Signs & Portents
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A Merry Yule and a Happy New Year’s!
At long last, we’ve come to the valley of the year: the longest night, the middle of winter, and the apex of darkness. But as they so often say “it’s often darkest before the light” and cultures around the world have long celebrated midwinter with merry revelry, well aware that the Sun will soon return.
In our annual megapost for Yuletide, we’ve gathered as many stories as we could find about winter, seasonal merriment, and gift-giving for the holiday season. Many of the linked posts are from our own PaganSquare, but you’ll find plenty more if you feel inclined to look. We hope you and enjoy and wish you a very Merry Yule (and a Happy New Year’s)!
-Aryós Héngwis
Yuletide/Christmas Posts:
- Erin Lale. “Asatru Altar for Sumbel and Blot“
- Tim Titus. “Compassion“
- Steven Posch. “Crack Nuts and Cry Yule“
- Steven Posch. “The Death or Glory Wassail“
- Steven Posch. “December Madness“
- Steven Posch. “Good Morning Yule“
- Steven Posch. "Holly Seeketh Ivy"
- Leslie J Linder. “Light that Heals, Light that Burns: A Yule Blog on Climate Change“
- Steven Posch. “The Making of Modern Yule”
- Sable Aradia. “Pagan Yuletide Music“
- Steven Posch. “Time Between“
- Steven Posch. “Tree Rune“
- Tim Titus. “Why This Witch Still Celebrates Christmas“
- Christiana Gaudet. “A Yule Tarot Tree“
Midwinter/Solstice Posts:
- Deborah Castellano. “Be Gentle With Yourselves“
- Sable Aradia. “Blessed Solstice!“
- Joanna van der Hoeven. “Darkness and the Winter Solstice“
- Molly. “Family Winter Solstice Ritual Ideas & Outline“
- Melusine Draco. “In the Bleak Midwinter“
- Steven Posch. “Keeping the Sol in Solstice“
- Lee Pike. “Leaving a Legacy”
- Danu Forest. “The Magic of the Winter Solstice“
- Steven Posch. “Mother Night“
- Raven J. Demers. “Music of the Longest Night“
- Jude Lally. “The Night Mare of Winter Solstice“
- Steven Posch. “Solstice Treasure”
- Steven Posch. “Summer in Winter“
- Eileen Troemel. “Winter Reflections”
- We’Moon. “Winter Solstice Blessings!“
Birth and Rebirth Posts:
- Camilla Laurentine. “7 Ways Allies of Minority Religions Can Support Polytheist and Pagan Parents“
- Virginia Carper. “Animals of The Way“
- Steven Posch. “Birth-Cave”
- Asa West. “Giving Birth on a Blue Moon“
- Gwion Raven. “In the Belly of the Goddess”
- Molly. “Mamapriestess?”
- Steven Posch. “Pregnant Goddess“
- Joanna van der Hoeven. “The Soul Behind the Soul“
- Erin Lale. “Substituting as Gythia at a Baby Blessing”
- Steven Posch. “Womb of the Earth“
Darkness Posts:
- Holly Bellebuono. “Darkness with a Capital D”
- Byron Ballard. “The Deepening Dark and the Gabbleratchet: a Peculiar Advent Calendar“
- Candise. “Priestessing through the Darkness“
- Byron Ballard. “These Days of Dark and Light“
Light Posts:
- Robin Fennelly. “The Golden Thread”
- Robin Fennelly. “The Healing of Maiden Moon“
- Jen McConnel. “Laughing Back the Light“
- Leni Hester. “Mother Night, Child of Light”
Winter Posts:
- Colleen DuVall. "Holiday Party on Ice"
- Francesca de Grandis. “I Wish You...“
- Asa West. “On Long Nights and Scarcity“
- Steven Posch. “Reset”
- Leni Hester. “Tales Told In November: Grief and the Perpetual Samhain“
- Eileen Troemel. “Winter Reflections“
Cool Stuff We Found:
- 4 Things People Say At Christmas (That Are Most Likely Wrong)
- 5 Alternatives to Traditional Christmas Trees
- 6 Ways to Embrace Winter
- The 10 Best Winter Songs
- 10 TV Series Where Santa Claus Is Real
- 11 Christmas Songs You Might Actually Want To Listen To
- 13 Songs for Yule
- 17 Weeks: Baby Is the Size of an Onion
- Advent, Integration, And Metaphorical Pregnancy
- Ask an Expert: All About Managing Your Holiday Spending
- Are We Sleep-Deprived or Just Darkness-Deprived?
- Becoming a Great Mother by Reluctant Spider
- The Benefits of Laying Mulch in the Winter
- Best Version of Ourselves: A Holiday Reflection
- Beyond Panettone: 5 Global Christmas Breads To Nibble On
- Birth Story
- Bizarro Back Issues: How Tharg Saved Christmas! (1981)
- Bizarro Back Issues: Batman Against The Great Gotham City Christmas Tree Racket (1945)
- Blessed Solstice
- A Blessed Winter Solstice
- Carriage House Birth
- Caring for Life - Laos's Midwives
- Celebrating the Winter Solstice
- The Christmas Cookie Recipes That Will Make This Holiday Sweeter
- Combating Darkness to Ignite Young Minds
- Come Winter Solstice
- Congress Wants to Give NASA the Best Christmas Gift: Cold Hard Cash—Even More Than Last Year
- Cernunnos
- China's Christmas Town - One Belt, One Road from Yiwu
- Christmas: Finding Out How Santa Claus Manages to Vsit 336 Million Homes
- Christmas Is Not Yours or Mine: The True Origins of the Holiday Season
- Culture And Community: Celebrating Kwanzaa
- Crazy Vatican Light Show Illuminates the Pope’s Climate Message
- The Cycles of Reality
- Daily Meditation: Winter Solstice
- Dandelion Seeds: Leaning Into the Solstice Darkness
- Description & Illustrations of Childbirth
- Dionysus at Yuletide
- Diwali 2015: Celebrating The Festival Of Lights
- Diwali: The Threshold Light in the Midst of Darkness
- Dos and Don’ts of Winter Hair Care
- Download Software and Updates for Gaming Consoles Before Gifting Them
- Embracing the Darkness
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Winter Moonlit Night
- Everything You Need to Know About Christmas Tree
- The Fascinating Reason Why the Coldest Days of the Year Vary So Wildly In the US
- Flower of Light: A Bamboo Lamp
- For Pregnant Women, Sleepless Nights Can Kick in Long Before the Baby Arrives
- Free Tears: Brian Henson and The Muppet Performers Talk Honoring Jim Henson’s Spirit Through The Muppet Christmas Carol
- A Guide to Fighting Common Winter Ailments
- The Garden Containers That Can (and Can't) Stand Cold Weather
- Giving Thanks in the Dark
- Grandfather Frost
- Grannus
- Greek Christmas Customs & Traditions: Kallikantzaroi (Christmas Goblins)
- Grow Better Veggies with LED Lights
- Happy Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice
- Has Maternal Mortality Really Doubled in the U.S.?
- Here's How Stunning the Night Sky Would Look If There Were No Lights
- Here's What Happens To Your Brain When You're Pregnant
- Here's Where NOAA Thinks We'll Have A White Christmas
- Hilarious Animation Pokes Fun of the Silliness of Santa Claus
- How Do We Normalize Pregnancy?
- How Light Pollution Is Affecting Life
- How Long Will It Take Me to Recover After Giving Birth?
- How the Navy SEALs Prepare For Extreme Cold Weather Survival, And How You Can Too
- How to Run in the Winter (Without Freezing Your Butt Off)
- How to Stay Warm in Your Home This Winter, Explained by A Dad
- Japan to Step Up Support for Children in Poverty
- The Joy of Christmas Time Off
- Lamps Old and New Light Up Karthigai Deepam
- The Lazy Witch’s Guide to Yule
- Light One Candle
- Literary Iceland Revels In Its Annual 'Christmas Book Flood'
- Love and Light to the City of Light
- Maponus
- Meatless Monday: Doing Dessert for a Sweet Solstice
- Melting Ice Rinks and Giant Sprouts: Is Warm Weather Ruining Winter This Year?
- Menstruation: The Aftermath of an All-Natural But Ruthless Embryo Screening
- A Merry Solstice Wish
- Moderate Resistance Exercise Good during Pregnancy
- The Monsters of Christmas
- Motherhood
- The Moving Experience One Mom Had When Her Postpartum Body Photos Went Viral
- “Mummers Tale” Puts Pagan Twist on “A Christmas Carol”
- (Nearly) Lost Norwegian Yuletide Traditions
- New Technology Enables Solar Cells to Absorb More Light
- Nights of Snow
- OF COURSE You Want to Plant a Winter Garden! Here’s How to Get Started
- Outrageously Affordable Destinations For This Winter
- Peppermint Recipes You Must Try This Winter
- Philippines Craftsmen Light Up Christmas
- The Places to Visit In Each State for Incredible Christmas Lights
- Pregnancy at Work Is a Constant Struggle Against Misconceptions
- Pregnancy, the Hardest Race of All: 'If Miscarriage Is So Common, Why Does No One Talk About It?'
- Revelations of Winter Solstice
- Riverdale’s Strangest Christmas Tradition: Meet Jingles The Elf And The Sugarplum Fairy
- Robots Are Making Adorable Paper Snowflakes To Give Us a False Sense of Security
- It Seems So Obvious Now: Salt-Infused Asphalt Could Keep Roads Ice-Free
- The Sex Life of Christmas Trees
- Sick Of Light Pollution? Head To A National Park, Study Says.
- 'Silent Night, Holy Night': The Gift of the Luminous Darkness
- Snowy Victorian Houses
- Solstice Morning at Newgrange
- A Spell of Darkness over the City of Light
- Street Lights after Months of Darkness
- Surveying American Sins at Solstice
- Take A Behind-The-Scenes Look At ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’
- Terry Pratchett's Hogfather Is the Best Defense of Christmas There Is
- These Snowy Wedding Photos Are Everything That's Wonderful About Winter
- Things That Happen before, during and after Childbirth
- This Calculator Predicts Your Chance of Having a C-Section
- This Is What It's Like to See Auroras on Other Planets
- This Light Show in Tokyo Is Bewilderingly Pretty
- The Three Best Yuletide Songs You’ve Never Heard
- 'Time Bomb' as New Mothers Get Older and Midwives Approach Retirement
- Top 10 Poems About Light
- Traditions of Diwali
- Twins in Utero
- The Universe Has a Gift for Us This Christmas (Spoilers: It’s an Asteroid)
- Versailles’ Sculptures Are More Interesting in the Winter
- Video Games Can Help You Endure Pain, Even In Labor
- A Video Projector Is a Kick-Ass Way to Decorate a Christmas Tree
- Want to Get Pregnant? Have Sex All Month Long, Not Just During Ovulation
- The War on Christmas... Again
- We Filmed Our Baby’s Birth – It’s Wonderful to Watch
- What Exactly Is Light?
- What Really Happens When Male Seahorses Are Pregnant
- What’s This? Danny Elfman Singing Some Nightmare Before Christmas Songs!
- Why More Sex is Better to Increase Chances of Pregnancy
- Why a Science Writer Celebrates Winter Solstice
- Why I Had My Babies With a Midwife Instead of a Doctor
- Why I Haven't Had a Conventional Christmas in 20 Years
- Why Is Yule like The Force?
- Why It’s OK to Wear Sunglasses in Winter
- Why Pregnancy Is a Real Pain in the Back
- Wild Shiretoko - World Heritage Site
- Winter in Tohoku
- Winter Is Coming, and Hamsters Are Getting Feisty
- Winter Road
- Winter Skin Care Tips for Dry Skin
- Winter Solstice 2015: Everything You Need To Know About the Shortest Day of the Year
- Winter Solstice 2015: Shortest Day Of The Year Celebrated As Pagan Yule
- Winter Solstice Collage
- Your Color Perception Changes With the Seasons
- Yule – The Turning of the Wheel
Top image by Tony Nordin
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