Brightener of Darkness, hail!
Keeper of Clearness, Opener of the Depths.
Gifts of plenty are arising,
Winter wonders, white snows’ fall.
Joyful be the heart within us,
Open wide the guesting door,
Wisdom waken in abundance,
Warm our beings to the core.
Caitlín Matthews, Celtic Devotional: Daily Prayers and Blessings
Rejoice, my dear ones! Merry Yule! Happy Solstice!
Let us gather as our ancestors of old did, to celebrate one of the happiest days in the Pagan calendar!
This is the time of the Promise fulfilled, the blessings of new beginnings. As our intention has vowed, lighting our Advent Sun Wheel candles, we have invoked the irrepressible dawning of healing, grace, and rebirth.
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The precise moment of Solstice arrives tonight – December 21, 2018 at 5:23 pm, Eastern Standard Time.
And best wishes to all our friends who live below the Equator! You are celebrating your Summer Solstice this merry day! Happy Litha to you!
At this moment, the Sun moves into the sign of Capricorn. Winter arrives for us as the Sun reaches the 270° point on the zodiac wheel. Thus begins the return towards the 0° point, which will be reached at Spring Equinox.
Winter Solstice, which is also known as Yule, Yule Night or Julblot, Winter Rite, Midwinter, and the Druids’ Alban Arthan, marks the longest night of the year. After a pause — the “standing still,” the days will begin to grow longer and the hours of darkness decrease.
Ancient Day of Power Around the World
This is possibly the most universal and oldest known holy day of all humanity. There are written records 4,000 years old describing Mesopotamian rites performed to celebrate the end of the darkening. And there are even older ancient structures around the world that were designed to mark the Sun’s placement on this day.
For instance, Sí an Bhrú, known in English as Newgrange, is a beautiful Neolithic site in Ireland. It is a huge circular stone structure, estimated to be 5,200 years old. It is centuries older than Stonehenge, and older than the Egyptian pyramids.
It was built to receive a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on Winter Solstice. Around 235,000 people visit Newgrange and its neighboring passage graves at Knowth and Dowth each year.
Hundreds of other prehistoric structures throughout the world are oriented to the solstices and the equinoxes. The field of archaeoastronomy studies such sacred sites in the Americas, Asia, Indonesia, and the Middle East.
Recent research into the medieval Great Zimbabwe in sub-Saharan Africa (also known as the “African Stonehenge”) indicates a similar purpose. In North America, one of the most famous such sites is the Sun Dagger of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, built a thousand years ago by the ancient people known by the Hopi tribes as the Hisatsinom, whose descendants are today’s Pueblo people.
In much of Asia, this observance is known as Dongzh. According to the late astrologer Jon Cainer, in Japan, this is Toji. “Around the world,” he writes, “in very different ways, billions of us mark the moment of the Solstice, the turning point of the Sun.
“Associated deities and festivals include Beiwe (Scandinavia), Chaomos (Pakistan), Goru (Mali), Junkanoo (West Africa), Brumalia (Greece), Lucia (Scandinavia), Meán Geimhridh (Celtic countries), Modranicht (Germany), Rozhanitsa (Russia), Shab-e Chelleh (Iran), Şeva Zistanê (Kurdish), Soyal (Hopi Indians), We Tripantu (Southern Chile) and Ziemassvetki (Latvia).”
Some even speculate that Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, was also originally a Solstice festival. Yule and Saturnalia definitely were. And Christmas still is!
The Winter Solstice Sabbat is joyfully celebrated by Pagans and Witches throughout the world, as well as countless rural and indigenous people who depend on the rhythms of the seasons.
On this longest night of the year, on the threshold of Winter, we celebrate the rebirth of the divine Sun Child, the Oak King, the Giver of Life.
Plus A Full Moon
In blazing, rare brilliance for this most fraught, intense year, this Solstice coincides with the Full Moon in the very sign that rules the Moon — Cancer.
My good friend, astrologer Lynn Hayes illuminates this pivotal moment:
This year, a Full Moon at zero degrees Cancer marks the entry of the Sun into Capricorn. The Full Moon is the height of the lunar cycle – the lunar energy of instinct and emotional truth is maximized, and the power fueled by the realm of feelings is at its height.
At the same time, the cycle of darkness and light is at its nadir. The combination of these two effects opens a portal of energy which we can use to effect powerful change in our own life. And I believe, in the world around us.
When the Moon is full in Cancer, it opposes the Capricorn Sun, also at zero degrees. The Cancer/Capricorn polarity asks that we balance the realm of emotion and the inner life of the soul (Cancer) with the world of the trappings of the material world: success, structure, rules and order.
But at the Full Moon the lunar influence is at its most powerful, drawing us more deeply into the inner world of feelings.
Big changes can be expected thanks to this augmentation of what is already one of the most important turning points of the year.
The Final Candle of Our Solstice Sun Wheel
Tonight at dusk, or, if you prefer, at the moment of Solstice, we will complete our advent Sun Wheel magical working, unless you are observing Christmas. If so, you’ll light (or re-light) your final candles on Sunday the 23rd and then on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Gather with all who are near and dear to you, including all of us — the thousands of other participants in this ceremony around the world. If you like, you may also invite your beloved dead, as this pause of the Sun is a holy time of power — the veils between the worlds part.
This is the emptiness, the standing still of the Sun, the space between breaths, where Magic happens. Enter this dark Mystery with your shining candle, your own brilliant spirit.
Call once more to the Guardians and Elements of East/Air, South/Fire, West/Water, and North/Earth. Or if you have assigned other meanings for the four peripheral candles, of course, invoke those energies.
Finally, the time has come to light the center candle, which would be for Spirit, the Aethers, the Cauldron, or Mystery. Or you may wish it to simply represent Rebirth or Hope.
Kindle the flame of Center and call upon all your Divine Ones, the most holy Ones to whom you are devoted.
No matter what the coming Winter season and the longer future may hold in store, with our light, our prayers, and our intention, we have joined together in love.
Even our friends in the Southern Hemisphere have helped weave this powerful global prayer and magic. Together let us all bid welcome to the Child of Light.
Tonight, speak of your heart’s greatest wish. Remember that this is the most magical moment when wishes do come true. As you have spoken it, so it shall be done.
Our candles now burn brightly and illuminate the promise of the days ahead. Let the shadows and mourning now begin to disperse, in alignment with the most ancient rhythms of the Earth’s wisdom.
The Circle is complete and the Center is ablaze. The Divine Birth is here! All of existence celebrates this miracle.
Ring the bells of joy and blessings!
The darkening turns, and will be gone.
On this night, we fulfill our promise.
Throw open now the Gates of Dawn.
Ring your Solstice bells!
Write down on paper all you wish to say farewell forever to and toss it, along with your old Yule greenery from last year, into your blazing hearth.
Go outside and shout, drum, light your bonfires, give offerings and thanks to the Beloved Ones!
Make merry and rejoice! We have united together across the worlds, across time, each with one another, and with Love Herself.
Thank you to one and all who have shared your magic, good energy, and loving prayers in our rites this year.
May the Lord and the Lady bring you renewal, mirth, and gladness!
Blessed be!
Beth, beloved child of the Universe! Thank you for sharing your warm heart and these ancient stories with us. Once again, I love your wonderful header image! I could watch its light and dark, shimmer and sway all day. A full moon Solstice, what incredible timing for the world! I feel great excitement building in my soul and spirit as I write! During last year’s Solstice I wrote another poem, “The Healing Light of Ancestral Love” which you may also enjoy tonight. Love and light, blessed Winter/Summer Solstice to everyone! Deborah.
Thank you and blessed Yule to you, Deborah! What a gift you are to the world! ❤️
on solstice day, we used only natural lighting (except for kitchen task light…safety is sensible), and as the sun began to descend, all the candles were lit ending with the solstice wreath. it felt very cosy to think that others were lighting their candles, too, at this time, and wishing peace and joy to the world.
thanks for these posts—they are a pleasant, restful moment in these busy weeks. wishing you and yours a very happy yuletide.