The time between Samhain and Yule is known to some as the dark time. Our God has sacrificed himself for the betterment of all of us. But at what cost to us we have lost the light even if it is just for the short time we are still without him until his rebirth at Yule. For me Yule is all about the return of the Sun God and the celebration of the season with friends and family. Each year I gather with them to feast, to talk, to eat, to light the Yule log and bring in Peace, Love and Wealth back along with the returning God. We all have a great time and are left with many good memories. In fact looking back over the past 18 years that we’ve hosted them I have not but happy memories of the return of the Sun God.
What I’ve described matches the descriptions in the books I’ve read, it matches the majority of the details you often find on website talking about Yule. In fact it is pretty accurate for all the seasonal Rituals I’ve been apart of as well. The Light has returned, what do we leave in the dark? What do we bring in to the light?
What of the other side of the coin, what of the dark lord who has ruled over the sky for the past two months. So many of us just look to the light side of the Yuletide holidays, we try and just push through the darkness. Are we missing out on something important in this Holiday? Are there lessons to learn that we have missed? Should we instead turn our attention to the Darkness and look at how that has served us over the past couple of months?
Can you still see in the darkness to type your answer or has it gotten the best of you?
This time of year is always difficult for me, personally, but this one seems to be especially rough. I’m finding that the lack of sunlight throughout the day is very much affecting my mood negatively and giving me a nasty case of the “blah’s” in general.
But you bring up an interesting question – does this time of year have to be so dreary? I suppose when I really think about it, I’ve been spending a lot of time these past couple of months pulling back into my shell and reflecting. Looking inward, as it were. And that seems like a very appropriate reaction for this phase of the wheel’s cycle. This is our chance to look back on the previous 9 months and process it all. To take stock and try to figure out what worked for us and what didn’t.
And even on the days when it feels like the darkness is all-consuming, I just try to remember that there can be no light without the dark.
Horned One, Lover, Son – Leaper in the Corn
Deep in the Mother – Die and be reborn!”
Up here in Maine, it seems like the dark lasts forever! lol It starts in late September and the light doesn’t seem like it comes back until March! So for me, although I know the Sun King is reborn at Yule, it’s not really “real” for me until Imbolc/Ostara. I tend to start “nesting” around Mabon. I always kind of take the darkness, although much longer than the 2 months between Samhain and Yule, as a time for introspection, a time to stay close to home, a time for family closeness, and quiet times. The lighter months are more boisterious, more out going, etc. Especially this year, I’m going to use the dark times to, as you said, to reflect on what worked and what didn’t for me. I am going thru a life changing, horrible break up right now. I want the dark months to be like an incubation time for me, so when I get reborn along with the Sun God, I will have hopefully shed what was hindering and keeping me under and bloom with my face in the sun.
I actually take the same above information, and derive the completely opposite conclusion. Yes, it is the return of the light. But for me, I tend to mourn the ending of the darkens, not celebrate it. The Darkness is an extremely important time for me. That and the light is useless without it. This time, between Samhain and Yule, to me is a time of much introspection. A time to remove the baggage and un-needed crap that I have accumulated in the previous year. I am always surprised at just how much of it I can gather in that time. And I enjoy this time afforded to me to methodically sort through it and attempt to remove the parts I no longer need. I’m still working on the second half of that sentence
Now don’t get me wrong – I fully understand that such a time needs to end. It does no good to remove the “bad” parts if the “good” ones never get a chance to be used. But I will admit a part of me feels very saddened when Yule arrives bringing closure to a very valuable time.
M