistletoe, pinecones, Yule log, snowflakes, pinwheels, yellow discs, other solar symbols, and imagery

Some Key Takeaways for Theistic Satanists

Yule is an ending, a transition, and a beginning. Spiritual and magical focus include reflection, introspection, growth, and personal transformation. Yule is also an occasion for divination of all kinds.

As with Wiccans, we understand that the death stage of the cycle is the most potent, as it is here that all potential for new life resides, waiting to be manifested into a specific form. Therefore, Yule is the most appropriate time for reflecting on our lives, looking back over the past year, and identifying any circumstances or behavioral patterns we want to let go of to allow for future expansion and growth. By letting go of our old selves, we can move into the months ahead with clarity and acceptance of the ever-turning wheel of life and death and set new goals and intentions for the upcoming year.

We also understand the importance of darkness as well as light.

Incorporating the fire element in our Astral or material plane is an excellent idea. Fire brings not only warmth and light to the Theistic Satanist, but it is also a transformational element that refines and binds our intentions and goals.

Finally, the Theistic Satanist welcomes the darkness because Father Satan is both the darkness and light that guides our intuition and higher senses toward a broad perspective of what is best in our lives. Yule celebrates and acknowledges our connection with the Satanic Divine forces that guide and protect us. We celebrate our past accomplishments while looking ahead to next year’s harvest. Yule is a paradox that unites darkness and light to provide balance and clarity. Therefore, we encourage contemplating the black flame of satanic love within us to give us purpose and direction for the following year.

Main Reference Sources

Note: the above includes significant text and images taken directly, without quotes, from the following sources:

● Llewellyns’s Sabbat Essentials: Yule

● Lisa Chamberlain’s Wicca Wheel of the Year Magic

● “Paganism and Wicca--Yule Rituals”, https://www.learnreligions.com/about-yule-rituals-2562970

● Various internetsources (mainly pictures and graphics)