Month: December 2016

The meaning of the white feather is revealed in our story of the Visitation told fully in Do You Like Jesus—Not the Church? The following is excerpted from Do You Like Jesus—Not the Church? Jesus: His True Message – Not the Lie of the Church.

Sher and I are living proof of past lives and reincarnation. And this proof was revealed by an archangel and two assisting angels—three energetic Otherworld beings unfolded as three massive pillars of light as answer to one of my prayers.

During the summer we always conduct longer-term apprentice trainings out in nature. This summer it was scheduled to be four days, beginning on Friday, August 1, and ending on Monday, August 4. The theme of the training was initiation, fear, and death and rebirth, including the experiential experiences of a twenty-four-hour solitary quest, a stone-built ceremonial death spiral, and bathing.

Since we mostly take novices into the outdoors, I always perform prayers for safety, love, and power before the trainings. This time I did a different prayer. Based on what I knew within my heart and my vision being the morning star, I prayed for a sign to be given of who I was in my last incarnation: “Let them see a sign knowing that I was [name stated].” I mentioned the name as people would recognize it today. I then let go of any expectations about the prayer. Little did I expect the sign—in reality, signs—that would be given.

Early on Sunday afternoon, August 3, 1997, the day of the angelic visitation, we experienced an otherworldly storm. One moment, the sky was crystal clear, tinged only with a few clouds, and in the next moment, the sky darkened into an ominous, swirling, bluish-black tempest. There was a pause of sound and movement as if a giant were holding its breath. And then…thunder, lightning, and rain. Torrents of rain fell as thunder boomed, and lightning struck all around my wife and me and our twelve apprentices. At the time, we didn’t know what to make of such an unusual natural occurrence.

Approximately eight hours later, with the appearance of the archangel[i] and two assisting angels as three immense pillars of light, the reason for the storm became apparent. The volume and intensity of the thunder and rain and the strength and force of the lightning that struck all around us was a purification of the earth and its elements. A major sanctification had taken place. And the angels could now unfold – see below for meaning.

At the visitation, as messengers of God and in answer to my prayer, the archangel and the two assisting angels announced who I had been in my past life and previous incarnation through their presence and the other signs that were shown along with their appearance.

Why is the Visitation Important?

The majority of people influenced by organized religion, especially Christianity and Islam, believe in a single lifetime on earth with reward in heaven or punishment in hell. There is no concept of reincarnation—a future life on earth. Thus, the rampant destruction of the earth, nature and its creatures, including us, all for power and money.

This dogmatic belief of a one-way ticket subtly insinuates that we are not responsible for the future well-being of the land or the earth and its creatures or future generations, as we will not reincarnate back on earth in a future time. As we are observing in this twenty-first century, this belief has opened a Pandora’s Box of ecological destruction.

If we look back in time, we discover that “by the 7th century the Church had rewritten Catholic dogma to obliterate most of the original teachings of esoteric Christian groups such as the Essenes…Most importantly, they edited out all references to the universal doctrine of reincarnation, a central theme throughout Eastern religion as well as Druidic and early Christian life.

“This had a profound effect on all succeeding ages. Before, people believed that their ancestors were still alive in the Otherworld, and that, like themselves, they would be reborn into the group or tribe to which they belonged. In this way, warriors felt it an honour to die in order to protect their people. But there was a deeper responsibility; if you were to be reborn, then the land must be preserved not only for your children, but for yourself when you returned. Short-term exploitation would have been inconceivable. You and your children were, in a very real sense, the land.

“The replacement of this with a ‘one-way trip’ to heaven or hell forever changed people’s attitude as it permeated into everyday life. Under this doctrine that this life was the only one you were ever going to experience, it eventually became acceptable to seize as much as was possible in the short time available. The development of this impulse in recent times may be held to be directly responsible for many of the critical dilemmas facing the world today…

“How far we have come from the ways of antiquity can be shown by our approach to the land in which we live. Today we think nothing of changing the essential features of the countryside in an effort to maximize the yield we may achieve from it or to make living more efficient, even if it blights the lives of those around and has unforeseen and unknowable consequences.”[ii]

The Effect of the Visitation on Spiritual, Philosophical, or Religious Knowledge

The visitation was a sensory, materialistic, firsthand experience witnessed by twelve apprentices and my wife and me. In other words, we experienced something that few, if any, humans can only believe in and not know. The majority of humanity’s spiritual, philosophical, or religious belief is based on secondhand knowledge, either written or oral, from others who have also based their belief on secondhand, thirdhand, and further-removed oral or written knowledge. For example, the Bible.

This miraculous happening opened the gateway to knowing certain truths concerning spiritual, philosophical, or religious beliefs. I will attempt to lay them out as best as I can. One further note: I believe that the visitation provides Occam’s razor validation for some aspects of physicist David Bohm’s theories.

Knowledge: The Interconnection and Interpenetration of Consciousness throughout the Seen and Unseen Universe

• David Bohm theorized a new reality of the universe. This reality he named the Implicate Order—the hidden aspect of the universe. “The theory of the Implicate Order contains an ultra-holistic cosmic view; it connects everything with everything else. In principle, any individual element could reveal ‘detailed information about every other element in the universe.’ The central underlying theme of Bohm’s theory is the ‘unbroken wholeness of the totality of existence as an undivided flowing movement without borders.’”[iii] In other words, “within the Implicate Order everything is connected; and, in theory, any individual element could reveal information about every other element in the universe.”[iv]
• Bohm named the known or visible universe or manifest world the “explicate order.” In the Implicate Order, “everything is enfolded into everything. This is in contrast to the explicate order where things are unfolded.”[v]
• The visitation would provide proof of Bohm’s theory, as the physical appearance of the angels (immense pillars of light) was due to my prayer. For the angels to respond while in the Implicate Order, they would have to have received the information from me in the explicate order.[vi]
• After the intense, unusual storm, they were present in the afternoon but hidden[vii] while they were still in a layer of the Implicate Order. It was only in the evening that they became visible to us in the explicate order. In Bohm’s terms—until they unfolded.

Knowledge: Reincarnation

• Based on what I knew within my heart and my vision as the morning star, I prayed for a sign to be given of who I was in my last incarnation: “Let them see a sign knowing that I was [name stated].” I mentioned the name as people would recognize it today.
• The angels, as well as other signs, responding to my prayer indicate that I was alive before in a different body, place, and time. I am no different from anyone else. If I have had a past life (lives), everyone else has had a past life. This is proof, as far as we can take it, considering we are attempting to prove the unprovable mysteries of life and creation, that our lives on earth are not a one-shot deal with a result of heaven, hell, or oblivion waiting for us.
• But it is an ongoing death-and-rebirth evolution of our souls—our golden DNA or divine spark or starlight.

Knowledge (the Most Obvious)

• Sentient beings, which humanity has named angels, physically exist even though they are usually hidden from sight while they remain in Bohm’s Implicate Order. This leads to a conclusion that other sentient beings exist, such as faeries and, in Iceland, the hidden ones. But once again they are in the Implicate Order and hidden from our senses and sight. 

  May Peace Be Upon You This Season and All Seasons

  JC

[i] The archangel was Mikael, known to most as the archangel Michael.

[ii] Paul Broadhurst, Tintagel and the Arthurian Myths, 99–100.

[iii] Beatrix Murrell, http://www.bizcharts.com/stoa_del_sol/plenum/plenum_3.html.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Bohm’s theory of the implicate order stresses that the cosmos is in a state of process. Bohm’s cosmos is a “feedback” universe that continuously recycles forward into a greater mode of being and consciousness.

[vii] One of our apprentices took a picture of me during the day while we finished building the stone death spiral. No one saw what the camera picked up. The picture is not of pillars of light. It is an intense and immense light off to my left in the woods with two globes of light suspended above. The light has a shape almost like a sword in its center with golden rays coming off of it. It’s been verified that it is not a reflection of the lens of the instant camera that took the picture.

Historically and spiritually, this is the month (at the time of the winter solstice) of the mythical birth of the light-bringers. These are the messengers of love and light—the hero-shamans that first brought the knowledge of the fire of the heavens, the knowledge of the light in the darkness, to all of humanity. These heroic messengers of light are born of the Virgin—the constellation Virgo. In the heavens Virgo is a Y-shaped group of stars resembling a cup that just happens to rise in the Eastern sky at this most spiritual time of the year. This is the mythic Holy Grail, the Cup of Light, the Bowl of Love that is Light—all the key to the metaphoric message of these virgin light-bringers—that the sun, the spiritual sun, is contained within all beings and all living things. This is the message that institutionalized religions do not want humanity to hear: that each one of us, like the light-bringers, is also a virginal vessel of love and light. No inborn sin here, just intrinsic love and light.

Thus, the winter solstice presents us with the opportunity to honor and to reveal (revelation—lifting the veil) this prime mystery of life. This is the time to honor these heroic messengers and to pay homage to the metaphoric moment of their “virgin birth” (based on the positioning of the constellation Virgo not on an actual physical birth—the actual birth of the prophets and messengers such as Jesus was late summer, early fall under the astrological sign of the Virgin-Virgo). In addition, it is the occasion to celebrate the gift of fire and the return of the light foretelling the truth of eternal love and life.

The ancient winter solstice, which was celebrated on December 25, signified the rebirth of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus). At this point in the year the days grow longer and light re-enters the world. This solstice celebration is permanently rooted in both the fabric of the natural world and the core essence of human nature!

But, it was not until the middle of the fourth century that the winter solstice came to be accepted as a Christian festival and even today, many people are un-enlightened to the roots of Christmas and all of its trappings, such as the Christmas Tree. This symbol of the Tree of Life began with the ancient shamans and the Indo-European spiritual practice of cutting down a living tree and erecting it within the home or community center at the time of the “dark,” the Winter Solstice. This was in celebration of the return of the sun and to symbolize regeneration and new life.

However even pre-dating this time, during the dawn of humanity, we find the roots of the Tree of Life as well as one of the earliest myths—the “theft of fire” and the reality of humankind’s first attempt at controlling nature through knowledge. In short order the earliest religious guide and leaders, the shamans, having received this great gift of spiritual power and knowledge—fire, realized that nature could not really be controlled, but could only be harmonized, through a partnership of the people and the great Earth Mother. In a ritual and ceremony of forgiveness for the “theft of fire” (think of a lightning struck tree), the shaman would select the proper tree, decorate it with gifts and, with the community looking on, set it on fire. And thus, the shaman became recognized as the “flame-man” or “keeper of the fire.” Of course this yearly ceremony would take place on the longest night of the year. This Tree of Fire, or Tree of Life, was accordingly the earliest form of our Christmas Tree.

Today, you and I are the recipients of this great legacy—one of fire and spiritual knowledge,

During this holiday season, and considering current and past events, an urgent return to a green philosophy is needed. This is an egalitarian philosophy of humanity’s partnership with the seen and unseen things of the earth and nature—a green philosophy. Furthermore, society has lost many of the values treasured by past indigenous cultures, such as a partnership with nature, truth telling, and elder/ancestor respect and honor. We need to discover meaning in life—not accumulate money and material things. The equality of men and women as well as the equality of all things—as all have the starlight/divine spark within them—needs to be reinstated. These and other lost values need to be reinstated throughout this earth. Nature needs to be respected, loved and cared for by humanity. We need to be partners in relationship with nature, not its stewards.

Honor this season of goodwill and joy by practicing and embracing a green philosophy while spreading light and love to all who you encounter-each day and every day of the year.

Happy Solstice

 

My Tale of the Winter Solstice

My Sons and Daughters; my Brothers and Sisters; let me share a tale of life. My tale begins at a time of the earliest time when we as humans marveled and blessed the passage of the sun and the moon through the heavens. Their passage provided us with warmth and light and the hopeful knowing that their passage was eternal. Many years progressed and as is too often the case, the humans took for granted the sun and the moon’s passage and seldom raised their voices in thanks or gratitude.

The sun was perplexed in this behavior exhibited by this new race. “My dear partner,” said the sun to the moon. “This race is very self-centered and only care about themselves. I think I will cut short my daily visits.”

“Don’t be too hard on them,” replied the moon. “They are only babies and new to all of this. Your light can sometimes be too strong and burn things. My light is soothing and a comfort to them during your sleep time.”

“I think you are too soothing,” replied husband sun.

“But you like my light that enfolds you while you sleep.”

“Yes, you are right. I will only reduce my light slowly. And we will see what will happen.”

The humans didn’t think much about shorten days but went about business as usual. And the light of days shorten and the nights lengthen. As the days got shorter and shorter the humans began to panic and still could only think about themselves.

Finally the day arrived when the light of day was very short.

“My dear partner,” said the sun to the moon. “The humans have not learned. I am not going to move any more. I will set still. And they will have to put up with only a little of my light and warmth.”

“Husband, that is cruel. They know no better,” replied the moon.

“Well that’s their problem not mine…”

“But there are the children. They have blessed and thanked me every night. And I know they have done the same with you. Is that not enough from the humans?”

“No,” replied the sun. “Let them deal with only a few hours of light a day and see how they like it. I am sitting still. And do not whisper to those children how to get me to move again.”

The moon, being the moon, knew that her husband was just hurt because he was not appreciated. She loved him but he could be stubborn. So as is sometimes typical of the moon, she still went against her husband’s wishes and whispered to the children in their dreams.

For three days the sun never moved and the humans were in great fear and did not know what to do.

But there were two little children, a brother and a sister who witnessed the joy and magic of life while the adults seemed to express little joy and only went about their routine activities of living. Over the years they had tried to tell the adults about the magic and joy of life. But to no avail.

The adults were scared but the children knew what the problem was and the solution to it. The moon had told them in their dreams. Their wisdom was of the magic and joy of life even though they were only children.

The humans had always wondered about the brother and sister. They knew they were different, but still did not pay any attention to them.

Because the humans were in so much fear they finally decided to listen to the children when they approached the adults. The day was dark and foreboding as the sun was not shining through a thick layer of clouds. The sun had taken a nap and had asked the moon to cover him so he could sleep and deprive the humans of even more of his light. The moon had agreed a little too easily and the sun was suspicious but still decided to nap. The moon just smiled….

“Life is not all work,” the children said to the adults while holding hands. “Life is magic and joy. We know the problem. The sun is upset and angry. You have taken it for granted that it would always provide light. The moon came to us in our dreams and told us what to do. You must just give blessings and gratitude to the sun and it will move once again. And the days will get longer once again.”

One particularly arrogant adult said, “What nonsense. These are only little children. What do they know? The moon talking to them is stupid and impossible. And our solution is as simple as saying thank you and expressing gratefulness.…”

At that moment, the moon knew what to do. She opened a small section of her blanket that was covering the sun; and a beam of his light busted through the clouds and fell on the children.

A miracle was set before the adults.

The light only lasted a few seconds and then it was gone. The day was once again dark and dreary.

Silence reigned as the adults were in awe of this magic of life.

For many millenniums humans remembered the little children and gave daily blessing and thanks to the sun and moon and all of nature. But gradually the memory faded and the adults lost the magic and joy of life. And the sun is once again considering not moving.

How will my tale end? The ending is not mine to say.

The ending is up to all of you.

 

 

The following is excerpted: Do You Like Jesus—Not the Church? Jesus: His True Message Not the Lie of Christianity

Knowledge is power. In addition, I believe that knowledge and experience result in wisdom and truth: “know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Blindly believing, in my opinion, does not set you free but only imprisons you in a fortress of lies. Knowledge is freedom, choice, and movement, while ignorance is imprisonment and stagnation. Rev. Dr. J. Clifford profoundly put it this way: “It is not the truth that suffers from the most searching investigation; they suffer who will not undertake it; and who would hinder others from seeking it.” (Ignatius Singer, The Rival Philosophies of Jesus and of Paul, 14.)

The virgin birth of Jesus was one of the lies promoted by the church. This supposedly occurred at the time of the winter solstice (by the Julian calendar, December 25), which was the indigenous Roman celebration and rite of Saturnian. The Church of Rome not only wanted the people to spend money on their celebration and not on the pagan Saturnian, but also wanted to convert people to their “new religion.”

To this day a virgin birth, a birth not mythological or symbolic, still defies reason, logic, and the natural laws of creation. But the lie of the virgin birth of Jesus helped recruit new converts to the “one and only” true religion, promoting “Jesus as God.”

Jesus was born under a major heavenly configuration with the conjunction of two major planets that figured significantly in Judaism. These were the planets Jupiter and Venus—they were in close conjunction, and from the earth they looked like one bright star.

Jupiter was associated with the birth of kings and therefore called the king planet, and Venus was called Meleket ha-Shamayim, the queen of heaven, in Jeremiah 7:18 and was associated with fertility. In the Talmud Zedek refers to Jupiter, which also has the meaning of righteousness or justice. These two planets were known by astrologers as the Greater and the Lesser Good Fortunes of all the planets. Accordingly, the signs in heaven have presented to us the union of the king and queen, announcing the birth of the prince, the righteous one—Jesus.

Not only was Jesus born under the sacred marriage of the king and queen, but his descending-spirit vision was of the morning star (the dove of Venus). This is confirmed in the final verses of the New Testament in Revelations: “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and Morning Star” (Rev. 22:16). Was Jesus virgin born? Yes. His mother was not a virgin, but Jesus was born under the sign of the virgin—the constellation Virgo. In other words, his sun was in Virgo, and he would be a son of the virgin—Virgo. Furthermore, he was born under a new moon—symbolic of the virgin. A new moon and Virgo: “Even today, astrologers recognize that the sign of Virgo is the one which has reference to a messianic world ruler to be born from a virgin.” (Ernest L. Martin, “Astronomy and the Birth of Jesus: Scripturally Connected by Mt. 24:30 and Rev. 12:1-2,” http://deeperwalk.lefora.com/2010/07/03/the-astronomical-sign-of-the-son-of-man/.)

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars…” (Revelations 12:1 [King James Version])

“The essential factor in interpreting the symbol of Revelation 12:1–5 is the identification of the woman…the woman in the first three verses is featured as being in heaven and both the Sun and the Moon are in association with her…the important factor is the birth of the man-child and the Woman’s relationship with the heavenly signs while she is symbolically in heaven. (The first three verses of Revelation 12 shows the Sun clothing her, the Moon under her feet and the Twelve Stars on her head)

“The ‘birth’ of the Messiah is associated with this heavenly spectacle… “Since the Sun and Moon are amidst or in line with the body of this woman, she could be, in a symbolic way, a constellation located within the normal paths of the Sun and Moon. The only sign of a woman which exists along the ecliptic (the track of the Sun in its journey through the stars) is that of Virgo the Virgin. She occupies, in body form, a space of about 50 degrees along the ecliptic. The head of the woman actually bridges some 10 degrees into the previous sign of Leo and her feet overlap about 10 degrees into the following sign of Libra, the Scales. In the period of Jesus’s birth, the Sun entered in its annual course through the heavens into the head position of the woman about August 13, and exited from her feet about October 2. But the apostle John saw the scene when the Sun was ‘clothing’ or ‘adorning’ the woman. This surely indicates that the position of the Sun in the vision was located somewhere mid-bodied to the woman, between the neck and the knees…

“The only time in the year that the Sun could be in a position to ‘clothe’ the celestial woman called Virgo (that is, to be mid-bodied to her, in the region where a pregnant woman carries a child) is when the Sun is located between about 150 and 170 degrees along the ecliptic. This ‘clothing’ of the woman by the Sun occurs for a 20-day period each year. This 20 degree spread could indicate the general time when Jesus was born. In 3 B.C.E., the Sun would have entered this celestial region about August 27 and exited from it about September 15…

“This heavenly woman called Virgo is normally depicted as a virgin holding in her right hand a green branch and in her left hand a sprig of grain. In the Hebrew Zodiac, she at first (in the time of David) denoted Ruth who was gleaning in the fields of Boaz. She then later became the Virgin when the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 was given in the time of King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah. This Virgin held in her left hand a sprig of grain. This was precisely where the bright star called Spica is found. Indeed, the chief star of the constellation Virgo is Spica. “Bullinger, in his book The Witness of the Stars (29–34), said that the word ‘Spica’ has, through the Arabic, the meaning ‘the branch’ and that it symbolically refers to Jesus who was prophetically called ‘the Branch’ in Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12. And Bullinger (and Seiss in his book The Gospel in the Stars) maintains that this sign of Virgo designates the heavenly witness for the birth of the Messiah (Jesus).

“Jesus was born in early evening, and Revelation 12 shows it was a New Moon day.

“What New Moon could this have been? The answer is most amazing. It is almost too amazing! September 11, 3 B.C.E. was Tishri One on the Jewish calendar. To Jewish people this would have been a very profound occasion indeed. Tishri One is none other than the Jewish New Year’s Day (Rosh ha-Shanah, or as the Bible calls it, The Day of Trumpets Leviticus 23:23–26). It was an important annual holy day of the Jews (but not one of the three annual festivals that required all Palestinian Jews to be in Jerusalem).

“What a significant day for the appearance of the Messiah to arrive on earth from the Jewish point of view! And remarkably, no other day of the year could astronomically fit Revelation 12:1–3. The apostle John is certainly showing forth an astronomical sign which answers precisely with the Jewish New Year Day. John would have realized the significance of this astronomical scene that he was describing” (Ernest L. Martin, “Astronomy and the Birth of Jesus: Scripturally Connected by Mt. 24:30 and Rev. 12:1–2,” http://deeperwalk.lefora.com/2010/07/03/the-astronomical-sign-of-the-son-of-man/).

 

Yule, the Winter Solstice and Christmas are times of joy and celebration. It is a time of angels, an occasion for presents, a colorful moment of the red and the green, a time of evergreens and holly and the opportunity to remember the first gifting—the mythic gifting to humanity from the lightning serpents. This is my most favorite time of the year.

The word Yule comes from the Old Norse ‘Jól,’ meaning wheel, and refers to the ‘wheel of the year.’ It was a celebration of the return of light and thus life itself. Associated with Yule is the ceremonial toast of “drinking Yule,” which is an important custom. These toasts are called “full” – simply meaning full – and alludes to the full horn (or other vessel) being emptied. The first full is for Óðinn for coming victories and success in the coming year. The second full is for Freyr and Njörðr – for the comings year’s harvest (not only in an agrarian sense) and wellbeing. It was also customary for anyone who felt for it, to call out Bragi’s full (Bragi Norse god of poetry and eloquence) – made for any special promise or vow they wished to make in front of the attending crowd, to be accomplish during the following year. A last toast – minni – (minni means memory) is called out for the remembrance and honor of deceased comrades or family members.

“I am man’s treasure, taken from the woods,

Cliff-sides, hill-slopes, valleys, downs;

By day wings bear me in the buzzing air,

Slip me under a sheltering roof-sweet craft.

Soon a man bears me to a tub. Bathed,

I am binder and scourge of men, bring down

The young, ravage the old, sap strength.

Soon he discovers who wrestles with me

My fierce body-rush-I roll fools

Flush on the ground. Robbed of strength,

Reckless of speech, a man knows no power

Over hands, feet, mind. Who am I who bind

Men on middle-earth, blinding with rage

Fools know my dark power by daylight?” (Riddle 25 of the Exeter Book)[i]

This tradition of “drinking Yule” is different from the sacred ceremony of Sumbl: Gathering or Coming Together of Ale (alu)—drinking, speech making and gift giving.

The physical symbolism of Sumbl: at the heart of Norse cosmology is Yggdrasill (an ash/yew tree at the center of the universe) and Urðarbrunnr, Urð’s Well, at its base, Volsupa and Gylfanning both tell us it is at this well that the Nornir determine the fate and lives of men and decide law. The liquid inside the horn or cup/mug, passed from person to person is symbolic of the water of Urð’s Well.

The Winter Solstice, the second night of Yule, is the time from our perspective when the sun seems to stand still. For approximately three days, it appears that the sun does not move. The Winter Solstice marks the time of the longest dark and the shortest light. Symbolically, it portrays, on this darkest of nights, the goddess as the “great mother” giving birth to the young-hero god—the sun god. This is the symbolic birth of the messenger of light. It is the darkest time of the year, the time of the longest night, but there is always the everlasting promise and hope of the return of light. And watching over this eternal process of the virgin birth (Virgo on the eastern horizon) is the Sun Angel—the Archangel Mikael.

This is a time of holly and mistletoe. Both symbolize fertility – the mistletoe berries are white, representing the semen of the god, and the holly berries are blood red, symbolizing the menstrual blood of the goddess.

Decorations during this seasonal celebration are excellent symbols of spiritual truths. The following are just a few:

• Candles and Lights – remembrance of the gift of fire and light and the divine spark (starlight) within.
• Mistletoe (seed of the divine) and Holly symbolizing and honoring the faëries and hidden Ones.
• Evergreen Wreaths – Symbolize eternal life, immortality and the wheel of time, add pine cones, which symbolize the pineal gland as well male and female and the DNA of life; add mistletoe and holly with berries and you have the sacred semen of the male and the sacred blood of the female.
• Evergreen Swags – Symbolize eternal life and when put into the shape of the serpent with lights symbolizes death and rebirth, reincarnation, and wakefulness to these truths. It’s important to put a swag over the threshold of your home if possible.
• Yule Log – a phallic symbol – newborn sun can be decorated with holly, mistletoe, and evergreens to represent the intertwining of the god and goddess. The log may be cut into 12 pieces and burnt each night of Yule. Additionally, on the night of Yule, carve a symbol of your hopes for the coming year into the log. Burn the log to release its power. It can be decorated with burnable red ribbons of natural fiber and dried holly leaves.
• Julbock or “Yule Goat” was the bringer of gifts to the household. Symbolically represents the goats of Þórr and the gifting of resurrection (rebirth). (Research to discover why)
• Evergreen Christmas Tree – Symbolizes the Tree of Life/Light – needs to be alive, honored and lighted and decorated symbolizing the joy of life.

  Symbolically the Tree of Life is the central axis of creation. Microcosmically, each one of us is born with this central tree (axis mundi) of light/life (spine), which shortly after becomes the tree of knowledge—of duality—good and evil. Our ever-born quest is to return to our original tree of knowledge of oneness (light/life) within us – our spine. This is an excellent time to dedicate or re-dedicate one’s life to the divine quest of awakening.[ii]

[i] “Mead”

[ii] Fundamentally, awakening is “a way of collapsing the distance between mind and enlightened mind, and thus, abolishing the dualism that is itself the stuff of delusion.”