The Fires of Yule: A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice

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© 2013 Montague Whitsel. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 05/13/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0775-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0774-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013901005

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Table of the Season

Invitation

Prelude: Kindling the Fires of Yule

I.   The Runing of the Jule

A. The Winter Solstice-A Natural Event

B. The Keltelven Traditions

C. The Thirteen Dayes of Yule

D. Nicholas and the Culdee

II.   Preparations for the Pilgrimage of Yule

A. The Spirit of Yule

B. The Pagan Praxis of Decorating

C. Solitude and the Winter Solstice (by Karl Jackson)

D. Symbolism of the Yule and Winter Solstice

Saint Nicholas Eve (5 December 1996)

III. The Keltelven Season of Yule

A. Feast of Nicholas and the Elves (6 December)

B. The Thirteen Dayes of Yule (13-25 December)

The Caroller in the Stream (13 December 1996)

1. Rowan Day (The Gathering Day, 13 December)

2. Cedar Day (Lighting Day, 14 December)

3. Balsam Fir Day (Arts-and-Craefts Day, 15 December)

4. Hemlock Day (Storytelling Day, 16 December)

5. Ivy Day (Mother of Hearth Day, 17 December)

6. Frankincense Day (Day of Visions and Quests, 18 December)

7. Mistletoe Day (A Day in the Quiet, 19 December)

8. Holly Day (20 December)

[The Day of Hunting Fire]

A Winter Solstice Log

9. Alban Arthuan (Winter Solstice, 21 December)

A Yuletide Song

10. Yew Day (22 December)

[Spirits of the Hearth Day]

11. Silver Fir Day (23 December)

[Nemeton & Heath Day]

12. Bayberry Day (24 December)

[Hearth of the Heart Day]

Vigils Prayer

Matrum Noctem (Night of the Great Mother)

13. White Poplar Day (25 December)

[Dolmen of the Spirit Day]

C. Apple Day (Day of the Gifting Stag, 26 December)

[Day of the Gifting Stag]

The Runes of Saint Stephen

D. The Hinterlands (Twelfth Night; 6 January)

[Twelfth Night]

Appendix: Scholar’s Den of Wickersfeld

Glossary of Celtic, Keltelven and Yuletide Terms

Bibliography: Ross County Sources

Bibliography: Christmas, Celtic & Pagan Sources

About the Author

"Haunted at the girth of the open road

I summoned dreams and spirits_

And who should come but Elves and Faeries

with Fables of long gone Seasons of Yule!

Shaking boughs of Mistletoe at me,

the Elves let loose their reasoning!

Faeries then came adventuring

into my mystic’s syntax_

and thus I was transported_

to Another Country!"

—Cornelius Whitsel

Earthen Meditations (1986)

The Invitation—

The world is composed of fictions and non-fictions; of that which refers to imagined worlds and that which references the external, objective world that we cannot change just by thinking about it differently; though we can interpret it from a number of different perspectives. There are true fictions as well as true non-fictions; the world in which we live can be rendered out in either mode. We have the best chance of wisening if we understand this; insight and meaning may flow from engagements with fiction, just as with non-fiction. (21)

-Robert Werner

Returning to the Earth

(2006)

The spirituality presented in this book is a Pagan paradigm for the celebration of the Winter Solstice Season. The Thirteen Dayes of Yule (13-25 December) arose over time out of all of my spiritual, aesthetic and mystical explorations since starting out on Wisdom’s path more than forty years ago. Along the way I adventured deeply in Wicchan, Celtic and monastic traditions and came to love Winter’s Solstice as my favorite time of the year. The pattern of the Thirteen Dayes came to its present form in the early 1980’s and remains to this day an inspiring, imaginative template for poetic & mystical engagement with the Winter Solstice Season; a familiar touchstone for personal re-awakening and resourcement each year during December.

Over the years, students and friends have kept the Thirteen Dayes to their advantage, enjoying the symbolism, rituals and stories encoded in the calendar and exploring its mythic and experiential components. By walking with them, listening to their reflections and sharing experiences together as we pathed Wisdom’s Henge at Winter’s tide, my own appreciation of the Thirteen Dayes has deepened, revealing to me a better understanding of what this calendar is and how it may be employed.

As I have re-conceived the book for a new edition, it has come to be ‘set’ within the fictional world of Ross County, PA. Ross County is a poetic landscape; a tapestry of narrative possibilities-within which the Thirteen Dayes are now expressed and through which the implications and nuances of this calendar may be explored. Cornelius

Whitsel has emerged as the ‘author’ of the present edition. Through his Pagan voice I have finally been able to unfold the Thirteen Dayes in all of their fullness.

Set in this fictional framework, the calendar presented in these pages outlines a seasonal pattern for a Pagan pilgrimage. Its intent is to aid readers in runing out their self-understanding by providing a place of comfort and aesthetic imagining wherein the quest for wholeness and the ongoing work of healing our inevitable human brokenness may take place. The Thirteen Dayes is a poetic paradigm; a symbolic map—for engaging with the Winter Solstice Season, augmenting our experience of Nature in its wintry guise as the Sun wanes and then waxes once again while seeking to mirror this symbolic ‘death’ and ‘rebirth’ in our own selves. As such, the calendar is a ‘true fiction,’ in and through which you may find touchstones for your own pathing of Wisdom’s Henge.

As it now stands, the calendar is a mixture of both fictional and non-fictional elements. The non-fictional element stems from its being rooted in a researched account of the Celtic past, ancient Euro-Pagan myths regarding Yule and Winter Solstice and a lived-in knowledge of modern Neo-Paganism. The various Pagan themes, symbols, stories and icons that are woven into the days and nights of Yule are drawn from actual (i.e., non-fictional) traditions. The Winter Solstice was widely observed in ancient Europe, being celebrated in one way or another across the continent as well as in England and Ireland. Traditional Yuletide themes & tropes-such as the Evergreen Tree, the Hunt, the Boar’s Feast and the centrality of a Fire in the Hearth-all have historical referents. I have incorporated these elements into the symbolic and imaginative framework of the Thirteen Dayes, interweaving them with fictional motifs, and then stirring the brew devoutly until the present edition of the text finally came forth from the mix. Cornelius and his housemates-as well as other writers from Ross County quoted in the text-are portrayed as practitioners of Celtic myth and mysticism as well as being familiar with Wicchan customs, practices and beliefs.

The construct of the Thirteen Dayes-which I have found referred to nowhere outside of my own imaginings-as well as the present text being attributed to Cornelius Whitsel-constitute the fictional element of the calendar. Cornelius is a practitioner of the

Keltelven Traditions. He has resided at Scholar’s Den on Willow Street in Wickersfeld, PA since the mid-1980’s with three housemates who are also Keltelven practitioners: Magdalena Ipswich, Karl Jackson and Michael Wolfenden. [If you want to read more about these characters, see the Appendix: The Practitioners of Scholar’s Den.]

In the fictional context of Ross County, the Keltelven Traditions are a storehouse of Pagan wisdom out of which an ever-evolving contemporary life-praxis may be sourced. They are rooted in both the Celtic and the ‘Elven’ traditions-as Cornelius will explain in his introduction-and are willingly shared with interested anyone who desires to construct a livable contemporary spirituality that is both grounded in the past and open-ended enough to allow its practitioners to continue to grow and mature as they live out their lives in the 21st century and beyond.

I now invite you to come to Ross County and explore for yourselves this ‘Keltelven’ way of keeping the Yule! From here on out the voice speaking to you will be that of Cornelius Whitsel or one of his housemates at Scholar’s Den. I encourage you to sojourn for a season in this imaginative world and hear what Cornelius and others have to say about The Thirteen Dayes. All of the quotes at the beginning of sections are attributed to other characters living in Ross County, representing an array of perspectives that Cornelius then weaves into his presentation of the calendar. I provide a list of these fictional sources at the end of the book. I have also included a glossary of terms and a bibliography of sources published outside of Ross County for anyone who desires a deeper understanding of Celtic spirituality, myth and mysticism. Finally, it should be noted that the archaic spelling of Dayes throughout the book stems from a source that Cornelius often quotes; the Yuletide Grimoire—written by members of a coven of Keltelven practitioners in the 1890’s. In the world of Ross County, the Thirteen Dayes of Yule were first spelled out in that book, though the Yuletide traditions encoded in that text were centuries older, having their origins in the Middle Ages.

And so I now welcome you to Ross County and to the Thirteen Dayes of Yule! May you have a blessed journey! _Bon Voyage!

~Montague Whitsel

Scholars’ Den, Wickersfeld, PA

Home of Cornelius Whitsel, Michael Wolfenden and Karl Jackson; Located on Willow Street near the southern paw of Bear Ridge.

The Fires of Yule

-A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice-

[Second Edition]

Yule, 2011                                     —Cornelius Whitsel

Prelude: Kindling the Fires of Yule

"And for ever after, the Fires of Yule shall burn brightly in the Hearth of every Pagan Heart; their glow shining in the eyes of all those who know what it means to await the arrival of Nicholas and his Elves as their anamchara." (47)

-Eleanora Stokes

Fire in the Hearth (1968)¹

As Autumn passes and days grow shorter-as the last of the leaves turn from orange, red and yellow to brown and then fall from the trees-our imaginations turn toward the mystery and magic of the Winter Solstice Season. At this time of year, Keltelvens begin looking forward to the Thirteen Dayes of Yule, awakening through prescient moments of memory and reflection to the lore and tales that have long been associated with this most potent spoke in the earthen Wheel of the Year.

Winter’s Solstice is a time of endings and new beginnings. Keltelvens refer to this season-stationed in the eaves of Winter’s arrival-by the Old English word Yule, treating it as a time for vigiling through the shortening days and lengthening nights; for taking stock of our lives and engaging with self & others in symbolic, narrative and ritual ways that enhance our experience of this potent temporal as well as spiritual transition. It is a time of waiting, yearning, and deep anticipation. It is enacted as an imaginative pilgrimage through which we aspire toward personal resourcement and transformation.

Winter Solstice was, in ancient Celtic and Elven times, a festival characterized by the lighting of communal and domestic fires; bonfires at sacred ceremonial grounds as well as a fire in the hearth of each familial dwelling. Today we light candles and put up decorative lights in our place of dwelling as well as kindling poetic fires in the Hearth of our own Internal Nemeton; the Heart of the Self—to mark the season. We do this because of the symbolic link between fire and the Sun; fire represents the Sun’s power manifest on Earth. We meditate on fire-whether a candle’s light, decorative electric lights or a literal bon-or hearth-fire-as iconic of the Sun, and through such meditations focus Mind & Heart on the shortening days & lengthening nights. This, in turn, prepares us for the possibility of personal renewal during the course of Solstice Night.

The lighting of ‘fires’-actual, decorative and symbolic-at Yule is an instinctive reaction to the darkening days as Winter Solstice draws near; we want light to comfort us in the darkness as the Sun’s light wanes. Fire is one of the four symbolic ‘elements’ of the world (the other three being Water, Earth and Air).² A fire gives light, warmth and energy to those near it. Though fire can cause damage and destruction if not well tended, and though it can be used for harm, it is a primary aid to the living of life. We cook with electric or gas fueled ‘fire’ and we augment our internal heat with an external fire [e.g., from an electric furnace, a gas stove or heater] when we are cold. Fire aids in healing as well as sustenance, and as such symbolizes spiritual well-being and the fortification of our often frail, mortal existence.

To light a fire is to invoke the hope of sustenance, the possibility of healing and transformation and even self-transcendence. Until the advent of modern modes of cooking, a fire was at the center of domestic life; first an open fire and later a fire kindled in a hearth made of stone or brick. Our ancestors ate food and socialized around the central fire of their hut, camp or village. Remembering this, we should associate the idea of lighting a fire with this ancient way of being together. Fire also transforms; it changes what is cooked from a raw state into one that is more digestible for us. Fire melts and in other ways transforms many materials, including metals. These processes have long been metaphors for the kind of spiritual transformations that we are capable of undergoing. Finally, fire is an intimation of self-transcendence. Mystics in many traditions speak of becoming like fire and use metaphors such as a living flame of love to stand for being lifted up to new levels of consciousness. By using The Fires of Yule, as the guiding metaphor of this book, I intend to imply all of these ideas and associations.

To light a fire is to invite awakening; it is necessary to wisdom-as When the fire is lit, we see beyond our narrow circle, gazing into what the shadows had hid from our view (Yuletide Grimoire, 1898). That is, we normally live as if in darkness. The light cast by a fire extends our horizons, illumining the world in which we dwell and allowing us to see further. Peering beyond the limits of our former horizons, we are often inspired to wonder and awe, experiencing the world as sublime (the fearful aesthetic) as well as beautiful; we may even be brought to Crannogs of Mystery; experienced as that Presence of what is that persistently infuses daily life, though we often fail to be aware of it. Mystery-as Keltelven mystics say-refers to the deep reality of Earth & Cosmos. It is not ‘a puzzle to be solved.’ Experiencing it is like becoming aware of the phenomenal nature of the universe itself.

We cannot ‘explain’ Mystery nor rationalize away the Presence we experience when we are ‘aware’ of it. Though it has often been expressed in mythic terms; being personified as gods & goddesses, GOD or GODDESS—it is not a person or persons, neither is it ‘supernatural.’ Mystery is an artifact of the universe itself; that beyond which we cannot go—that beyond which our understanding cannot reach. It is not even ‘meant’ to be understood. To experience Mystery is to be plunged into the depths of both ordinary and extraordinary realities, therein to be inspired to contemplation or creativity. To be ‘touched’ by (our experience of) it is to be ‘at-oned with Earth & Cosmos.’

For Keltelvens, Mystery is revealed in the particulars, and during December it is evoked and focused through the expression The Fires of Yule, which refers to actual but also-and primarily-symbolic fires. We vigil through December with colored lights and candles lit so as to better experience the natural wonder of this generally cold and darkening season, therein having epiphanies that may lead us on to some degree of spiritual awakening. As the Sun’s ‘power’ decreases during December, we kindle various kinds of ‘fire’ as this helps us to express the old hope, grounded in our experience of Nature’s cycles—that as the Sun’s power waxes once more, we may experience a ‘rebirth’ in our own selves.

It is ultimately more important to kindle the Fires of Yule symbolically than to light actual fires. As most people do not have a physical hearth in their place of dwelling these days, we must create a symbolic hearth for ourselves or else imagine one as a mental nemeton. Our house here in Wickersfeld came equipped with an old mock-fireplace with a gas heater set into it. Though the gas-line is long defunct and we can light no actual fire in our hearth, each Yule we create a symbolic presence of fire in the fireplace. Since 2007 we have been putting a string of small decorative LED lights in a glass punch bowl which we then set into the hollow of the mock-hearth. When these are turned on and the other house lights are turned off, their slow yellow & blue ‘phasing’-first one color and then the other; glowing more strongly and then more dimly-inspires us to creative reflections and magical moods.

However it is fashioned, the ‘Hearth’ in which the Fires of Yule are kindled is symbolic of the human ‘Heart;’ i.e., the center of our being-in-becoming—the deep ground of our existence.³ The symbol of THE Hearth OF the Heart, is deeply linked with Yule as the time when it is most needed as a symbol of life’s continuance. To seek to light a fire in this Hearth is to quest for wakefulness, healing and illumination. The Pagan spiritual life is about awakening to life’s mystery and our own potentiality. We must always strive to be more awake, as there is a tendency to ‘fall asleep’ in our daily rounds. For Keltelvens, Yule is the primary symbolic time in which to revive and re-awaken ourselves. Each of us seeks to rekindle the Fire in the Hearth of our Heart each year as Winter Solstice rolls around and we are caught up, once again, in its gyres.

The Keltelven traditions of Yule constitute a deep and symbolic way of engaging with the natural world as the days grow shorter and then longer once again. The symbols, stories and rituals associated with Yule allow us to find meaning in our mystical response to Nature’s changing face, in light and shadow, at this tide of the year. The calendar is derived from ancient and mediaeval Pagan traditions interpreted through our modern experiences at Winter’s Solstice. YULE is a time to relight personal fires, rekindle spiritual devotion, and re-commit ourselves to the paths that we hope will ultimately lead us into Wisdom’s Henge.

In what follows, I have brought together all of the principal symbols, customs, rituals and stories involved in a Keltelven kindling of the Fires of Yule, all of which allude to and invoke that ‘deep experience’ of the Winter Solstice Season that we seek and enjoy from year to year. Part I explores the Winter Solstice as a natural event and the Keltelven way of understanding it, as well as providing a general outline of the Thirteen Dayes. Part II explores themes that will help you prepare for and understand the Yuletide journey. Part III will then lead you on a poetic and mystical pilgrimage through the days of the Season of Winter’s Solstice.

My hope is that you will discover in the pages of this book touchstones for personal resourcement during the old holy and haunted season of darkness (Yuletide Grimoire, 1898). My housemates and fellow practitioners-Karl Jackson & Michael Wolfenden-have helped edit the book, re-writing a couple of sections themselves and appending footnotes throughout that have deepened and clarified the meaning of what I originally wrote. By offering you our symbolic kindling for the Fires of Yule, as well as a map to the imaginative destination of our annual pilgrimage-i.e., Glastonbury Tor, the Great Thorn and the Cave of the Heart-we hope you will be inspired to undertake a mystical journey of your own through the Winter Solstice Season and beyond!

May the runes of wisdom encoded in this book aid you in making the Winter Solstice more than the self-indulgent and self-serving rat-race that ‘the Holidays’ have become in our culture. So mote it be.

Blessed be! Your Guide_

-Cornelius Whitsel

I.

The Runing of the Jule

I. The Runing of the Yule

From times before the Mists of Time, people have tracked their spiritual lives through the Wheel of the Year. The Solstices and Equinoxes were the four primary mystical ‘knobs’ of the year’s horizons, between which were the spikes marking celebrations of Cross-Quarter Days. (89)

Judas Sackneuseum

The Celtic Crossroads (1985)

"The Pagan Celts were witchy about every season they celebrated in the Earth. Their quest was characterized by contact with spirits, questions of what magicks and healing were possible, and whether or not there was a way to collapse the veils of ignorance and self-delusion long enough to taste of the Wisdom that might open the self to an illumined state of consciousness. The Bards called this state imbas forasnai." (16)

Gawain Smythe

The Way of the Bards (2006)

All spiritual seasons require doors and paths-ways in, through and out-by which we may experience their horizons in earthen time. These doors are tied to the Earth, for we are of the EARTH and we are Earth. We belong here; we are not aliens or mere sojourners on this blue-green ball. Rather, we are animals that have evolved on this planet, and as such we are at-home in Nature. We are manifestations of Earth & Cosmos; this is-or should be-a basic rune of any Pagan self-understanding. It is the primary glyph at the core of Keltelven spirituality, magick and mysticism. Celebrating seasonal festivals, we rune out the meaning of our existence, adding to our self-understanding by intentional engagements with Nature. We go in and out through earthen doors.

A spiritual season is a lens through which we may gain insight into our humanity. By engaging with Earth & Cosmos at particular tines of the year, our everyday lives are gradually transfigured as we come to a better understanding of ourselves as being of the Earth. Spiritual and mystical engagement with the seasons reminds us that life is more than one damn thing after another, as the expression goes. Annual festivals help reawaken the human spirit periodically to the deeper meanings of our existence and-with hope and devout labor-empower us to envision how life could be better lived.

The ideals embodied in traditions surrounding seasonal festivals such as Yule hint at how we might make our daily existence more genuine and make our humanity most manifest. By celebrating them we hope to become more keenly aware of the deep power and Mystery that is present to us in the ordinary rounds of daily life. By experiencing seasons in symbolic and aesthetic ways, we hope to be inspired to dream-out the implications of earthen ideals and enact them in everyday life.

Yule is a fascinating spiritual season with many poetic doors and aesthetic pathways. Here I will discuss the nature of the Winter Solstice as a natural event, offer a brief overview of the Keltelven Traditions, and then explore the history and structure of the Thirteen Dayes of Yule as a runing-out of this season. At the last, I will discuss Yule in relation to Christmas and give an account of the Culdee-Druidic followers of Christ-and their mystical understanding of the Yule, which complements the Pagan vision we will be outlining in this book.

The Winter Sun

A. The Winter Solstice-A Natural Event

‘We play in the light of the Winter Solstice; enacting our own destiny as mortal beings—dying with the dwindling daylight and then being resurrected as night’s reign comes to its natural end, once again, year after year." (64)

-Judas Sackneuseum

The Celtic Crossroads (1985)

Yule is a spiritual construct arising out of our experience of Nature. It is celebrated in a state of anticipation and deep awareness anchored in the natural event of Winter’s Solstice. Many of the legends and myths surrounding ‘Christmas’ in the religious and secular imagination of the West are rooted in this event of Nature. It is no exaggeration to say that the Winter Solstice is the original ‘reason for the season.’⁴ By first reflecting on the Winter Solstice, we will find the taproot of all of those wonderful spiritual, mystical and magical symbols, rituals and stories that have come to be associated with Yule. For Keltelvens, the understanding of Nature-through science and experience-is primary, and is the wellspring of all genuine mysticism and magick.

First, it should be remembered that there are two Solstices in the annual turning of the Wheel of the Year, one marking the beginning of Summer as well as the Winter one. These experienced ‘spokes’ of the Wheel of the Year arise as a result of the orbiting of the Earth-tilted on its axis as it is-around the Sun, our Star; the physical source of most of the energy that drives life on our planet. During December, the Northern Hemisphere experiences the Sun’s energy diminishing. The days get shorter and the nights grow longer and colder during December because, as we swing around the Sun in our annual journey, the north pole of our planet tilts away from the Sun. The direct beams of the Sun’s light strike the Earth south of its equator, and as a result the Northern Hemisphere cools off and its days grow shorter.

Many ancient peoples living in the Northern Hemisphere’s temperate zone lit fires during December as a symbolic way of invoking a ‘rekindling’ of the Sun’s power. Many of these people believed they were ‘aiding’ the Sun in its return to its former eminence through rituals, magick, sacrifice and prayer. While this was a superstitious way to understand celestial events; based on the erroneous idea that the Sun circled the Earth and not the other way around—this experienced ‘death and rebirth of the sun’ is the poetic trope guiding Winter Solstice celebrations; it is the touchstone of our Yuletide pilgrimage. It therefore lends to wisdom’s nurture to meditate on the relationship between the apparent diminishment of the Sun’s power and the shortening of the days, on the one hand, and the actual, astronomical reason for this phenomenon, on the other.

Winter’s Solstice ‘happens’ because of the way the Earth is angled relative to the Sun in its plane of orbit. As a result, the apparent arc of the Sun’s path across the sky-i.e., as we see it-appears to ‘descend’ toward the horizon (i.e., the Sun no longer passes as high overhead as it does at 21 June) as Summer turns to Autumn and then Winter. This ‘sinking’ of the path of the Sun from our planetary perspective has long been linked metaphorically with the shortening of the days and lengthening nights, the Sun being seen to undergo a symbolic ‘diminishment’ and then ‘death.’ Our traditions speak of this in symbols, rituals and stories that we then use to guide ourselves devoutly through the days & nights leading up to and beyond Winter’s Solstice each year.

As the Earth continues in its flight around the Sun, the North Pole tilts more directly toward the Sun and the Northern Hemisphere then receives the most direct beams of light. By 21 June, the Northern Hemisphere is entering its Summer, while the Southern Hemisphere is embarking upon its Winter. We should reflect on the fact that on 21 December, the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing its Summer Solstice. Pagans living south of the equator celebrate ‘Winter Solstice’ on 21 June, though according to different sets of cultural traditions and mystical symbols. The Winter Solstice-and Yule, therefore-is not some ‘universal’ human event; ‘everyone all over the world’ does not experience it at the same time. Consider these facts for a moment and meditate on them before you continue.

The lengthening of days after Winter Solstice has similarly been experienced as a ‘revival’ of the Sun’s powers. A ‘New Sun’ is said to be ‘born’ at Winter Solstice. This is also a symbolic interpretation of natural events from our earth-bound point of view, and is a second trailhead of lore and mystical interpretation that fleshes out our Yuletide pilgrimage. As we pass beyond the event of Winter Solstice, we experience the days getting longer; the nights begin to grow shorter. Thus the Sun is experienced as having been ‘reborn,’ and-as mystics have long insisted-we can be ‘reborn’ with it. If we first follow the Sun through its diminishment and ‘death,’ we may then emerge on 22 December having experienced a personal renewal as the Sun is ‘reborn.’ This is the key to the logic of Yule. After Alban Arthuan (21 December) there is said to be a release from bondage and a revivification of hopes (Yuletide Grimoire, 1898). Today we take these phrases to refer to an experience of greater self-realization; describing it in terms of varying degrees of personal awakening, transformation, transfiguration and even self-transcendence.

It is through these metaphors grounded in natural events that we prepare ourselves and our huts of dwelling for whatever might transpire during the Winter Solstice Season. Yule arises out of a symbolic, poetic and aesthetic interpretation of our experience of naturalistic events. Maintaining a conscious link between our experience of the changing duration of day and night as December passes, on the one hand, and the celestial reasons for the season on the other-opens us towards Wisdom’s Henge by articulating our lived worlds with the Cosmos in which they are inextricably situated.

Poetically understood, the Yuletide pilgrimage is about our own diminishment and rebirth; we allow ourselves to ‘wane’ with the Sun’s ‘diminishing powers’ through the first 20 days of December, letting go of frenetic activity and those habits and desires that do not evince who we are at our best. We drop excessive ‘baggage’ and trim our activities down. We settle into solitude, seeking silence and rest. We then ‘wax’ with the Sun’s ‘renewing powers’ from 22 December onward. We return fully to our daily lives, reinvigorated and with a renewed sense of who we can be at our best. This poetic way of runing time and experience is the gist of the whole mythos of Yule.

B. The Keltelven Traditions

Deep in the forests of Europe, along mysterious footpaths and hidden within the crags of mountain vales, the ancient traditions of all the Pagans were mingled and blended. Druids and sibyls, shamans and priestesses of the Goddess shared their traditional wisdoms in the groves, cromlechs and nemetons. There, in secret convocations, the Keltelven Tradition was wrought and brought to birth. Much of our contemporary understanding of magick, divination and herbal arts was forged during those dark times, when the wise ones of various ancient paths had to find safety far from the main thoroughfares of early mediaeval society. (10)

-New Book of the Graensídhe (1968)

The Winter Solstice myths and rituals in which Keltelvens are steeped have their sources in the Iron Age, when the ancient Pagan peoples of north-western Europe celebrated Winter Solstice as a Festival of Light. The people we now call The Celts were at their cultural and spiritual apex in the late Iron Age. They had spread out all across Europe over the course of the last four centuries BCE, having originated in the Hallstatt area of what is now Germany. Eventually, they settled in Britain and then Ireland.

Traditions suggest that the Celtic Druids called the night of Winter’s Solstice "Alban Arthuan." Later it came to be known as Yule, which is an Anglo-Saxon word adopted by early Keltelvens in England-probably by the late 9th or 10th century-to describe the days leading up to the Solstice as well as Solstice Night itself. Whereas the Church had its Twelve Days of Christmas-lasting from 26 December to 6 January-Pagans tended to keep their December celebrations focused on the days leading up to the Winter Solstice, which in the ancient world occurred on 25 December.⁵

Keltelven mysticism, magick and philosophy constitute a spiritual path drawing its poetic depth and power from two ancient roots: THE MYSTICISM OF THE CELTS-the Pagan Celts as well as those who later forged an earthy mysticism of Christ-following-and THE LORE OF THE Elven FOLK.⁶ THE Celts had been ranging over Europe for almost half a millennium by the time the Pagan and later the Christian Rome came across the Alps and invaded Europe and then Britain. The ‘Celts’—as we refer to these peoples today-evolved over the centuries into an innovative, adventurous and boisterous coalition of tribes sharing a love of life and an interest in art, metallurgy, music and mysticism.

Our traditions tell us that ‘THE ELVES’ were the indigenous, pre-Celtic peoples of Britain and Ireland.⁶ We now often speak of them as stone-tool users; hunters & gatherers and to a certain degree herders. They were mystics of the hills and vales, and their magick was deep and subtle. Their wise men & women practiced ancient magical and divinatory arts, and were capable healers, seers and spiritual counselors. When the Celts came to Britain, they made tenuous alliances with these older peoples, and called them the Pyrtanni. When the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain in the 5th to 6th centuries, however, traditions say that they drove the last of the Pyrtanni off the best lands and forced them out onto the outskirts of Angle society. It was the Anglo-Saxons who are said to have first called the primitive inhabitants of Britain & Ireland Elfs.

Many Celtic Britons also moved further away from the centers of Anglo-Saxon life, not wanting to be ‘co-opted’ by the invaders and assimilated into their politico-religious plans. As they did so, they came more and more into contact with the Elven folk. Over the next two centuries, the Celts & Elves exchanged earthen wisdoms, mingling their beliefs and traditions freely, thereby creating a common bond with land & sea and with the Mystery of all that is. This voluntary alliance between Celt & Elf was mutually beneficial. Together they constructed a network of aid for the poor and oppressed of Angle-Land [i.e., England]; those who had been forced off their land by the incomers or else had fallen victim of hard times.

It was as Mediterranean Christianity was becoming the officially recognized religious establishment in Britain-in the 7th and 8th centuries CE-supplanting the Celtic Church, that those who desired to maintain their older approach to Mystery were driven even further from the mainstream of society. At this time, a more formal alliance between Celtic & Elven mystics, poets and magicians was forged which empowered those participating in the synthesis to continue living life as they felt Wisdom had inspired them. Our traditions say that by the late 8 th century the elders and mystics of the Elven & Celtic communities had forged a New Pagan Path. As this alliance evolved and gained adherents and practitioners all across England, Ireland and in the north of France, a unified praxis emerged that was codied and passed along by the wise ones of this new Path. It is said to have been called-by about 950 CE-the KELTELFIN CROMLECH.⁷ This synthesis of the two earlier traditions survived, thrived and persisted through the Middle Ages into the early Modern Era, where it is now known simply as THE KELTELVEN TRADITIONS.

During the first century after its establishment, Keltelvens formulated a series of pedagogical ‘doorways’ leading into devout instructions intended to lead trusted initiates into the Cromlech of Wisdom. The doors required initiation and demanded secrecy. In a world where certain elements of the Christian Church were willing to torture, dispossess and ultimately execute anyone who did not think, believe or live as they did, the ability to remain invisible to the larger society was synonymous with survival. These doorways came to be known as CRANNOGS. The instructions led to what we call today THE EIGHT LEVELS; a rigorous and devout pedagogy in the Arts & Craefts of the Wise. Keltelvens survived by evading detection by the persecutors of heathens and heretics and by initiating any into their ranks who sought wisdom according the Olde Ways.

Keltelvens today-like most Pagans-consider the Earth to be the root, ‘anchor’ and touchstone of their spirituality. The pattern of the earthen year is imaged as a Wheel divided up into sections by eight spokes, each of which represents a primary turning point in the seasons. Each spoke is a festival; an occasion for celebration, meditation and magical practice. These spokes include the four olde Druidic festivals (SAMHAIN, 31 October-1 November, IMBOLG, 2 February, CÉTSAMHAIN, 30 April-1 May and LUGHNASSADH, 2 August) plus the Equinoxes & Solstices. By celebrating these festivals we stay in touch with the processes of birth—life—death—rebirth that are constantly unfolding around us in the Earth.

Keltelvens understand the Earth and the entire Cosmos as infused with Mystery. The world is mysterious, full of things that inspire wonder and awe, and that will never be ‘explained away,’ no matter how far science, philosophy, literature and religion advance in their quest for knowledge, understanding and wisdom.⁸ Mystery refers to more than just what human beings yet fail to understand. Mystery has been called by numerous ‘sacred’ names over the course of human history-the names of animistic forces and spirits in Nature, as well as the names of gods & goddesses who are said to dwell at the boundaries