Happy Winter Solstice, all y'all!!

We've just had a burn ritual to celebrate Yule. Hopefully the coming seasons are bountiful!



Here's our log. It's a part of a limb from Seattle's oldest scarlet oak; the limb was cut down so that it wouldn't shear away from the trunk. A while back, one of my housemates donned a safety vest, hardhat and chainsaw, then engaged in a TOTALLY LEGAL (wink) operation to secure the removed limb.

Based on what I've read, this is the "proper" way to get a Yule log: make it yourself, with respect for its source. No buying allowed.

We wrote down the things that we wanted to let go or otherwise disperse, and nailed them to the log. For some, this is a long tradition; for us, it's the beginning of one.

Grounding ourselves, introspecting why we wrote what we did, why now, what would come of the burn, what would replace it, and so on, we cast our Yule log in flames.



And with that, we let it go! (if you zoom in, you can see the nails and burnt votives!)

Happy Yule, happy Winter Solstice, and may y'alls Wheels continue spinning.

ps. (now that the fire's died down, we've collected the log -- you're not supposed to burn them all the way through -- and will put it on our altar, where it'll be decorated throughout the year and used to light the next Yule log ablaze; the associated card with our Yule, luckily, is an upright 'Empress.' Score!)

 

ahhh I like that tradition. The fire is just beautiful too. Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones. Thanks for sharing.

 

Happy Hogswatch to all.