Jason Mankey - Llewellyns Little Book of Yule

J ason Mankey is a third-degree Gardnerian High Priest and helps run two Witchcraft covens in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Ari. Jason is a popular speaker at Pagan and Witchcraft events across North America and Great Britain and has been recognized by his peers as an authority on the Horned God, Wiccan history, and occult influences in rock and roll. He is the channel manager at Patheos Pagan and writes there at Raise the Horns and for Witches & Pagans .

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Llewellyns Little Book of Yule 2020 by Jason Mankey.

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First e-book edition 2020

E-book ISBN: 9780738763149

Cover cartouche by Freepik

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Interior art elements designed by the Llewellyn Art Department

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Names: Mankey, Jason, author.
Title: Llewellyns little book of Yule / by Jason Mankey.
Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Worldwide,
[2020] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: Filled with
dozens of magical exercises, tips, recipes, crafts, spells, and rituals,
this pocket-sized guide shares everything you need to make your Yuletide
memorable and enchantingProvided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020017393 (print) | LCCN 2020017394 (ebook) | ISBN
9780738763071 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780738763149 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Yule (Festival)
Classification: LCC BF1572.Y85 M36 2020 (print) | LCC BF1572.Y85 (ebook)
| DDC 394.261dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020017393
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020017394

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

To my brothers, Chuck, Dason, and Derick:

thanks for all the holiday memories!

Also to my cats, Princess, Evie, and Summer: I dont apologize

for dressing you all up as elves over the years.

Contents

: From Saturnalia to Christmas

: Yuletide Foundations

: The Gift-Givers

: Holiday Traditions

: New Years and Beyond

Exercises

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21: Candle Divination

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Tips

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Introduction

I remember one Christmas Eve vividly, even though it was nearly forty years ago. We were at my grandparents house, snug and comfortable in their back room. There was a fire in the hearth and about a dozen stockings hanging above it on the mantel. For the night before Christmas, it was rather quiet, with just the drone of the television and a few bits of conversation spread out among the twelve people there.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud ho! as Santa entered the house from the front door with a bag of presents slung over his back. He made his way quickly to the back room as my three brothers and I all began to hysterically yell Santa! Since it was Christmas Eve, Santa was all business and took charge of the situation rather quickly, telling us that wed all been good that year and deserved a little extra something for our efforts.

Unlike the Santa at the mall, this Saint Nick knew us all by name, which is tricky when one of your brothers is named Dason. (Naming us Dason and Jason was not planned. Technically hes my stepbrother, but we grew up together, so hes my brother.) One by one, Santa called to each of us, and when we approached, he handed us a gift. These werent just any gifts, either. They were perfectly tailored to what we were all interested in at the time. My brothers got three different sets of Matchbox cars, each set reflecting them individually. I got a set of little green army men, but with Japanese soldiers, which have always been nearly impossible to find.

His task completed, Santa wished us all a good night and prepared to leave. My brothers and I werent quite ready for the visit to be over, though, so we followed him to the front door of the house and listened intently for the sound of a car, hoping to catch our parents in the act of tricking us. But there was no sound. Santa simply left the house and was swallowed up by the nightor picked up by reindeer.

Santa paid us this visit when I was in the fourth grade, about the age when most kids stop believing in Kris Kringle. That night I searched my grandparents house high and low for a Santa suit and went through my immediate family trying to figure out who had been playing Santa. (Who else would have known who we were? Plus, my grandparents lived in a different town than we did.) Over the ensuing years, Ive asked my father several times about that particular night, and he has always told me that he doesnt know who was behind the beardunless it was Santa Claus, of course.

Today, the word Yule is used in a variety of different ways. For many, it functions as a synonym for Christmas and has been used that way for over seven hundred years. Modern Witches and Pagans use Yule to signify the Winter Solstice, a practice that date backs at least seventy years. The ancient Norse most likely celebrated Yule over a period of several days near the Winter Solstice. At my house we celebrate Yule as an entire season, one that encompasses a wide range of holidays and traditions.

In the Middle Ages, it became popular to call the winter holiday season Yuletide or Christmastide . Yuletide began on Christmas Eve (December 24) and lasted until Epiphany (January 6). It was a period full of heavy drinking, gift-giving, religious services, and customs that could be traced all the way back to the time of the Roman Empire. Given how the holidays of late autumn and early winter all sort of blend together in a blur of green and red lights, I think of Yuletide today as beginning on Thanksgiving and extending through Epiphany, and in some places beyond even that.