Yule

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" LINK="#000000" ALINK="#800200" VLINK="#000000"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>YULE</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>          December 21st</B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="700" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 371 WIDTH="694"><div> The Winter Solstice, the God is reborn to the Goddess.  This night is the longest night of the year.  Since the God is also the sun, we celebrate the sun's return.  In the early years, pagans would light the Yule bonfires in their fields, these sacred fires would give added strength to the sun.  In time this evolved into the Yule log, this sacred fire could be brought indoors.  Early pagans decorated these with evergreens, holly and carved magical symbols on the log before burning.  Trees were brought inside, decorated with dried herbs, fruit and natural materials collected and saved from Mabon.  Nature was being brought into homes during this frozen time of year giving the promise of fertility for the new growing seasons return.  </div> <bR> <div> Colors of the season are Red (symbol of the sun) and Green (symbol of the earth, nature in its splendor). </div> <bR> <div> Adorn your Altar with these candles.  Carve the sun on the red candle, burn frankincense and rosemary for herbs.  Lay pine, juniper or cedar on your altar.  Relax and meditate, for one should not work on this solstice but enjoy the rebirth and return of the sun.</div> <bR> <div> Blessed Be</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/ flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0" width="131" height="33"> <PARAM name="movie" value="http://www.realwitches.com/navbarback.swf"> <PARAM name="quality" value="high"> <PARAM name="menu" value="true"> <EMBED src="http://www.realwitches.com/navbarback.swf" quality="high" menu="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="131" height="33"> </EMBED> </OBJECT>  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </BODY>