Winter Solstice & Yule: Books to Understand the Reason for the Season

Winter is a big time for pretty much everyone, there's a variety of holidays going on in which people are going a little wild for. Traditions abound, and if you know your history on one called Christmas, that was essentially a Roman rip off of Yule, a Germanic pagan holiday connected to Winter Solstice. They were persecuting Pagans all throughout their empire so it only made sense that they get rid of the holidays, but hey, what if... we just renamed it and kept it so we can celebrate it without being punished? And of course, Caesar agreed. I'm kidding, but seriously, Christmas is a direct descendant of Yule, though since Yule is still celebrated as it's own thing, that's more of an evolutionary split-off.

Anyways, the Solstice's that happen around the year are natural occurrences that were celebrated on their own even without religious trappings. Winter and Summer are the two solstice holidays, and then Autumn and Spring have an Equinox, but they're very much the same sort of thing in that you're celebrating the beginning and an end of something.

But the Winter Solstice is especially important, as it's the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun, and was a way for people to keep track of important things! Such as celebrating one last time before the monitoring of food reserves for the winter and animal husbandry, all that jazz. Also a lot of wine was usually ready by this point so you know, party time! Gotta keep warm!

I have never actively celebrated Winter Solstice and Yule, as I just stepped into this world back in August, and I didn't really celebrate Samhain as separate from Halloween, so this will be a first all around for me! But I thought it would be nice, for people that know even less than me, whether it's so they can join in, or just learn more, if I listed some books that have been helpful for me!

Inner Witch by Gabriela Herstik

This was the first ever book I bought, when I specifically went into a bookstore searching for things that might help me. I had been stuck in the rut of believing in nothing for so many years that perusing it's pages was really helpful. So many other wiccans are in the habit of making it seem so unapproachable, like everyone has to practice the same way, experience things the same way. And I can tell you now, that's not true, not at all.

If you are the most minimal of practitioners, you count. If you're all over the place, you count. If you're the most hardcore, most strict with yourself about your guidelines, you count.

Inner Witch is a really good way to take a look at the basics and decide for yourself what you want to do! It's much more in line with the workings and specifics of witchcraft than the next one is, but that one is just important.

Waking The Witch by Pam Grossman

Waking the Witch was the second book I bought when I realized I was stepping into the world of Wicca and knew I needed some guidance. Specifically more of the mental kind, or rather spiritual, I guess.

This one is good for even those that don't intend to follow witchcraft, as it's about finding that inner spark that frightens people so much. Specifically that inner spark about women that frightens men so much.

It's a history book essentially, for witchcraft. Starting all the way back at the beginning and moving forward onto the modern era.

It delves into what witch hunts were, and talks about how the modern witchcraft movement can be difficult to maneuver. Mostly because you have white women selling objects that do not belong to them for thousands of dollars, while the people that the items belong to truly, are suffering in poverty.

So, while these are only two books of many you can read, these are the two I latched onto in the beginning, and I'll be using various research sites, and libraries, to guide the rest of my journey. Specifically in my preparation for the Solstice!

There are plenty others out there, and both of these books have further reading lists that you can check out too!

So, to end this post, I'm going to leave you with a quote from the afterward of Waking the Witch.

"Witch.

Woman.

A word of horror turns into an honorific; disgrace changes into consecration; shame shifts into reclamation."