Yule: The Witch's Winter Fire
You don’t have to celebrate the holidays the way they’ve been handed down to you.
You can remember a different rhythm.
One that honours the dark. One that calls the light.
One that remembers who you are and who you were before.
What Is Yule?
Yule is the Winter Solstice, the longest night and the rebirth of the sun.
It’s an ancient festival of fire, stillness, and sacred turning.
For our pre-Christian ancestors across Europe and beyond, this was not just a season of celebration. It was a ritual anchor in the wheel of the year, a time to honour death, quiet, and eventual return.
In the Norse and Germanic traditions, Yule (or Jól) was a twelve-day celebration of the solstice. Bonfires were lit. Feasts were held. Offerings were made to the spirits, the land, and the ancestors. The sun’s return was not taken for granted. It was honoured, welcomed, and called back with song, ritual, and remembrance.
How It Was Taken From Us
As Christianity spread, the old festivals were not just banned. They were absorbed and rebranded.
Yule became Christmas. The hearth gods became saints. The evergreens and candles remained, but their meanings were rewritten.
Instead of honouring the earth, we were told to fear it.
Instead of tending the dark, we were told to banish it.
And instead of remembering our place in the cycle of death and rebirth, we were taught to perform, purchase, and please.
The witch, the one who kept the rituals alive, was painted as dangerous.
The mother who lit candles in the night was made monstrous.
The girl who wandered into the woods became a cautionary tale.
What remains now is a season of hustle. A holiday stripped of its roots.
But the embers of truth are still glowing underneath it all.
Reclaiming Yule as a Witch
To reclaim Yule is to reject the lie that you must always be producing, performing, or proving your worth.
It’s a reminder that even in the darkest night, there is wisdom.
That stillness is sacred.
That rebirth takes rest.
And that you do not need to chase the light. You can become it.
Yule Candle Ritual
You don’t need a feast or a bonfire to mark Yule.
Here is a simple ritual you can do on the solstice or any time this week to honour the return of the light.
You’ll need:
One candle (gold, white, or red — whatever feels right)
A quiet space
Optional: evergreen sprigs, cinnamon stick, or a sun symbol
Steps:
Light the candle in the evening, just after sunset.
Sit in the darkness and breathe. Reflect on what you are releasing from this year.
When you feel ready, say out loud:
“In this stillness, I rest. In this darkness, I remember. In this spark, I begin again.”Gaze into the flame and call back your energy from all the places you’ve scattered it.
When finished, let the candle burn safely for a while, or snuff it out with gratitude.
Optional: write down one word you want to carry into the new year and tuck it under the candle or place it on your altar.
Shadow Work
Yule is a time of stillness, but also of truth.
It asks us to sit with what is uncomfortable.
To honour what has been lost.
To witness the parts of ourselves that long for rest, remembrance, and return.
Prompt:
What part of me have I hidden to survive this year?
And what would it mean to let it be seen again?
Write freely. Let it be raw or quiet or tender. Whatever surfaces is welcome.
This is your truth. This is your turning.
Yule Is Yours
It always was.
Beneath the noise, beneath the centuries of rewriting, the fire is still burning.
And it’s calling you home.
Let this solstice be your sanctuary.
Let it be your beginning.
