Yule Log Magick

The Yule log is a remnant of the bonfires that the European pagans would set ablaze at the time of winter solstice. These bonfires symbolized the return of the Sun. The Yule log can be made of any wood. Each releases its own kind of magic.

Aspen: invokes understanding of the grand design.

Birch: signifies new beginnings.

Holly: inspires visions and reveals past lives.

Oak: brings healing, strength, and wisdom.

Pine: signifies prosperity and growth.

Willow: invokes the Goddess to achieve desires.

On the night of Yule, carve a symbol of your hopes for the coming year into the log. Burn the log to release its power. Save a piece of this year's Yule log for kindling in next year's fire. You may also wish to decorate the log with greenery, flowers, ribbons and herbs for magickal intent. Some choices might be:

Carnations-protection, courage, strength, healing, increases magickal power, vitality

Cedar-wealth, protection, purification, healing, promotes spirituality

Holly-dreams, protection

Juniper- Exorcism, protection, healing, love

Mistletoe-a catalyst, fertility, health, success, protection, banishing evil

Pine-healing, wealth, protection, purification, exorcism, exorcism, fertility, wealth

Rosemary-health, love, protection, exorcism, purification, increase intellectual powers, peace, blessing, consecration, very powerful cleansing and purifying

Roses-love, courage, luck, health, protection, beauty

Ribbons can be used according to their color magick correspondences. Be creative and have fun! :-)

Candles

Idea from an article by Dancer of New Avalon

Since it is often a messy task rather than try candle making why not use store bought candles for these ideas? Press flowers and herbs until they are dry or use ones purchased from a craft store. Dip your candle into hot water just barely long enough to soften the wax. Place the dry plant material on the candle in a pleasing pattern, and gently press into the wax. Then do a quick dip into liquid wax to seal it all together.

Explore fragrances by using incense herbs and resins sealed into the wax; you could use the above process or make the candles with the herbs and resins included in the hot liquid (experiment before you commit yourself to a big project... if the herb pieces are too large, they'll act like wicks and create a bonfire, and resins sometimes spit when hot). You could also add pure essential oils to the outside of the finished candle, or to the liquid wax as the candle burns. I like to do the last one-especially if you get the unscented candles-try it in a bunch of little tea lights too! :-)

If you don't mind a bit of experimenting... Timing candles. In medieval times, special candles were marked for the hours (as moon-dials did not work as well as sun-dials...) so that the religious would not miss their middle-of-the-night prayers. You can mark candles for special time periods, like the length of your meditation sessions. Make or get a batch of candles at the same time, keep them together, and treat them the same (such as putting them in the freezer to make them drip less-this is my personal favorite taper trick!). Burn one, and at each time period (hour, fifteen to twenty minutes, etc.), measure the amount of candle that has burned and mark the remaining candles at this increment. Add a little color to the marks with cotton thread (you could try paint, but it does strange things) or wax dye.

For magickal work, bind spells with cotton thread wrapped and knotted around a candle. The usual way is to knot the intention so that with each one burned, the energy is freed to do its work; this is especially useful for healing and protection work. Choose appropriate colors for both candle and thread. This is another project where a final dip into liquid wax would be beneficial, though here it is not absolutely needed.

No matter what you create with your candles, remember that they are living beings, apt to seize upon flammable objects and creatures within their reach. They should never be left unattended unless in a totally secure environment (like an empty bathtub for overnight)! Safety comes first.

Creating Your Yule Log