Solstice,Yule and Mom

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"Yule is the midwinter festival. It takes place at the winter solstice when the sun enters Capricorn. The generally accepted date is 21 December but purists may adjust the date according to the sun's position. The name 'Yule' is derived from the Old Norse word iul, which means a wheel, and refers to the notion of the year as a wheel turning through the seasons, the spokes being the equinoxes, the solstices and the great feasts of the quarter days."





"The feast is basically in celebration of the rebirth of the sun, the day when the sun, at its weakest, begins again to strengthen."





You may want to say this:





"This night once more the wheel begins
the turning year of the whole





that is of Earth, Air, Water, Fire
that is of Body and of Soul,





that is of all that lives above,
below, within, and near and far,





that is of Sun and of the Day,
that is of Night and Moon and Star





and all the Names and all the Words
and all the breath of all that breathes





and that has breathed all life, all life,
and is the Wheel that turns again.





We bless the turn
that turns again.


We praise the turn that turns again.
We bless the turn in her Name


and through ours in her
we bless.



I went to the creek this morning,took the dogs for a swim. I laid back with the engine off and looked to the sky and said my solstice prayer for renewed strength and tolerance.

My Mom is here, she made it in to Raleigh-Durham yesterday afternoon despite the Northeaster that is still hitting the states where my family lives, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. The snow is piling up in New England and we are snug in Virginia. Mom is settled in my chair with Quarrie napping above her head, chatting on the phone with her sons who were all calling to make sure she had made it and was well.

I hear her snoring again now, poor thing, she really was exhausted after the long flight and the many hours spent getting to and from the airports.

Today will be a quiet celebration of the Yule, the Solstice and celebrating my Mom.

Blessings to all my friends and family!
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