Winter Solstice is also known as Yule. It’s on December 21st in both 2020 and 2021. Many of the traditions celebrated as part of modern Christmas were borrowed from earlier pagan folk traditions: the Yule log, the decorated tree, the giving of gifts. As pagans we reclaim the roots of these customs. Besides, we like giving and receiving presents! We have two Yule songs on the Seasons album. Darkness, Holy Be reminds us of the beauty and power of the time of darkness. The chant A Long, Long Night is perfect for those who honor the longest night of the year by keeping vigil from dusk to dawn.
Check out our Winter Solstice playlist on Spotify
Posts on our blog about winter solstice
A Bridge of Darkness to a World of Light
Just last week, on Winter Solstice Eve, I started mixing my next album. This was the perfect time to start a new project that would take me from 2020 and lockdown to the end of one busy, magical year and into the next…. Now let me just start by saying...
The Magic of Solstice Music
From the bright colours of the Autumnal Equinox to the tiny budding green of Imbolc, this is my favourite turning of Life’s Wheel. It is the time when most of our spiritual celebrations are set into days that are filled with change and chaos by Nature. The Winter Solstice in...
Astrology for Winter, 2023
Greetings to all this merry Yule! So good to have you with us. This looks like a fascinating season for astrology this winter! Let’s dive in. The Sun slips into Capricorn December 21, 8:27:20 PM, MST this year. All the planets are within ½ the circle! Mostly bunched up in...
Winter (The Space Between)
I have written a lot of music over the years about the seasons, how I see them and how they make me feel, both instrumental acoustic guitar compositions and vocal songs too. I am sharing 3 of those songs with you now: Moonlight on Snow Covered Branches, Holly and the...
Winter Solstice Sunrise and Yuletide Changes
Winter Solstice Sunrise is the first chant that I ever wrote before I wrote any songs. Sometime in 1981 (I was 19 or 20 years old) I started realizing that I could write music and not just reproduce it (I had been singing and playing music since I was a...
Astrology for Yule, 2022
Yule this year commences on December 21 at 2:48:12 PM, Mountain time. As you can see in the chart below, everything except the South Node is within an opposition and everything except Mars and the South Node is in the Top half of the chart, indicating that the energy of...
Singing at Winter Solstice
Now is the time when the darkness is deepest. The nights are long, and the further north you live, the more intense the difference is. Winter Solstice brings us to the peak of the power of darkness. As pagans, we know that this darkness is holy. Singing at Winter Solstice...
Holy Darkness
The Magic of the Goddess is manifest in the turning of the Wheel of The Year. Our rituals celebrate Day/Night, Heat/Cold, Dark/Light, and many other dichotomies. Bringing spirituality to our observances of these distinctions gives Pagan folk a new perspective. In this way, we begin to nourish appreciation of darkness...
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