The Wheel Turns

The wheel of the year turns, and soon it will be Yule when the days begin to get longer, and the nights shorter. The sun is reborn and soon the earth will follow. We’re usually more than a little busy during the period between Thanksgiving and Yule.

Since people often celebrate both Christmas and Yule, or maybe Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, for any number of reasons, including personal preference, that’s at least double the work than if you only celebrate one. People also often have more than one Yule celebration and one or more Christmas celebration. The gifts and food alone involved in that can be stressful. We have two Yule celebrations and two Christmas, so we’ll be among those super busy this season. It's good to take a little time out when you can, however, to feel the rhythm of the earth as it turns toward the reawakening of life in the spring.

What I like best about this time of year is the sense of anticipation you can feel in the air. This is not just the anticipation of kids for Santa. It’s more than that. Personally, I feel more deeply in tune with the earth and the turning of the wheel. The final harvest is in, we’ve celebrated, and we’ve thanked the gods for the bounty of the year. This spirit of gratitude makes us want to share with others at this time of year more than at other times too, so we share food and give gifts.

All of this is just a lead up to the big event though, solstice. At Yule, the cycle begins anew and the sun returns. One way to prepare for Yule is by doing a fall cleaning and clearing out the things you don’t need, things you don’t need to carry with you into the new dawn as the sun returns to the earth. 

That’s one of my projects for this year. I tend to collect “things,” so I have to go through periodically and clear it out. I recently started on the closest and gave away several bags of clothes. Do you have any of those, “Oh I might wear that again” clothes? I do, or I should say I did.

This type of cleaning out can help you let go of the things that hold you back. See if you can find those self-sabotaging voices, if you have them, and most of us do, and toss them out along with each thing you throw away. I try to do this once a year, and some years there’s less to throw out than others. The less physical clutter you have, the less spiritual clutter you will have.

Once I’ve gotten rid of everything, I feel like I’m making a new start on accomplishing what I want for the year. This is also one of those times when I open up the house, if I can, to bring in positive natural vibes. Trees surround my house, so on a nice winter day, I just let nature sweep the house. I know I’ve mentioned that before, but the days when that’s possible are too few.

How do you celebrate the solstice? Tell us by commenting on the blog, on Facebook, or through our contact page, and let us know what you’re doing for Yule, or Christmas, or Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate. We’d love to hear from you!