Yule Ritual
         Yule is the celebration of the rebirth of the Sun God through the Goddess.
Alter Decorations:  Red and Green Candles, Holly, Mistletoe, Ivy, Pine, Pine Cones, The Yule Log, Opals, and Aquamarine.  Place ash twigs in the cauldron if you wish.

Ritual Soap: Franckincense and Myrrh with Bayberry

Incense: Myrrh, Franckincense, and Bayberry

Cakes: Cookies, Fruitcake

Ale: Cider, or Egg Nog

Colours: Red and Dark Green.

Invocation:
What is this dream that comes to me
This longing in the spring
To whisper with a playful glee
Of Magic, wondrous things?

So it is that I am born
The Child with gossamer wings
Appearing with a sounding horn
And ageless songs to sing.

I ring the bells admist the green
I spread the dew drops round
I become the Faerie Queen
And dance with holly crowned.

What is this dream that comes to me
These thoughts on summer days?
To wish that I were flying free
In forests filled with Fey.

So it is that I am born
The Lass with harp in hand
Strumming tunes to grow the corn
And bring life to the land.

I move the winds all through the glade
I dance the noon-gold sun
I become the Merry Maid
And dance till day is done.

What is this dream that comes to me
This muse as fall draws nigh?
To speak of things still yet to be
As winds that bend and sigh.

So it is that I am born
The Woman at the well
With songs of love upon this morn
And stories yet to tell.

I aid the ladies giving birth
I harvest ripened fields
I become as Mother Earth
And dance till daylight yields.

What is this dream that comes to me,
Reflections in the white
To share of things that I have seen
Of grails still shining bright.

So it is that I am born
The Old One close to death
With wisdom writ on pages worn
And humour in each breath.

I speak now with a quiet tone
I look with inner sight
I become the Ancient Crone
And dance with drakest night.
(invocation taken from A Victorian Grimoire by Patricia Telesco)

Activities:
- Gift exchange
- Light a Yule Log, remember to start it with the ashed from last year's log and to keep the ashes in the home for the coming year for good luck. 
- Sing pagan solstice carols, "Deck the Halls", "The Holly and the Ivy", "Joy to the World", Wassailing Song, etc.  Many traditional Christmas carols have pagan themed roots and some ("O Come All Ye Faithful" for example) can easily be "paganised".
- Decorate a Yule Tree.  Hang bells on the Yule Tree to call the fairies and spirits.
- Decorate a tree outside with strung popcorn and cranberries and cookies hung on string for birds to eat.
- Burn ash wood for prospertity.
- After the 12th night, gather up the Yule greens and save then until Imbolc at which time you can burn them to banish winter and start to welcome spring. 
- Bless the Yule tree.
- Father Christmas and the story of the Holy and the Ivy Kings.
- Carry, or pass candles around the circle while chanting.
- Hang a symbolic wheel on your door.
- Make a holly weath and decorate with some sort of lights and hang it in your window or on your door.
- Hang misteltoe (remember, couples under it must kiss!)

Traditional Foods: deer, horned game, dried furit or fruit, bread, egg nog, mulled wine, nuts, carrots, eel, and potatoes.  Fruitcakes, game and pork dishes, plum pudding, and wassail are traditional dishes.

Traditional Herbs: spices, nutmeg, and cinnamon.