 Hello people, it's me Ginny Metherall, your local neighborhood witch. Our descent, fourth generation in my family. And here today with my video all about yule. Well actually that's a lie, it's not all about yule, it's about the yule log. The reason why I'm not doing a video solely on yule is because there's so much of it that we do anyway. The feasting, the getting together, the presence, the eating, the drinking, the overindulgence, the having a lovely time with your friends and family. This is all a yule tradition, which is Christmas. And I am not Scottish and I'm not a Wiccan, so therefore I don't really refer to it as a yule. I refer to it more as Christmas Tide. The Christians to attend festivals straight off the pagans in the old times. And I'm feeling a bit bad about calling it Christmas Tide because I'm sort of nicking it from the Christians. But as they nicked it from us, I don't think that's much of a problem. So the word yule comes from the old Norse and old English. And it just means sort of December, really. It's a period of time. It was really the Wiccan religion that made yule associated with the winter equinox on the 21st of December of this year. The winter equinox is a changeable feast due to our really rubbish Gregorian calendar which doesn't actually keep up with how the earth rotates and moves around the sun. We have to have leap years and add several seconds on. And therefore our winter solstice is a moveable feast. But in the old days, we would have said, oh yes, it's on this date. And that is the date it would have been on. Solstice is always a time for change. And my last video gave you the winds of change spell. So I'm not going to go too much into the change that you can affect on a winter solstice day. But I do want to talk about the yule log. It's an ancient tradition from the pagan. And we are going to use it as a spell to bind your family and friends together. But this spell is best done with your family and your friends. But you can do it, of course, by yourself if you're a soul practising witch. So the first thing that you need is your yule log. So I set out on a very cold and rainy, windy day to find my log. It is mine. Isn't it beautiful? Now, the yule log was always taken from an ash tree. So obviously I climbed to the top of the hill to my favorite ash tree, which stands like a sentinel overlooking the landscape of Devon and my home and village. And it should be given to you traditionally as a gift. However, you can ask the tree to give it to you as a gift. The log that I chose had fallen from the tree last summer. And so although I didn't have to ask the tree to forgive me the log, I did ask for the tree's blessing. The ash tree, of course, is highly pagan. Yggdrasil, the tree of Norse mythology, which bound earth, heaven, and hell together, was an ash tree. The yule log would be bought into your household and burned in your half for 12 days. The ashes were then taken and scattered over your land and your stock and your cattle and your family to ensure prosperity for the year. There is all sorts of associated traditions with what you did with the ashes. Some people just buried it. Some people marked their faces with it. It depends on your neck of the woods, so to speak. So I leave it up to you. What you'd like to do with the ashes of your yule log if you're going to burn it. It is the reason why we put lights on a yule log today, symbolizing bringing light into the heart of darkness. And that is a hugely important part of this festival. Now the second thing we're going to need is some holly. Holly is of course one of the first plants that you associated with this time of year. Holly is considered to have a male aspect. It's because it's got these prickly leaves and therefore it's very protective. It was used to protect cattle with its hedging in the old days so your stock was hedged with a holly bush. So it's a protective bush. The red berries are beloved and needed by the birds so it feeds and nurtures and nourishes as well. It is very much a plant of the season. This is the yule plant, is it not? Holly has a great pagan tradition. Holly water, which is where you put a piece of holly in some water, in some spring water and leave it on your windowsill to be blessed by the moon. This water was sprinkled over newborn babies to give them safety and happiness. Holly was used to keep out unwanted animals and not just animals, but the unwanted spirits that might cause you harm because they don't like the prickliness of the bush and the male energy that it forces out is an anathema to them. So it kept out unwanted, harmful spirits. But the nurturing side of holly, which is the beautiful red berries, these are very welcoming too, those nature spirits who want to get shelter from the cold and the dark of this time of year and the druids would hang it from their doorways in order to welcome those spirits in because they were helpful to us humans and not harmful. Holly was also one of the sacred druid trees. I mean, there was quite a few sacred druid trees. I think it was about eight or seven or eight of them. I'm not being a druid, I don't know, but I understand that there is a lot. And holly is one of them. So holly is one of the things we're going to use in this spell for our yule lot. Next up we need some ivy. Now ivy is a beautiful plant of the time. Ivy is native to Europe and some parts of Asia and parts of Africa. It is a really essential part of our eco-culture at this time of year, supporting as it does so many different insects, native species, moths and other nesting birds. It is in full flower and these are the flowers of ivy at the moment. They are beloved by the bees and the bugs and the birds because it gives that extra pollen which there's none around and so the insects really need ivy at this time of year. Ivy is also considered a female plant and so we're balancing out the maleness of the holly by using the femaleness of the ivy. Ivy is very pagan in its origin. In fact, ivy was very much used as part of the marriage ceremony. The bride and groom would be crowned with halos of ivy which represented the fidelity of their marriage because ivy grows by binding and weaving its way up through the trees. And in fact, the Christian faith refused to allow its early churches to have ivy bought within the confines of the church because they considered it far, far too pagan. So ivy brings love and abundance into your spells and this is the aspect that we're going to use in our spell from ivy. Ivy also welcomes in the good nature spirits and gives them safe harbor from the cold and the dark. It is the male and the female, the holly and the ivy and these two are our main parts of the spell for our Yule log. To start the spell, gather your friends and family around and all your pieces of greenery. I have got added ferns and bay leaves here and get them all to pile it on the plate so that you can add your Yule log on top. This is the first part of this spell in action. However, if it is just you on your own, that is fine because you're calling for those that you love to work with you in the future. Finally, place your log on top of the greenery and you have the basis of your spell. Decorate your Yule log with lights showing that there is light in the darkness and any other personalized items. Add other decorations to your Yule log that are meaningful to you. As you see, I've got a couple of birds and I'm going to add some more lights and in the leafing greenery, I've got some crystals and I'm going to add a couple of baubles as well because I like them. As you're happy with your design, you can then display it in the centerpiece of your home. The final part of this spell is to pour a small libation and for this, I have got some rum and as you can see, a couple of drops of rum on the top of the log will set my spell. You can use whatever is your favorite drink and this is my spell for happiness and harmony at Yule. I do hope you enjoyed this video. Please do give me a thumbs up and a subscribe if you liked it. I'm going to take a couple of weeks off so I will be seeing you in the new year of 2021 for my next video.