Well, it's 8:20am on the morning after the Winter Solstice, and I just couldn't wait to write a post on our blog. We just wrapped up our first ritual together to celebrate Yule, and what a night it was!
Four Women of the Wheel members were able to participate: me, Lindsey, Jill, and Deanne. We began our evening with an outdoor ritual. The air was cold, but the wind was low, the sky was clear, and the bright white moon was high and full, like our spirits. We lit a fire and cast a Circle, saluted the elements and evoked the Gods. Our rite included a banishing spell, led by Deanne, to rid ourselves of things we didn't want any longer. We shared songs, food, and wine, and then opened the Circle to transition to the indoor part of the evening.
We had a lot of ritual/activity things planned for indoors, but as we filled our bellies with hot apple cider, beef stew, cannelloni, hash brown casserole, a cheese and meat tray, and cookie desserts, we re-evaluated our plans and decided to cut out some of the ritual-type activities we'd planned to do, like the lighting of candles in all the windows and the guided meditation.
Instead, we exchanged Yule gifts, then moved on to decorating our own glass ball ornaments. By this time, it was 3:00am, so we were laughing as much as we were creating. Deanne made a beautiful ornament with blue and white snowflakes inside; Lindsey artfully painted a wreath, a sprig of holly, and a snowflake on hers. Myself and Jill didn't have quite as much luck - I went overboard on the sprinkles, so my ornament looks like it has the pox, and Jill went through three balls before she made "Moe," a snowman head that looked so comical, I couldn't stop laughing every time she added something to him. There were tears, I laughed so hard. I think sleep deprivation played a part, too.
After the ornaments, we moved on to decorating the wreath, made from real boughs, that we planned to use as an offering at sunrise. It turned out to be gorgeous: Pine cones, rowan berries, clementine, and small apple-like fruit were weaved in with twine. As we began adding these natural decorations, we chanted, "We are a Circle within a Circle / with no beginning and never ending."
Then, because a couple of us were really tired and Lindsey had to leave, we cleaned up, said our good-byes to Lindsey, and bunked down for the remaining three hours we had before leaving to greet the dawn. We roused ourselves at 7:10am, I grabbed a coffee and the wreath, Deanne and Jill grabbed their things, and we headed for Signal Hill.
There were only a few people at Signal Hill when we arrived, none of whom appeared to be Pagans, as they were either taking a stroll or taking pictures. We got settled in a spot near the tower, but out of site of passersby, and began chanting, "We are one with the infinite Sun / Forever and ever and ever." We could not see the horizon, as a blanket of fog and/or cloud sat upon it, but as we chanted, the sky above this fog began to redden. Then Jill read a blessing and Deanne and I tossed the wreath to the ground.
We stood a moment watching the sky light up and then, between the foggy cloud, a tiny sliver of sun poked up and the breath caught in our throats. It was glorious to witness. The sun rose right in front of us, between a break in those clouds. We were enchanted. Jill said with wonder, "Imagine... This happens everyday."
We admired the sunrise for minutes more, then made a beeline to our cars. Originally, we were going to end the morning by having breakfast together, but we begged off that idea in the end and hugged each other before heading home.
What more can I say? It was wonderful. Happy Yule, everyone.
