I’m in Germany as I write this, visiting friends.
Yesterday we drove from Frankfurt to Hamburg. I thought I saw squirrels’ nests in the trees but it turns out it was mistletoe, great big bunches of mistletoe.
Holly, ivy, and mistletoe are the plants associated with Yule. What a wonderful reminder for me to focus on nature and its cycles instead of on buying gifts.
Yule is one of the points on the wheel of the year that mark the seasons and the midpoints between them.
At the end of October I wrote about Samhain. The next sabbat, or festival, is Yule and it starts on December 21st.
Yule marks the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a time of reflection and thought. A time to look back on what happened in the last twelve months. It is a time to remember that even when things look dark for us, we can persevere.
It can be difficult to find time for quiet introspection when we’re decorating, shopping, baking, and beating ourselves up for not being holiday-perfect.
It is also a time of joy as we celebrate the starting point for light to enter the world again. A time of death of the old and birth of the new. A reminder that all our lives are made up of cycles and seasons.
How can we celebrate Yule in a Christmas world?
Does that last sentence make you feel like I just added something else to your endless holiday to-do list?
What we need to do is harness the Santa-energy.
Santa doesn’t make the toys. He doesn’t decorate or bake. He creates lists and delegates. He uses magic to expand time so that he can get everything done at midnight, his eyes twinkling all the while.
If you truly enjoy wrapping gifts, wrap. If you’re like me and you hate it, hand off that job.
Instead, get out into nature.
Walk and reflect.
What have you accomplished in the last year?
And don’t append “but” or “except” to your achievements.
My list looks like this:
–I kept up with physical therapy, got stronger, and can walk again.
(not “…but still have a long way to go.”)
–I learned how to use Mailchimp, Facebook Live, Teachable, Canva, Zoom.
–I wrote my tenth novel.
–I survived a bathroom remodel.
–I helped many people around the world by clearing their energy.
Go ahead. Make your list of achievements, gains, and positive lessons learned.
Where did you shine in the last twelve months? Let me know. I’d love to share your wins with you.