The Gate of Life and the Old New Year
Get excited about the Onion Oracle and my free Ritual companion for your personal homecoming this Christmas.
Blessed Mother´s Night and celebration of Yuletide!
Today is the first of the 12 celebratory nights of Yuletide, called Mother´s night, in honour of the earth mother who births her son - the sun.
Yule comes from the old Norse jól and Old English géohol which was a season of hunting after the harvest was done. This fell in what we now call December so it eventually became associated with the Christmas Holiday. The Yuletide season lasted from the end of November to the beginning weeks of January but the feast of Yule lasted three days over the Winter Solstice and marked the beginning of the new year.
The 12 sacred nights are still practiced in countries like Germany, mostly beginning with the Winter Solstice or after Christmas, when the gift shopping hustle and holiday preparation calms down and there actually is time for stillness, ritual and introspection.
I am sending you my sacred nights ebook with background information to the season, instructions for the 13 wish ritual (which we will do together during Friday´s online cacao ceremony), daily practices, incense recommendations (the nights are, after all, called the nights of smoke) and energetic effects of the plants to use.
Read on, it awaits you at the bottom of this email.
The Rebirth of the Sun King at Winter Solstice
In this darkest time of the year we celebrate the return of the Divine Child, the rebirth of the golden solstice Sun, who will bring warmth, light and life back to Earth again.
If this speaks to you, We dive deeper into the relevance of the seasonal festivities in the Wheel of the Year for re-connection with nature´s cyclical wisdom and our human bodies intelligence, in combination with the mythology and mystery of Arthurian Tradition in my yearlong immersion THE WORLDS OF AVALON. In which we gather midway through the sacred nights to greet each other in the winter cave, weave our subconscious dreams into conscious collaboration of co-creation with life.
In Ireland and Scotland the Cailleach is honoured as the great crone goddess of winter. She who takes life to give life.
In the deep cave of the earth, the sun is waits patiently to be reborn and celebrated for its light´s kiss on the dark hard ground.
This year is lost to the night This year is lost to the night To fall and rise again To die and be reborn What more must we loose to the night? The light was born and the light has died I surrender this year to the night
Chant from the Reclaiming Collective, in the book Spiraldance by Starhawk
The old meets the new.
The most ancient (known) festival of Winter Solstice meets the more recent holiday of Christmas, being merged as the birth of the sun child, the divine child.
We meet at their intersection today, no matter what you celebrate, which calendar or seasonal cycle you follow, you are invited to step through a portal, a threshold of sort.
Winter Solstice is not only a celebration of the light returning but also one of the night - now knowing it will eventually come to an end - and therefore a time to celebrate our dreams! As they are the conduits and messengers of the night.
Before the Gregorian calendar, the New Year would have been celebrated on March 25th, which aligns with the Spring Equinox and the beginning of the lighter half (summer) of the year. And before that some speculate, that the cultures before the Celts would have celebrated the New year with the ending of said summer time, on Samhain. Others say it would have been on Winter Solstice with the Return of the Sun. It is up to you to feel into this.
What we know is, that ancient cultures tended to only recognise two seasons; summer and winter. Marked by the Autumn and Spring Equinox. The two solstices occur approximately midway between the two equinoxes. This means that they occur roughly in the middle of the season and for this reason are also known as Midsummer and Midwinter.
The point of roughness is the term for the winter solstice in Wales.
Which very interestingly connects to the so called “rough nights” known as Rauhnächte (rauh = rough) in Germany - which are the 12 nights between the lunar and solar years.
The 12 sacred nights of dreaming (as I refer to them)
The Rauhnächte, also known as Rauchnächte, Rauch meaning smoke, are known as a time out of time, during which incense is burned daily to clear out the old.
The exact origin of the Rauhnächte is difficult to determine. It probably goes back to the Germanic lunar calendar, which defined a year with twelve lunar months and 354 days. The eleven days - or twelve nights - that are missing in today's solar calendar were considered days out of time.
Up to this day we keep up the tradition of smudging our homes and retreat for introspection and divination during this liminal time. It is a good time to peak through the veils of the worlds, connect to your ancestors, otherworldly spirits and your own intuitive insight.
Herbs are being used as incense, the smoke cleanses house and hearth of unwanted energy and clears out the old to make space for new visions and dreams.
Each night of the 12 sacred nights has a different topic/theme associated with it. Some connect the nights to the 12 months of the year and pull oracle cards to tune into the energy of the upcoming year or (like my grandmother) ask the onion oracle (yes, you read correctly, this is not a typo) to predict the weather of every month. I was always fascinated by this practice, her predictions are on point.
I´ll explain this and other rituals in the coming days, so you get to try it yourself!
I will be your ritual guide throughout the 12 sacred nights with short and sweet daily practices, specific questions to guide you through personal introspection and suggestions for herbs and maybe a song here and there. To open your perception about what’s happened in the old year and what’s to come in the new and how to embrace the present.
This post and my upcoming ritual guidance is public and free for everyone. Please help me to spread the word and share this post or my email newsletter with your friends and family to participate in the sacred nights together and make this the most meaningful Christmas season yet.
You can also use the 12 sacred nights (and days) to indulge in your very own cacao dieta or immersion. As this is a time for dreaming and divination and ceremonial cacao is the perfect plant ally for both: lucid dreaming and creative envisioning.
You can add my daily input to your already existing spiritual practice or to create a new routine and connect deeper with the sacred plant Theobroma Cacao, its spirit and yourself.
Exclusive invite to my Winter Solstice online cacao ceremony (and replay) on Dec 22nd at 4pm UK time
Everyone who purchases ceremonial cacao through my affiliate link here will get an exclusive invite to our Winter Solstice online cacao ceremony (and replay) on Dec 22nd.
Worldwide shipping from various warehouses (Europe, UK, US, Australia). When you purchase 5 blocks or more you get a cheaper price per block on top of my first time discount - great opportunity to gift the ultimate gift of love: Heart opening, healthy and focus enhancing chocolate!
If you are planning to go offline during the holy days, and won´t be able to receive my daily emails (starting on December 24th) you can download my ritual companion ebook here in both german and english versions:
https://we.tl/t-UUKdylow7U (only valid for 7 days, best to click it right away)
May this time of introspection bring you insights and magical dreams.
Very important: TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF!
You can start the sacred nights whenever it suits you and you don't have to doggedly try to do a ritual every day! However, I do recommend that you take at least 5 minutes every day to connect with yourself - especially during family vacations. Not only will it benefit your stress regulation and create space for magic, but it's also a gift to those around you if you are a calm presence and lead by example to celebrate this season of love and togetherness.
Register here for the online Winter Solstice Cacao Ceremony:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpdOuhqjwsE9dhgBl1kpFWr-djne_tldoR
Fascinated by the Otherworld, Celtic Mythology and the meaning behind arthurian legends for our contemporary lives? THE WORLDS OF AVALON is ready for you to dive into study, story & so(u)rcery (sourcing magic from within). Check out curriculum and instant access here: https://lauradurban.com/lp-courses/avalon/
For the love of Cacao: Facilitator Training and conscious ceremony in my yearlong online course (and free monthly mentoring beyond) THE MAGIC OF CACAO: https://lauradurban.com/cacao-training/
I adore the way you explain all of this. I am unable to make the ceremony on 22nd due to family stuff... but it sounds beautiful. Xx