![]() Newborn babies used to be sprinkled with 'holly water', water in which holly had been soaked, especially potent if left under a full moon overnight. Which is where kissing under the mistletoe comes from!Īnother evergreen of protection, holly's spiky bristles are believed to repel unwanted spirits. The white berries of mistletoe represent the fertile white semen of the life-giving male. It's magical properties are believed to be connected to the fact that it lives between the worlds, between sky/heaven and earth. It is carefully cut to ensure it never touches the earth. Greatly revered by the Druids, this is the healer and protector. ![]() It is difficult sometimes to identify their sources, but they are all very familiar in our Western culture even if we don't recognise the symbology behind them.Įvergreens represent everlasting life and were traditionally hung around doorways and windows. Yule, or Winter Solstice traditions are many and generous, and are shared not only with Christianity with the birthday of the Christ Child, but with many pre-Christian Pagan traditions and indeed more recent ones. ![]() In truth, they are one.(Merayllah Allwood) Both rule for half of the year, both fight for the favour and love of the Goddess and both surrender their life force for the well-being of the land. At Yule he surrenders his life to the young light Oak King, God of the Waxing Year and his twin, who rules over the light part of the year from Yule to Midsummer. The Holly King rules over the dark part of the year from Midsummer to Yule, he is God of the Waning Year. This is the Sun's birthday! And it really is time to celebrate! The Sun begins to wax and the days grow longer. The Goddess gives birth to the Sun/Sun God. With the end of the longest night the dark is defeated with the Return of the Sun, the return of light, hope and promise. T he Festival of Rebirth and The Return of the Sun This is indeed something worth celebrating, and it has been celebrated throughout the Northern Hemisphere in remarkably similar ways." (quote from The Pagan Family by Ceisiwr Serith) In the world, in our lives, the light comes back. The Sun does start north again and the light comes back. The world has moments too it understands us, and lives as we do. But in the darkness of Winter, can we be sure? do our hearts believe what our heads tell us? Will the light keep its promises? We all have moments of darkness, when we don't know how much deeper we will go before the light starts to return (or even if it will). In our heads we know the light will return. The Sun stands still, and everyone waits for the turning. This is the crucial time, the cusp between events. The Sun stops its decline and for a few days it rises in about the same place. "Now we start to wonder: will this continue? Will the Earth grow darker and colder as the Sun disappears into the south until only darkness is left? But at Yule a wonderful thing happens. At the Winter Solstice we reach the depth of that darkness with the longest night of the year. At Samhain we honour, celebrate and welcome the descent into, and return of, the dark - the beginning of the New Year, acknowledging that all beginnings emerge from darkness.
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