An enchanted offering for your sacred wintering
Daily Inner Alchemy Guidance for the 12 Yule Days
This winter I am guiding paid readers through the 12 Sacred Nights from Winter Solstice to the 1st of January, beginning with a threshold crossing ritual for Mother’s Night and ending with Perchta (the German Cailleach) on January 3rd.
It is a good time to look through the veils of the worlds, to connect with the ancestors, the spirits of the otherworlds and one's own intuitive and oracular insights. To this day, we uphold the tradition of burning incense in our homes and withdrawing for introspection and divination during this time.
Herbs are used as incense, the smoke cleanses the house and hearth of unwanted energy and clears out the old to make room for new visions and dreams.
It is difficult to determine the natural origin of the 12 Yule Nights. There are traditions that describe the Sacred Nights as an ancient pagan custom whose origins lie in the Germanic calendar and the 11-day leap months inserted every two years. Historians suspect that the changeover from the lunar to the solar year, which took place during the reign of Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), could have been an equally possible origin. The calendar change extended the year by eleven days and thus twelve nights, which were also called ‘dead days’ back then - and are still considered days out of time today.
What we do know is that the custom of this special time is older than Christianity and therefore its beginning was not linked to a calendar month, but was marked by a natural phenomenon, such as the winter solstice. The modern version, in which the Rauhnächte are celebrated between Christmas on 24/25 December and the arrival of the Three Wise Men on 6 January, has only existed since the Gregorian calendar.
The 12 sacred nights are also associated with the 12 months of the year, and you can use each night to reflect on the associated month of the past year and use oracle methods such as tarot cards or runes to tune into the energy and wishes for that month in the coming year. Although I have put my personal spin on this custom which goes back to the moon calendar and works with the Celtic New Year instead of the modern mainstream correspondences.
I begin the Sacred Nights with a threshold night (the so called Schwellennacht) which marks the transition into this ceremonial time on 20th December. For some this is the original Mother's Night.
The Mother's Night is the longest night of the year, the darkest time from which the sun is born from the womb of the great goddess. It is an excellent time for preparation and retreating within. More about this tomorrow!
The 12 Sacred Nights
Time of wise women, death doulas, midwives of new life, sorceresses of healing and transformation, goddesses of fate, female ancestors and protector spirits of the collective. Each night we awaken the insights of a powerful archetype within us and relate it to our internal and external cirumstances, relationships and processes.
In Germany we still celebrate the 12 Sacred Nights, a tradition predating christian holy-day of Jesus’s birth and for me a much more magical and potent time!
A tradition that links us to non-patriarchal times of honouring the power to give, nurture and regenerate life! And a practice that fits perfectly well into our modern lives - well, if you detach your smoke alarm because it involves daily incense burning.
To this day, we uphold the tradition of burning incense in our homes and withdrawing for introspection and divination during this time.
Most align their ritual practice with the Christian festive days between 24th of December and 6th of January. Considering Winter Solstice is just a few days before Christ’s birth (like Summer Solstice lies a few days before John the Baptist’s birthday) is more likely to be the start of the Time between the Years. It is a liminal time of introspection, insight and oracular imagination.
I have created a guide to assist you throughout each of the Sacred Nights, including rituals, herbal suggestions for incense, journal questions, energies and correspondences as well as the 13 Wishes Ritual.
Enjoy these nights with a cup of ceremonial grade cacao and order through my affiliate link until the end of the year to receive my ebook or become a paid member of
to be guided daily.And I want to gift it to everyone who orders Keith’s Cacao with my affiliate link from now until the end of this year. Simply use my link or the code KAKAOZAUBER19DE21 on keithscacao.com - worldwide shipping and 10% off when you buy 5 blocks (or more). Send me a message after your order and I’ll send you my ebook for the Sacred Nights.
