To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day (32 page)

part of her income by growing herbs and selling herbal prod-

ucts. She makes beautiful “corn dolls” out of southernwood,

a species of Artemisia. Many plants, including the traditional

grain plants, can be shaped, tied and woven into dolls.

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MIRROR , MIRROR ON THE WALL

If you enjoy trance work, make your own scrying mirror. A

mirror of this sort is used like any other reflective surface, and is easier to work with (and much less of a cliché) than a

crystal ball. Many Pagans associate Hallowmas or Samhain

with the art of divination, making that season a perfect time

of year for putting together a scrying mirror.

The problem with ordinary mirrors is that they are
too

reflective. When you gaze into an ordinary mirror you see

yourself and your surroundings in a perfect, but reversed,

reflection. That perfect reflection is usually a distraction,

although there are plenty of anecdotal stories of people “see-

ing things” in normal mirrors. The theme is often used as a

plot device in horror and fantasy stories.

For effective scrying, however, a less reflective mirror

is more useful. An easy way to make a scrying mirror is to

begin with an empty, off-the-rack picture frame like those

sold at any discount or housewares store.

Remove the glass from the frame as if you were prepar-

ing to put a picture in it. Setting the frame aside temporarily, paint one side of the glass black. Apply the black paint evenly over the entire surface of the glass, leaving no visible streaks.

Allow the paint to dry overnight.

The following day, place the glass back in the frame with

the unpainted side facing out. You now have a scrying mir-

ror!

Scrying is something a person experiences, not some-

thing a person learns intellectually. Sit in front of your mirror and try to clear your mind. It may help to turn off any electric lights and rely on one or two candles for illumination.

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Do not try to force anything; just gaze into the mirror and

be open to any impressions you may receive. Some people

describe a “clouding” effect just before they see images, so if the mirror clouds over it probably means that you are starting to master this art.

If the mirror does not cloud over, do not worry, it may

still work for you in a different way. Psychic impressions do

not always manifest as visions (clairvoyance). Be open to any-

thing that occurs as you gaze into the mirror. You may hear

voices (clairaudience), or sense odors (clairalience). You may

simply “know” things you did not know before (claircogni-

zance).

Scrying mirrors make great presents for your Pagan

friends. In fact many of the things described in this chapter—

scrying mirrors, personalized ritual candles, solar wreaths,

sachets and potpourri—can be assembled throughout the

year as Yuletide presents, greatly reducing your shopping

stress when December rolls around.

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Yule is often confused with the winter solstice, but the for-

mer is a season while the latter is a precise moment in time.

Yule begins with the Ærra Geola moon, which grows full in

late November or December, and the season then continues

for two lunar months.

For Saxon Pagans (as well as Pagans from many other

paths) the celebration of the Yuletide usually does not actu-

ally begin until Mothers’ Night, the solstice, and continues

for a week or two after this. I celebrate for twelve days, from Mother’s Night to New Year’s Day, but I have been invited to

Yule feasts held as late as mid-January. For that matter, I have attended Yule feasts that took place ten days or more
before
the solstice. And this was entirely appropriate, for Yule is a

season.

I love the Yule, partly because it is the most important

holy tide in the Saxon sacral calendar, but also for the same

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reason that many non-Germanic Pagans love it. Wiccans

have no reason to be exceptionally excited about the winter

solstice, as it is a “minor sabbat” secondary to the big holi-

days like Beltane and Samhain. I have never known a Hellen-

ic Pagan to make a big deal out of the Haloa, the December

festival sacred to both Demeter and Dionysus, at least not

more so than any other Greek festival. And yet Yule seems to

have a special place in the hearts of most Pagans, regardless

of their spiritual paths, simply because it is so prevalent in our culture due to the influence of Christianity. The majority of first generation Pagans (those of us who were raised by

non-Pagan families) grew up in Christian households where

we were introduced to Santa Claus, cinnamon cookies, egg-

nog and jingle bells as children, and the oldest of us have

passed these things on to our own children, the second and

third generation Pagans of this century.

Although Pagans do not actually celebrate Christmas (as

in “the birth of Christ”), we have no desire to relinquish the pleasantries of Christmas. Some Pagans claim that these traditions are ours, but any claim we may have to ownership is

indirect at best.

While Christmas traditions may not literally be ours, the

secular trappings of Christmas also have nothing to do with

the birth of Jesus, and most of them suffer little or not at all when translated into a Pagan lifestyle. This is especially true for Pagans who follow Germanic paths, since so many of the

Christmas customs we are familiar with originated in north-

ern Europe. In my home we decorate a Yule tree each year.

For us it represents the World Tree that connects all of the

Seven Worlds. We enjoy munching on Yule cookies and we

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have our favorite Yule songs. We do all of the secular things

that our neighbors do, pretty much substituting the word

Yule for the word Christmas.

Some people call this “stealing back”, but I do not see

where any theft is involved at all. These are the traditions of my ancestors, and while I follow a different religious path,

my ancestors also chose to follow a path that differed from

that of their own forebears; and none of this changes the

fact that these are family traditions having little to do directly with either Jesus or Woden.

This is why I see nothing wrong or strange when non-Ger-

manic Pagans also choose to celebrate Yule with evergreen

trees, tinsel and ho-ho-ho. These things have meaning to

Pagans of all paths, and rightly so, because they are the ways

of our ancestors.

It is in our spiritual expression where the diversity of this

season manifests. As a Saxon Pagan, the birth of a Jewish boy

more than two millennia ago has no special meaning for me.

Nor do I believe that the sun is being “reborn”. I do not cele-

brate the rites of Demeter and Dionysus. In short, I celebrate

the season as a Saxon.

The winter solstice, for Saxons, is known as Módraniht,

or Mothers’ Night. This is the longest night of the year, and

it is the night that my kinsmen gather to offer a húsel to our

female ancestors. It is believed that some mothers are very

likely to care about their children, and their children’s chil-

dren, even after death. As the central part of the rite, a drinking horn is filled with mead, and we take turns drinking to

the memory of our grandmothers, great grandmothers, and

great great grandmothers, back to the dawn of humankind.

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Many of us honor specific female ancestors by name. For us,

it is the single most important night of the year, and it pre-

cedes a twelve day celebration of the Yule.

Your Yuletide rituals should express your own spirituali-

ty. However much we may love “Christmas” traditions, it is

important to remember that these are secular customs and

not allow them to overshadow what the season means to you

as a Pagan person.

Wassailing is one Yuletide tradition with a legitimate

claim to a pre-Christian lineage (Simpson & Roud, p. 380).

The word wassail comes from the Old English
wes hal
, meaning “be healthy” or “be whole”, and is still often used even

today as a salutation by Saxon Pagans. There were two tradi-

tional wassailing customs. One wassailing custom was asso-

ciated with women and the other with men. Both included a

warm, alcoholic drink often just called wassail.

The wassailing associated with women involved visiting

neighbors’ homes. A group of young women would carry

a bowl of wassail from house to house. At each house they

would offer wassail to the residents and sing a song. This

was believed to bring luck to the household. The connection

between this custom and the Pagan belief in female ances-

tors blessing their people on Mothers’ Night is readily appar-

ent.

This tradition is difficult to recreate today, since most if

not all of your neighbors no longer honor their ancestors or

the old gods. But the underlying purpose of wassailing like

this was to celebrate the community or tribe, and that is very

easy to recreate. When your coven or kindred is preparing to

gather for a solstice celebration, find a selection of appropri-f 248 2

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ate songs and print off the lyrics so everyone can sing along.

These songs might be Pagan songs, but they can as easily be

secular carols. Set out a bowl of wassail, encourage every-

one to take a cup, and then turn off the television. Instead

of watching one more rerun of a Very Special Sugar Coated

Holiday Special, get everyone singing together, melding their

voices and spirits in Pagan celebration.

The wassailing that was associated with men, also called

Apple Howling, was quite different. The men of the village

would go to the local orchards and “wassail” the trees. This

included singing to the trees and splashing the trunks with

the wassail beverage. Specific practices varied from one vil-

lage to the next. Toast soaked with wassail was sometimes

placed in the tree branches. Here we have another tradition

intended to bring luck, but this is luck for the orchards in the hope of a bountiful harvest in the coming year.

This is a great tradition to resurrect if you have plant-

ed even a single fruit or nut bearing tree in your yard. Pour

some wassail around the roots of your tree (or trees), or put

a slice of wassail soaked toast in the branches. Sing to the

tree. Here again the choice of song is entirely up to you.

There might be a Pagan song you like. (“The Trees of Annw-

fn” from Gwydion Pendderwen’s 1982 album
The Faerie Sha-

man
would certainly be appropriate.) Otherwise you might choose a secular carol. I do not think the tree spirits really

care what you sing, it is the attention they enjoy.

The traditional wassail beverage was a spiced ale or cider,

and by “cider” I mean hard (alcoholic) cider. It was often

described as Lamb’s Wool because of the white froth on

the surface of the drink. The following recipe is similar to

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what might have been used as wassail long ago. I say similar

because the average Pagan in northern Europe obviously did

not have access to sugar, ginger or nutmeg.

TRADITIONAL WASSAIL

You will need:

1½ quarts ale or hard cider

6 small apples

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ cup sugar

Preheat your oven to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Core the

apples and then place them on a lightly greased baking tray.

The apples will swell slightly as they bake, so space them a

couple inches apart from each other. Bake the apples for one

hour.

Meanwhile, put one cup of the ale (or cider) and all of the

sugar in a tall pan. Warm this over a low heat, stirring contin-uously to dissolve the sugar. After the sugar has dissolved add the grated nutmeg and ginger. Continue to simmer this, stirring it as you slowly add the remaining ale or cider.

After the apples are done baking, remove them from the

oven and allow them to cool for 10–12 minutes. Then cut