Decorating your Alter for Yule:
Every now and then you just get stuck, our lack of activity on the blog as of late will tell you it happens to us all. If that’s where you find yourself right now, not to worry, here are some quick suggestions on decorating your home and alter that will invite love, light and spirituality into your home this Yule season.
I want to start with a quick preamble, its always best if you are able to collect from nature; a pagan vendor or at least a local. But when this is not possible, DON’T WORRY YOURSELF! Life has enough problems with people feeling they cannot celebrate or practice their faith if they don’t have exactly the right item. Your intent is during spiritual practice is the foundation of all magic.
With that aside, here are some suggestions as to things you can use to spruce up your space:
Photo credit: The Rowan Blackwood: Image (tumblr.com)
Lets start off strong with the Yule Tree, bringing the tree into your home as a sign of renewal and life is always fun. Though traditionally they were decorated with pinecones and berries, you can decorate anyway you like. Consider the magical associations of colours when choosing your ornaments and contemplate what you want to bring in to your home over the holidays. As a quicky on colours: Red, green, white, silver, and gold are often associated with the season. Red for prosperity and love. Green for abundance and the promise of the spring time. White for cleansing and light. Silver to symbolize the moon. And gold of course to represent the sun and the radiant energy that comes along with it.
Image credit: 0b82b0e737b0a2160a66e03dd9fbc302.jpg (5123×4000) (pinimg.com)
A Yule Log: this could be a blog all its own but broad strokes are that you select a special log to burn for yule or in some traditions the 12 days leading to and your house is protected and blessed by this practice. Lots of folks choose to decorate their logs and enjoy them as a centre piece leading up to the big day. You can do so with foliage (all collected for free if you are lucky) and then adorn it with candles to add flare.
Photo credit: 16 Pagan Christmas Traditions that People Mistakenly Credit to Christianity (historycollection.com)
Holly: can be used for garland, in a pot or as a hanging to represent the God. It is also a protective plant and who couldn’t use a little more of that with all the social activities around this loving season?
Photo credit: o-CHRISTMAS-CANDLES-facebook.jpg (2000×1000) (huffpost.com)
Candles: again here we can consider the magical associations of colours when we choose but candles bring light and warmth into our homes, this represents the sun without which we wouldn’t have all that we have.
Photo credit: Traditional Witch Bells golden - Etsy Canada
Bells: I am sure we have all heard the song Jing Bells at some point but did you know bells would traditionally be rung in the morning to drive away the demons that arise in the darker part of the year. The bells were meant to chase away the dark and bring forth the return of the light following the winter solstice. So dust off those witch bells and give them centre stage over the winter solstice.
Photo credit: pine-cone.jpg (2048×1360) (walterreeves.com)
Pine cones: A symbol of the pine tree, an evergreen tree, these represent healing, protection, prosperity/fertility and cleansing and they look great on the tree, in a bowl, on the alter, fashioned into Poruri, you name it!
If you can’t get to these items, consider the colours and recall their meanings but as always, do what feels good for you and your family.
Have a Blessed Yule friends.