Yule 18 "A Wiccan Ritual for Yule"

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cimerianarcania
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Yule 18 "A Wiccan Ritual for Yule"

Post by cimerianarcania » Tue Nov 30, 2010 3:40 am

Ritual

Priestess/Priest:
We are here to honor and celebrate the Winter Solstice. We are open and receptive to the Positive Energy that resides within us and all around us, that keeps us whole and balanced, and surrounds us with love and safekeeping. Only good can come from our activities here, for ourselves, for our community, for the world.....Does anybody want to add something to that before we begin a meditation?....

A MEDITATION for WINTER SOLSTICE

Find a comfortable position. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Release all pent up energy and stress. Inhale and exhale again, and sense the Sacred Space that surrounds you. Draw its pure white love light close to you. Feel it spread out to touch your neighbor's Sacred Space. Feel it spread out and fill this room with Love and Light and Peace. See or sense that you are in the woods, on the coldest, darkest, night of the year. You feel perfectly safe and protected. See the pine trees around you are standing guard with their green, icy boughs. See the lake in front of you is frozen. Hear the ground crackle as you walk. Your nose is cold, but you feel fine... alive, and brisk, and well. The cold sharpens your senses.

You feel as though you can hear sounds you have never heard before. Ssssh. Listen for them. What do you hear? (silence). You can see wonderful things you have never seen before, both with your outer vision and your inner vision. Watch them. What do you see? (silence. allow time).

In the darkness wonderful visions and ideas and solutions come to you...answers to problems you are facing. Remedies for distress. Cures for diseases are arriving. If you are looking for an answer to a problem, now is the time to be open to its  arrival Tell it that it is welcome, and that it can find safe lodging with you. (silence) Now sit quietly and appreciate the darkness and the clarity of the cold. Be aware of the energy of life beneath the dark, cold ground. Feel your connection with the seeds sleeping there, gathering strength and storing nourishment for their coming appearance on earth. Feel the connection with the seeds of your life getting ready to blossom in good health and vibrancy. In the safety of the dark and the cold, new healthy life is getting ready to appear.

Breathe deeply and exhale. Focus on your midriff now. Notice the golden spot that is forming there. Feel it warming you, providing inner heat. See or sense its golden sphere spreading inside you. Feel its golden rays reaching up to, like an inner sun, to touch your heart and down to warm your navel area. And down some more into your legs, and down your arms, and up into your neck and head. Inhale and enjoy this inner warmth. Feel the heat warm your feet. Feel your hands and feet tingle with warmth, as you stand in the dark, cold woods on this dark, cold night. Sense the halo of warm, nurturing heat that is now surrounding your head. Feel the sphere of comforting, healing heat move down outside you, encircling your entire body.

Know that you have the safety and healing powers of both heat and cold. Know that you are balanced and whole. Feel that you are safely rooted into the ground, but that your spirit is free. Know that both the darkness and the light are safe for you. Focus on any area that needs healing. Allow the darkness and light to penetrate that area with healing power.

Take a deep breath and feel both alert and relaxed. Feel Safe. Take a deep breath and say thank you to the powers that be for this feeling of safety and well-being. (silence) Take a deep breath and ask for continued protection for you and your safety and well-being, and for anyone about whom you are concerned. (silence)
Take a deep breath and envision world peace. (silence) When you are ready, gently open your eyes, and we will begin our Ceremony. (Give people a chance to re-accustom themselves to the here-and-now reality. I always make sure that everybody is well-grounded and at ease, before I continue. For some people, meditation creates a sense of unease because there is too much unfinished business in their lives, so make sure everybody is centered and okay.)

TRIBUTE TO THE WINTER AND NORTHERN DIRECTION

Anyone from the Group: (FACING NORTH, HOLDING SOMETHING TO PLACE IN THE NORTH)

Great spirits of the Winter and of the North Direction. (Some people prefer to use the word, "God" instead. Do whatever you are comfortable with.) Hear us as we come asking for the wisdom and the courage to age gracefully in our lives and in our endeavors. Honor us with your presence as we stand in your Sacred section of our Season and of our Earth walk. Permit the crystal clarity of winter snow to bring purity to our lives and thoughts, and healing to our bodies and to our world. Spirit of the White Buffalo, help us  to turn the lessons we have learned and the knowledge we have gained into wisdom and abundance, spiritually and physically. Allow us to understand the DIGNITY OF BEING. Help us to learn the truth and beauty of NOT DOING. Spirit of the Great White Owl, teach us to fly with quiet grace and seeing eyes through the dark times of our lives. Give us the patience to share ourselves and our knowledge with those who can use them. Give us the faith and the courage to continue our journeys to the end, in dignity, so that our energy may once again arrive in the Dawn of the East. SHOW US HOW TO FIND JOY  IN DARKNESS AND IN ENDINGS, AS WELL AS IN LIGHT AND IN BEGINNINGS.

CANDLE LIGHTING

In a darkened room, taking necessary fire safety precautions, have each participant come up to the alter, or prescribed place, to light a white candle, saying whatever wish or statement or tribute they have prepared or choose to adlib, as they do so. It is a good idea to have one person seated at the candles to make sure everything is stable. When all the candles are lit, have a chosen person come up to pay tribute to the returning sun and light into our earth space and into our personal spaces, as  he/she lights the yellow candle.

ACTIVITY

Sitting in the candlelight is a good time for people to "breathe in the energy" of whatever they want to internalize, as the days lengthen and the seeds begin growing and to "exhale the energy" of whatever they want to remove from their lives. Explain to people that, in breathing the breath of life, we will each choose and express an exchange of energies. For example, we might exchange sickness for health, sadness for joy, poverty for prosperity, depression for hope, battle for peace, this job for a new job, etc.

As you go around the circle, each person will say, "At this time, I choose to exhale sadness and inhale joy," then she will say, "exhale sadness" and the entire group will exhale the sadness with her, for her and, if they choose, for themselves. "And inhale joy," and together the group will help him or her inhale joy. This group energy strengthens each individual's effort.

GROUP TALK

This is the time when each person might want to share a tale from his or her own myth/life about a time when darkness descended in his/her life, and what was done to relieve it or how somebody else brought light to the darkness. It is a good idea to use a time-limit, so each person gets an appropriate time to speak, and not to allow any interruptions until the person has finished his/her tale. In the tradition of many speaking circles, you might want to present the speaker with a Speaking Stick. This gives him or her the right to speak, uninterrupted, as long as the stick is held.

When all discussion is finished, ask the group if they are ready to end the ceremony and begin the celebration. If they are, this closing is usually effective. Preferably sitting on the floor, close enough to reach out for each other's hands, the first person looks at the person to her right and says, by name, "Jane, I want to share my energy with you and wish you....(whatever). Jane takes her hand and says, "thank you." Jane then turns to the person on her right and says, "Bob, I want to share my energy with you and wish you...." Bob says, "Thank you," and continues the process. When everybody has spoken, everybody should be holding hands.

Priest/Priestess:

If you hold hands gently enough, and offer your positive energy to this Circle, we will feel the energy traveling from one person to the other, from one hand to the other, as each person's energy joins forces with the next, and together we create a great power for good. (People will usually nod or smile or voice their sense of tingling or energy in their hands or arms). Let us enjoy this sense of mutual energy, love, and togetherness. (silence) If you choose close your eyes now and send that energy out to create a world of health and peace for all. Take a moment to envision or sense the world at peace.

LET THE PARTY BEGIN

Ask if everybody is ready for the entrance of light, and with great hoops and hollering, say goodbye to the darkness and turn on the lights. Sometimes people attach sun symbols or herb sprigs to their clothes or to the walls.

Bring in the food, which I often make sure includes something with "seeds" to represent beginnings...such as fruit, cookies or cakes with sesame or poppy seeds, etc. I think a great punch in which are floating great rounds of orange and lemon slices, and one grand lemon floating, whole, in its center is appropriate, as is Jello Shots, Rum and Coke, etc.. Turn up the music. Tap your feet. Clap your hands. Time to Celebrate! It would be nice to send each person home with some seeds to plant or a small pot of earth in which a seed has already been planted.
Hugs, MJ

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