This is a series of articles dedicated to earth based spiritual practices, aimed for people that are healers, or are working with high frequency energies to reconnect was the earth, nature, and thus grounding themselves to the cycles that mother earth goes through the year, hoping these practices can assist them in balancing out the sometimes taxing high vibrational work they’re engaged with, with the calm energies of nature observance.

In the Neopagan spiritual circles, the Winter Solstice is called Yule, celebrated around the 20^th-21^st of December each year. This day is almost centered on the days of the winter holidays, mostly in the western world.

We have all experienced the frenzy of winter holidays and its over commercialization. But I’m inviting you to an exploration of the deeper meaning of the holidays around the Winter Solstice, by discussing how this time of year can be viewed from a different lens, and how by honoring it practicing various types of earth-based celebration and small rituals we can tune into its true meaning that of the Returning of the Light.

What These Yule and Winter Solstice Rituals Will Help You Cultivate

A Connection to Nature and the Turning of the Year

The celebration of Yule has its roots in the northern old European Pagan traditions, which were later added to the neopagan concept of celebrations surrounding the idea of the Wheel of the Year.

The Wheel of the Year comprises eight days, distributed in equal spans of time throughout the year. Four of them mark the changing of the season and the other four that symbolize the circle of agriculture activities throughout the year. These practices that people used to engage in are equivalent inner shifts we go through the passing of the year.

The celebration of Yule has its roots in the northern old European Pagan traditions, which were later added to the neopagan concept of celebrations surrounding the idea of the Wheel of the Year.

Yule is the first of these eight days of celebration, and it falls around the shortest day of the year, accompanied by the longest night of the year.

It’s the symbolic death of the year that passed and the birth of the new one. This holiday also symbolizes the Returning of the Light since from that day and on the days (or the presence of the light), will become longer and longer.

Through doing rituals that celebrate and honor the day, you can get attuned to the idea of the Returning Light within. Yule is a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there’s always the promise that light will eventually shine through the dark and lead us forward.

A Space for Personal Reflection and New Intentions

Yule also signifies that time of the year where you can reflect on what took place and set your intentions for the year to come.

For me, even the preparation that takes place days before Yule (and the Winter Solstice), is as potent as the day itself, since this preparation builds a momentum in me that is being released when the Yule arrives, as a blessing for the people I care about and the out into the world.

A Sense of Gratitude and Renewal as the Light Returns

During the winter holidays, the sense of the Presence of Light within the darkness of winter is so significant that it prevailed in our modern way of living under the heavily decorated homes, shops and places of public gathering with lights.

I love taking walks when that sun has set (and in the northern hemisphere where I live that happens early in the day) and appreciate the beauty that these lights bring to the city, reminding me of the true Light withing and without, and the merriment it brings to the people around me.

During the winter holidays, the sense of the Presence of Light within the darkness of winter is so significant that it prevailed in our modern way of living under the heavily decorated homes, shops and places of public gathering with lights.

Even if that sounds romantic since people usually around this time of the year are riddled with anxiety and stress, I choose to cherish the fact that I have the opportunity to witness the surrounding lights.

5 Meaningful Ways to Celebrate Yule and Winter Solstice

There are many ways to celebrate Yule and the Winter Solstice, and they don’t have to be extravagant to feel the spirit of the day and the week that surrounds it.

What follows are 5 simple ways that you can be engaged in, to enjoy the holiday.

1. Plant a Seed of Intention

Yule is a wonderful time of the year where you can plant a seed that will symbolize your intentions for the months to come. This can be done by either planting an herb, a seed, or a bulb.

This planting can also take the form of doing a small ritual where you can write your intentions for the New Year and place it at a small altar that you can erect in a prominent space off your home, so that you can see it and give it your energy so that it will flourish in the months to come.

2. Light a Candle to Welcome the Sun

Yule, as I discussed above, also signifies the Returning of the Light and what is more appropriate to this than to light a candle to honor this Light.

This can be done either by lighting a single candle (in the color that could represent what the candle will symbolize for you – gold for sunlight, white for purity, or red for vitality) and then placing it at an altar dedicated to the holiday, decorated with greenery appropriate for the season, accompanied by crystals of your choice.

3. Create a Solar Altar with Oranges and Evergreens

Since I mentioned setting up an altar for the holiday many times above, I would like to give some more suggestions on how to create this altar that will honor the essence of Returning of the Light through is represented physically by the strengthening of the light of the sun after the Winter Solstice has passed.

As the Yule altar is dedicated to the Returning of the Sun, and the Sun is its representative, this altar can be dedicated to the Sun too. You can add golden candles, and also… oranges that look like small suns (at sunrise or sunset), either as fruits or dried peels of the fruit.

And, in the holiday’s spirit, you can place some evergreens on this altar that can symbolize the power of the light that is never extinguished even in the darkest months of the year.

4. Return to Nature and Let Go of the Past

Each holiday of the Wheel of the Year is a significant time to reconnect with nature. Even people living in a city can find some spots of nature either in parks or by creating a small space of nature at home by placing indoor plants around their house.

I am lucky to be surrounded by trees in my area where I live. I find trees to be very sacred since they symbolize balance and unite the earth through their roots with the sky through their branches that reach up.

Each holiday of the Wheel of the Year is a significant time to reconnect with nature.

If you’re also lucky by having trees around you in the area where you live, you can take an intentional walk and honor another important aspect of this holiday, that of letting go of the past. Trees can be found in parks, or planted on sidewalks, where you can walk down the sidewalks and, after connecting with the trees, ask them to witness your intention to let go whatever you want to let go of as you walk.

5. Express Gratitude for the Season’s Gifts

With letting go, what also comes is gratitude for everything that you possess as a gift from the years that have passed.

There are many ways to express gratitude on this day, from just speaking out loud or inwardly what you are grateful for, either in a form of praying, or by writing what you are grateful for and placing it at the holiday’s altar.

Conclusion

Yule and the Winter Solstice are the best opportunities for us to pause, reflect, and appreciate wholeheartedly the Return of the Light in nature and within ourselves.

You don’t have to go out of your way to celebrate Yule, since the smallest gesture with intention is what matters. Just follow your intuition on how to honor the day and engage in actions that speak to you to attune yourself to the Returning of the Light.

Till next time, take care.