Winter Solstice - Tumblr Posts
Happy Yule!
What are y’all doing for Yule? This will be my first one and I’ve been lacking energy this year so I’ll just be making cookies, hanging out with family, and wearing Yule colors, not to mention making an offering for Loki.
This is becoming a fox appreciation account 🦊 Happy Winter Solstice ❄️
☆ Happy Winter Solstice ☆:3
Onlyyyyyy a few more days until the end of the year
The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year which is coming to a close... like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds.
Our modern culture teaches avoidance at a max at this time; alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, over spending, comfort food and consumerism.
And yet the natural tug to go inwards as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and the weather so bitter that people are left feeling that winter is hard, because for those of us without burning fires and big festive families, it can be lonely and isolating. Whereas in actual fact winter is kind, she points us in her quiet soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection, embracing the darkness and forgiving, accepting and loving embracing goodbye the past year.
"Winter takes away the distractions, the buzz, and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into a womb like love, bringing fire & light to our hearth".
.. and then, just around the corner the new year will begin again, and like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again to dance in the sunlight
Life is a gift ❤ a Happy winter to you all...
Written by Bridget Anna McNeil
burn something today! that’s an order! from nina mclaughlin
A Very Sumerian Christmas
So, some friends of mine and I were thinking about the utter lack of Christmas-adjacent holidays in Sumerian Polytheism. My brain snagged on the idea of Santa Claus and Nanna's Journey to Nibru. The result? Ma-gur, or the festival of the processional boat. A celebration which starts seven days before the winter solstice. The celebration in question is of the seven who decree fate and the world which they have given us. It's a holiday about family as well as it is about honoring the gods. An - Solemn prayer and many candles to represent the stars. Sanctuary candle is lit and kept lit throughout the days to honor all the gods and symbolize how they guide us. Enlil - wishes for the new years and messages for the gods. Enki - prank war, and a general day of humor and celebration of the world order. Ninhursag - Day of charity and getting out into the world which the gods have created. Inanna - Day of giving to yourself, indulging and giving love to yourself and the gods. Utu - Day of improving the world around you. Fix broken things, commit to a cause, improve your life a bit. Rest and enjoy peaceful time with your family otherwise. Nanna - Gift giving and wild celebration. Winter solstice. Ends, as all the nights do, with offering and prayer to the god in question as well as tribute being given to one's ancestors, followed by the snuffing of the candle as the holiday comes to a close. That's the gist of it. Sounds like a good time either way. This is the slightly crisper version of a list that included things like "Inanna's Day- go clubbing" and "Ninhursag's Day- drag the kids into the mountains for bonding time". Also various ideas like tying wishes to balloons for Enlil's Day, water purification on Enki's Day, and letting some sunlight into my dark den of nerdiness on Utu's Day. Feel free to play with it. Pass it on?
Ring Out, Solstice Bells (2003 Remaster) · Jethro Tull
‘The Shortest Day’ illustrations by Carson Ellis
and a happy winter solstice to all those celebrating it.
May you feel cleansed and new as the year re-starts.
May followers of the moon in her many forms be energized by the length of the night.
May followers of the sun in his many forms be well-rested by the shortness of the day.
May all those who fall between feel washed of any misgivings.
Remember to cleanse and return your energy, whatever that means for you.
Blessed Be.
Midday Veil - Great Cold of the Night (Live on KEXP)
The video the band made for this is gone now. Their label folded a while back, and I guess the YouTube channel is gone. Still, it fits the theme for the day. Enjoy!
Great Cold of the Night
Ah, found it. YouTube buried the video I was initially looking for. https://youtu.be/pm2LHtPuPQE?si=49EwR5M6DeoHrJ-X
Ugly Christmas sweater made by Melissa Law. Happy Holidays!
Happy Winter Solstice!!! It’s been so cold where I’m from it’s hitting negative digits. Stay warm!
Winter solstice
https://twitter.com/alice_alwial?s=21&t=skntTPv93oA86dM8VpkTiA
Blessed Yule!
Yule, Yuletide or the winter solstice, happens usually around the 21st to the 25th (it depends for each year!) The winter solstice is a celebration of the longest night and shortest day of the year: after that, days will get longer again! It's a great time to celebrate home, family, friends, and reflect on ourselves. It also celebrates the eternal cycle of light and dark, life and death.
Crystals that are good to have for Yule are Ametrine, Orange Calcite, Ruby, Turquoise, Garnet, Bloodstone, Snowflake Obsidian and Onyx
For food, you can think of fruit (like oranges!), dried fruit, nuts, or even drink cider!
Colors that go well for Yule are, of course, red, green, white, silver and gold!
What to do for Yule
Decorate a Christmas/Yule tree. It's also a great activity if you are still in the broom closet
Bake a Yule log (the cake!), gingerbread cookies, plum pudding, or other recipes you usually make for the holidays. For example, fruit pies are always a big thing in my house during Christmas, so I also bake some for Yule!
Since Yule is a great time for reflection, make sure you take some time for that. Sit down and think about what happened in your life this year, meditate on it, try to see what was good and what was bad, and how to fix/change the latter. Do shadow work. Be grateful, make bullet points of your year's highlights. Using divination tools, like making a tarot spread about yourself/your situation, is also a great way to do that. Sometimes, it's even easier because the tool might bring up points you would've never thought of.
Have fun with family and friends! Yule is about the love and warmth around you, that also goes for the people you love.
Take a cleansing bath or shower! It's time to let go of things that you don't need anymore: and cleansing yourself helps to move on, to get rid of energies that no longer serve you. It will make some space for new things to come!
Go take a walk outside! Go appreciate the cold and how calm winter is.
Watch the sunrise and sunset. Afterall, it is the shortest day of the year, and it's nice to really see it.
With all that being said, I wish a blessed Yule to all! Take care of yourselves and have fun :)
Happy solstice!
Well, it's that time of year again that we huddle around the fire (or monitor, or LED smart light, or overheating resistor) with the people* we care about, snack on preserved foods and yell at the dark.
So if there's anyone reading this (mostly pornbots it seems, an indicator species showing that Tumblr is healthy, right?), have a great solstice. It may seem dark tonight, but it gets lighter from here.
*animals are absolutely included within the term 'people'
Ok Tumblr it's your Elder here to remind you that yes, the Northern Hemisphere nights are dark and the cold is getting into your bones and maybe you think everything's going to keep getting worse forever and you'll just get older and older until everyone and everything you love is dead: but you're only partly right.
Because yes sure we are all gonna die but in the meantime and maybe even because of that, there's joy. Even if it's only a bird half glimpsed from a moving vehicle, even if it's only the warmth in a cup of coffee, even if it's only the memory of someone who adored you as whole-chestedly and unconditionally as you deserve to be adored, joy is real in the world.
And tomorrow morning as I write this, the sun will shine along the passage at Newgrange and the sun daggers will frame the petroglyph in Chaco Canyon, and that is evidence that the long slow celestial mechanics of reversion to the mean will pull us inexorably back to springtime and the first green things growing out of the earth. The elders before me built these monuments to remind me to remind you that the sun will return.
And in the meantime let's hold hands in the dark. Let's tell the bleakest jokes we can think of at funerals to try and get the bereaved to laugh. Let's hug each other to coregulate our tender nervous systems that are trying so hard to keep us safe and alive. Let's watch how fast the efficiency of solar power is overtaking that of fossil fuels (effectively free energy by 2035: let's live to see it.) Let's revel in gods like pigeons and coyotes that can learn to coexist with humans.
Let's remember that there are more ordinary people of goodwill than we can possibly imagine: people who observe stop signs and pull over to let fire engines pass and who pay their fucking taxes and never cross pocket lines: normal working people who are kind to animals and who love all children and who feel solidarity across race and class and gender lines. Let's be those people and raise our children of blood and choice to be those people, the infrastructure of the world, the sunbeams shining into the dark.
It’s winter solstice today! ❄️I made some ice hanging decorations with dried flowers this morning
Sorry for not posting any drawings recently, the final week is coming and I need to prepare for my final exams😵💫
Wishing you a Merry Christmas in advance!🎄
HAPPY SOLSTICE!!! :D