Winter Rites

Dang I haven't posted on here in a while.  To be fair, I haven't done much blogging on any of my blogs. 

I haven't finished my 9 Pagan Virtues project, and I only have Fertility left.  Nor have I been working on the DP essays.  As usual, I've been living my paganism and letting the things that I have learned sink in.  Take root and all that.  I've also been studying and practicing seidr.  I just finished studying Volva Stav Manual by Kari Tauring, and boy does she talk a lot about trinities--things in 3's--and I just kept thinking about the parallels of 3's in ADF Druidry.  I don't have much to talk about, other than just me reflecting on the various 3s and trinities in both subjects.  Things that require more thought, perhaps?

No, I think I wanted to talk about Yule and the upcoming family rituals we have going on.  Normally, December is a month of Yule for us, due to my up and down spoon levels.  I love this time of the year, but it is exhausting for me, too.  Then add grief on top of that, and oooffff!  

I'd like to do a 12 Days of Yule thing one of these years, but this year may not be it.  So I stay focused on what is more likely for us.  

• Yule Eve - Reading of my Yule Goat story to our kids. Yule Eve gifts.  We make and wear goat masks for Krampus and the Yule Goat, and dance with jingle wands to build the magik.  Giving offerings of whiskey, mead, carrots, and oatmeal to Odin, Sleipnir, Krampus, Yule Goat and Tomten/Nisse.
• Yule Day - Stockings, Special Sun themed Breakfast, Gift Exchange, baking reindeer cookies or cake cakes, Reindeer Mother Ritual and decorating those reindeer snacks with yellow icing, giving Reindeer Mother and Sunna the best cookie/cake as offering.
• Christmas Eve - Mother's Night - Honoring the Mother Goddesses and our Disir.
• Christmas Day - Polar Express movie night with special holiday cookies and hot chocolate.
• New Years Eve - Burning the Yule Stick Bundle.

These are pretty much set in stone at this point, as we've celebrated them consistently since the kids were toddlers.  Sometime I do other rituals without the family, like honoring certain deities and the Alfar--male ancestors.  But we're usually doing various crafts and activities like game nights.  Winter Break is also a no technology period for the kids (minus talking with friends).  

All month long and throughout winter, I read them pagan and non children's books about the season, entities, and traditions of other cultures and spiritual paths.  This week, I started reading Once Around the Sun by Ellen Evert Hopman, and it has different stories and activities for pagan family's throughout the year.  I'm excited to share a story about the Nisse and Sunna this week.

We also tend to listen to a lot of holiday music, pagan and other.

But the Reindeer Mother Ritual is one that we tend to really look forward to.  I tell the kids about the Solar and Deer Deities like Sunna, Elen of the Ways and Reindeer Woman/Mother.  I tell them my story, too.  We bake reindeer and sun shaped cookies or mini cakes.  We have a wonderful ritual honoring Reindeer Mother and Sunna, as they travel from ground to the sky throughout the year--which scientifically matches up with how the sun travels across our skies.  We decorate the cookies/cakes with yellow icing and sprinkles.  The kids pick the best one to give as offerings.

This year I'm hoping to make an ADF style Reindeer Mother Ritual script, since I was deep in grief last year and didn't have the spoons for it.  

- Hearth Keeper and Dedicant, Foxlyn