Yule

Yule is the time of the longest night, for daylight is overcome, and the sun flees earlier from the sky. This is not a time to curse the darkness, but a time simply to accept the long night as a part of the great wheel of life. Take comfort in the knowledge that, though the night is long, the sun will return again on the morrow. When Yule passes, the sun begins to remain longer in the day sky in its journey around the sacred wheel of the seasons.

At this same time of year long ago, our ancestors huddled about their fires and watched the dark Yule sky for the return of the sun. Within their communities, the people extinguished the fires in their homes, so that for a time all dwelt in total darkness. In that darkness, our ancestors reflected on the sacred mystery of darkness and light. Suddenly within the community, a single flame was born to burn away the curtain of darkness. From a soon-roaring bonfire, many torches were lit to be carried back to each person's dark dwelling, that their own flames of light might be reborn. This was done not only to comfort our ancestors, but also to remind the sun to return to Mother Earth, so that all creation might live.

This year a total lunar eclipse coincides eerily with the northern hemisphere's mid-winter solstice...