jaimethepooh

Bring Nature's Magic into Your Household
Make A Cheerful Yule Log
© 1987 by Scott Cunningham and David Harrington

Bring a little magic and Yuletide cheer to your home this coming holiday season by crafting your own Yule log.

Get your hands on a very large log that will continue to burn for three or more days. Decorate the log by whipping up melted paraffin with a hand beater until fluffy but spreadable. Use dabs of this on the log to secure fir and cedar boughs, pine cones, mistletoe, rosemary, holly or other festive greens. Set it ablaze and as the flames crackle and dance, enjoy a warm cup of cider next to your cozy hearth.

If you don't have a fireplace you can still enjoy the essence of a Yule log by making a Yule Candle.

Remember, the purpose of a Yule log is to bring nature's inherant magic into your household--it refreshes the home's energies and reminds us of the continuing growth and life of the Earth.

Buy the largest, fattest red candle you can find. With an ice pick, or similar tool, carve a figure of the blazing sun on the side of the candle, then place it on a holder or on a heat-proof tray. Ring its base with holly, pine, mistletoe, cedar, rosemary, bay, juniper, and other evergreen plants. Burn the candle on Yule evening. If you want it to burn all night, place it in a cauldron or a large bowl and ring the cauldron itself with the festive greens.

Either a Yule log or a Yule candle make a wonderful and very original hostess gift. Enjoy!

Make an Easy Yule Log Cake
© 1994 by Edain McCoy


Ingredients - Materials needed:

1 package commercial cake mix, preferably chocolate.
2 cans (24 oz.) pre-made frosting in a dark brown color.
Several tubes of cake decoration frosting in green, red, and white.
Jelly roll pan.
Waxed paper.
Several toothpicks.
How-To
Make an
Easy Yule
Log Cake



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line a jelly roll pan with waxed paper. Mix the cake according to package instructions and pour a thin layer--no more than 1/4-inch thick--into the prepared jelly roll pan.

Bake the cake until just under-done. If you can’t tell by looking, then use the knife test. When the knife emerges not quite clean from the center of the cake, and when a light touch does not bounce back easily, it needs to come out) Check the cake at 7 minutes, and then every 2 minutes after that. Do NOT overbake or the dough will be dry and hard to work with.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool slightly. Then remove the cake from the pan by lifting out the waxed paper. With the dark frosting, coat the top of the cake.

Carefully lift one end of the cake and begin gently rolling it up as if you were rolling up a map. When you are done, anchor the cake with toothpicks and let it cool for about 5 more minutes.

Cool the cake for 30 minutes, remove the toothpicks, then frost it with the dark brown frosting and make holly and mistletoe over the top. You can also use artificial greenery until it is time to eat the cake.

To finish, take a toothpick and etch lines into the frosting to resemble tree bark.

Make a Twelve Herb Yule Sachet
© 1989 by Scott Cunningham

Herbal sachets, or charms, consist of herbs and other materials tied-up in bits of cloth. Some sachets ward off certain energies or disease; others draw specific situations or powers to you.

Easy to make and pleasing to the nose, sachets are a distinctive and aromatic gift for the holidays.

Items needed:
7 parts Juniper
4 parts Cinnamon
4 parts Allspice
4 parts Ginger
4 parts Caraway
2 parts Nutmeg
2 parts Rosemary
2 parts Lemon peel
2 parts Orange peel
1 part Clove
1 part Bay
2 pinches Orris root
Tie up in a green or red cloth and give as a gift on Yule or Christmas.

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Pooh's Corner

jaimethepooh

How To Celebrate Winter Solstice
© 1995 by Kisma K. Stepanich

We honor the winter solstice by gathering together to honor the passing year and preparing ourselves for birth into a personification of the new sun. We give thanks for the lessons learned throughout the year and pause to honor the Great Goddess, who gives birth to Her Child of Promise. The evening's work and celebration for the winter solstice ceremony could be:

1. Acknowledge the passing of Time of Decline, the waning half of the year.



Thus passes away from thee,
away from thee and thing
the spirit of the last cycle's learning.
Free to move forward into the turning
of this year's cycle of learning
We rejoice.
The time of repose has come,
let us remember the lessons each has learned,
commit the lesson to heart,
preparing to move beyond.



2. Quiet time is allowed for reflection.

3. We honor the Great Goddess:



Queen of the moon, Queen of the sun,
Queen of the heavens, Queen of the stars,
Queen of the waters, Queen of the earth,
Bring to us the Child of Promise!
It is the Great Mother who giveth birth to Him;
It is the Lord of Life who is born again;
Darkness and tears are set aside
when the sun shall come up early!



4. Each lights a white votive candle, and all fond a circle, individually declaring, out loud, the new Child of Promise into which each shall birth with the rising sun. When each person has spoken, all recite:



Child of Promise, that I am
golden in time, golden in space.
Illuminated with the light,
Illuminating land and sea.
blessed by the Great Mother;
Great Goddess whom is without beginning,
without ending.



5. Feasting, singing and dancing.


How To Ward Off Winter Colds
© 1997 by Judy Griffin, Ph.D.

Bergamot Tea:

Bergamot, or “beebalm" tea, was used by Native Americans to ward off colds and sore throats. Six leaves of this hardy, invasive member of the mint family can be steeped in a cup of boiled water for 15 minutes as an antiseptic tea. The leaves blossoms, and stem can be brewed to smooth an inflamed throat. American colonists traded their English black tea for Oswego (bergamot) tea during the Boston Tea Party.

Rose Hip Syrup:

Rose hips were eaten raw when food was scarce and made into a delicious tea or syrup when the harvest was bountiful. The dried fruit of several species of old roses, rose hips can be taken during flu and cold season as a preventative. They are rich in vitamin C and have diuretic properties. The seeds contain vitamin E. Serve this syrup over ice cream and puddings.

4 cups crushed, dried rose hips
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon honey
Boil 5 cups of water, add rose hips and remove from heat. Steep 20 minutes and strain, reserving fluid. Boil the strained pulp again in 2 cups of water. Remove from stove; steep 10 minutes more. Strain and combine with the first liquid. Boil until reduced to half its volume; add sugar and boil 5 more minutes. Remove from stove. Add honey as syrup cools. Store in glass containers and refrigerate. Good for 3 months. Use in moderation: a tablespoon on cold, winter evenings.

DISCLAIMER!
The information contained herein is not intended to replace the services of trained health professionals. You are advised to consult with your health care professional with regard to matters relating to your health, and in particular regarding matters that may require diagnosis or medical attention

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Pooh's Corner

turbob

The candle idea sounds great! Thanks for sharing the Magick!

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Sometimes, the good you do doesn't do you any good.

jaimethepooh

yvw


forgot one

Standing Stones
Yule Ritual
© 1990 by Scott Cunningham

The altar is adorned with evergreens such as pine, rosemary, bay, juniper and cedar, and the same can be laid to mark the Circle of Stones. Dried leaves can also be placed on the altar.

The cauldron, resting on the altar on a heat-proof surface (or placed before it if too large), should be filled with ignitable spirit (alcohol) [editors note: please use extreme caution when using open flame indoors], or a red candle can be placed within it. At outdoor rites, lay a fire within the cauldron to be lit during ritual.

Arrange the altar, light the candles and incense, and cast the Circle of Stones.

Recite the Blessing Chant.

Invoke the Goddess and God.

Stand before the cauldron and gaze within it. Say these or similar words:

I sorrow not, though the world is wrapped in sleep.
I sorrow not, though the icy winds blast.
I sorrow not, though the snow falls hard and deep.
I sorrow not; this too shall soon past.
Ignite the cauldron (or candle), using long matches or a taper. As the flame(s) leap up, say:
I light this fire in Your honor, Mother Goddess.
You have created life from death; warmth from cold;
The Sun lives once again; the time of light is waxing.
Welcome, ever-returning God of the Sun!
Hail Mother of All!
Circle the altar and cauldron slowly, clockwise, watching the flames. Repeat the following chat for some time:
The wheel turns; the power burns.
Meditate upon the Sun, on the hidden energies lying dormant in winter, not only in the Earth but within ourselves. Think of birth not as the start of life but as its continuance. Welcome the return of the God.

After a time cease and stand once again before the altar and flaming cauldron, Say:
Great God of the Sun,
I welcome Your return.
May You shine brightly upon the Goddess;
May You shine brightly upon the Earth,
scattering seeds and fertilizing the land.
All blessings upon You,
Reborn one of the Sun.
Works of magic, if necessary, may follow.

Celebrate the Simple Feast.

The circle is released.

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Pooh's Corner

mom2cvam

This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Willow

Thanks! I love Scott Cunningham. I have a couple of books by him. I wish he was still with us.

jaimethepooh

yw

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Pooh's Corner

jaimethepooh

bumping for those who missed it

that time of the year is getting closer

__________________
Pooh's Corner

Willow

It seems like yesterday it was Samhain. Time goes by fast, doesn't it?