Yule Ritual (2012)

I have to be honest here and say that I procrastinated on writing this ritual until two days before Yule. With the holidays coming in and between making plans and present shopping, I sort of put writing the Yule ritual for my group on the back burner. This isn’t to say I didn’t have time, but it’s more to say that I knew the activities we wanted to do, but not what the ritual was or how it was going to go.

So, during my procrastination, I came up with the idea to go caroling on Yule eve. I searched for lyrics to carols and then decided to look for pagan carols. I found a perfect site that had the tunes of commonly known carols, but had put different lyrics to them. I printed off my favorites and made sure I had enough for everyone who could possibly come that night. (The link to the site is here, if you’re interested: http://www.ladybridget.com/mp/wiccar.html)

In my procrastination also, I found a festive hat and invited everyone to find festive clothing who would be going as well. I even took the time to find a matching scarf. But when that was done, all I had left to do was go collect pinecones for the ritual. I knew two things about this ritual I was to write. One, we were going to do it at sunrise, and two, we wanted to decorate the tree in front of the host’s house. So, I collected my pinecones and then found some ribbons in my room that I also wanted to decorate the tree with.

Finally, I knew I could no longer ignore the ritual that needed to be written. I awoke at sunrise to do a meditation and asked the God and Goddess to help me come up with some sort of idea for the ritual. Soon after finishing my meditation, I sat at my computer and wrote out the ritual. The idea struck me that this was a time of giving, and so I decided to make that the central idea of our ritual. The words came easily and I finished it within a few minutes. After looking at how simple it was, I wondered if I should put more into it, but then I remembered that part of the ritual was to decorate the tree, and that was going to take up a lot of time. With the weather being so cold, I decided that simple was better.

After writing the ritual, I became very excited and could not sit still for more than a few minutes. I told our group about it and practiced the carols and tried to come up with more ideas for decorations. I couldn’t wait for the big day, and my expectations were not disappointed. Caroling was the best idea ever, and I’d never done it before. I want to do it every year though, that’s how much fun it was. The tree also turned out beautifully, and one of our members got some great pictures.

So, today, I’m writing a special Yule post, instead of putting it off till next week. I hope all of your days are getting brighter with the season.

Blessed Be

Yule Ritual:

1) Cast circle

2) Call Quarters

3) Say:

Good morning God, so new and bright,

And Good Morning Goddess who watched us through the night.

We call and hail you on this Yule morn,

When unto us a new light is born.

Spirit unite us all in this hour,

As with these gifts we shower.

4) Hold gifts in hands or hold hands over gifts for the tree. Say:

We bless these gifts for this tree,

With peace, good tidings, and harmony.

As we give each gift anew,

May we and others take up our cue.

Let this be a season of giving great and small,

With joy and love for one and all.

5) Bestow gifts on the tree and decorate it, offering extra personal blessings if you feel the need.

6) Join hands (around the tree if you have enough people) and say:

God and Goddess keep us all these winter days,

Let joy and love be forever ablaze.

So mote it be.

7) Close quarters

8) Release circle   

Ideas for gifts for the tree: Ribbons, peanut butter pine cones with seeds, bells, orange slices, apple slices, and popcorn (plain) garland with cranberries  

Balance

I have to say that it feels great to be home and done with finals. I don’t think I could have gotten through it alone though. As finals week was rolling around, I tried not to stress too much. I tried to keep level, but once stop day hit and I began to study for my biggest finals, I realized that asking for extra help would be a good idea.

So, I decided to do two rituals on the Sunday before my finals started. Why two? In working with the sun, I noticed a dramatic change in my mood. While working with the sun, I was very happy and energized, but with the days being so short this time of year, I began to notice that when the sun went down, I became aggressive and moody, as well as exhausted. I wasn’t sure exactly why it was happening, but after talking to my girlfriend about it, she suggested that I start to work on balancing solar and lunar energies.

So, I decided to give that a try with this spell. I looked up the moon’s phase and saw that on that Sunday, it was going to be a Balsamic waning moon. On the website I looked at, I noticed that the key words for this phase were transition, release, transformation, renewal, and purity. Since the moon was also waning, I decided to try and connect with the crone aspect of the goddess. I don’t do that a lot, but I felt like I needed guidance and wisdom. I wanted this half of the spell to help me relax during my finals week, and help me to realize my reasonable limits.

For the solar part of this spell, I decided to do it at noon, since I wanted this part to strengthen my mental abilities while studying, and give me the energy to get through my toughest finals and not give up.

So, for the ritual, I cast my circle, called my quarters, and drew down the sun energy. I then recited this incantation:

Father Sun, oh so bright,

Aid me please in this fight.

Lead me through this five day charge,

Let no obstacle be too large.

With my pencil as my sword,

My eraser as my shield,

Help me conquer this paper battlefield.

Give me the strength to ace every exam,

And end my finals week with a grand slam!

I then wrote on a piece of paper each class that I had a final in. I put the letter grade “A” next to each one for the final grade, and decorated the paper with suns, swords, cool lightning bolts, and a shield. I wrote out sound effects that one might see in a comic book. I folded this paper up and kept it with me while I studied and brought it to my exams to boost my confidence.

For the lunar part of my ritual, I cast my circle, called my quarters, and drew down the moon. I focused on the crone and connected with her before reciting this incantation:

Wise crone, with your waning light,

Give me peace this night.

Relieve stress for me this week,

And let my wisdom peak.

Keep me of sound mind and contented heart,

With my health needs, let me be smart.

Help me to feel refreshed and renewed,

With feelings of serenity forever imbued.

I also decorated a piece of paper for this spell. I started by writing out positive affirmations for peace on the paper. I had a lot more than I expected, it turned out. I then decorated it with stars, moons, and flowing water. For this piece of paper, I just kept it around me, and when I felt really stressed out and like I could not go on, I read the affirmations to myself and grounded. This worked really well for me a couple of times when I thought I could not handle the stress.

And so, now I have my break, and my finals went really well. I’ve gone into recovery, but it’s been pleasant so far. I feel more balanced, and think most of the aggressive moodiness is gone. Working with solar energy so far has taught me one thing: when working with any new energy, if you aren’t used to it, try to balance it out with something more familiar. Any new energy can have a number of positive and possible negative effects. The goal is to harness the energy and learn what it feels like, to recognize how it moves within you and to learn how to work with it. I had to go through this process when working with lunar energy and healing. Working with the sun is no different. I think I’m getting better at working with it everyday though, and it makes me happy to experience this learning process.

Happy almost winter everyone!

Blessed Be

Sun Bracelet

Goodness, the time seems to fly too quickly as I am approaching the end of the school year. So many projects to get done and finals to study for, and I almost thought I would not have time for magick today.

Of course, my time worked out differently, and I did have time which was a huge blessing. As some of you may know from my previous blog posts, I’ve been dabbling Sun magicks. Last week I had the idea to make a sun bracelet I could wear to help me in my studies of the sun and also to carry a little bit of sunshine around with me. This idea sprang forth when I was visiting friends over turkey break. One of my friends likes to craft items using beads, and he had an assortment of stones that he said we were welcome to use to make jewelry if we so desired. Trusting my friend’s studies on stones, I asked him what stones were most likely absorb and hold sun energy. He directed me to a few different bead sets, but it was the yellow tigers eye that caught my attention the most.

So, using wooden spacers, I made a simple hemp bracelet with yellow tigers eye. I wore it for this entire week, unsure of what way I wanted to bless it. I knew I wanted to charge it with the sun, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to do that. The sun moves through many phases of the day, and I wasn’t sure which phase I wanted to catch in my bracelet. I started looking up sun times on the internet: sunrise, sunset, solar noon, twilight, dawn. I knew I wanted to empower the bracelet on Sunday, and when considering my schedule today, I figured that solar noon would be the best time. I wanted the sun high in the sky and at its peak.

So, I looked up the time of Solar noon and packed my stuff up to go to my favorite magick spot outside. The day was bright and warm, a lot warmer than I expected for December. I cast my circle and then waited for Solar noon to strike. When the time came, I held the bracelet in my hands, letting no shadow fall on it, and said the following:

Sun and God so mighty and strong,

Empower these stones with your strength all the days long.

Let them become a reminder for me

Of your loving power and harmony.

Imbue them with sunshine and make them my own,

So that I for others can let my light be shown.

I do this work with harm to none,

Including me,

By Spirit’s will,

So mote it be.

The beads in my hands grew hot and warm and I closed my circle with a new energy. I felt cleansed and happy, and not sleepy, which is different for me. I know people aren’t supposed to be tired after ritual, but sometimes that happens to me. With the sun magicks I’ve been doing, it hasn’t happened so far. It’s really exciting, and I am really excited to see where this investigation will take me. I hope you all are having a good day and are looking forward to the holidays. I hope you all can find something new to explore and learn this season.

Blessed Be