Happy Yule, Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings!
Everyone seems to celebrate something this time of year, and with good reason. You see the earliest mid-winter celebrations started many centuries ago in an attempt by man to keep the breath of life going in the deadest of times on the Wheel of the Year.
That what we are really celebrating, the birth of the SUN, as after the Winter Solstice, the Sun starts to shine longer, albeit imperceptibly at first, but longer, and longer everyday. The ever shortening days of winter now over as we start to move in the other direction. A direction that will bring us to Summer.
But, even though we know the days are growing longer, we still have at least three very harsh, cold and "dead" months to get through. For the ancients, the winter also represented dead, in a much more intimate and personal way as many that were sick, elderly or the very young often perished during the harsh winter months. The ancients used sympathetic magicks in much of their lives. Sympathetic magick is simply having or doing something representative of what you want to happen.
Our modern Christmas celebrations are chock-full of ancient sympathetic magicks, and many are not aware of them. Let me tell you about some of the ancient magicks found in our modern Christmas:
- The evergreens brought into the house, or used in decoration outside of the house. Christmas trees, wreaths, evergreen garlands, even holiday flowers and living plants brought into the house. All of these symbolize the ancient people's desire to bring "living" green life into the home. Greenery that didn't die, so to speak. Even today, with flowering plants such as poinsettias, Christmas cactus, Cyclamen, paper whites, Amaryllis. All plants that the ancients would not have recognized, but we have cultivated them to be brought inside during the dead of winter for the exact same reason the ancients would adorn their homes with evergreen everywhere. To bring life in during the dead time of the year. Sympathetic magick being, if you had fresh living plants, and evergreens in the home, death wouldn't visit.
- Do you burn candles at Christmas time? Candles have been used for thousands of years to dispel the evil forces of the night and the harmful spirits that would lurk in dark corners. The first candles were most likely used in a practical sense, to simply light up a darkened area so one could see what was happening and where they were going. After a time, ritual and magick started to be associated with burning candles and we still use candles in today's modern witches spells. And yes, even in the Church, when you burn a candle for a person, ask a Saint or God himself to look over a person, or to fix a situation favorably, this is a spell. Spells are not evil, or wrong, simply misunderstood. I bet you have done a candle spell, probably several times in your life! If you have ever blown out the candles on your birthday cake, you are performing an ancient candle spell that is over 5,000 years old! Placing candles on your dining room table, in the colors of the season, red, green, silver and gold and burning them, will succeed in drawing love, abundance, good health and happiness into your life for the upcoming season.
- Some people, at this time of year, burn incense or enjoy the incense burned during church services, especially Frankincense and Myrrh. These two resin incense have been used since before Biblical times, especially in ancient Egypt during mummification and other funerary rituals. They are quite magickal indeed and were given for their magickal purposes to the baby Jesus because it was known to the religious scholars of the day that he would need protection from harmful forces. Burning these resin incenses today succeeds in raising the vibrational level of a room or area, in effect, creating sacred space. Of course the witch does more work to assure her sacred space is ready for magickal workings, but anyone can burn this combination of resins to create peace and tranquility not normally found in an area.
Next week we'll talk about the magicks found in the food and drink normally reserved for the Christmas/Yuletide season!
Peace and Happiness
© 2010-2015 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.
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