The Holly King is gone, and the  Oak King now reigns
Yule is the time of the old winter gods!
Hail to Baldur! To Saturn! To Odin!
Hail to Amaterasu! To Demeter!
Hail to Ra! To Horus!
Hail to Frigga, Minerva Sulis and Cailleach Bheur!
It is their season, and high in the heavens,
may they grant us their blessings on winters day

Following on from the Solstice, many of you may not know that tonight is the Traditional beginning of the Yuletide... although let's be honest, we've probably all been getting into the spirit for a while.

Today, “Yule” and “Yuletide” are pretty synonymous with Christmas and Christmastide, but the meaning behind Yule is quite different from that of the Christian holiday.

The word “Yule” itself comes from Old English geol, which shares a history with the Old Norse, jól. Both these words referred to a Midwinter Festival centred around the Winter Solstice, which traditionally marked the halfway point of the...

*Trigger warning: Mature Content*

I know the Solstice "officially" begins at 10.59am EST tomorrow, but we tend to write these things as and when we feel and see the energy moving.

I must say, i'm almost surprised we made it to the end of the road this time. To get painfully candid with you all, this year has been arduous, breaking and seemingly unrelenting for me. I'm honestly surprised i'm still here. In fact, it's been one of the worst of my life, and it seems a lot of people have been feeling the same in some kind of way, to greater, middling or lesser (okay... you caught me, I rewatched Geralt slaying a Stryga, sue me). 

As it's tradition on each of the Crossing Days, I find myself here again to explain the energy and mechanics of the Tides and Seasonal Rhythms... trying to make sense of the currents and forces laying within the Inner World and Her Mysteries, only this time I do so with an abject heart, with a fair bit of remorse, pain and awe-full perspective that would...