Healing Garden of Tara

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messager

~Abundance and financial security are at hand. You've established a lasting foundation of success in business. With this success comes feelings of freedom. Material comforts, satisfaction in your accomplishments and the capacity to enjoy yourself are now (or soon will be) yours. Still, it's important to appreciate the little things in life.

Your family life is strong, secure, and peaceful. This may include your blood relatives, a " chosen family " or a community of people to whom you strongly relate. You draw great comfort from those around you and know that you've been extremely blessed.

Happiness, Peaceful Times, Satisfying Endeavors, Family Oriented Activity, Success, Celebration, Forward Movement, Excitement, Financial Security, Rewards, Freedom, Contentment.~

https://www.healingenergytools.com/governing-planets-in-the-human-body/

Governing Planets in the Human Body | Healing Energy Tools Planets represented in the human body are just one example of astrology’s ability to make a higher connection between human and divine.

https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=1072&img=5&utm_medium=custmktg&utm_source=fb-post #

Heal Your Soul by Letting Go of Emotional Addiction When we navigate difficult experiences in life, sometimes we can cope in ways that impact our well-being. In this liberating course, spiritual teacher and healer Leah Guy teaches how to identify and shift the negative, repetitive patterns that cause trouble in our lives. With expert insights and gui...

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

**Card of the Day**

Lady: Enjoy growth and reap rewards.

Change is coming and what a wonderful change it is. Many forms of abundance become available to you and they are a result of all the hard work that you have put in. The advice that comes with this card is to allow the change, don’t be scared, and release the same pattern/space you have been in over and over. It’s time to be open to the new and allow yourself to blossom. Also, this card is a reminder of the importance of being in nature.

pulled from Angels and Ancestors deck by Kyle Gray

https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-moon-water-215500664.html

Here’s How to Make Moon Water—and What to Do With It The Moon + water = magic. But actually.

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

**Card of the Day**

Perfect Timing: This is the right time for you to move forward.

If you are wondering when your desire will be fulfilled or when is the best moment to make a change, the answer is, NOW. The universal energies have aligned perfectly and have opened a gateway for you to easily step through. This is one of those times in life when you are on a roll and everything you touch turns to gold. Take advantage of the divine timing and make your move. Any additional preparation at this point would be akin to procrastination. Take one step at a time and move forward today.

Trust your inner sense of timing about this project. Keep the faith, as your dreams are on the brink of being realized.

The story of a blind girl

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

“Just take care of my eyes dear.”

This is how human brain changes when the status changed. Only few remember what life was before, and who’s always been there even in the most painful situations.

Life Is A Gift

Today before you think of saying an unkind word–
think of someone who can’t speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food–
think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife–
think of someone who is crying out to God for a companion.

Today before you complain about life–
think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children–
think of someone who desires children but they’re barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn’t clean or sweep–
think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive–
think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job–
think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another–
remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one maker.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down–
put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around.

Life is a gift – Live it, Enjoy it, Celebrate it, and Fulfill it.

~unknown~

https://drdavidhamilton.com/emotional-contagion/

How to deflect negative emotion - David R Hamilton PHD Here’s a very simple hack for when you feel you’re soaking up other people’s emotions. Image: iStock / Getty We all catch other people's emotions. It’s

Kyle Gray

DAILY ANGEL MESSAGE!
Take a deep breath, let it out slowly, say this prayer and then keep reading: “Thank you angels for revealing to me what I need to know!”

YOUR MESSAGE
Slow and steady. Breathe and flow. Take a gentler approach.

EXTENDED MESSAGE
You are being guided to flow like water, blow like air and connect with your purest intentions. Don’t feel you need to rush ahead. A gentler approach will be more fruitful and rewarding. Move with subtlety and grace. Reach high, but also ask yourself how you can move with the flow of life rather than pushing against it. Do you have the capacity to refocus your gaze at this time? Can you slow down? Or take more time to soften and breathe as you move forward? All of this will be incredibly beneficial for what happens next.

DECK: Angels and Ancestors Oracle
ARTIST: Lily Moses

Thank you for sharing this card if it relates to you!

From my friend

This one is for the BRUNOs:
The first 99 times I watched Encanto my focus was on Luisa. So strong.. too strong really. Figuratively and Literally shouldering all the burden of not just her family, but the town. Carrying a load no person should have to bear on there own. Worst of all believing this is where her worth lies.
On the 100th viewing, my eyes were on Bruno. Where Luisa's curse was Burden, Bruno's was Blame. (I'll let you process what that means for a minute) He had to measure every word he said. If you have children or husbands or brothers, picture them trying to filter their words. He grew up walking on eggshells. He can't tell a friend eating too much "Dude, if you keep eating like that your going to gain weight" because when they gain weight, they don't blame their eating habits, they blame Bruno. He joked about rain on his sisters wedding day and was blamed for the hurricane. Truth is he didn't MAKE any of those things happen, even if he saw them happen.
Luisa is always seen in the company of the donkey, beasts of burden. Bruno is seen in the company of rats, the despised and ostracized. Camilo describes him like a monster lurking in the night as if talking to him means your inevitable doom. He left (hid away) to save Maribel from that same fate. He diligently worked to fill the cracks and hold his home and family together. As he is spotted moving through shadows while they sing the Bruno song, I am aware that he knows what they say about him and accepts that as his lot in life.
There have been plenty tributes to Luisa and those cursed with STRENGTH. This is my tribute to Bruno and those cursed with INSIGHT. Those who can see what others can not. Those who have to bite their tongue. Those who are well meaning but others still see the worst in them. Those who hold things together at great personal cost. This is for you😉

Author unknown

“This 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. “Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.” “That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.” She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.” And with a smile, she said:
“Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hatred. 2. Free your mind from worries. 3. Live simply. 4. Give more. 5. Expect less”

We are the Wandering souls... the Volunteers...

We are the ones who visit other stars and star systems in their hour of greatest need...

We dabble Sunshine wherever we go... and sprinkle stardust on all those whose lives we touch...

So often we end up being the Wounded Healers, for we tend to open our hearts... We cannot bear to see other’s suffering, yet so very often end up suffering ourselves... Yet, strangely, it is through our own wounds that we heal others...

We often gaze upon this planet, in great puzzlement...We simply cannot understand why people want to fight... or kill each other... When two parties fight, we tend to be caught in the middle, for somehow we always seem to see both sides of the coin...

We are the Peace makers... the flower children...
We love to frolic amongst nature... at home in the veldt.... we hug trees... we treasure flowers... we tend to take time to run barefoot in the rain and simply soak up the wonderful Art of Beingness that Nature provides in great abundant plentitude...

We love to run with wolves... and we pick up the stray cats and dogs... indeed, the stray people too...

We love animals with a passion and cannot bear to see injury done to them...We tend to treat out pets as human beings and often love them more than do the two-legged ones...

We look at this whole planet and the way it is run, in great puzzlement ... We simply do not feel at home here... Deep in the very recesses of our soul, we remember other, more evolved ways of Living and the sheer Art to SHINE...

We are the Lightbearers and the Warriors of Light....We are the Ones that stem from way before time...

We are more than we ever let on... We simply KNOW more... Yet, seldom we share what is there with just anyone....

We are the sensitives... we FEEL... We SEE with the eyes of the VISIONARY... We sense things... we read the invisible language of the cosmic Masters...We are surrounded by myriad Beings of Light and Higher Hierarchy of Masters....

The world often calls us the FOOLS... the ones who simply do not fit the norm... Then we smile and carry on walking the Path of the Fool, for the Fool’s Path always leads to wisdom and insight... It is the Path of Initiation into the Higher States of Consciousness... and few have the guts to survive...

We are the Wanderers... the Volunteers...
We are the Angels in Disguise...
We are LOVE...

Author ~Judith Kusel

Shared with ❤️
🌀Nicole
Sacred Wild Woman Medicine

Photo Credit Unknown

At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, walked through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.
Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.
The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter "written" by the doll saying "please don't cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures."
Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka's life.
During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.
Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.
"It doesn't look like my doll at all," said the girl.
Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: "my travels have changed me." the little girl hugged the new doll and brought her happy home.
A year later Kafka died.
Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written:
"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."

Blue Flame Healing

Hey, friends, I'm breaking in my new deck, Moonology Oracle Cards. I love them! I hope you enjoy your reading! 😙💙

EXPECT POWERFUL CHANGE 💥

This year will be your year for powerful changes! Positive turnarounds are happening. Nothing's getting in your way now. Whenever you are ready, you can take forward action steps that will herald meaningful results. Luck is on your side! Don't be afraid to be bold and make a move. And don't even think of trying to give up now, for you are well on your way to achieving all of your goals! ~T 💙😙

"If you want affirmation that you can achieve your dreams and get the desired outcome in the situation that you're asking about, then this is it. This is a card of beginnings and there are powerful energies at work. Be prepared as it could be a bit uncomfortable at times. Any new direction you take will almost always lead somewhere better than where you are at the moment. Whatever is happening now is happening for a reason you'll appreciate later on. A new portal is opening and all you have to do is have the courage to forget about the past and move through it. There is nothing to fear."

Additional meanings:
-You're being shunted towards your life purpose.
- A thousand times yes!
- Whatever is happening is happening for your highest good.
-An important turning point in your life.

Love
Blue Flame Healing

Own It~
"Own the fact that you are different
Own that you are a deep feeler and thinker
Own that you're tuned into a different frequency
Own the fact that you sense things others don't
Own the fact that you want to talk about angels,
energy, miracles and spirituality
Own that you're done having meaningless conversations
Own that you're done holding yourself back
Own that you crave freedom to feel the now
It's ok if your family don't get you.
It's ok if your friends don't join you
It's ok if the world judges you
It's ok that you want to dance barefoot upon the earth
and endlessly gaze at the stars
It's ok that you cry over sunsets and chase moonbeams
It's wonderful in fact. It's beautiful
You have come a long way to be who you are
So own it. Own all of it. Love all of you
The world needs you to be exactly as you are
You hold the balance in this crazy world"
- Eryka Stanton

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

**Card of the Day**

King of Earth: A successful time. Confidently accept opportunities you're offered. The Midas touch.

This is a successful time. Your current projects will go well. You may be promoted or offered a higher salary. Your talents and skills will bring rewards for you and others. Accept the opportunities offered to you and have confidence that you'll succeed!

Additional meanings: The Midas touch. A captain of industry. Employers. Financial security.

*Card pulled from the Angel Tarot deck

💖Love this analogy I saw today. ☕️
You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shaking your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.
Why did you spill the coffee? 🤔 “Well because someone bumped into me, of course!” Wrong answer. You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.
Had there been tea in the cup, you would’ve spilled tea.
*Whatever is inside the cup, will spill out.*
Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled.
So we have to ask ourselves... “what’s in my cup?” When life gets tough, what spills over?
Joy, gratefulness, peace, and humility?
Or, anger, bitterness, harsh words, and reactions?
You choose!
Today lets work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation; and kindness, gentleness, and love for others.

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

Kinda love seeing this guy today!!!

**Card of the Day**

Six of Fire: Victory! Good news is on its way. Public recognition or awards.

Bravo! This is a time of great achievement and success. People think highly of you, and your reputation is excellent. You've made good decisions and worked hard. There may be some sort of public acknowledgment of your contributions, or you may be given an award for your achievements.

Good news is on its way. It could be a promotion or new job offer.

Additional meanings: Victory! Feeling good about yourself. Good fortune.

Card pulled from Angel Tarot deck

This poem was Dr. Andy Jones' gift to Yolo Food Bank this year. He is the former City of Davis poet laureate, a popular professor in the UC Davis University Writing Program (UWP), and a cherished and respected member of the Yolo County community. It struck an emotional chord with us; this boy is every child whom we serve every day. As another year of pandemic-driven food security challenges comes to a close, please consider a gift at https://yolofoodbank.org/donate-covid-19/ that eases Pablo's suffering, and that of ALL Yolo County residents struggling for resilience and food equity in an imperfect world. Wishing you all a healthy and nourished New Year 🥕🍆🍅🥝.

"Hunger"

Practiced at gauging want, slender Pablo
has attuned to everyday aches,
the ways his parents’ eyes turn downward
in weary increments, like little frowns.

It makes no sense, his father working so hard,
To have so little. Wiry and strong from incessant labors,
Guillermo finds that his wage neglects
To provide his family even the minimum.

The people Guillermo serves couldn’t imagine that he
And his wife and son all sleep in the same room,
Also the kitchen: So much happening in the one room,
But also not enough. Pablo eats at school.

Pablo would like to lean into growing, his only job,
But he carries a simple sack filled with absence
The way that his classmates carry backpacks
Filled with permission slips and packed lunches.

Pablo feels unauthorized, that he has no permission.
His hunger, punishment for transgressions
He has not yet lived long enough to make,
Is inscrutable, like the weight of negative numbers.

The freeform unfairness of the absence distracts,
Gnaws at him the way his stomach gnaws on itself.
Every thought he starts, it stumbles,
Like his own bisabuela, too weary to walk.

The refrigerator light reveals a bag of tortillas,
But no ingredients for them to enfold and deliver.
The tortillas are the walls of the overexposed grocery store:
They contain everything, but to him, provide nothing.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, "I am blind, please help."

There were only a few coins in the hat – spare change from folks as they hurried past.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.

Then he put the sign back in the boy’s hand so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign returned to see how things were.

The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

Both signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign conveyed to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to see…

When your life seems full of troubles, it seems difficult to maintain an attitude of gratitude, doesn’t it? All we see are our problems, like a blackened storm cloud casting a dark shadow over our lives.

And the times when everything just seems to be going smoothly? We often take these precious moments for granted too, don’t we? Caught up in the bliss, comfort, and familiarity of it all, we can simply forget to be thankful.

So what, then, is gratitude?

Simply put, gratitude is a habit. It’s a way of looking at the world and all the good things in it with a feeling of appreciation, regardless of whether or not your current situation is to your liking.

Gratitude is a heart-centered approach to being at peace with yourself and with all you have. When you practice this feeling of gratitude, it attracts even MORE things into your life for which to be grateful.

Go ahead, try it out right now. What or who do you have in your life to be thankful for?

Nick Ortner

We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time meeting each thing as it comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.

~Eleanor Roosevelt~

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

**Card of the Day**

Nine of Water: A wish comes true. Concerns fade away. A love of life.

Your wish comes true! That which you've prayed for finally manifests. Your concerns should now fade as your efforts are rewarded. Financial hopes are currently realized. Good fortune follows you!

The simple pleasures in life abound. Luxury and material comforts come to you. You're surrounded by beauty, happiness, and contentment.

Additional meanings: Love of life. Pleasure, Freedom. Things work out the way you'd hoped. Self-satisfaction.

Card pulled from Angel Tarot deck

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

**Card of the Day**

Six of Winter: Positive changes are on their way! A welcome relief from troubled times. Traveling or relocating.

Positive changes are on the way. You've done the work and chose to focus on yourself to release what no longer serves you. Now deep and profound changes are unfolding. Anything that has been lost will be replaced by something better and more suited to your new energy.

A beautiful life is on the horizon after difficult times, and the toughest lessons are now complete. Step into your new life with confidence and leave the past behind. Your experiences have served their purpose and you will not benefit from dwelling on them any longer.

Travel may be in your near future. If you're looking to relocate to a new city, things will move smoothly and quickly. Embrace the new life waiting for you.

Wow, I had no idea about the origin story of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer! If you aren't familiar with it either, read below:

As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t feeling much comfort or joy. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara.

One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. But he wanted to give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would always take care of her. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.

In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.

Now remarried with a growing family, May felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more to come. His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with “Here Comes Santa Claus” a few years before. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune.

Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind “White Christmas.” Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees and presents. As the last line of the song says, “He’ll go down in history.”

Words of Wisdom by the Lit Messenger

**Card of the Day**

Two of Fire: You've come into your own. New partnerships or contracts. Continue to move forward.

This is a time of coming into your own. The steps you're taking to improve your career or business are on the right track. As you move forward, courageous choices are necessary and will be rewarded. Continue forging ahead, and don't be discouraged by temporary delays. Also, don't allow anyone to hinder your progress.

Consider working in partnership with those whose skills compliment your own. Joint endeavors can help you achieve your goals. Negotiations move smoothly at this time.

Additional meanings: Excellent foresight. Hope for the future. Contracts and business agreements. Great potential. Controlled progress.

*Card from Angel Tarot cards

Kyle Gray

DAILY ACTIVATION MESSAGE!
Take a deep breath, let it out slowly, say this prayer and then keep reading: "Thank you, Universe, for revealing to me what I need to know".

YOUR MESSAGE
This card initiates healing on all levels, but particularly on the family line. There may be some ideas and beliefs in your family that you find limiting or negative. Know that they need not be your truth. You have the opportunity to go beyond the challenging energies of your family lineage. If you are in a particularly challenging time or facing energies that are harsh and even overwhelming, the energy of your ancestors is with you now. They are here to hold a sacred and safe space so that you can rest.
Your ancestors are surrounding you now. They are here to seek forgiveness for any harmful decisions that were made without full awareness and for any negative effects those are having on you now. If you have found that a particular family member has been difficult, or a relationship has been negatively impacted because of situations or ideas that stem from the past, know that a great cleansing is taking place at this time. The ointment for the wound is the energy of forgiveness. This isn’t about accepting what happened as “fine,” but realizing that the energies of the past no longer govern your present. It’s about choosing to create your own happiness and live from your own heart. Keep your boundaries strong, but be open to carving out a new path.

Deck: Gateway of Light Activation Oracle
Artist: Jennifer Hawkyard

Thank you for sharing this card if it relates to you!

Wicca Teachings

Today is Yule. It is celebrated on the Winter Solstice which is the longest night of the year, but after this night the nights will start to get shorter and days longer. It is a celebration of the rebirth of the Sun.

Ancient people were hunters and farmers and spent most of their time outdoors. The seasons and weather played a very important part in their lives. Because of this many ancient people had a great reverence for and worshipped the Sun. The Norsemen saw the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons. It was from the word for wheel we get the word Yule, houl or Jol.

Every 6 months there is a Solstice. On the Summer Solstice the longest day of the year and shortest night, the Waning Sun takes control of the skies and the days get shorter and nights get longer, the cold starts to set in and vegetation on the earth begins to die. On the Winter Solstice (Yule) the Waxing Sun takes over and the nights start to get shorter and the days longer, it is a sign that Spring is only a few months away where life will begin anew and the earth will start to blossom and bloom.

On Yule we celebrate the return of the Waxing Sun. In Wicca it is birth of the Sun God who has many names, Cernunnos, Pan, The Oak King, Apollo, Sol, Freyr, Horus, Mithras, The Horned God, The Green Man, Lord Of Light and more. The Goddess gives birth to him on this night, by doing this she sacrifices herself to give life to the Lord Of Light to ensure the earths survival.

In ancient tradition Yule was celebrated with a large fire where townsfolk and villagers would dedicate it to the Sun God. They would fill their home with evergreens and an evergreen tree to show that even though the land is barren and dead, life is still flourishing, They would decorate the tree and their home with shiny objects to encourage The Sun God to shine.

We use holly and mistletoe on Yule as the plants flourish in the Winter, we use them as symbols of the fertility of the God and Goddess. The red berries of the holly represent the blood of the Goddess and the white berries of mistletoe represent the semen of the God to ensure a healthy Spring and harvest to come.

Fill your Yule altar with fruit, nuts and winter seasonal fare such as fallen leaves, fallen tree branches, acorns, evergreens and also anything bright and shining. Light yellow, green, red, white or orange candles to ensure a good year and honour the season. make an offering of wine, grapes, juniper berries, apples, nutmeg, cinnamon or cloves to the Gods to honour them and make a wish for a happy New Year.

The Winter Solstice has been celebrated by many ancient cultures one of the most famous being Saturnalia. The ancient Romans held a festival to celebrate the rebirth of the year. Saturnalia ran for seven days from the 17th - 23rd of December. It was a time when the ordinary rules were turned upside down. Men dressed as women and masters dressed as servants, the servants were given lavish gifts and their masters made them a big feast. The festival also involved decorating houses with greenery, lighting candles, holding processions and giving presents. A Saturnalia Tree would be the centre piece of every home.

Yule is a celebration of light and of the Sun and it's life giving properties upon the earth. It is a time to rejoice and to be thankful for all we have and to gather strength for the New Year. It is a time to contemplate on the year that has gone and look to the future.

The Winter Solstice falls on the longest night of the year (this can fall from between (20th - 23rd December) and was celebrated in Britain over 10,000 years before the arrival of Christianity. The Druids (Celtic priests) would cut the mistletoe that grew on the oak tree and give it as a blessing. Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months. The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.

It was also the Druids who began the tradition of the yule log. The Celts thought that the sun stood still for twelve days in the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit to conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year. To make a Yule log, cut a log into 12 pieces (each piece represents the 12 months of the year to come) and burn a piece every day for 12 days, with each piece burned make a wish for the coming new year. This is where we get the term 12 days of Christmas.

Many of the Yule customs are still followed today by Pagan and non-Pagans. They have been incorporated into the Christian and secular celebrations of Christmas.

Today we welcome back the Lord of Light. Blessed Yule to all.