Now, I'm pretty excited about this, because I've never really decorated my altar for the seasons before: I tend to settle on a basic structure I like, stick to it, and just add or subtract a few small objects. I've never done an overhaul on this sort of scale before, so I'd love to hear what people think!

Without further ado, here are the pictures:

Some notes on the things on the altar - the central part (the 2nd picture) has on it:

• A new spiral wire candle holder (don't even get me started on the symbolism of this piece!) from the Salvos - underneath it is a coaster depicting an anthropomorphised sun
• A stoneware offering vessel (the black bowl), containing sandalwood, frankincense and myrrh
• A small corked glass jar (a gift from a friend years ago) containing tiny garnets that I picked out of some dirt from Broken Hill
• 2 Tibetan Buddha statues - gifts from a friend
• A hand-turned wooden goblet (also a gift, from a different friend) containing the first gemstones I ever owned, at the ripe old age of 7!)
• An incense holder featuring (what I think looks like) the face of the Sun God
• A pinecone I've had for years (although the altar is largely solar in focus, this is my nod to the Northern/Scandinavian Yule traditions)
• And some various candles

I hope you like my altar, please comment if you have any questions about anything on it, or if you just want to tell me what you think!

These sabbats help you tune in to the cycles of nature as they exist within you as well as without. The idea of the eight-fold Wheel of the Year was created by Ross Nicholls and Gerald Gardner in the 1950's.

The festivals themselves, however, are very old, and mark important times in the agricultural cycle of the year. All of the eight sabbats were celebrated in the ancient world, but not all necessarily by the same people or in the same place.
It should be remembered that the energies at different times of the year are different depending on where you are. If you are living in the southern hemisphere, the seasons and therefore the festivals are reversed.

It is important to try to learn what you can about the myths, legends, beliefs and festivals of the land you live in, to enable you to tune in to the natural energies as perceived by the inhabitants of the land through time.

SAMHAIN - 31st OCTOBER
Samhain, or Halloween, is the death festival, marking the descent of Winter. The leaves are falling from the trees in drifts, and life is drawn away from the surface of the earth, and descends deep into the earth. Life is now in the roots and bulbs of plants which rest over the Winter. The Horned God who was Lord of Life and the Wild Greenwood has now truly taken His throne as Lord of the Underworld, the dread Lord of Shadows, the comforter of souls.

The earth prepares for sleep and draws energy inwards. This is a time for introspection, as we too draw our energy within and prepare for the Winter. The Earth is becoming cold, and barren, and we see Her as the Cailleach, the Crone, the Wise One. She is the Dark Mother who devours the God that She may give birth to Him again. Her womb is also the tomb, and the Underworld, and the Horned God thus resides within Her womb over the Winter months.

Samhain is a time of transformation and inner work. It is also a sombre time of remembrance, when we remember and honour those who have died. The veil is thinnest between the worlds and we call on the spirits of the dead and invite them to feast with us on this, the feast of death. We call upon our ancestors and contact the ancient wisdom. It is a time of endings, but also a time of beginnings, as Samhain is a Celtic New Year's Eve festival. Thus we give up the past and look to the future, and it is also a good time for skrying.

It is the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. Samhain is a good time for banishings, and for sorting out unfinished business. At Samhain we look back and take stock of the past year and contemplate what we have learned. Samhain is also the time to face our shadow, the dark side of ourselves.

We find no wild flowers blooming, yet the colours of nature are rich and warm. Magick mushrooms grow to help us explore other realms, to make the veil thinner still. Samhain is also a harvest festival, but a harvest of flesh. The livestock would be killed at this time so that there would be meat throughout the bleak Winter. The wind blows, Jack Frost makes patterns on our windows and the mists rise. It is no wonder this season is one of mystery.

THE WINTER SOLSTICE: YULE - 21st DECEMBER
Yule is the time we celebrate the return of the waxing sun. Light and life can be seen to be returning and conquering death. Yule is a turning point, a point of change, where the tides of the year turn and begin to flow in the opposite direction. It is the darkest time of the year, the time of the longest night, but there is the promise of the return of light.

We encourage the sun to rise and to grow in power, and we remember the seasons of plenty. Magickally we bring back the season of plenty, and we feast on rich foods and drinks. The fir tree represents life amidst death, it is evergreen, representing everlasting life, and lasting friendship.

Holly and Mistletoe bear berries at this time, symbolizing fertility. Mistletoe berries are white, representing the semen of the Horned God, the Holly berries are blood red, symbolizing both the menstrual blood of the Goddess and the sacrifice of the God. Evergreen trees also represent youth and freshness, and are symbols of the promise of spring. A yule custom, still practised at Christmas is to dress an evergreen tree, and make offerings.

We honour the spirit of the tree, and what it represents. It is sad that a custom of honouring the living tree has been replaced by the meaningless decoration of ghastly plastic or tinsel trees, or the cutting down of thousands of living trees so that people can have them in their living rooms for a couple of weeks, and then dump them, causing environmental damage. It is far better to honour a living tree, outdoors.

The tree may be decorated with appropriate offerings, fruit, decorated pine cones, jewellery, symbols of the sun, symbols of fertility, birds, animals, etc. At yule we say goodbye to the dying sun, and wait through the long, cold night for the sun's rebirth. The night belongs to the Goddess, and is a night of waiting, through her pregnancy, for the Child of Promise.

In the morning we greet the new sun and celebrate the waxing year. The rising sun brings the promise of the spring and the gifts that will bring. It is still a long time before the sun will be strong, but we hope and we trust. The sun is now the Child of Promise, the young hero God. It is a time of making wishes and hopes for the coming year, and of setting resolutions. From the darkness comes light.

IMBOLC or BRIDE - 1st FEBRUARY
The Festival of Imbolc or Bride, is celebrated around 2nd February by Pagans, and by Christians who call it Candlemas. Imbolc is Irish- Gaelic, translated variously as "in the belly" and "ewe's milk", and represents the quickening of Light and Life.

The first stirrings of the coming of Spring can be seen, as the first flowers (snowdrops and winter aconite) begin to appear. Seeds which have lain dormant within the Earth over the cold Winter months begin to stir with life, as yet unseen. At Imbolc we celebrate the Waking Light of the soul. Our spirits begin to quicken as we anticipate the rebirth of Nature. In Wicca it is the traditional time for initiation. Now is the time for the banishing of Winter and the welcoming of Spring. We welcome the Goddess Who is renewed, reborn as the Flower Maiden. She has passed through Her phase as the Hag, Crone or Wise One, and is a Maiden again. Bride or Brigid is a three-fold Celtic Goddess who has been christianized into St. Brigid, whose day is celebrated on 1st February.

In Ireland, St. Brigid's cross is made of rushes and straw, and goes back to pre-Christian times, representing the Sun Wheel or Fire Wheel. It may also be linked to an ancient ceremony connected with the preparation of the grain for sowing in the Spring. It was believed that the Spirit of the Grain, or the Goddess Herself, resided in the last grain harvested, and the last grain from the Harvest Festival was ritually brought into the house at Imbolc, blessed and planted as the first seed of the next harvest.
The grain may also be made into a female figure, the Brideog (little Brighde) and dressed. Bride's bed is made, and She is welcomed in. The Goddess is seen in Her three aspects at Imbolc, as the new-born Flower Maiden; the Mother, or bride of fertility, awaiting the fertilizing Sun God, and the Dark Crone of the dark half of the year. The sun is growing in strength, the Child of Promise, re-born at Yule, is now the Conquering Child.

What was born at the Solstice begins to manifest, and this is the time for individuation, as we each light our own light, and set ourselves tasks and challenges. We nurture and kindle our resolutions and begin to look outwards again, do outer activity, although first we look deep within to discover what potential lies there waiting to be fulfilled.

Through the weeks ahead the days grow gradually longer, but we are still in the dark half of the year (until Beltaine) and this is the time to develop non-physical skills, such as psychometry, clairvoyance and precognition.

EOSTRE: THE SPRING EQUINOX - 21st MARCH
This festival is named after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre or Eastre, also known in Old German as Ostara. Little is known about this Goddess, except that her festival was celebrated at the Spring Equinox, and became Easter, and that She was a Goddess of fertility. She was later connected with hares and eggs.
She may also be connected with the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora, both Dawn Goddesses, and with the Babylonian Ishtar and Phoenician Astarte, both love Goddesses.

The Anglo-Saxon lunar month, which became April, was called Eastermonath. The equinox is a time both of fertility and new life, and of balance and harmony. Light and dark are here in balance, but the light is growing stronger. It is a time of birth, and of manifestation. Daffodils, tulips and crocuses are all in full bloom, blossom appears on trees and catkins can be found on the hazel and willow. Rites are best performed at dawn or dusk, (but better at Dawn) that time between light and dark.

The days grow lighter and the earth grows warmer. As at Imbolc, seeds may be blessed and planted. Seeds of wisdom, understanding, and magickal skills may also be planted. Eggs may be used for the creation of talismans, or ritually eaten. The egg is a symbol of rebirth, and its yolk represents the sun, its white, the Goddess. Egg production in hens is stimulated when the bird's retina is stimulated by more than 12 hours of light, thus more eggs are produced after the equinox.

This is a time both of growth and of balance, and we may work on balancing ourselves and the subtle energies within us, such as our chakras, the inner masculine and feminine qualities, the light and dark aspects, etc. The equinox is also the time of Persephone's return from the underworld, to re-unite with Her mother Demeter, making the earth green again.

This is the time of spring's return, the joyful time, the seed time, when life bursts forth from the earth and the chains of winter are broken. It is a time of balance when all the elements within must be brought into new harmony. The Prince of the Sun reaches out His hand, and the Kore, the maiden, returns from the dark underworld. Where they dance, wild flowers appear, sorrow turns to joy, and scarcity turns to abundance.

BELTAINE - 1st MAY
The Spiral Dance Beltaine (also spelled Bealteinne, Bealtaine and various other ways) is the beginning of the Celtic Summer, the light season of the year. Like Samhain, it is a time when the veil is thin between the worlds, a time to communicate with spirits, particularly at this time nature spirits. In Irish Gaelic, Bealtaine is the name of the month of May.

In Scottish Gaelic Bealtuinn means May Day. The word originally meant "Bel Fire", and Beltane is associated with the Celtic God Bel, also known as Balor or Belenus. Bel is a God of Light and Fire and has been equated with the Greek Apollo, and associated with the Sun, although He is not specifically a Sun God. Fires were traditionally built at Beltane, and people would jump over the fire. Young, unmarried people would leap the bonfire and wish for a husband or wife, young women would leap it to ensure their fertility and couples leap it to strengthen a bond.

Cattle were driven through the ashes or between two Beltane fires to ensure a good milk yield. The maypole, still used in Mayday festivities, represents both the phallus and the Goddess. It is also the World Tree connecting the three Worlds, its root in the Underworld, its branches in the Heavens. The shaman`s spirit may travel between the realms via the World Tree, and the phallus is also connected with life, love and death.

The phallus and the World Tree may be seen as two aspects of the God in His relationship to the Goddess in His cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The May Queen is still elected in many village May Day festivals, although the May King is largely left out these days (apart from in Pagan circles). The May King is the Green Man, and was often covered entirely with leaves.

The mating of the Green Man with the Goddess as Queen of May was a magickal act considered necessary for the fertility of the Earth. Beltane is a time of fertility and is also an excellent time for Handfastings, the couple enacting the HeirosýÓgamos, or sacred marriage. The Hawthorn tree (also called the May tree) blossoms at this time, and we are in the Hawthorn month. The blossoms can be gathered, and a delicious wine made from them, to be drunk the following Beltane. Celebrate Beltane by taking pleasure in life and enjoying the gifts of the Goddess.

LITHA: SUMMER SOLSTICE - 21st JUNE
At the Summer Solstice the sun is at its highest and brightest and the day is at its longest. The Lord of Light has fought the powers of darkness, and is triumphant, ensuring fertility in the land. But in so doing so, He sows the seeds of His own death. The Wheel turns and the Dark God (the Holly King) begins to wax in power as the Light God (Oak King) wanes.

The Goddess shows Her Death- in-Life aspect, the Earth is fertile, and all is in bloom, the Goddess reaches out to the fertilizing Sun God at the height of His powers. At the same time She presides over the death of the God. The Goddess dances Her dance of Life and Death, the Sun God loves Her, and dies of His love. The Summer Solstice is a time of fulfilment of love.

Flowers are in bloom everywhere, i.e. in sexual maturity, ready for pollination, fertilization, yet once fertilized they die that the seeds and fruits may develop. At the same time, summer fruits appear, for a short but delicious season.

June was considered by some to be the luckiest month to be married in, and is the time of the mead moon, or honey moon. A tradition was for newly weds to drink mead daily for a month after their wedding, hence the post wedding holiday being named the honeymoon. Although the days begin to grow shorter after the Summer Solstice, the time of greatest abundance is still to come. The promises of the Goddess and God are still to be fulfilled.

This is a time of beauty, love, strength, energy, rejoicing in the warmth of the sun, and the promise of the fruitfulness to come. It seems a carefree time, yet in the knowledge of life, is the knowledge of death, and beauty is but transitory. We celebrate life, and the triumph of light, but acknowledge death, and the power of the Dark Lord which now begins to grow stronger.

At this time of year, our physical energy is generally at its peak, and we are active and strong. Games involving a show of strength, such as tug of war, wrestling, etc. are appropriate here, and are often staged at summer fayres. This can be considered a remnant of pagan customs involving the battle between the light and dark Gods.

LUGHNASADH - 1st AUGUST
Lughnasadh or Lammas is celebrated on August eve or August 1st and is the festival of the first of the harvests. Lammas is the Anglo-Saxon name for the festival, meaning Loaf mass. Lughnasadh is the festival of Lugh, a Celtic God of Light and Fire and God of crafts and skills. His Welsh form is Llew Law Gyffes, and in the Mabinogion story of Blodeuwidd and Llew, the theme of Llew as the sacrificed God can be seen (we need of course to consider the pre-Christian origins of the story).

Gronw can be seen as the Dark God of the Waning year, and Llew as the Bright Lord of the Waxing year, Blodeuwidd represents the Goddess in Her Flower Maiden aspect. Lammas or Lughnasadh then has the theme of the sacrificed God of the harvest, but he is sacrificed and transformed, rather than descending into the underworld to become Lord of Death, which comes later in the year.

Lammas is a time of the fullness of Life, and a celebration of the bountiful earth. It is a time of the sacrificial mating of Goddess and God, where the Corn King, given life by the Goddess and tasting of Her love is sacrificed and transformed into bread and ale which feeds us. The main themes of Lammas may therefore be seen as thanksgiving to the Goddess for Her bountiful harvest, stating our hopes for what we wish to harvest (for Lammas is the very beginning of the harvest), sacrifice, transformation, and a sharing of the energy of the Corn King.

MODRON: THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX - 21st SEPTEMBER
The two equinoxes are times of equilibrium. Day and night are equal and the tide of the year flows steadily, but whilst the Spring Equinox manifests the equilibrium before action, the Autumnal Equinox represents the repose after action, the time to take satisfaction in the work of the summer and reap its benefits.

The Autumnal Equinox is celebrated on 21st September, and is the second harvest festival, with the fruit being gathered in. We celebrate the abundance of the earth, and make wine from the excess fruit, to preserve the richness of the fruits of the earth to give us joy throughout the year.

This is the time of the Vine. The God, who was Lord of the Greenwood in the summer and the Corn King at Lughnasadh now dances His last dance upon the earth, as Dionysus, God of wine, music and dance, before making his descent to the underworld to take up his role as Dread Lord of Shadows. The Lord of Light, the Sun King, His power waning, exists briefly in balance with the Dark Lord before giving way to the growing power of darkness, but the power of the sun is encapsulated in the grape and the fruits of the earth.

The wine will remind us of his power throughout the year. The leaves falling from the trees and rotting into the earth are a reflection of the Horned God's journey from the Greenwood to the underworld, deep into the womb of the Mother, where He will reside until He begins to emerge with the new green shoots in the spring. The Autumnal Equinox marks the completion of the harvest, and thanksgiving, with the emphasis on the future return of that abundance.

The Eleusinian mysteries took place at this time, during which the initiate was said to have been shown a single ear of grain with the words "In silence is the seed of wisdom gained". The themes then of the Autumnal Equinox are the completion of the harvest, the balance of light and dark, and of male and female, and an acknowledgement of the waning power of the sun and the waxing power of the Dark Lord.

Exercise 8
Write down the following questions in your magickal diary and then work through them one by one, you can draw on the material given or use other reference material, remember the more work you put in, the more you will get out of your work so do take your time!

a) When is the next Sabbat? Which one is it? Explain what this sabbat and the time of the year mean to you and how it affects your environment.

b) Describe the aspects of the Goddess at the different sabbats/seasons.

c) Go to a nearby forest or park and gather any items such as leaves, flowers, etc that represent the current season. These items can be put on a shrine if you have one. You can also draw pictures or make something which represent the current season for your own shrine or altar.

Mais maintenant que ces ponts et viaducs ont été inspectés, que dire des autres structures, je veux dire, toutes les autres structures.  Celles avec des armatures anti-cisaillement, celles sans dalle épaisse, celles en acier, etc.  À ce que je sache, il n'y a pas que les structures à dalle épaisse qui ont été négligées, mais bien toutes les structures.  Le MTQ entend-il continuer à négliger les autres, jusqu'au moment où l'une d'elles nous tombera sur la tête?

Autre point.  A-t-on inspecté seulement la solidité du tablier, ou bien celle de l'ensemble de l'ouvrage?  Par exemple, un pont peut avoir un tablier qui tient le coup, mais que dire de la résistance de ses parapets?  La famille de Pauline Lalonde, la dame dont le véhicule s'est retrouvé dans le Richelieu, à Chambly, après que son véhicule ait défoncé le parapet du pont Yule, en 2004, pourrait vous en raconter un bout, là-dessus.  L'affaire du manque d'entretien au MTQ ne tient pas qu'au seul viaduc de la Concorde, vous savez.  Je travaille sur la route, et des structures négligées, j'en vois à tous les jours.

Alors selon moi, le MTQ est loin d'avoir terminé ses inspections.

It's nearly the Vernal (or Spring) Equinox (known to some as Ostara, among other names)--a day for celebrating regeneration and rebirth, and for bidding farewell to Winter. This year, the Spring equinox falls very near the Christian holiday of Easter, and in fact one day before the Christian Good Friday. Further, this year, to the frustration of some local Christians (and probably plenty of non-local ones as well), St. Patrick's Day--which around these parts means donning "Kiss me-I'm Irish" buttons and downing buckets of green beer--falls not only during Lent but during Holy Week. Questions abound on all fronts. Can Christians still eat a traditonal jiggs dinner (corned beef and cabbage) for St. Paddy's Day? How will Irish Catholics get around the sobriety of Lent and celebrate St. Paddy's Day in style? While I have none of these concerns myself, as a once-Christian-now-Pagan-still-a-fan- of-Jesus-the-Man, I find myself pondering others. The situation is as follows: Certainly I will be dyeing eggs and participating in appropriate rituals on the Equinox, no problem there. However, I feel oddly caught between my adopted faith and my birth faith this year in a way I generally don't feel, except at Yule when I just can't help but rejoice in the majesty of the Christian hymns of my youth, when it comes to Good Friday and the subsequent Saturday. I've always held fast to certain restrictions on Good Friday, and have continued to do so even as a Pagan. I have always found it somehow indecent (and I guess I still do) to be anything but entirely solemn on the day a good man with a good message was nailed to a cross (and on the Saturday that separates that day from Easter Sunday) but this year, not only do I have tickets to Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on that Saturday, I'll also be, as a Pagan, in a space of celebration for the Equinox. Huh.

Maybe it's my deep Midwestern roots, or my roots in such a heavily Catholic city. Maybe it's because I'm a Gemini, and I just can't help but hang between two world, two religions, two sets of ideas and ideals. (I do still consider myself a Gnostic pagan in many ways, so why not hang between theories and practice?) Maybe it's the co-opting of Pagan traditions by so-called Christians (who never seem to have a problem coloring "Easter" eggs and rubbing chickie and bunny window clings all over their living room panes). Maybe it's the soft, subtle voice of my maternal grandmother, five years gone to the Other Side, slipping me a Starlite peppermint or anise candy in church on Easter Sunday as a child as I fidgeted in my new pastel Easter dress and white Mary Janes on the only day of the year that my mother and I were guaranteed to be among the attendees at Our Saviour Luthern Church. Maybe it's like "We Three Kings" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"at Yule--something irrevocably linked to the magic of the season for me for all time. Maybe it's really up to me to figure out how to have my cake and eat it too, so to speak. In today's secular world, does it really matter anyway? 

Or, is this part of what it means to be a citizen of the United States, a so-called American? To have the freedom to blend old traditions with new ones in the way that feeds my spirit most? Could it be my God and Goddess given right as an American to simply say a very Blessed Equinox, Happy Saint Patrick's Day, and Happy Easter to all? After all, science has produced hybrid purple carrots--why can't a Pagan remember the death of the man who brought a message of hope and love to the world? I'm not calling them Easter eggs though--that's where I draw the line.                       

There were craftfully woven tablecloths, tucked together to cover the long, unpolished table with its makeshift bench--nothing more than a long, half-stripped trunk--that had been hauled into the tiny living room for this evening's celebration. Uncles, nieces, cousins and kidlens, all weaved in and out of the smothering little kitchen beyond, bringing jams and dried pork and all manner of goodies. A little boy, humming, sat stripping a yellowed bone in the corner, so that he could knife out its deep gray marrow. The moaning grandmother and Elder of the family, whose mind age had sadly stolen, was taken from her eternal chair--whose cushions bore her imprint--and bundled in blankets to sit at the edge of the bench.

She sputtered and whimpered half-statements as her granddaughter, fair and lithe, leaned close to her to place a bowl of nuts upon the table. The youth, whose gentle and unseeing heart was written upon her tender face, smiled and kissed her elder's forehead. Those green eyes, blessed upon her features, reflected the shade in the crone's own... but it bore none of the weight, or the sorrow, or madness--it was a color as fresh as spring grass, looking hopefully upon the world, with a vision as endless as love never broken.

An unheeded hand reached tearfully for that pixie's form as it danced through the crowds into the kitchen. Her adolescent body was small, so very small... A finely crafted little skeleton that God must have strained his eyes in the making of, so complete and beautiful were her miniature features. Each finger upon her delicate hands were as miraculous to behold as a newborn babe's, for one could marvel at the /completeness/ of her shape--so feminine, so delicate and womanly--despite the way it disappeared inside one's palm.

Her carrot-colored curls were swallowed in a fog of other faces, laughing, grinning, exchanging jests and licking their lips--restrained from nibbling by the honor of prayer. Still, a child or two's cheeks bulged secretly.

The door ripped open momentarily, bringing the howling of winds and rippling of snow, which dashed through and threatened every lady's skirt. The man in the doorway looked distressed, bearing a knot of alarm upon otherwise fatherly lines.

"Vampyr!" he shouted. "There is vampyr here!"

The immediate commotion that gripped the cabin was such that no useful orders could be shouted, each woman and man fretting in their own panic, gathering and counting their children, grasping and honoring their crosses.

It was but moments before the door ripped free again, tilting it in its slot. This time, swallowing the whole of the entranceway with his shadowy height, was the figure of a vampire. He loomed, a great black demon at their door, letting the wind tug past his long frock and extinguish their candles, lighting their fragile inner flames of prayer. His face was a long one, weighed down by a thick and thinking brow, and slashed across with a long and elegant mouth, whose thin lips hinted some sensuality as he spoke, "Am I so unwelcome?"

Gasping, some of the more fretful mothers ushered their children to climb onto the ceiling partition, where they were to lay flat and keep quiet. The vampire took no interest in what the women did with their children, for his eyes were fixed upon one woman in particular, who had the misfortune of standing at the front line of the frightened pack, which seemed to inch ever tighter underneath the vampyr's gaze.

She stood paralyzed as his eyes turned to her, unprepared for the eye-contact, which stripped him of his objectification as a frightening thing and forced the consideration of elements much more dangerous to admit--emotion, desire... thought. His orbs were deep onyx stones set upon a glossy, flawless white, and her own felt much too naked, much too telling, in their pale human greens... which gave away every clamping tension of her pupils; every throbbing pinkness of veins that crept upon the white. Her breast was made of living stone as he beheld her. Much too forceful, and heavier than she had ever known it, the sculpture of her inner life raged against its cage, making music with the desperate throes of its entrapment. She felt its cries must ring so clear, so obvious to every ear in the room, that her cheeks flushed rose... but all that emerged from her was a barely audible breath, which none but the guilty party could know as enrapturement.

The silence between them was near-absolute, save for the never-ending whimpers and rockings of the brain-rotted grandmother, whose unintelligible sobbing had elevated in the confusion. It was such a pitiable sound, to cut across such passion.

To the vampire, this young soul was the closest he had seen to the sun in two hundred years... Indeed her radiance brought some faint illusion of warmth upon his skin, glowing there as she did in her virgin white dress and her screeching orange hair, gathered in a sloppy crown of curls upon her head. He felt... familiarity.

Sadly, he would not touch her that night, nor any night soon thereafter... for as he made his advance upon the crowd, and crossed beneath the partition's edge above, a small tub of icy water--placed there to gather the snow dripping through the cracks--rushed down upon him... and /burned/ his skin. Burned him cruel and hard.

The children above chippered and cheered, clapping their hands together as he writhed in the dark material of his frock, wailing, melting, before dashing out the door into the blizzard oblivion beyond. They were attentive children, see, and had amongst them blessed the water, praying with the purity that only children can to invite the Holy Ghost into its pool. The adults were calling out and sighing in relief below, embracing one another, while mothers scolded with smiling faces.

None, however, felt safe. The family convened in a dread meeting of scarce candlelight after that, discussing what they ought to do next. Clearly, the vampire would heal, and then return in his strongest state to consume their children. The uncles and nieces and cousins who had traveled so far now refused to stay, citing with the greatest urgency that they must take their children home and never let them return. It was agreed, in the end, that two of the men would stay behind and look after the elder woman and her granddaughter, who called this cabin their home. They would prepare for the vampire's eventual return.

Many years passed without a trace of the vampyr's shadow. The old crone's condition deteriorated even further, but she did not die, no... She merely shriveled up more and more, until she hunched like a raisin in her dusty old chair, tucking her chin into shambling half-fists while she mumbled her nonsensical pleas.

"Dirty... dirty! Her room, always dirty!" she whimpered, and her granddaughter took the time to smile at her, occupied as she stood in the same room. She and three others were standing over the old tub, which as filled with what looked like shiny white eggs, floating in a variety of sizes. They were all holding long spoons--spoons as long as brooms, with wide, rounded ends, which they used to form and coax the water. With the right rolling sweep, they could force the liquid to take to hard matter and shape another egg.

"I've got another one," the young woman informed, smiling as it took shape. "We will need lots of children if we are to protect ourselves when the vampyr returns." Of course, she was not so /very/ young anymore... Repeated summer tans had roughened her skin and speckled it with freckles. The dry creases of smiles past hovered on either side of her lips. Her body, once so elfish, had grown close to normalcy, and its adolescent proportions had filled out into the less flattering, but ever beautiful, form of a grown woman. Covered in cloth, it was ambiguous whether she had borne children, but the increased strength of her arms and the wear in her ever-loving eyes suggested yes. The red curls on her head were dusty, and thicker than before, splintered with the wear of the seasons and the decline of vanity.

Still, a sort of glow emanated from her, like the hidden spark in a doomed ember, winking to those who stare.

The vampire came.

With a creak at the door, he entered their sanctuary once again--this time with the chilled early winds of spring behind him. The small family looked up from their egg-making, and the grandmother cried louder, louder, until she howled hoarsely in her seat.

But between the vampyr and his sun, there was only silence.

Once more, he stepped out across the distance to reach for her, and once more, water came tumbling over his head from above. He cringed, momentarily, feeling the deathly liquid soak his clothing... but then he righted himself with suspicious wonder, examining his hands. "That was not even blessed," he observed, and tilted his head back to see the mischievous children who had done the deed. Their faces flashed before him before they scrambled back from the ledge in a cloud of giggles, and then fell silent. No hands and knees on the blanks--only moonlight peeping through their cracks. Finding himself still dry, the vampyr looked about the room... Empty. Somehow, it had transformed into day, and though the low, setting sun pierced through the window with its fatal rays, the vampyr felt nothing. There was no harm to come to him here, in this shifting place, where only the old crone's sobs remained consistent.

"You!" he accused, grasping the old woman by her arms and shaking her fragile form. "You are the only real thing here, aren't you? ANSWER ME!"

In her fear, she gasped repeatedly, nearly suffocating on her own panicked lungs, but somehow wheezing out a response: "Dirty... Her bedroom is always dirty."

"Whose?" he demanded fiercely, desperate to unravel the cruel mystery that played his thoughts like harpstrings.

"No, no, no!"

"You do not understand!" He shook her again. "I do not come here to harm /anyone/! I have waited patiently to return because I love her--I must love her..."

Just then, the door creaked once more, and the young woman stepped calmly inside, her arms loaded with fresh-cut wood for the fire, depositing her load inside the door. The vampyr wasted no time, grasping the young woman's arm and whirling her around to face him.

"Or is it YOU?" he demanded, with more certainty now--certainty rooted in hope. "YOU are the master of this illusion!"

"NO!" the old crone cried behind him, with such ferocious volume that he was forced to take a second look at her--to draw near to her trembling body as it reached a withered hand for his. With a cautious thoughtfulness etched deep into his pondersome brow, he knelt beside her and studied the acrid tears that weaved through her leathery labyrinth of lines, and followed her pained gaze to the young woman. Together, they watched as the little beauty dusted off her hands, seemingly oblivious to all other presences in the room... Walking with a privacy in her manner that belongs to those who wander unseen in their own thoughts, not merely confident of but too-long accustomed to solitude.

They watched as she walked to the window, locking eyes with the setting sun... and as she approached that light, it seemed that each step robbed age from her frame, until she stood in untainted adolescence again, as the vampyr remembered her, staring out into the sunset. Its rays saturated her lineless face until she truly was a glowing entity of light, her eyes pierced like crystals to reveal every three-dimensional detail. On her delicate form clung the unstained white of her virgin gown.

"She is you..." the vampyr whispered, turning his comprehending gaze back upon the old crone. He looked at her with the somberness of one who has uncovered the sorrow in too many mysteries, and the miracle in too few. "She /was/ you."

"She does not exist..." the wrinkled woman sobbed, peering with half-aware longing at mirages too dark for her dying, emerald eyes.

"She does..." the vampyr sighed regretfully. "Inside your demented mind."

History
Ritual
Correspondences
Lore
Activities and Ideas
Crafts
Recipies
Wassailing Songs
Simple Fire Spell

Yule Log
The Pagan Saxons celebrated the feast of Yule with plenty of ale and blazing fires, of which our Yule log is the last relic. The Yule log is actually an indoor equivalent of the outdoor bonfire of Midwinter Eve. It is said that the Yule log must never be bought but should be received as a gift, found or taken from you own property. Often the log to be burned at midwinter was chosen early in the year and set aside. It is also said that the number of sparks struck off the burning log indicated the number of lambs and kids would be born in the coming year.

The type of wood used to make Yule logs varied from region to region. Oak logs were popular in the north of England, birch in Scotland and ash in Cornwall and Devon. Ash is the only wood that burns freely when green and the world-tree, Yggdrasil, in the Nordic tradition was an ash-tree. It is important that the Yule log be the biggest and greenest log available since the Christmas festivities will last only as long as the Yule log burns. Once the log is out and the ashes are cold they are often gathered for luck and protection or to
fertilize the land.

In some parts of the Scottish highlands, the head of the household finds a withered stump and carves it into the likeness of an old woman, the Cailleach Nollaich or Christmas Old Wife, a sinister being representing the evils of winter and death. She's the goddess of winter, the hag of night, the old one who brings death. Burning her drives away the winter and protects the occupants of the household from death.

There is also an old custom of saving a piece of the Yule log, 'for luck' to kindle the next year's blaze as evidenced in this poem by Herrick's titled "Hesperides:"
Come bring with a noise
My merry, merry boys
The Christmas log to the firing
With the last year's brand.
Light the new block,
And for good success in his spending
On your psalteries play:
That sweet luck may
Come while the log is a-teendling.

Yule or Christmas Tree
Continuity of Life, Protection, Prosperity are all symbolic of the evergreen and associated with Green Goddesses & Gods; Hertha; Cybele, Attis, Dionysius (Pine); Woodland Spirits traditions: Roman, Celtic, Teutonic, Christian.

The tradition decorating with evergreen trees and boughs, however, originates from the ancient pagan cultures. Many cultures saw the evergreen, one of few plants to remain green even in winter, as a symbol of life even during the season of death. To decorate with the trees and branches of the evergreen was a way of celebrating this eternal life.
In her book, The Solstice Evergreen, Sheryl Ann Karas says that the earliest record of an evergreen being decorated comes from Riga in Latvia in 1519, when a group of local merchants carried an evergreen bedecked with flowers to the marketplace, where they danced around it and then burned it.

Modern Christmas trees were introduced to the court of Queen Victoria by her husband, Prince Albert, as a custom from his native Germany.

Angels on top of the tree
In some regions of Germany, people placed witches instead of angels at the tops of their Christmas trees, perhaps in recognition of the Crone, the old-woman face of the Goddess who presides over this part of the year.

The custom of placing a light at the top of the Christmas tree is another symbol of the rebirth of the sun. Catholics later changed this image to that of the angel heralding the Christ Child's birth.

Gingerbread men
In ancient times it is said that Germanic tribes would sacrifice their prisoners to the god of victory (Wodan or Odin in Norse) by hanging them upside down from trees for nine days, as Wodan was hung from the Tree of Life in order to obtain the wisdom of the runes. After the wars ended, they replaced actual men with gingerbread men, as way of asking for help from Wodan in making it through the dark winter.

Another legend tells how St. Nicolas begged some grain from a ship passing through Myra during a famine. He kept some and baked the rest as bread, in his own image. St. Nicholas has his own special cookie: the Speculatius, a gingerbread figure of a bishop. The name means "image," referring to the mirror image of St Nicholas which has been pressed into a wooden mold and then turned out on a sheet to bake in the oven (like other traditional Christmas cookies made in molds: springerle and cavalucci).

Holly King/Oak King
We celebrate the light overcoming the dark, as two are brothers, rivals or the flip sides of the same coin. The Oak King rules from midwinter until midsummer, and the Holly King rules from midsummer until midwinter. Every year at Yule, the Oak King cuts off the Holly King's head and rules for six months until midsummer, when the Holly King kills the Oak King and the cycle begins again. You can see the vestiges of the myth in the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Janet and Stewart Farrar devote a whole chapter to these two in their book The Witches' God.

Another version of the Oak/Holly King theme is the ritual hunting and killing of a Wren. The Wren, little King of the Waning Year, is killed by the Robin Redbreast, King of the Waxing Year. The Robin finds the Wren hiding in an Ivy bush (or as in some parts of Ireland - a holly bush).

In the Christianized version of the story Saint George in shining armor, comes to do battle with the dark faced 'Turkish Knight'. Saint George is the Sun, slaying the powers of darkness. However, the victor immediately proclaims that he has slain his brother. Dark and Light, winter and summer are complementary to each other. So on comes the mysterious 'Doctor' with his magical bottle who revives the slain man. There is much rejoicing and all ends well.

Candles, Lights and Torches
The feast of Saturnalia (which honored the god Saturn) was long established by the Romans before they invaded Britain, and was celebrated from December 12-17. It was a time when masters waited on servants at mealtime, and gifts of light were given, particularly candles and it is felt that this may have been in honor of a solar deity for the upcoming solstice.

Pagans also lit candles at the stroke of midnight on the solstice, to symbolize the rebirth of the god, the mystery of a light being reborn in the midst of darkness.

The Christmas candle, a large candle of red or some other bright color decorated with holly or other evergreens, was at one time a popular custom throughout Great Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia. One person, usually the eldest or the head of the household, is designated as the lightbringer. She lights the candle for the first time on Christmas Eve before the festive supper and during each of the remaining evenings of the Twelve Days of Christmas. To extinguish the candle, she snuffs it with tongs rather than blowing it out, since that would blow the luck away. The candle sheds a blessing on the household and so is protected from accidental quenching.

Lamps burning all night at Midwinter, survive in Ireland and elsewhere, as the single candle burning in the window at Christmas Eve, lit by the youngest in the house - a symbol of mircocosmic welcome to the Marcosm.

Juno Lucina, Mother of Lights, was a goddess of childbirth whose festival was celebrated with torchlights and bonfires in Rome in early December. As midwife of the miraculous Sun Child born at Winter Solstice, it was said she brought children to light. Later converted to Christianity as St. Lucy, she found a home in Sweden, where Yuletide celebrations today still include the procession of the Lussibruden (Lucy Bride), led by a young girl wearing a crown of candles.

New Year
The Roman celebrated their festival of Saturnalia -- a twelve-day festival that marked the ending of one year and the beginning of another.

The Norse also saw this as the traditional new year or beginning because it marked the time of the sun's return. Twelve days after Christmas was the traditional day to celebrate the new year for those peoples.

Holly
Holly was hung in honor of the Holly King in pagan traditions and still is today in may pagan homes. It symbolizes the old Solar Year; Waning Sun; Protection, Good Luck and was particularly prized to decorate doors, windows and fireplaces because of its prickliness -- to either ward off or snag and capture evil spirits before they could enter and harm a household.

Romans were quite fond of holly during their Solstice celebration, known as the Saturnalia. Gifts of holly were exchanged during this time, as holly was believed to ward off lightning and evil spirits. Holly was also seen as a symbol of the feminine aspect, the red berries signifying the blood of the female. Ivy was seen to represent the masculine, and the ancient custom of decorating the doorway with the two plants intertwined was a symbolic union of the two halves of divinity.

Mistletoe
Once called Allheal this sacred plant symbolizes peace, prosperity, healing, wellness, fertility, rest, and protection. Celts believed this parasitic plant held the soul of the host tree.

It was at Alban Arthan (actually 5 days after the new moon following the winter solstice) that the Chief Druid cut the mistletoe from the sacred Oak with a golden sickle. The branches had to be caught before they touched the ground. Celts believed this parasitic plant held the soul of the host tree. The priest then divided the branches into many sprigs and distributed them to the people, who hung them over doorways as protection against thunder, lightning and other evils. The folklore, and the magical powers of this plant, blossomed over the centuries A sprig placed in a baby's cradle would protect the child from faeries. Giving a sprig to the first cow calving after New Year would protect the entire herd.

Norse peoples also saw the plant as sacred. Warriors who met under the plant would not fight, but maintained a truce until the next day. Other European cultures viewed mistletoe as an aphrodisiac, explaining the custom of 'kissing under the mistletoe'. Mistletoe was not just for kissing under, but also for conceiving under, as well. And its magickal power was felt to make it a wonderful fertility amulet.

The Norse god Balder was the best loved of all the gods. His mother was Frigga, goddess of love and beauty. She loved her son so much that she wanted to make sure no harm would come to him. So she went through the world, securing promises from everything that sprang from the four elements--fire, water, air, and earth--that they would not harm her beloved Balder.

Leave it to Loki, a sly, evil spirit, to find the loophole. The loophole was mistletoe. He made an arrow from its wood. To make the prank even nastier, he took the arrow to Hoder, Balder's brother, who was blind. Guiding Holder's hand, Loki directed the arrow at Balder's heart, and he fell dead. Frigga's tears became the mistletoe's white berries. In the version of the story with a happy ending, Balder is restored to life, and Frigga is so grateful that she reverses the reputation of the offending plant--making it a symbol of love and promising to bestow a kiss upon anyone who passes under it.

It is interesting to note that Mistletoe is usually banned from churches at Christmas, because of its Pagan association. However, Stukeley, an eighteenth-century writer, noted that on Christmas Eve, they carried Mistletoe to the High Altar in the church and proclaimed a universal liberty and pardon to all sorts of criminals and wrongdoers.

Christmas Breads and Ham
Feasting on boar, whether caught or raised, almost held the feeling of communion. In Sweden and Denmark, there's a custom of baking a loaf of bread in the shape of a boar, called the... Yule Boar! It's made from the last sheaf of grain (also called corn) harvested. It presides over the celebration, and is often kept until spring, when it is ground and added to the fodder for the plowing animals. Sometimes it is split, half is eaten at New Year's, and the rest kept until spring when it gets the above treatment.

Caroling
Caroling is thought to come from the traditions associated with wassailing. It also may be from traditions where Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life.

Wassailing and Apples
Apples were considered in ancient times to be the very important crop, not just for the food they provided but more importantly for the cider that was obtained by squeezing the juices from the apples.

In fact, many rituals developed around blessing the orchards at Yuletide. Called "saining," these rites blessed fruit trees and livestock so that they might bring abundant food in the seasons ahead.

The actual tradition of wassailing derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon term 'waes hael' (be whole or hale). The term wassail in Old English means "your health." The traditional bowl or cup full of mulled wine originates in the fourteenth century; the leader of a gathering would take up a bowl and cry out "Wassail!" and toast the others; the cup would then be passed on to the next person, with a kiss, until all in the room had drunk from it.

On the eve of Twelfth Day in Normandy, lit torches were carried with wild abandon through the fields and orchards, waving them into the branches and knocked against the trees to drive off vermin and burn away lichens and moss; fertility was guaranteed!

Saule is the beloved Baltic Sun Goddess, about whom thousands of folksongs (the dainas) were sung. In some stories, Saule is a red apple setting in the west; in others, she sleeps in an apple tree. When she is sad, she sits in her apple garden weeping tears of amber, the sun-stone. At Winter Solstice, Kaleda, Saule is reborn as her daughter the morning-star.

Gifts
Presents have been a common theme of Solstice and Yule celebrations for thousands of years. People gave gifts in a time when community survival was the driving impulse, rather than consumerism. You shared food and other creature comforts to ensure that your neighbors and loves ones--your tribe--would to survive the brutal months to come.

The Saturnalia in Rome was celebrated as the beginning of the New Year, and the revelers gave presents to symbolize the good luck, prosperity, and happiness that they wished for the recipient during the coming year.

Christian tradition ties the giving of gifts to the Magi, which visited the Christ child shortly after his birth, bringing gifts to the future Savior.

Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle Pere Noel
Santa Claus is many things: jolly Jupiter, a smiling Saturn, and the Old God on his way to rebirth. Norse and Germanic peoples have for centuries told stories of the Yule Elf, who brings presents on the Solstice to those who leave offerings of porridge. Odin, the Norse god, is also often identified with the character of Santa. One of his titles was Jolnir, "Lord of the Yule", and the resemblance to the white-bearded Santa is quite striking. In the guise of St. Nicholas he is a pagan deity who was absorbed into the Christian tradition.

Reindeer
It is uncertain where the idea of reindeer towing a sleigh truly came from but there's the Julbock or Julbukk, or Yule goat, from Sweden and Norway, who had his beginnings as carrier for the god Thor. Now he carries the Yule elf when he makes his rounds to deliver presents and receive his offering of porridge.

New Year's Resolutions
The tradition of the New Year's resolution is possibly a tradition based on that of the Norse peoples who swore a Yule oath. Their kindred did this on Twelfth Night (aka New Years Eve).

Tools: bells

Stones/Gems: Blue zircon, turquoise, serpentine, jacinth, peridot.

Colors: Red, Green, White, Silver, Gold

Symbols & Decorations: Yule log, mistletoe (for protection throughout the year, best burned at Samhain the following year), wreaths, fire, garlands of dried flowers, popcorn, cinnamon sticks etc., apples, oranges, Yule tree. Holly, ivy, wheel, fir or pine bows.

Foods: nuts, apples, oranges, caraway nuts, mulled wine, mulled cider, roast turkey, goose or ham, popcorn, roasts (especially pork)

Deities: Athena, Attis, Dionysus, Fates, Frey , Freyja, Hathor, Hecate, Ixchel, Kris Kringle (as the Pagan God of Yule), Lucina, Minerva, Neith, Norns, Odin, Osiris, Woden, and the Horned God

Nature Spirits: snow faeries, storm faeries, winter tree faeries.

Herbs and Flowers: holly, mistletoe, rosemary, oak, spruce and pine cones, ivy, fir, pine and spruce boughs, poinsettia, "Christmas" flowering cactus

Animals: reindeer, the stag, mouse, deer, horse, bear

In heavy 4-quart saucepan with wire whisk, beat eggs, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually stir in 1 quart milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon well, about 25 minutes, but do not boil, or it will curdle. (Mixture should be about 160 degrees F) Pour custard into large bowl, stir in rum, vanilla, nutmeg and remaining milk. Cover and chill, at least 3 hours. whisk, gently fold whipped cream into custard. Pour eggnog into chilled 5 quart bowl, sprinkle with nutmeg. Makes about 16 cups (32 servings.) Keep this eggnog in a container you can shake because the cream and custard may separate. If this happens just shake it up again and enjoy.

Wassail
4 cups apple cider
1 jar crabapples (undrained) 16oz
2 cups golden sherry
4 lemon slices
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Place cider into sauce pan, bringing to a boil and then add other ingredients. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Serve immediately

Yule Cocktail
Muddle in a serving glass:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon whole, cranberries
5 mint leaves
Small scoop ice
Add to the sugar, cranberry, and mint:
2 ounces gin
3 ounces tonic
2 ounces cranberry juice
Top with ice

Optional Garnish:
Twist orange zest

Popcorn Balls
2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 quarts popped popcorn
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Butter the sides of a large saucepan. In the sauce pan combine the sugar, water, salt, corn syrup and vinegar. Cook over medium heat to the hard ball stage 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Stir in the vanilla and slowly pour the hot mixture over the popped popcorn, stirring just to mix well. Butter hands lightly and shape into balls. Mixture will be hot so be careful. Place balls on waxed paper to cool.

Praline Nuts
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 Tbsps. margarine
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
2 cups whole pecans, walnuts, cashews or other nuts-you may mix nuts if you
prefer
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup very cold water (to test "hard-ball" stage)
1 tsp. oil (for cookie sheets)

In a large saucepan, combine above ingredients except water. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon over a medium-low flame. Mixture should be at a low boil. Stir bottom and sides continuously. Cook for about 4 minutes until a drop of the mixture forms a "hard-ball" drop when placed in a cup of cold water, or mixture reaches 260 degrees F. Remove from stove and beat briskly for 2 minutes until mixture cools, thickens, and becomes creamy. On large pieces of waxed paper, aluminum foil, or oiled cookie sheets, drop 2 or 3 nuts with a tablespoon of mixture for each praline. When all of mixture has been poured, let cool thoroughly. Store in airtight containers.

Roast Chestnuts
1 pound chestnuts
1/4 cup butter
salt to taste
1 pinch ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Cut a 1/2 inch crisscross on the flat side of each nut. Be sure to cut through the shell to prevent the nut from exploding. Place the nuts in a shallow baking pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool and peel off the shell. Place nuts in a skillet with butter and sauté over high heat until the butter is melted and the chestnuts are well coated. Place skillet in oven and roast until they are golden on top. Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.

Sun Shine Sugar Cookies with Orange Frosting
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine milk with vinegar to make sour milk. Let stand for 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugars, shortening, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in sour milk and mix well. NOTE: Dough will be very sticky and hard to handle so be sure to refrigerate either several hours or overnight. Roll on well floured board to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters to desired shapes-a sun shape or large
round circles are best to signify the sun with large cutters working best. Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly brown on bottom. Frost with frosting and decorate.

Frosting
3 egg whites
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 Tablespoon of orange rind
1 Tablespoon of Orange Juice

Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until very foamy. Gradually add sugar, rind, orange juice and extract. Beat at high speed until thickened. Spread over cooled cookies or put in a pastry bag with a piping tip attached and pipe onto cookies.

Yule Log!
Cake:
1 pre-made chocolate jelly roll cake
Filling and frosting:
1 (16-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cocoa powder, for dusting

Forest Mushrooms:
10 miniature marshmallows
10 chocolate kiss candies, unwrapped
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Special Equipment: 10 toothpicks

Lay cake on a clean work surface. Mix the whipped topping and vanilla extract together until combined. Spread white frosting over the top of the cake to coat completely. Roll up the cake, jelly-roll style, and then cover the outside of the cake with the frosting. Drag a fork along the length of the cake to form a bark design. Dust with cocoa powder and refrigerate.

For the forest mushrooms, insert 1 toothpick through each marshmallow and then into the flat side of the chocolate kiss to form "mushroom." Group chocolate mushrooms along cake by inserting toothpicks into surface of cake, at intervals to resemble growths of forest mushrooms. Dust chocolate kiss candies with confectioners' sugar. Slice and serve.

This is part of an old English ritual to renew the fertility of the family apple tree. Dance around the tree in a circle, raising energy by singing the carol. After the verse, peak the power into the tree by shouting the blessing at the end. The ritual also includes watering the tree with a wassail libation.

Old apple tree we'll wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear.
The Lord does know where we shall be
To be merry another year.
To blow well and to bear well,
And so merry let us be.
Let ev'ry man drink up his cup
-Here's health to the old apple tree!
Capfuls! Hatfuls! Baskets full!
Bushels full! Barrels full! Barn floors full!
And a little heap under the stairs!

Gower Wassail

A wassail, a wassail, throughout all this town,
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our wassail is made of the good ale and true,
Some nutmeg and ginger, it's the best we can brew.

chorus:
Fol the dol, fol the dol de dol,
Fol the dol de dol, fol the dol de dee.
Fol the dol de dol, fol the dol de dee.
Fol the der- o, fol the daddy,
Sing tu re lye do.

We know by the moon that we are not too soon,
And we know by the sun that we are not done.
We know by the stars that we are not too far
And we know by the ground that we are within sound.

Our wassail is made of an elderberry bough
And so, my good neighbor, we'll drink unto thou.
Besides all of that, you'll have apples in store,
Pray let us come in, for it's cold by the door.

We hope that your apple trees prosper and bear
So we may have cider when we call next year.
And where you've one barrel we hope you'll have ten
So we can have cider when we call again.

Here's our wassail boys, roving weary and cold,
Drop a bit of small silver into our old bowl.
And if we're alive for another New Year
Perhaps we may come and see who do live here.

Wassail, Wassail, All Over the Town

Wassail, wassail, all over the town!
Our toast it is white, and our ale it is brown.
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree.
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.

So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek,
Pray God send our master a good piece of beef.
And a good piece of beef that may we all see,
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.

And here is to Dobbin and to his right eye,
Pray God send our master a good Christmas pie.
And a good Christmas pie that may we all see,
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.

So here is to Broad May and to her broad horn,
Pray God send our master a good crop of corn.
And a good crop of corn that may we all see,
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.

And here is to Fillpail and to her left ear,
Pray God send our master a happy New Year.
And a happy New Year as e'er he did see,
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.

And here is to Colly and to her long tail,
Pray God send our master he never may fail.
A bowl of strong beer; I pray you draw near,
And our jolly wassail it's then you shall hear.

Come, butler, come fill us a bowl of the best,
Then we hope that your soul in heaven may rest.
But if you do draw us a bowl of the small,
Then down shall go butler, bowl and all.

Then here's to the maid in the lily white smock
Who tripped to the door and pulled back the lock.
Who tripped to the door and pulled back the pin
For to let these jolly wassailers in.

A Traditional Wassail Song

Chorus:

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wandering so fairly to be seen.
Now is wintertime and strangers travel far and near,
And we wish you, send you a happy New Year.
Bud and blossom, bud and blossom, bud and bloom and bear,
So we may have plenty of cider all next year.
Baskets full and barrels full, and bushels, bags and bowls,
And the cider running out of every gutter hole.

CHORUS

Down here in the muddy lane there sits an old gray fox,
A-starving and a-shivering, and licking his old chops.
Brings us up a table and set it if you please,
And give us hungry wassailers a bit of bread and cheese.

CHORUS

I have a little purse and it's made of leather skin,
A little silver sixpence, it would line it well within.
Now is wintertime and strangers travel far and near,
And we wish you, send you a happy New Year.

Much of our modern holiday symbolism comes from Pagan tradition, which comes from the Druids, Saxons and ancient Celtic people who picked up some ideas from the Romans who borrowed a bit from the Persians. It’s all a mélange of this very fluid thing we call culture.

Almost all civilizations have had some sort of winter celebration. Most of these are deeply rooted in the cycle of the year and stem from the very ancient practice of honoring the return of the sun. Winter Solstice celebrations can be traced back at least four thousand years. At Newgrange in Ireland, it is during the three days of the Winter Solstice (the day before and the day after) that the light of the rising sun illuminates a triad of spirals on the back wall opposite the entrance.

What we’ve come to celebrate as the modern mainstream holiday is a mix of Celtic, Saxon, Mithraic and Nordic ritual and display.

The holiday wreath represents the Pagan Wheel of the Year. The annual cycle is complete at Yule, which is a time of transformation – endings become beginnings. The word Yule comes from an Anglo-Saxon word that means wheel. The ancient Celtic people (who generally followed a lunar calendar) celebrated the New Year at Samhain, but 10th-centurty Nordic Pagans shifted the celebration to Yule to coincide with the solar year.

Fire is an important part of winter holiday tradition. Putting bright lights on Christmas trees, in windows and around the house began as the practice of lighting bonfires to honor the return of the sun. The burning Yule log itself is traditionally oak and represents the new shining sun. A piece of the Yule log is kept and used the following year to symbolize continuity – as the old year finishes the new one begins. Death is followed by rebirth.

The full moon before the Winter Solstice is called the Oak Moon. With its roots deep in Mother Earth and top-most branches high above the ground, the oak tree is symbolic of living in both the earthly and heavenly worlds. Trees figure largely in the Yuletide season. The Druids saw them as sacred. For them, Yule marked the struggle between the Oak King (king of the waxing year) and the Holly King (king of the waning year). To the Druids holly symbolized death and oak rebirth.

The use of mistletoe can also be traced to the Druids who gathered it from the highest branches of oak trees. Mistletoe is also called “the golden bough” and is considered powerfully magic, especially for fertility. At Yule its white berries are plentiful and symbolize the sacred seed of the God who embodies the spirit of vegetation and the divine spark of life.

Also at this time of year, holly is bright and vital, promising on-going life. These abundant red berries symbolize the Goddess’s blood – source of life.

Holly is named for the underground Goddess, Holle who was also called Hel. Her dark realm is within the earth and includes the deep underground waters. But her great palace is not a place to fear. It is a place of renewal and rebirth – quite the opposite of later myths that called the underworld Hell.

The Christmas tree began its present wave of popularity in 15th-century Europe. In the British Isles it was decorated with images of what was wished for in the coming year. Many other similar traditions are connected with tree decorations.

Like holly, evergreen trees were considered sacred because they didn't seem to die each year and so they represent the eternal aspect of the Goddess. The Great Mother Goddess/Mother Earth remains constant while the God dies and is reborn each year.

This cycle has been played out in many cultures. December 25th was the birthday of the Sun God Mithra who was celebrated by the Romans and Persians. In the old Julian calendar, Winter Solstice occurred on December 25th. Mithra was born of the Goddess Astarte. At this time of year in ancient Egypt, Horus was born of Isis whose headdress includes a solar disk. In Babylon, Tammuz was born of Ishtar. The Norse Goddess, Frigg, gave birth to Balder. And in Palestine, Mary gave birth to Jesus.

It all comes down to basically the same thing no matter what your spirituality. It is the birth of the Sun God, the Son of God – whatever name you call him and by whatever name you know the Mother Goddess. The return of the sun/son brings light, hope and spiritual renewal.

Use the garland (or two strands if you would like to make it larger) to create a spiral in the center of the floor, making the space within wide enough to form a path on which to walk. Place tea lights around the perimeter of the spiral. Lay the holly at the entrance to the spiral. Light the candles around the spiral(s) just before beginning the ritual.

Ritual Background
Putting bright lights on Christmas trees and around the house began with the tradition of lighting candles and fires to honor the return of the sun. The burning Yule log itself represents the new, shining sun. A piece of the Yule log, which is traditionally oak, is kept from one year to the next providing continuity as the old year finishes and the new one begins; death is followed by rebirth. A common component of the Yule ritual, when done outdoors, is to jump a bonfire and make a wish for the coming year. Tonight we combine this basic idea with the spiral, which is associated with the Goddess, winter, and the Winter Solstice.

The spiral is a fundamental form found in nature. To ancient people, the spiral was a sacred symbol of the Goddess and her transformative powers. Our ancestors knew about, and we are only rediscovering, the vortex of energy in a spiral that allows us to connect with our deepest selves, the web of life, and the Divine.

At the ancient site of Newgrange in Ireland there is a set of three spirals on the back wall of the inner chamber, 65 feet from the entrance. On the Winter Solstice, as well as the day before and the day after, the rising sun illuminates these spirals.

The spiral is also symbolic of winter hibernation. During the cold months we turn inward for a time of reflection. But the same spiral of energy that leads us downward, inside ourselves in winter eventually leads us up toward the light in spring.

The Ritual
Pick up the four sprigs of holly and walk around the perimeter of the spiral to define your circle as you say:
Red and green, holly bright,
Help me cast my circle tonight.
The sun returns, glowing white,
With the child, Lord of Light.

Place a sprig of holly at the edge of your circle in each direction after evoking it, saying:

Come ye spirits of the North, powers of Earth, your bounty sustains me through the winter. Be with me as the silent cavern; place of renewal. Be with me this night.

Come ye spirits of the East, powers of Air, sail on crisp winter wings as you bring the golden dawn. Be with me as a clear night sky. Be with me this night.

Come ye spirits of the South, powers of Fire, bring the heat of a flame to warm my heart. Be with me as a welcoming hearth. Be with me this night.

Come ye spirits of the West, powers of Water, you nourish the earth and bathe me in sweet rains. Be with me as a quiet snowfall. Be with me this night.

Great Mother Goddess, provider of all life, Lady of Heaven and Earth, bring forth your son, transform the light. Be with me this night. Tonight I celebrate the return of the sun and the rebirth of light.

Now would be a good time to read about the history of Yule. I have one here.

Take time to think of what you want to bring into your life. When you are ready, follow the path into the spiral. When you get to the center, pause and then step over the inner-most coil. As you do this, say your wish aloud. You may want to pause again or sit in the center of the spiral to contemplate your wish as well as the coming year. When you are ready, follow the path back out of the spiral.

When you emerge from the spiral, begin chanting as you walk around your circle:
With this wish I make,
And every step I take,
Bring me to center
Where my dreams awake.

When it feels appropriate, slow and then end the chant, and then say:

May my wishes and intentions voiced here this night manifest into the physical world. As above; so below. Blessed be.

Use your usual centering to ground the energy or playback a recorded one.

Bring the ritual to a close, saying:

Great Mother who gives birth to the light and gives our world form, thank you for your presence this night. I ask for your blessings as you depart. I bid thee farewell.

As you dismiss each direction, pick up the holly you placed at the edge of your circle and return it to the entrance of the spiral, saying:

Spirits of East, of Water that fills the rivers in spring, thank you for your presence this night. Stay if you will; go if you must. I bid thee farewell.

Spirits of South, of Fire that provides new beginnings, thank you for your presence this night. Stay if you will; go if you must. I bid thee farewell.

Spirits of East, of Air and the precious breath of life, thank you for your presence this night. Stay if you will; go if you must. I bid thee farewell.

Spirits of North, of Earth that sustains me, thank you for your presence this night. Stay if you will; go if you must. I bid thee farewell.

Just as darkness is followed by light, so winter is followed by spring. The Wheel of the Year and of my life continues to turn. My circle is open, but unbroken. May the peace of the Goddess remain in my heart. In faith and unity. Blessed be.

I get that the economy sucks right now.  I know the feeling of helpless, hopeless, and penniless - literally.

Not once during this past holiday season did I hear in my local town how volunteers or clothing donations were needed.  I heard how "make a donation in any domination - would be very helpful".  Wow.

<Insert the song> "Money makes the world go round..."

The stock markets around the globe - quiver.  The "rich" - hoard; the "blue-collared" - pay out the bum. The idea from the government was, "if these businesses make a lot of money, they'll create more jobs." Well, as we know, that back fired.  The plan?  No plan.  No one cares, but damn, you better listen up when people or rather an organizaiton say "we need money".

How quickly it gets forgotten that we are all on the same boat. Working together would bring out not only the best in people, but a sense of accomplishment - Harming None.