Yule

Yule(December 22nd)

�� This time of year is a time of mixed emotions for pagans.� As we look around us we see celebrations that are not a part of our traditions, but we know that their forms come from ancient pagan practices.� Christmas is one example.� Christmas involves virgin births, decorated trees, festive lights, feasting, wreaths, bells, and fragrant fires.� These practices originated in and are still a part of pagan Midwinter observances.

�� As the Wheel of the Year brings us to Yule, the god is reborn of the Virgin Goddess.� The Christmas Nativity story is the Christian version of the theme of the Sun's rebirth.� What makes this more interesting is that the birthday of Jesus is undated in the Gospels.� It wasn't until (273 AD) that the Church took the symbolically sensible step of setting the date at Midwinter.� Saint Chrysostum, the Archbishop of Constantinople, explained a century later "the Nativity had been so fixed in order that while heathens were busied with their profane rites, the Christians might perform their holy ones without disturbances."� Let's take a look at those words, "profane" and "holy".� The use of these words, quite truthfully, depends on who is using them.� I say this because both pagans and Christians were celebrating the same thing:� the turning of the year's tide from darkness towards light.� In our belief, the god is represented by the sun which returns after this darkest night, the solstice, of the year to again bring warmth and fertility to the land.

�� There are many aspects of present day Christmas celebrations which have their roots in pagan tradition, besides the virgin birth.� The lights that you see on houses and trees is a modern version of the pagan custom of lighting candles and fires as accts of sympathetic magick to lure back the waning sun.� It is still a custom in Ireland and Norway to leave house lights burning throughout the night of Yule to lure back the sun and to honor the Virgin Goddess who gives him birth.

�� The word virgin, greatly associated with this Sabbat and the Christian holiday equivalent, is a word which was mistranslated and misrepresented by the early church.� The term first applied to priestesses in Mediterranean temples.� The word virgin was a woman who was a complete entity unto herself, who was not bound by secular law, had no husband, and was free to take all the lovers she chose.� She needed nothing or no one else for completeness.� Se was said to be intact, a virgin.� Paganism remembers the old meaning of the word when the Goddess, a complete and whole being unto herself, gives birth to her son, the god, who later becomes her lover at the Spring Sabbats and also the father of his next Yule incarnation.� Yule marks the death and rebirth of the Sun God; it also marks the vanquishing of the Holly King, the God of the waning year, by the Oak King, God of the waxing year.� The Goddess, who was Death-in-Life at Midsummer, now shows her Life-in-Death aspect.

�� Yule is the most widely celebrated of all the Sabbats because of the ways its customs and lore have been borrowed by many different cultures and mainstream religions.� Some anthropologists believe that Yule was first celebrated as a religious festival about 12,000 to 13,000 years ago.� Its importance to early humans was obvious.� As the nights grew darker and longer, the days colder and shorter, it was extremely important to them that the sun be lured back to the earth.� The festival was important because it kept people in tune with the cycle of the seasons.

�� Yule was of primary importance in the Norse and Roman traditions.� It is from these cultures that many of our modern Yule customs originate.� This was the time of the New Year, when the Goddess turned the Wheel of the Year to its beginning point once again.� The word Yule comes from the old Norse word Iul which means Wheel.� It is often referred to as Hweolor-tid, the Turning Time.� The Norse tradition considered Yule a twelve night long celebration.� The first night, the Eve of Yule, the night before the Solstice, is called Mother Night.� It is a night when pagans stay up and await the rebirth of their Sun Goddess, Freya.� They also consider it a night for spirit contact and celebration with their ancestors, much the same as the common practice for the Sabbat Samhain.� The Norse Goddess, Holde, the guardian of the spirit world, opens her doors at Yule to all sincere seekers.� The final night is called Twelfth Night.� It was so celebrated that it was almost considered a ninth Sabbat on their calendar.� The popular song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" appears to have its roots in both Norse and Celtic Yule customs.� One closely related, yet vastly older, Scottish nursery rhyme called, "The Thirteen Yule Days", shows this connection.� This poem tells of a Scottish King's gifts to his lady love, during each of the Yule celebratory days.� You'll notice that the number three is used extensively as it is a sacred number to the Celts.� It goes like this...

�� Day 1:� A Papingoe

�� Day 2:� Three Partridges

�� Day 3:� Three Plovers (A Game Bird)

�� Day 4:� A Grey Goose

�� Day 5:� Three Starlings

�� Day 6:� Three Goldspinks

�� Day 7:� A brown Bull

�� Day 8:� three Merry Ducks a-Laying

�� Day 9:� Three Swans a-Merry Swimming

�� Day 10:� An Arabian Baboon

�� Day 11:� Three Hind (Hounds) Merry Hunting

�� Day 12:� Three Maids Merry Dancing

�� Day 13:� Three Stalks of Corn

As I mentioned briefly earlier, I discussed the Oak King and Holly King.� The Goddess presides over this theme.� In Yuletime mumming plays, there are several examples of this conflict.� St. George is said to have killed the dark Turkish Knight and then immediately cried out that he had killed his brother.� Darkness and Light, Winter and Summer, are complimentary to each other.� So on comes the Mysterious doctor with his magickal bottle who revives the slain man.� There are many variations of this play but the theme remains common.

There are times that the harmonious balance of the light (Oak King) and the dark (Holly King) twins, have been distorted into the concept of good versus evil.� At Dewsbury in Yorkshire England, it has been customary, for the past seven hundred years, that the church bells tolled "the Devil's Knell" or "the Old Lad's Passing" for the last hour of Christmas Eve, warning the Prince of Evil that the Prince of Peace is coming to destroy him.� This, on the surface, appears to be a worthy custom, but in truth, showed a sad degradation of the Holly King.� In keeping with this, the popular name Old Nick for the devil reflects the same demotion.� Nik was a name for Woden, who is very much a Holly King figure.� Santa Claus is as well, also known as Saint Nicholas.� In early folklore he didn't ride reindeer, but a white horse through the sky, as did Woden.� Nik, the God of the Waning Year, has been Christianized in two forms; as Satan and as the jolliest of the saints.� It is interesting to note, that in Italy, Santa Claus's place is taken by a witch, a female.� She is called Befana (Epiphany).� She is said to fly around on her broomstick on the twelfth night, bringing gifts for children down the chimneys.

An extraordinary, yet persistent version of the Holly/Oak King theme is the ritual hunting of the wren.� This folklore tradition is found as far apart in time and space as ancient Greece and Rome to today's British Isles.� The wren or little king of the Waning Year is killed by the Waxing Year counterpart, the robin red-breast, who finds him in hiding in an ivy or holly bush.� The robin's tree is birch.� In the acted out ritual, men hunted the wren using birch rods.

In ancient Egypt, the Winter Solstice was not only a time to celebrate the rebirth of their Sun God, Ra, but to commemorate the creation of the universe as well.� In mythology it is taught that in the beginning there was nothing but Nun, the primordial black sea of chaos, which is often likened to the womb of the Mother Goddess.� From this ocean of unrest Ra was born, who in turn gave birth to the other deities.� After this, it was said that Ra cried the dark tears given to him by Nun.� Each tear became the many women and men of Egypt.� If it rained on the eve of the Solstice, it was considered to be a special blessing from Ra.

Another story from Egyptian folklore portrays a ritual in which Isis circled the shrine of Osiris seven times, to represent her mourning for him and her wanderings in search of his scattered body parts.� Typhon or Set, the brother/enemy who had killed Osiris was driven away by the shaking of Isis's cistern, to bring about his rebirth.� Isis was represented by the image of a cow with the sun-disc between its horns.� As part of this festival, people would decorate the outside of their homes with oil-lamps which would burn all night.� At midnight, the priests emerged from an inner shrine crying "The virgin has brought forth!� The light is waxing!" while showing the image of a baby to the worshippers.� The final entombment of the dead Osiris was on the 21st of December, after his long mummification ritual, which began coincidentally at Samhain.� On the 23rd of December Osiris's sister/wife Isis gave birth to his son/other self Horus.� Osiris and Horus represent, at the same time, the solar and vegetational God aspects.� Horus is both eh reborn sun, referred to by the Greeks as Apollo, and the "Lord of the Crops".� Horus is also known as "Bull of Thy Mother" to remind us that the God-Child of the goddess will later become her lover and impregnator.� The lamps burning all night on Midwinter's Eve have evolved into the present day custom of the single-lighted candle in the window on Christmas Eve.� This candle is usually lit by the youngest in the household and symbolized the microcosmic welcome to the macrocosm, not unlike the extra place laid at a Jewish family's Pesach table.

Earlier in this discussion I listed items associated with present-day Christmas celebration and told you that they evolved from Pagan belief and practice.� One of these was the wreath.� The Wheel of the Year is often symbolized by the wreath.� There is ample archeological evidence to support the fact that they have been used in this symbolic way for more than 4,000 years.� Its circle has no beginning or end, like the Wheel of the Year.� Wreaths came to be used at Christmas through the influence of Scandinavian Pagans who hung them at Yule to commemorate a new beginning of the ever-moving cycle of life.� In Sweden, it is still customary for a young woman to wear a lighted wreath to the ritual space.� This custom now is largely observed by Pagans at Imbolg in February.

Because the symbolism of the wheel was so important t this Sabbat, it became a day sacred to Goddesses of the spinning wheel.� In this instance, the spinning wheel is a metaphor for the great Wheel of the Year over which the Goddess has control.� The idea of spinning to create things anew has come into modern Paganism in the context of casting spells.� Often, when we are making magick, we say we are spinning a spell or spinning a charm.

In Germany, the Goddess was symbolically demoted to witchy-woman, called Frau Holde.� She was believed to ride on the wind in a sleigh on Yule Eve and would give gifts of gold to her faithful followers.� She especially awarded fine spinners of cloth.� On this night, no rotary action of any kind was permitted.� People had to walk or travel by sleigh.� They could not spin, run their mills or mortars, or use any watches or clocks having round mechanisms.� All use of any wheel was reserved for Frau Holde.� Even in present day Germany the symbol of the wheel is not forgotten.� The rolling of the giant wreath, now called the Saint Catherine's Wheel, recalls an old pagan custom which involved sympathetic magick to lure the sun's return to the earth.� A giant four-spoked wheel was created and an effigy of a human being is bound, spread eagle, to the spokes.� The wheel was then set on fire and rolled down a high hill.� The symbols of fire, the wreath, and the wheel were evident; the use of the human figure is not.� It is believed that it may date back to a time when human sacrifices were made to plea for the suns return.� Probably associated with ancient Druidic or Celtic custom.

Yule was once a more important holiday for honoring the Sun God than was Midsummer in some traditions.� To our ancestors, winter was perceived as a time of death.� Our Great Mother Earth was barren, shelter was drafty, disease was common, and food was scarce.� Looking back it is easy to see why our ancestors made the sun the symbol of the God.� As the god fertilized the Goddess for his eventual rebirth at Yule, the sun fertilized the earth to make her fruitful.� This observance and its meaning were so deeply a part of human belief that the early church felt forced to move its Christmas celebration from August to December so that is would be accepted.

One of the most persistently venerate of all the reborn Sun Gods was Mithras.� His cult spread far beyond his native Rome to Greece, Persia, Egypt, and Asia Minor.� The Winter Solstice was called Notalis Solis Invicti, or the Birthday of the Invincible Sun.� Some scholars argue that the Pagan cults who worshipped Mithras might have been as wide-spread and well-known as present-day Christianity is.� It is no accident that some myths which surround him are similar to the Judeo-Christian ones surrounding Jesus.� For example, both were born in a barn to a virgin mother, both were considered the sun (son) personified, both were the child of the God of all Gods, and both of their followers continually pray for their return, which would herald new life and life eternal for all humankind.

Other Yule traditions have been saved from disappearing thanks primarily to the usurping of Yule by Christian theology.� Looking in any book on Christmas customs, you can't help but find many Pagan traditions.� The tradition of Yuletide gift giving originated with Roman Pagans who called the time of Yule, Saturnalia, a festival to honor the god Saturn.� It was also a New Year's festival where gifts were given to honor the loved ones who had died during the previous year.� Early Roman explorers carried this tradition with them where it remained a part of the Yule celebration even after their departure.

The Norse used bells to herald in the dawn after the long, dark night.� A symbol of the Waning, then Waxing Sun at the Solstice.� The jingle bells we see today on sleighs, carriages, doors, etc. also came from the Norse who used them ritually to frighten away the powers of darkness that reach their peak at Yule.

In Swedish custom it was traditional for painted wooden roosters, long a symbol of the Sun Gods of Europe, to be used at this time as center-pieces on their Christmas tables.� In their Pagan past, the largest roosters were brought into the house on Yule Eve and given a place of honor throughout the next twelve days. The rooster ate with his host family, slept with them, and was treated like a little prince because he did represent, to them, the Sun God whose blessings they hoped to invoke.� He was fattened up during this time, and then on the twelfth night, he was killed and eaten.

The Romans would bathe themselves with gold coins on this Sabbat to absorb the energies of the gold so that they might be prosperous in the New Year.� Gold was sacred to their Sun God, Sol.� This practice is at the root of the Jewish custom of giving gold coins as gifts on Hanukah, their Festival of Light, which also falls near Yule.� From another roman Sun deity, Apollo, we get the tradition of hanging bay (an herb used for purification and symbol of the new-born god) around our homes at Yule.� Bay was sacred to this God and since he drove the chariot which boar the sun, it was important to honor him in order to persuade him to steer his course back to earth.� In nearly all of the Romance Languages, we can still see the vestiges of old Rome as they often refer to bay as the Laurel of Apollo.� This custom was later adopted by the Celts to bring the blessing of strength and health in the New Year.� Bayberry scented candles are still popular today.

Another culture which had celebrations at the time of Yule were the Native Americans of the Southwest, who called it Soyalanwul, which meant to bring new life to the world.� To aide the Sun's rebirth they would conduct a birthing ritual involving one person, wearing a Sun mask, who would crawl between the legs of the tribe's women.

Many Pagan cultures used fire as a symbol for the return of the Sun.� Many of them tended perpetual flames throughout the year which were then allowed to burn out at Yule Eve and then relit on the following morning.� This was to celebrate the victory of the Sun over darkness.� Some modern covens still follow this custom by placing a large, single, white candle inside an iron cauldron which is carefully watched throughout the year so as to not allow it to die out.� During Yule rituals, the candle is extinguished and then relit with joyous ceremony.

From my studies I have discovered that the Yule customs of the Celts are the most well-known to Westerners today.� They drew their practices from both Norse invaders and the Druids.� The Druids considered the Evergreen tree as manifestations of deity and as symbols of the universe as well.� To the Celts, these trees were sacred because they did not die; therefore they represented the eternal aspect of the goddess who also never dies.� Their lush greenery was symbolic of the hope for the Sun's return to green the Earth once again.� Their massive height symbolized eternity.� Their intricate root system, which directly correlated to the tree's height, associated them with the old magickal dage "As Above, So Below".� This means basically that what is the macrocosm, or the world outside our own, is also in the microcosm, or our world, and can be made manifest by us as tools of the deities.� It was from these beliefs that the tradition of decorating Yule trees, also known as Christmas trees evolved.� Celtic Druids decorated Evergreen trees at Yule with images of things they wished the New Year to hold for them.� Images of items to be used at future Sabbats, fruits for a successful harvest, love charms for happiness, nuts for fertility, and coins for wealth adorned the trees, which is another example of sympathetic magick.

In Scandinavian traditions, Yule trees were brought inside.� They wanted to provide a warm festive winter's resting place for the tree elementals that inhabited their woodlands and to entice native faery folk to participate in the solstice rituals. �Some Pagan scholars argue though the Yule tree traditions did not come from these cultures but from Southern German Pagans.� They believe this because the idea of the Christmas tree did not catch on in Great Britain until the Victorian Era, when the Queen's German Prince consort, Albert, brought the custom from his native country.� The German Saxons were first credited with the placing of lights, in the form of candles, upon the tree itself.� Christian legend states that the German Protestant leader, Martin Luther, in the early sixteenth century, began this modern Christmas tree custom after walking in the woods one Christmas morning and upon seeing a lovely fir tree with the morning sun reflecting off of the ice-encrusted boughs, he cut it down, took it too his home and placed candles on it so that his family could share in the vision.� It is a more logical assumption that Martin Luther got the idea when, while on his walk at Yule, he came across a group of Saxon Pagans practicing their Solstice rites in the woods around a pine tree upon which they had placed candles.� Wherever it originated, the concept of the Yule tree quickly spread throughout Europe and was enthusiastically adopted into many other Pagan traditions.

The influence of the Druids on modern Paganism is evident on Yule altars with their holly, pine, and mistletoe coverings.� Mistletoe, dubbed the Golden Bough by the Druids, still features prominently in Yule observance.� Kissing under the herb was, and still is, the most common way it was used.� It was originally a part of Handfasting rituals.� Because of mistletoe's significance, all legal matters were sealed beneath its boughs.� Hence, a couple who kissed beneath it was announcing their intent to be married and kissing beneath it after the ceremony further sealed their vows.

Feasting, after a day of fasting and prayer was also a part of Celtic festivities.� It is still customary, in some Celtic covens, to fast during Yule, with feasting and celebration on the following day.

The use of fragrant herbs to scent the season is a custom which comes from both Celtic and Nordic traditions.� Aromatic herbs were thrown onto the Yule hearth fire as part of many wish making rituals.� The incense created would carry the wishes to the world of spirits where the pleasant aroma was thought to please the spirits thereby causing them to be generous in the granting of those wishes.

The Yule Log is another ancient symbol of the season which is attributed to the Celts.� The log, a phallic symbol, is usually cut from the God-related Oak and carved into a small section which can be easily brought into the dwelling to be placed on a table or altar.� Originally, there was much dancing and celebrating when the log was brought into the home, before being lit in the fireplace.� Later they became smaller altar relics sporting three holes, one hole to represent each of the Goddess aspects.� These holes were bored into the top of the log.� These holes would then be symbolically impregnated with three candles.� The candles varied in color, sometimes being all virgin white, or God red.� Mostly though they were the goddess triple aspect colors of white (Maiden), red (Mother), and black (Crone).� Then the log was decorated with holly, mistletoe, and evergreens to represent the intertwining of the God and Goddess, who are reunited on this Sabbat.� Hopes for good fortune were invested in the Yule log image, and it was given a central place in Celtic Yule rituals.

In Slavic traditions the Yule log only had one candle which was orange or gold in color, also God colors.� To them it is a symbol of health and fertility as well as a tool of sympathetic magick for the Sun's return.� The ashes of the burned log are place in a cloth pouch and used as a charm of protection, fertility, strength, and health.

An important point to note is that balefires were not a Yule custom in Teutonic or Celtic traditions.� It is not sure why but it may have been because it was too cold to hold Midwinter rites outdoors.� Secondly, the small, more controlled fires of the Yule log better represented the condition of the newborn Sun.

Storytelling is a winter pastime indigenous to Paganism.� In later Irish history, a custom grew around Yule for telling stories of the heroic giant and God of Irish mythology, Finn MacCool.� Finn was the giant who protected the island from invaders.� It was he who created Lough Neagh by scooping it out with his own hands.� Then when he threw it into the Irish Sea, it became the Isle of Man, his gift to the Sea God, Manann.� Yule is sometimes referred to as Finn's Eve.

Another type of storytelling, often used by pagans, are guided meditations, also called Pathworkings.� It is a combination story and meditation trance which seeks to lead the journeyers on an inner-plane adventure that uses symbolic imagery and archetypes to affect a lasting change on the psyche.� It is often thought synonymous with the astral world, a place outside of normal consciousness wherein all things are possible and all knowledge can be attained.� These exercises usually involve meetings with powerful being or deities who give the pathworker verbal or symbolic messages.� Some of these guided meditations can be obtained from books on Paganism, or they can be written for yourself by either rewriting faery tales into a first or second person form, depending on whether just you or a group are doing this, or by having someone with some knowledge of Pagan symbolism and archetypes write them from scratch.� Archetypes are the deeply symbolic prototypes which work on the minds of all human beings regardless of their background.� The way they act or interact with other symbols in a pathworking determines much of their meaning and effect.� Following this information you will find a listing of common archetypal symbols and a sample pathworking.� Please feel free to copy them and study them.

When Yule rolls around you should feel free to have a lighted tree in your home, hang a wreath on your door, ring the jingle bells, and give gifts in memory of loved ones.� Remember that this is a Sabbat, a Pagan festival, a time that marks the return of the Sun God both to his Goddess Bride and to his joyous people.

Archetypal Symbols

Symbols�� Meaning��

Apple�� Hidden Desire

Baby�� Potential, Innocence

Bells�� Wish Fulfillment

Book, Closed��Untapped Potential

Book, Opened��Knowledge, Information

Bridge�� Transition

Cats�� Mystery, Magick

Cave�� Womb, Motherhood

Cloak�� Hiding

Cross�� Protection, The Center

Crutch�� Fear, Immobility

Dog�� Loyalty, Warning

Fire�� Energy, Transformation

Grain�� Fertility, Abundance

Green�� Fertility, Potential

Ice�� Binding, Rigidity

Egg�� Life

Elderly�� Great Wisdom

Flower�� Rebirth, Spring

Knives�� Distrust

Lantern�� Enlightenment, Hope

Moon�� Mystery, The Goddess

Mountain�� Obstacles

Owl�� Wisdom, Night, Mystery, Illness

Pentacle�� Creation

Pumpkin�� Autumn, Transition

Pyramid�� Stability, Ancient Wisdom

Rainbow�� Bridge Between Worlds, Promises Kept

Red�� Anger, Lust

Shield�� Protection, Security, Guardedness

Sickle�� Change, The Harvest

Silver�� The Moon, The Goddess

Snake�� Eternity, Rebirth

Snow�� Winter, Death, Purity, Sleep

Sun�� Newness, The God, Summer, Energy

Sword�� Phallus, War, Protection

Tree�� The Universe

Tunnel�� The Birth Canal

Wand�� Creativity, Magick, Spring

Water�� Birth, Change, That Which is Hidden

Wheel�� Cycles, Eternity, Reincarnation

White�� Purity, Innocence, Higher Self, Astral

Well�� The Birth Canal, Path to Underworld

Wolf�� Fearlessness, Loyalty, Famil

Pathworking

It is early on Yule Eve as we find ourselves drawn to the winter windswept valley.� The once verdant trees stand bare and black against the blue-gray sky.� A light dusting of snow crunches pleasantly under our feet.� It is cold, but our joy in seeing each other warms us considerably.

Behind us looms a vast mountain range, as rugged and forbidding as it is beautiful.� Over head we hear the cry of a winter bird, and we look up to see a fat wren flying swiftly towards the mountain tops.� Suddenly a warm, balmy, spring-like wind sweeps down out of the mountains and briefly envelops us like a soft, familiar coat.

We turn to look up from where the welcome wind blew, and we see a spectacular silver crescent moon rising above the jagged peaks.� It rests on its bottom as if floating on an astral sea, its peaks pointed straight into the darkening sky like the horns of a mighty bull.� We gasp in awe as it rises slowly, pulsating with a light which seems to come deep from within itself.

The silver crescent seems to stop directly over the largest and darkest of the mountain peaks, and it throbs gently as if it is a sentient being answering an ageless question.

It is now night - - the longest one of the year, and the stars twinkle brightly in the dark sky, a fitting altar for the exquisite moon.

We all notice now that the temperature has dropped considerably, and we start to shiver and look around futilely for a source of much-needed warmth.� The only warmth seems to be radiating from the crescent moon which almost seems to be beckoning us to follow.

As one, we all begin moving toward the rugged mountains, as if being summoned by the gently crescent up above.� We trust in that beaming crescent, and we joyfully heed her call.

As we move into the mountains, the terrain becomes more difficult.� The snow is deeper, and the night colder and blacker.� It is hard, and even frustrating, to navigate through the craggy twists and turns.� But whenever we grow discouraged, a thin shimmer of silver light from above bathes the path before us in a soothing glow which leads us onward.

We begin to ascend the side of the rugged mountain face, a steep and even treacherous climb.� But still we push onward, chasing the moon as did our Pagan ancestors many centuries ago.� As we make our way up, someone begins singing an ancient pagan carol.� We know not from where the words and music come, but as if all of one mid, we sing the song together.

When our song peaks, the moon seems to glow brighter as if conveying her approval of our offering of joy.

As we climb over one last small outcropping and pull ourselves up onto a large plateau, we are stunned to discover before us a spring-like oasis.� New growth touches the few trees, and blades of new grass create a soft carpet under our feet.� Around the edge of the plateau, as if forming a sacred circle are majestic evergreen trees decorated with the bounty of the Yule season.� But even in the midst of all this wonder, the air around us is still bone-chilling cold, and very uncomfortable.

The moon, surprisingly close to us now, rises a bit higher above and, in doing so, illuminates a well-worn path ahead.� Without a word, we all follow.

The path leads to the massive rock face of the uppermost part of the mountain.� It looks to us like a dead end, and we all feel a great disappointment.� But then, as if appearing by magick, the face of the rock silently opens, revealing a small cave whose opening is shaped like the moon above.

Cautiously we step inside.

The air here is perceptively warmer, and we discard some of the gloves and hats we needed during our climb.� Far off in the distance is the sound of running water, like a gentle mountain brook.

We begin moving toward the inviting sound of the water.� Waling back through a long, thin cavern we wonder at first if the opening will remain large enough for us to continue to pass through until we get to the source of the water sounds.� We are forced to move slowly in the preternatural darkness which envelopes us like a deep, warm ocean.

Just when we think the path can grow no narrower or become any darker, we see far ahead a glimmer of light.

We move more rapidly now through the narrow cavern towards the light, thankful that the pervasive darkness is finally broken.

One by one, we step out into a large round cave room.� The walls are black like obsidian, and smooth, like the inside of an egg.� No usual cave fixtures are present.� The light we say in the tunnel come from a profusion of red candles that are collected together around a young woman who sits at the far end of the room on a simple wooden chair as regally as a queen would sit a throne.� On the floor around her is an array of winter foliage - - hold, evergreen, and mistletoe.� Before her runs the creek we heard babbling in the distance.� The water is a clear blue in color, and though the stream is narrow, it looks to be fathomlessly deep.

The young woman's robes are a very pale blue, almost white in color, and they appear luminescent, like that of spun silver.� Around her head is a band of white.� In the center of her forehead is an ancient symbol of the moon - - a circle with two crescents on each end pointing outward.� They too are of silver, their phosphorescent glow radiating warmth and peace.

Near her side sits a spinning wheel unlike any we have ever seen before.� It is made of a substance we cannot identify, and the wheel on it spins continuously in a clockwise motion of its own accord, untouched by any hands we can see.

The woman looks to be barely out of her teens, but her eyes are wide and knowing, as if the wisdom of the ages resides within her.� She smiles warmly in greeting.

Instinctively we all move toward her, and sit at her feet in a semicircle, separated from her only by the deep blue creek.

"Welcome Seekers," she says, and her voice is rich and full-bodied as fresh honey, and as melodious as the songs of the faeries.

Without any of us saying a word, she knows why we have each come, and she seeks to answer our questions.� As we listen to her we each hear a message intended especially for us.

When the woman finishes speaking we realize that we are in the presence of the Virgin goddess.� She smiles shyly as she realized she has been recognized.� Without another word she rises and stands before us.� Her palms are upraised as if she is giving us her blessing, and we feel a potent warmth surge though us.

"Tonight is Yule, a night on which the eternal turning of my Wheel of the Year is acknowledged.� From my past comes my future, and from my future the past.� From age, I am young again.� From mourning comes my joy.� So it must always be.� All things turning, returning, coming to and from and back again in a never-ending cycle".

We watch in awe as the Goddess glows with splendor, appearing now as a silver and gold light that spins and pops, electrifying the air around us.� She rises like a phoenix into the center of the room, where she becomes a sphere of pure life energy.

From her core, a bright golden light, like the brightness of sunshine, pulsates as if it is her very heart.� The energy fills the room and us to overflowing.

Just when we think we can absorb no more, the golden light energy from her core separates from her and takes its place next to her.

We stand in stunned silence as we look up at two glowing orbs, one, a luminescent silver, and the other, a vibrant gold.

A voice, resonant and masterful, one which is neither male nor female, seems to come from the direction of the orbs.

"Blessed be, my children.� Go in peace."

The vibrant voice echoes briefly off the smooth cave walls, and with that, the orbs fade from view, and we are left feeling both relieved and saddened at their parting.

We each entertain our own private thoughts about the miraculous events we just witnessed and we make our way silently back out of the cave, across the plateau, and back down the rugged mountain face.� The descent somehow seem easier, and we notice that the air is warmer.

When we reach the bottom of the mountain we see that the moon is gone, and it its place is the bright sunlight of the new day.� The winter sky is an azure blue, and the lean dusting of snow glistens under it like millions of tiny diamonds.

Overhead we hear the call of another bird.� As we look up we can almost swear we see a plump red-breasted robin swooping down towards us from the center of the blazing sun.

Laughing and crying, we race to the center of the valley where we began our trip.

It seems as if the sun is shimmering and dancing, celebrating with us, and we are reluctant to leave this magickal place.� But slowly we all take our leave of one another, and we come home.

Ask these questions...

1.� During the climb, what music did you hear?

2.� What was the message you received from the Goddess?

Blessed Be!!!