The Pagan Traditions of Christmas

For those of you who like the show Bones you may remember an episode in which Daisy states she does not celebrate Christmas because Jesus wasn't born in December. Biblical evidence suggests shepherds were tending their sheep on the night the holy son was born so it is unlikely he was born in the middle of winter. So why do we celebrate his birth in December?

As one of my history teachers said it was easier to convert pagans to Christianity if there were similarities between the two religions. Pagans celebrated the winter solstice or Yule which occurs on December 21st or 22end, they were used to a celebration in December. Other pagan traditions in Christmas include:

-Kissing under the mistletoe was considered a fertility ritual to many pagans
-The Yule log was blessed and burned in pagan culture to celebrate the wheel of life, it took 12 days for the log to burn (12 days of Christmas)
-The Wreath also celebrates the wheel of life
-The Evergreen tree represents the promised return of life in the spring
-Holly is believed to house good spirits, that would protect the family
-The birth of Jesus corresponds to the rebirth of the sun god (son of the goddess)
-Songs (Christmas Carols) were sung in circles to awaken the magic and worship the god and goddess, wassailing (singing from door to door) is also pagan in origin
-Santa Clause is based on the god Woden who had a long white beard and rode a horse through the skies one evening every Autumn, this morphed into the cult of Nicholas in which Nicholas gave gifts one night a year

There is a long history of the church banning certain Christmas traditions becasue of their pagan origins. No matter what gods you worship I wish you a merry holiday and a happy new year.

Yule- The Winter Solstice

Yule is the pagan sabbat in which many of Christmas's traditions originate. It marks the shortest day of the year and celebrates the rebirth of the Sun King. The goddess labors to birth him and nurture him until he grows from child to man to impregnate her on Ostara with the child who will succeed him the following year.
In your rituals to celebrate the holiday focus on the deeper place of your mind. Bring back things you have put off and meditate on how to compete them before the new year. Seek the inner spark to to keep your spirit and physical energy going through the cold months.

Ritual and celebration ideas

Dreams/ astro projection

Since middle school I can remember having dreams about people I know. In high school I began having these dreams where actual conversation took place between me and the people in my dream.

There is one person I dreamed about on a fairly regular basis and as the years progressed it seemed he was telling me things that he couldn't say to me in real life.
In the last dream I had about him he said good bye......I haven't dreamed of him since.

Recently I had a dream about someone else but that person was in it, though he didn't talk. This new person asks me out and the old person gets an angry look on his face.

These are both the two people I have dreamed about since high school. Both told me they were sorry in my dreams and both have told me how they feel.

Part of me thinks it was my way of getting closure without them, but another part that thinks that maybe we are mutually thinking about each other and our souls are connecting on the dream plain.

I have a history with dreams coming true and think maybe my second belief has some truth to it.

I wish their was a definite way to find out but I don't want to ask the other people in the dream if they dream of me because that would be weird.

A mile stone

After much thought, work, frustration, and faith I have found my magical name. It not only is equal numerically to my birth number but is also the plant that rules my star sign. It is a perfect fit for me. I am pleased to introduce my self to you as Mercury. Merry Meet my friends!

A little more about me

I remember from a young age I had frequent Dasha view moments. According to my mom it happened to everyone and it was nothing abnormal. By the time I hit high school I had just accepted it as something that happened to everyone. That all changed my sophomore year when I started having dreams about my grandfather dying. I just blew it off as something I ate because the dreams were completely weird and not even possible. For example in one my grandpa was driving a mini go cart on a roller coaster in large purple star glasses and he fell of the track. Then in March I had one again and when I woke up to go to school my mom said that they had taken my grandpa to the hospital in the middle of the night. In my last class the office TA told me that my uncle was there to pick me up. One of my best friends was in the class with me and asked what was up and I told her my grandpa had died. No one had to tell me I knew. Even if my dreams had seemed completely bogus one part wasn't. One day after everyone had gotten through their grief I said something to my mom and my aunt. My aunt told me that days before sep. 11 she had had a dream in which a lion attacked and killed a sheep. After 9-11 she made the connection. I am interested in ways to develop this talent. I think it runs in my family.

How I got started on the Wiccian Path

Though my parents claimed Christianity as our family religion we weren't religious people. We didn't go to church we didn't pray before meals or before bed. In middle school I became very religious even though my family wasn't. My cousin would bring me workbooks from her Sunday school class so that I could study the bible. I didn't go to church because I couldn't drive myself and my parents wouldn't take me. Though I was Christian I did not limit myself to religious media. I read and listened to many things most Christians wouldn't. I remember reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. This is where I had my first encounter with paganism. At this point I had always had a thirst to read about the Greeks and their gods and goddesses I could name them all from a very young age. In Rice's books Pandora and Blood and Gold it talks about how the Egyptians worshiped the goddess Akasha as Isis. The book talked about their practices and rites to Isis and I remember being mad because as a Christian I couldn't pay tribute to Isis. Later while reading the Da Vinchi Code I realized just how sexist the Christian religion was. I began to research Mary Magdalene and the holy grail and in my research came across many things about the goddess. By my sophomore year of high school I had converted to Wicca and I have been a witch ever since. In the Wiccian religion I find what Christianity could never offer me.

Handfasting

I brought up the idea of becoming hand-fasted to my boyfriend of two and a half years and he loved the idea, so did his roommate. So now not only am I trying to figure out what to do for my handfasting I am trying to help another couple plan their hand-fasting. At this point I would like to inform you that I have never done one before nor do i have an exact idea of what to do. Everything I can find is for a permanent ceremony and we both want the traditional year and a day ceremony as a practice run for marriage. This may be harder than what I initially thought.