Today is Your Day
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… Get on your way! – Dr. Seuss
#NewLife #NewYear #Beginnings
New Beginnings
“It is never too late for a new beginning in your life” – Joyce Meyers
Christmas – a bit more
“It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!”… Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!” ~Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
#Christmas #Ritual #Celebrations
Winter Solstice-The Shortest Day
The Shortest Day:
“So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revealing.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!”
Susan Cooper
#WinterSolstice #Celebration #Ritual
Winter Solstice – Solstice Wassail
On Winter Solstice you can build a bonfire and sing songs with a mug of Solstice Wassail – recipe below:
Its long steeping time envelops your home in the cozy scent of cinnamon and cloves. Adding a liquor like brandy, to taste, will put some spirits in your holiday spirit. Serves 6–8.
2 pints and 1/4 cup brown ale or winter ale
3 or 4 cinnamon sticks
4 cloves
zest from half a lemon
4 apples
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup port
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a large saucepan, pour in two pints of ale. Add the cinnamon sticks, lemon zest and cloves and bring to a simmer over low heat.
Score apples around their circumferences with a knife. […]
Winter Solstice Lanterns
During Winter Solstice consider not using any artificial light for the entire day. Enjoy the darkness and celebrate it by lighting candles or your Solstice Lanterns!
In order to make them get a jar and decorate by gluing on bits of dry leaves and other materials gathered in nature, then use some wire to make a handle. Make many of these and put them all around your house.
#WinterSolstice #Celebration #Ritual
CARDAMOM ROLLS
Winter is ideal time for baking. Here is a favourite recipe of one of my Woman As Shaman Initiates for dinner rolls.
CARDAMOM ROLLS
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups milk (I like to use nut milk)
1 1/2 cups melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground cardamom (from about 25 cardamom pods)
2 pkg. dry active yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
8-9 cups all purpose or bread flourHeat milk to a light boil. Stir in melted butter, sugar, salt, and ground cardamom. Let mixture cool until it reaches the same temperature as your body. Add yeast into the mixture.
Into a separate bowl add flour. Then add the milk mixture into the flour. Knead until dough is firm and pulls away from the side of your mixing […]
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups milk (I like to use nut milk)
1 1/2 cups melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground cardamom (from about 25 cardamom pods)
2 pkg. dry active yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
8-9 cups all purpose or bread flourHeat milk to a light boil. Stir in melted butter, sugar, salt, and ground cardamom. Let mixture cool until it reaches the same temperature as your body. Add yeast into the mixture.
Into a separate bowl add flour. Then add the milk mixture into the flour. Knead until dough is firm and pulls away from the side of your mixing […]
Winter Prayer
Winter Prayer
“We give thanks for the blessing of winter:
Season to cherish the heart.
To make warmth and quiet for the heart.
To make soups and broths for the heart.
To cook for the heart and read for the heart.
To curl up softly and nestle with the heart.
To sleep deeply and gently at one with the heart.
To dream with the heart.
To spend time with the heart.
A long, long time of peace with the heart.
We give thanks for the blessing of winter:
Season to cherish the heart.
Amen”
Michael Leunig