Liber ab Sol (Book of Sun)^143
Couples—While it might seem difficult to separate couple from children on this
Holiday, few can argue that in popular culture December 24th belongs more to the
couple than the children. Sure, chances are they are only pretending to be asleep, but
still there they are in the other room providing quiet time for Mom and Dad. Is there a
better time for celebrating the joy of one’s relationship? Even without having children,
there is the celebration of the joy of other pleasures that have come from the couple’s
union. Taking time for just the two of you is most appropriate. Perhaps a romantic
dinner or maybe something as simple as stealing some of Santa’s cookies and sharing
them under the mistletoe.
Take turns writing in your couple’s Book of Shadows what has come from the rela-
tionship that you are thankful for. Exchange personal gifts. If it has been a particularly
hard year, gifts of massage are most appropriate.Coven/Household—I had a conversation with a friend who felt that her children
were left out of the fun of Christmas because she was raising them in a traditional Pagan
manner. “What do you mean?” I asked. She told me that she wanted to celebrate Yule
on the right day, but her children are surrounded by the cultural celebration on Decem-
ber 25th. I was shocked. Has Wicca really come so far in our rebellion that we would
reject traditional Pagan ways just because Christianity has capitalized on them?
Few disagree that the Pagan Yule was not a specific day; it was a range of 12 days,
as evidenced by the popular Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Al-
though there is some argument as to when the first day begins, I think the great amount
of argument can be found in the same issues discussed in context of when any Holiday
begins. For the 12 Days of Yule, I choose to think of the first day as beginning at the
evening prior to the day of Solstice.
Counting 12 days forward, this yields the last day of Yule on approximately January
1st. An alternative way of looking at the Holiday is to blend it into popular culture and
count backward from January 1st to find the first day on December 20th. Either way
will only find a variance of a day or so. Now then, what does this say of the 25th? It says
that the 25th falls almost perfectly at the center of the 12-day season of Yule. This is
rather important when a study of the celebration of Yule finds that this mid-point was
called Mother’s Night. The day after was the Pagan celebration of children, Day of
Children. When we take into consideration the ancient way of looking at the new day
as starting at sundown, we see that a traditional Pagan celebration of Yule might in-
deed fall on December 25th. But why stop there? From both a modern cultural and
ancient traditional viewpoint, this Holiday can be seen as beginning at Winter Solstice
and ending on January 1st, so why not make use of each of those days?Imbolg
Winter is at the senior/Sage stage. Summer is entering the third trimester.Also known as: Anagantios, Blessing of the Plow, Candlemas, Disting, Disting-tid, Feast
of Brigid, Feast of the Virgin, Festival of Milk, Ground Hog’s Day, Imbolc, Oimelc.p WB Chap 08.p65 143 7/11/2003, 5:52 PM