Magical Yuletide: The year’s great pause

by Anne Stallkamp and Werner Hartung, authors of Inner Practices for the Twelve Nights of Yuletide

The season of Yuletide—the 12 nights following the winter solstice—offers the ideal opportunity for inner focusing, for seeing signs, and for planting seeds for the future. Our book explores inner practices for the magical Yuletide season, the period between December 21 and January 2, when the veil between worlds is thin.

The nights between the winter solstice (December 21) and January 3 (sometimes January 6) are known in various traditions as the Nights of Yuletide (also as Twelvetide in the English-speaking world, or Raunacht (night of yule) in Germany, jul in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and jól in Iceland). Customs and mythology ascribe particular significance to this period when time “stands still,” while the literature assigns wildly differing times to the actual beginning and end of this period. There are also many different interpretations of the period’s origins, nature, customs, and rituals, but we do not intend to detain ourselves further with its traditions here.

To be absolutely precise, the duration of the Yuletide season is in fact thirteen days. The twelve Yuletide nights and the energy qualities and themes associated with them end with the Twelfth Night of Yuletide, January 2, which itself begins on the evening of January 1. The Thirteenth night, January 2/3, represents the threshold of our return from “stopped” time to playing an active and creative role in shaping life, although time continues to “stand still” on this day, too.

Given the busy time in the lead up to the Christmas holidays, the beginning of this period might not appear to be the most convenient moment in which to take some time out to explore our feelings (and this might also be the reason why many people see December 24 as the start of the Yuletide celebrations), but in fact it is particularly suitable. Ultimately, each person can approach it as they see fit. We can only pass on the recommendations of the spiritual world as we have received and experienced them for ourselves.

There are three essential areas on which we can focus during this period. The Twelve Nights of Yuletide provide an opportunity for us to look back and close the book on the past. We can also look ahead to the topics, themes and events for the year to come, even including the weather, as each Yuletide night is associated with a different month of the coming year. What is less well known is that the twelve nights/days each have their own quality of time, when we are particularly sensitive to a specific topic or theme; when we reflect upon this theme during this period, we gain a better spiritual understanding of it.

In our book we share reflective themes and exercises for each night (and the day to follow) and guided meditations to deepen the experience. Below is a meditation for the Twelfth Night of Yuletide, January 1/2, to give you a practical taste of our book.

Yuletide Blessings and Happy New Year!

Twelfth Night of Yuletide

A Meditation to Deepen Your Experience

What I want also wants me. I bless my creative powers with the power of the elements: sun, water, air, and earth. A blessing.

Today, the door is open to empowering your creativity, your creative wealth, to fulfilling your ideas and desires, and to blessing the seeds you have planted so far in life.

Today, on every December day, and whenever something new in your life begins, the door is open to blessings for abundant growth and a rich harvest.

Today is calling on you to stand still, pause for a moment, and to be completely calm. Fill this space of silence and emptiness, this place of power, creation, and creativity, with the blessings of Heaven and Earth, with the blessings of fire, living water, air, and earth. Plant the seed of blessing in your life today. The following meditation (which can also be spoken aloud as a prayer) will support you, as water sustains a plowed field.

Now, thank the powers of Creation that stand at your side, so that a strong plant will grow from the seed you have planted and whose fruit you will soon be able to harvest. Ask for the blessing of the four elements: the fire of the sun, the coolness of water, the freshness of air, and the fertility of earth.

MEDITATION

Angel of the sun!

There is no warmth without you,

no fire without you,

no life without you.

The green leaves of the trees worship you,

and it is through you that tiny grains of wheat become

a sea of golden stalks,

swaying in the wind.

The flower at the center of my body

is opened through you.

Angel of the sun,

holy messenger of Mother Earth,

enter my holy temple

and give me the fire of life!

Yes, we worship you, Water of Life.

The waters flow from the Heavenly Seas,

springing from sources that never run dry.

A thousand pure springs,

mists, and clouds

run in my blood.

And all the waters made by the Creator are holy.

Angel of water,

holy messenger of Mother Earth,

enter the blood that flows within me.

Wash my body in the rain,

that falls from the sky

and give me the Water of Life.

The highest, eternal place of light

where countless stars hold sway

is the air we breathe in

and the air we breathe out.

And all the mysteries of the boundless garden

lie hidden in the moment

between breathing in and breathing out.

Angel of air,

holy messenger of Mother Earth,

blow deep within me,

so that I can learn the secrets of the wind

and the music of the stars.

I praise the broad earth,

its generous spaces, its many paths,

the fruitful bounty it produces,

your mother, holy plant!

Those who sow corn, grasses, and fruits

are sowing Divine Order.

May they have a bounteous harvest.

Sweet and plentiful riches shall spring forth

from this land, from the fields,

bringing health and healing,

nourishment and vitality.

Angel of Earth, make my seed fruitful,

and give my body life with your power!

May you have success in patiently growing the seed you have planted.

Enjoy it and look forward to the harvest.

This I wish you during this Night of Yule, and ever after . . .