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I don't know about where you live, but here in Minneapolis the Winter Solstice is hot stuff.

Every year I'm struck by the ever-increasing number of (non-pagan) Winter Solstice events going on: drum-jams, concerts, performances. This year I was dumbfounded to hear that even the local Episcopal cathedral is getting in on the act, holding a special “Light in Darkness” service for the Solstice.

Christmas' religious origins will always render it problematic in an increasingly secular culture.

The Solstice, on the other hand, is an event that engages us all, no matter how we see things, or where our ancestors came from. Conveniently, it also comes at a time when most people don't have family obligations.

Once you've embraced the Winter Solstice, of course, it only makes sense to do the same for its bright Summer twin. And then...well, if you're going to do the Solstices, you might as well do the Equinoxes too.

And so we'll go together, step by logical step. That's how we'll take back the West.

The coven had been together for not quite a year when we all decided to move in together. Hey, it was the 80s.

Soon our second Yule together rolled around. Naturally, we had our discussions about whether or not it was ethical to kill a tree just for purposes of decoration. Like I said, it was the 80s.

Some felt one way, some another. As it turned out, though, we didn't have to kill a tree for Yule. Instead, one offered itself.

Just before Yule, an early blizzard blew through town, dropping lots of heavy, wet snow. The weight of the snow snapped off a tall, slender arbor vitae in the back yard.

(By the way, for those of you who didn't happened to grow up speaking Latin, arbor vitae means “tree of life.” Interesting.)

So we dragged the tree into the house and decked it out. Goddess will provide.

This being early on in our pagan careers, we didn't have much in the way of Yule ornaments between the lot of us. So we hung the tree with jewelry instead. Pagans, of course, have lots of jewelry that looks good on a Yule tree. Interestingly, the German word for Yule tree ornaments—Tannenbaumshmuck—means exactly that: fir tree jewelry.

So that was our first coven Yule tree together. But there's a coda to the story.

Nowadays, the popularity of candles has reached an all-time high. Candles are used by folks of all walks of life for relaxation, meditation, and aromatherapy. This simple yet profound tool can make powerful magic. Notice how candlelight transforms a dark room and fills the air with the energy of magical light. Suddenly the potential for magic is evident.

*10 minutes a day is all you need to do these techno-spirituality movements, to strengthen your brain and bones!

1. THE LUNGE: With fingers entwined, shoved downward, then with thumbs and forefingers connected make a triangle, then bring hands to forehead, pressing lightly on the third eye, then flip hands up on top of the head, stretching upward; at the same time lunging to the right with right leg, then bring arms down to your side and bring right leg in; repeat this finger entwined motion, and lunge to the left with left leg.

Whenever I check on my blog statistics, I always find that the post I wrote about topless Minoan women is the number one in terms of hits. The female breast is such a source of titillation (ha!) in modern society, it's hard to wrap our minds around the idea that exposed breasts might have represented something other than sexual innuendo to the ancient Minoans. But we're pretty sure they did.

In addition to the frescoes and figurines that show women with exposed breasts, Minoan art also includes quite a few representations of animals suckling their young. The image at the top of this blog is a drawing of a faience plaque found at Knossos. It shows a mama goat suckling a kid. There's a similar plaque with a cow and her calf. Images of mother animals suckling their young - cattle, goats, sheep, even deer - appear on a number of Minoan seals.

The Winter Holidays have arrived and the new year is less than a month away. For people who would rather skip them because of heart-aching estrangement from biological kin, I dedicate this Blog to you!