 Hello people, I'm Ginny Metheral and I am a fourth generation witch. Today's video is all about the witches Christmas, which is that, of Yule. And so I want to show you how to celebrate the rituals, the traditions and the legends associated with a witch's Yule. So first of all I want to give you a tiny bit of history about Yule, not much just a little bit so that we understand why we celebrate this as a witch's Sabbath. Yule is part of the pagan wheel of the year and it is thought that Yule came from the word Yule, meaning wheel, and this is where we get the idea of Yule and wheel of the year from. However, we don't know, it's most likely a Germanic or Scandinavian tradition Yule. We have our own traditions but they're encompassed nowadays in the broad umbrella term that is Yule. Yule happens this year on the 21st of December and it is a particular event and the event happens when the sun is directly above the tropic of Capricorn, meaning that we are tilted furthest away from the sun and therefore have the shortest days and longest nights. Being tilted furthest away from the sun, we're happily tilted at the same time, closest to the moon and this is when the moon is at its brightest. Not actually on the 21st this year because we're approaching a new moon on the 23rd so it is a fine crescent at this time. Yule is of course in the depths of winter, it is when the world is at its darkest. It's considered almost the birth of the world because births start in the dark and come out to the light. So this, the darkest point, is like the conception or inception of the new year and it was an incredibly venerated time. We can see this in Stonehenge, that incredible astronomical and calendar clock of the Stone Age. This was created 4,000 years ago by our ancestors and depicts exactly the time when the sun sets on the winter solstice. It is the main aspect of this calendar clock that is Stonehenge because the processional avenue leads up to the point where the sun sets between the two uprights of the largest triathlon, the three stone point. Much more so than the summer solstice which is what we all associate it with because they charge you £100 to go and have a look at the summer solstice and there's lots of druids there and we all assume that it's the time. It's just a bit more pleasant going for the summer solstice. The winter solstice really was the time for Stonehenge and it was built seemingly for that. We think, we don't know these things because of course there was no writing so we haven't had anything passed down. However being the oldest part of the year that we're coming up to at the moment, this is the time that our ancestors venerated the wise old women such as myself. You can all venerate me I think. I think I'd love some veneration. Go on, venerate away. I'm not quite sure how you'd do that but you know, have a go. Eulians and Wiccans today tend to have the myth of Eul being where the Oak King fights the Holy King and defeats him and therefore becomes the premier king of the season. So this was a time of hope. Eul was a big deal. A lot of our ancient Celtic and pagan ancestors did associate Eul with their goddess Bridget or Breed. Now when the Christian faith came over to the UK and spread its religion amongst our local populace they took over the goddess Breed and claimed that their she was the midwife to the Virgin Mary. I think it's rather clever. So therefore they incorporated the pagan belief into their own mythology. I love Eul. It's a really beautiful time of year. I mean from my part it's all about cleaning out the hearth and the home. You want a nice clean hearth in order that the birth of your new year can be born from the darkness into a beautiful clean light. So clean out your fireplace is my recommendation. One of the reasons why we would decorate our houses with mistletoe at this time of year is because this was the sacred herb and it's well known that this is the time that the Druids were wearing their sacred white robes taking their golden sickle which resembles the new moon but go and cut mistletoe from the branches of the oak tree where they probably planted it in the first place. But you know and this is the most sacred mistletoe to be used in their rituals. Mistletoe of course those beautiful white baubles that it has as its berries is associated with the moon and so is mid winter. This is a moon festival and what should you do on a moon festival? You always make moon water. Now I obviously have made moon water on the 8th of December which is the latest full moon for this month in order to sprinkle it around my house on yule because this will give protection and blessings from the winter moon for the months to come. Our ancestors considered that the sun stood still for 12 days from the start of the solstice and this is where the word solstice come from. Sol is Latin for some. Cisterae is to stand still. It was considered that the sun stood day for 12 days which is a bit like the 12 days of Christmas. It was Pope Julius the first who bought the birthday of Christ Christmas into the calendar on the 25th of December. This is so close to the solstice as to almost you know, surpass it, take it over, incorporate the pagan ways into the Christian mythology. They also have a 12 days of Christmas which is a blatant taking over of the pagan Celtic thought process that the sun did stand still for 12 days and this was when you made Mary. Christians did it, pagans did it, the Celts did it, the Germanic tribes did it, the Scandinavians did it. 12 days of Christmas is a big deal and it starts on the solstice. Now of course part of Mary making is the giving of presents. It is something that has been going on for centuries and centuries if not millennia. The other great thing about yule of course is this is the start of the wassailing season. They did wassail on the continent but not as much as us Brits. We love a bit of wassailing, maybe it's because we have very good cider. Wassailing as I'm sure you all know is when you go out and you beat life into the trees. You venerate the mother tree of the orchard by pouring cider or port or wine or whatever it is, your particular tipple onto that tree to promote a good crop in the coming year and it awakens the spirit of the tree. So yule, the winter solstice, marks the start of the wassailing season. Though if you feel like joining in a wassailing group do because it's quite fun. I've done wassailing in the past and it's quite a laugh. I can't really remember the last half of the evening. I think we might have imbibed a bit too much cider but it was very good. The winter solstice was also a time to bring in the evergreens. Evergreens symbolised life when all about us is dead and decaying. Evergreen reeds are pretty standard throughout all cultures and so an evergreen wreath on your door is again wonderfully pagan and I thoroughly recommend. And finally we have the yule log and this was a log preferably ash from the ash tree which was a symbol of life brought in to the home and one end was pushed into the fireplace and lit and then as it got burnt which hopefully lasted for 12 days the rest of it was pushed into. This log would have been decorated with greenery and had libations of wine or cider or beer poured over it. It was a big sort of celebratory focal point for the household and quite a good idea so it's quite easy to reproduce. You just need a really large fireplace and quite a big house with a very big chimney so that you can get a massive tree trunk and shove it in. Alternatively you could just light a candle every single day for 12 days starting on the solstice. I love yule, it's such a happy time and it's very cosy as well isn't it? And when I get together with my family and we've got quite a small sitting room for the five large creatures that inhabit it. A friend of mine did turn up in the other and said how earth do you all fit in there? And I was like oh well we snuggle like a bunch of puppies piled on top of each other love it makes me happy and warm. Yule traditions are essentially whatever you want them to be. It was just a marking of this very very important point in the year and the veneration of it. Let me know in the comments what you do for yule because I'd be really interested. I personally I'm going to be having a party with about 30 of us slightly worried that we've got no room oh well. Please don't forget to like and subscribe and do look at my Patreon account for the Cove meeting that will be coming up on January now. And I see you in a few days.