YULE

THE WINTER SOLSTICE ALSO KNOWN AS THE LONGEST NIGHT

The day with the least amount of daylight and the longest night of the year

in the Northern Hemisphere

This night was also known as Mother Night as the goddess worked her magic so new life could emerge from the dormant seeds lying in the earth

Beiwe is the Sun Goddess of the Sami, who rely on the reindeer. Their stories show her flying through the heavens on the Winter Solstice in a ring of reindeer antlers, flinging fertility & life onto the land

Freya the Norse Goddess sat at her spinning wheel on the Winter Solstice weaving the fate of the year to come

The reindeer were a sacred animal to our ancestors, the doe was the giver of light & life

Saule, the Latvian goddess of light & sun, took to the skies on the solstice in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer. Her aid caught her tears in a golden cup and they transformed into amber, she threw these pieces of amber, like little pieces of sun down to the world to spin sunlight

Let us remember the ancients belief in the reindeer, goddess and mother night when she flies high on the sky and dives deep into the earth to nourish and promise a renewal of life

It may be dark now, but the light will return

Taken from Judith Shaw The Reindeer Goddess