Four Books on Yule, the Winter Solstice & Old Christmas
A Review on My Deep Dive Into the Magic of This Time of Year
Over the past month, I’ve wrapped up a book club reading that covered Yuletide folklore and traditions from Old Europe and researched a Winter Solstice Special episode for The Hearth and Hedge. Typically, when I’m researching for an episode, I like to pare my sources down to mostly books and just a small few from the internet. The reason being that, although there is boundless knowledge found online, very little of it can compare to the researched and experience-based information that lies in the pages of a good book. The internet needs no champions. Authors however, deserve the credit and advocacy that their hard work has merited.
In that spirit, I’ve decided to write up a review of the four books on the subject of the Yuletide season that I have spent quite a bit of time with in the past weeks. Here they are.
The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year - by Linda Raedisch
If your love of Samhain or Halloween far exceeds any adoration you might feel for the Christmas/holiday season, this book just might be your magic ticket to making it through the New Year without a meltdown. Filled to brimming with spooky tales of ghosts, goblins and witches, this exploration of old world Christmas and Yuletide traditions sheds a whole lot of light on the absolute darkness of the season, as it was perceived by those who celebrated it long before ‘Jolly Ole Saint Nick’ became the major figure in modern Christmas.
From werewolves who steal your ale to gnome-like creatures who live in your apple orchard and witches who will split your belly open if you fail to stick to the proper dietary guidelines of the season, the stories in this book reveal that the people of medieval and pre-Victorian Europe felt believed they were anything but alone in this world - especially during Christmas.
Alongside chilling tales of the holiday season, you will find a collection of crafts and recipes to help you tap into the experience and make your own version of merry with a new understanding of what this darkest time of the year was really like before commercialism got its hands on it. An extremely rewarding read, this book is truly the treasure of old world spookiness that I was hoping for when I first picked it up.
The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice - by Carolyn McVickar Edwards
Imagine a family or a group of friends sitting in front of a cozy fire, warm spiced beverages in hands, telling tales of the season as the evening’s entertainment. Perhaps it is during a time long before the invention of the radio or perhaps its a group of modern individuals who just want to immerse themselves in the holiday experience - TVs and phones powered off. In this book are the tales they would tell, the songs they would sing and the games they would play.
Carolyn McVickar’s attempt to honor the Winter Solstice and all it’s wonder with tales from all over the world is an incredible success. The stories included have their origins in North America, Scandinavia, India, Africa, China, South America, Europe and Polynesia, knitting together a collection of completely unique and fascinating cultures through their mutual observance and celebration of the return of the sun.
Learn about Italy’s La Bafana and the Royal Child of Light, let the Inuit tale, Raven Steals the Light, explain why the light of the sun always returns, or find out how Loki caused the Death of the Light in the old Nordic story. Whether you read just one or two tales at a time or devour this book from cover to cover, it’s sure to become a seasonal favorite. It’s one that I myself will be picking up and re-reading each Yule for many years to come - preferably by the fire with a warm spiced beverage in hand.
Inner Practices for the Twelve Nights of Yuletide - by Anne Stallkamp and Werner Hartung
More than just a book about pagan winter traditions, Inner Practices for the Twelve Nights of Yuletide is an immersive course in capturing the mindset, as well as the magic, of the Twelve Nights and adopting them into your own daily practice. Complete with exercises, meditations and nightly journal prompts, this is guidebook on harnessing the energy of Yuletide and twelve holy nights in order to learn to maintain inner awareness, develop a keen perception of the spirit world and ultimately manifest the future you desire.
Through this daily instruction, you will be walked through each night of yuletide through the scope of the 12 calendar months - allowing you to see the significance of this small stretch of time on a grand scale and apply to your life, as well as your craft. I’m not sure if the Yuletide experience as an in-depth syllabus is for everyone - but for those who love a methodical deep dive, here is a book - and an experience - that’s well worth the price.
Yule: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Winter Solstice - by Llewellyn’s Sabbat Essentials
Several years ago, I decided I wanted to spend a year thoroughly educating myself on and participating in the Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. The books from the Llewellyn Sabbat Essentials Series were my primary teaching aids. Of course I collected and read many other sources - Edain McCoy’s Sabbats, Pauline Campanelli’s Wheel of the Year and, later, Temperance Alden’s Year of the Witch to name a few (all of these will also eventually be reviewed and added to this working catalog) - but I found this entire series to be absolutely essential in my year of exploration. From it, I’ve adopted bits of practice into my own craft, memorized invocations that felt meaningful to me, mastered a few delicious seasonal recipes and even recorded some rituals and spells into my own personal grimoire.
If you want to take an all-inclusive crash course through the old and new traditions of Yule from around the world and also pick up some spells, crafts and rituals for the season, this is your book! Meditations, prayers and invocations are also included, as well as a recipe for a Yuletini that’s always a crowd-pleaser in my home.
I will always encourage the use of several different references in research but, as a whole, this book is a remarkable soup to nuts source for a quick and comprehensive education in the celebration of Yule.
That wraps up this review collection. I hope you feel inspired to deepen your connection with the magick of the season by picking up one of these for yourself!
Love, Margo
