Mid-witchery: Yule New Moon

December New Moon: Friday 12/19

Themes: new beginnings, expansion, authenticity, perseverance

The longest night of the year approaches as this New Moon marks the darkest period of time. Darkness and cold force us to naturally withdraw and go inward, just like our animal kin.  We crave hibernation, one might call cocooning, in order to seek solace, warmth, safety, and ultimately surrender.  Our ancestors used the darkest days for gathering with community, listening to stories from the Elders, and chipping away at the stock-piled gains from the yearly harvest.  They used this time to collect their strength, reflect on the year’s bounty or strife, and hopefully survive the cruelest and harshest of conditions.   As Winter sets upon us, we are reminded that even the most barren landscape holds space for life to emerge if we have the patience and fortitude to survive the bitter cold.

             Gather with loved ones and reflect on the past year’s gains and losses.  Are you celebrating a new chapter or mourning a chapter closed?   Have the events of this year made a new path for you to walk? Or has it strengthened the path you’ve been trailing?  Whom do you gather with when the nights are at their coldest? You seek solace with those who have shared in your grief, gratitude, misfortune and joy. These are markings of a year well-lived; one encased with the richness of the human experience.  So raise a glass, light the Yule log, and put this year to rest.