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.”