The Fires of Yule
A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
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. … 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 re-awaken the human spirit periodically to the deeper meanings of our existence and – with hope and devout labour – 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. … Winter’s Solstice is a time of endings and new beginnings. Keltelvens refer to this season – stationed at the eaves of Winter – 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. … 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. …
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
In the myth and folklore of ancient European cultures and spiritual traditions, the longest night of the year, called Winter Solstice, was a time of transition during which people sought out personal renewal and rebirth. The Fires of Yule provides a template and a pattern for entering deeply into the Winter Solstice Season, experiencing it in poetic and transformative ways through a contemporary calendar called “The Thirteen Dayes of Yule.” Readers of The Fires of Yule will follow a pilgrim path of the Thirteen Dayes from 13 to 25 December, engaging in various myths, symbols, stories, and rituals associated with each day. Becoming ‘practitioners’ of the Yule, deepening their experience of the Winter Solstice, they will move beyond the more banal and commercialized forms of ‘the December holidays.’ The calendar of the Thirteen Dayes is sourced (historically) in Celtic myth and Paganism, as well as (imaginatively) in the lore of the Elves of ancient pre-Celtic worlds. This book brings together many of the best-known icons and customs of modern Christmas traditions, re-sourcing them in the light of a Pagan Hearth and offering touchstones for self-renewal at Winter Solstice. This revised edition of The Fires of Yule presents the mystic pattern of Thirteen Dayes in its fullest expression, narrated in the voice of a fictional character, Cornelius Whitsel, a student of religion and a Pagan spiritual director in the Keltelven Traditions who lives in the imagined landscape of Ross County, Pennsylvania. Cornelius has been a character in two of Montague Whitsel’s other books; Ham Farir: The Faring of Matthew Thorin Dier (2008) and Tales from the Seasons (2009). The Fires of Yule is the culmination of more than three decades of the author’s devout engagement with the Yule and deep reflection on the nature of the Winter Solstice. Montague Whitsel has explored, studied and practiced Western spiritualities grounded in the Celtic, Neo-Pagan and Monastic traditions for more than 40 years.
About the Author
Montague Whitsel is a narrative poet and spiritual philosopher with degrees in Anthropology, Sociology, History, Philosophy and Religion. He has been exploring Pagan, Celtic and monastic spiritualities for over 40 years.