Yuletide continues and on this tenth day we honor the Spirits of the Home and Hearth – asking them to watch over our home and tools and to light our way through the year to come. Work is customarily set aside for the Yuletide celebration, and as it draws to a close, this is the…

On The ninth day of Yule, we celebrate the green growing things of the season. In the North, we honor the evergreen, that stays green even as the rest of the world appears to die. Our evergreen will loose its bangles tomorrow but the light will stay to mark the secular New Year. Tonight, a…

The eighth day of Yule is traditionally titled a “Celebration of Snow.” We have had another warm wet winter, with no snow, barely even seeing temperatures drop below freezing. We’ll remember how beautiful and still it was in the winter of 2016. Even without a blanket of winter snow, nature goes through the same cycle…

On this seventh day of Yuletide, tradition calls for the honoring of fools and the swapping of roles in the social order. This is a reminder that nature is always close to chaos and that shaking thing up can lead to important lessons. We have never found a great way to honor this day, but…

The sixth day of Yule is meant to honor the ideas of hospitality and giving – visiting and hosting friends and family and adding our energy and blessing to theirs.Tonight we usually host family at our annual Julebord – a family feast of smoked and cured meats, cheeses, dried nuts and fruits, lefse, krumkake, and…

The fifth day of Yuetide is dedicated to the Alfar, the male ancestors home and hearth. As the sun sets, I’ll light candles to honor my male ancestors (some people even leave out a little offering for the most well-known of those elves tonight). My husband’s late grandfather Ivar was from Norway. He made lefse…

On the fourth day of Yuletide we honor the spirits of nature. Traditionally, symbols and figures of Nature Spirits are brought into the house during the winter. We’ll leave out some treats for the birds and squirrels, check the bird bath and scoop some of the leaves in the pond to give the fish a…

Tonight, the third night of Yuletide, a candle is lit to remember those folks that wander into our lives seeking counsel or needing our  hospitality.  Winter is a time for introspection , but also traditionally a time to connect with kith and kin. This year we cannot open our doors to our family , but we…

Solstice The longest night has come once more,the sun has set, and darkness fallen.The trees are bare, the earth asleep,and the skies are cold and black.Yet tonight we rejoice, in this longest night,embracing the darkness that enfolds us.We welcome the night and all that it holds,as the light of the stars shines down. Today is…