Yuletide Rites

This may seem to be a strange time to look at the Yuletide Rites, since we have just passed the Yuletide for another year. But I suggest that people look towards the next one now so that they can get ideas of how to improve their Yule Rites. There are some things that I would like to bring up that may help for the 2018 celebrations.

The use of a Yule-Wheel is important, so anyone who does not as yet have one should think about this. This is not really a 'Yule' wheel since it can also be used at the other points of the year, as I will show later. But it should be a six-spoked wheel bought from a source that makes them, or from an 'antique shop' (you know the ones, they buy 'rubbish' from you and then sell them as 'antiques'). You should also get a forked stave about 2-3ft high which fits into the hub of the wheel. A smaller wreath is hung from the forked stave and this is decorated. Do this early and it will be ready to use throughout the year. The best source for its use comes from the 'SS Handbook' which tells all about the use of the wheel.

I always decorate my Yule-Wheel with evergreen twigs; now, I would suggest using pine, spruce and holly and not fir since fir-twigs shed their needles all over the place within a few days. The others do not and will last across the Twelve Nights of Yule. Make a note of this for next year if you have not already found this out the hard way - as I have. I also cut up small (9" long x 3" diameter) logs of birch which I drill out and put the same evergreen twigs along the logs. Holly is also hung around the room too. This brings greenery into the house for the Twelve Nights of Yule. 

The best time to start doing these things is around 2-3 days before the Winter Sunstead (21st December); this is so that not too long a period and not too short a period is left to prepare. It is wise to do it at around this time as as to prepare the mind for the coming rites and celebrations. But it is wise to get hold of the materials such as the birch-logs and the wheel-stave well before so that they have dried out. 

The other thing to consider for next year is the kindling of the Need-Fire through the use of Friction-Fire. In a comment made on 'The Triple Godhead' our Langbard Comrade, Dragonerosso, mentions the most ancient use of the Swastika in birthing Agni, the Fire-God. This can be done with the use of a Swastika-Wheel made with a central hub which produces Friction-Fire when the wheel is turned quickly. This could be tried as an experiment.

As I said before, the Yule-Wheel can be used for rites throughout the year - Easter, Midsummer, Ancestral as well as Yule. To do this another wheel should be made, shorter than the one that hangs from the top parallel to the wheel, and this should be made into a 'Sunwheel' by crossing it with two staves. The wheel is decked out with flowers and other things for each festival - see the 'SS Handbook' for this. 

The following is the Agni Myth which refers to the Winter Sunstead and the Triumph of Light -

Agni (The Fire) is the son incarnate of Savitri (The Sun), conceived and born of the Virgin Maia, and had the carpenter Twasti (Maker of the Swastika) as his earthly father. In the Cave of the One of Twin-Sticks, which has the name 'The Mother', lives the Goddess Maia, the embodiment of Creative Power, who gives birth to the Son under the influence of Vayu (Spirit), the breeze of the wind, without which the fire cannot be lit. The first spark that came from the cavity (cave) of the sacrum of Maia, by turning the Fire-Twirl (Pramantha) represents the birth of Agni; this spark is called 'The Child'.