Cinnamon Dough Ornaments for Winter Celebrations

Cinnamon dough ornaments are a fun and festive addition to any winter observation—and they can be adapted for year-round use as well. Most commonly. We see these ornaments made to hang on Christmas or Yule trees, but they can be used in a lot of other ways too. You can use the same method to create a scented ornament garland—either with just ornament shapes or with dried fruit slices and other items along with them. Cookie cutters come in all shapes and sizes, so you can use these garlands (hanging around your windows or doors, for example) any time of year. They also make cute additions to small wreathes and can be used as personalized gifts or gift toppers. You can also use the cinnamon dough method to made beads to create a scented tree garland.

Exploring Yule: A Wintertime Festival

Yule is a well-loved holiday in both the magical and Pagan communities. It is a Germanic Pagan holiday which is still observed by modern Heathens and is also included as a fixture on the Wheel of the Year (a calendar of holidays popularized by practitioners of Wicca and observed by many members of the magical community). Today, Yule is typically celebrated on the Winter Solstice and is viewed either the beginning of or high-point of the winter season (depending on the beliefs of the practitioner).

Holidays & Traditions, FolkloreThomasinDecember 10, 2021yule, yule history, pagan yule, pagan holidays

Workings for Samhain

For many witches and Pagans, Samhain is a time of excitement and festivities. The Halloween season is not just a time of year that is—for many members of the magical community—a rare opportunity to show one’s true colors to the world. It also falls alongside Samhain, a celebration of the Spirit Realm and a festival that honors the dead and other spirits. During this time, many witches and practitioners of magic may host rituals to honor the dead, to communicate with spirits, or to strengthen their connection to the Spirit Realm.

An Exploration of Samhain

Many of us are already familiar with Samhain as the Pagan predecessor to Halloween. It is one of the few Pagan and neo-Pagan customs that is actually mentioned in movies and television shows such as Hocus Pocus, Outlander and Supernatural. In the United States, many public schools teach about the Pagan roots of Halloween—though they may not refer to it by the name Samhain—in seasonal lessons which focus on the evolution of the holiday’s customs and beliefs. But where did our beliefs and customs as witches and Pagans come from? And how does our observation of Samhain in the twenty-first century link back to the observations we may be learned about in school?

Holidays & TraditionsThomasinOctober 29, 2021samhain, halloween, witches halloween, wheel of the yearComment

An Exploration of Mabon

Mabon is one of the eight festivals on the Wheel of the Year, and is the second of the Wheel’s harvest festivals. Like Lammas (which celebrates the beginning of the grain harvest), Mabon observes the harvest of the orchards and gardens, which farmers would be able to assess their harvest, give thanks for what they were able to bring home, and plan for the rest of the year.

Celebrating the Harvest (Even for City Folk)

When we think of harvest festivals, fields and farmers come to mind, and rightly so. I grew up in the city, raised by grandparents who were farmers and who had come from farming families. The city I lived in was the largest in its state, which is very much an agricultural state. It wouldn’t take me even an hour to drive out of the city and onto winding, narrow, hilly roads boarded by swaths of mustard, wheat, corn, tobacco, hay, or soybeans. For my generation in my family, the importance of the harvest and all the work that goes into it hasn’t been lost. The concepts and symbols that we associate with harvests are so familiar to me, but to many in the city I hail from, those concepts are foreign, distant; like something from a story we’ve heard before but whose details we can’t fully recall.

Holidays & TraditionsKeziahJuly 31, 2021lughnasadh, lunastal, lammas, holiday, harvest

Common Customs & Practices of Lughnasadh/Lùnastal & Lammas

The harvest festivals of Lughnasadh, Lammas, & Lùnastal are nearly upon us. These three holidays, which herald the end of summer and the start of autumn, share many of the same practices and similar histories, but each also has a distinct flavour of their own, shaped by the lands in which they were (and still are) historically practiced.

Holidays & TraditionsKeziahJuly 30, 2021lughnasadh, lunastal, lammas, holiday, harvest

A Brief Introduction to Three Harvest Holidays & their Origins

The first of the harvests is upon us, a day marking the beginning of summer’s end. Celebrated among ancient and modern Celtic druids and pagans, early Christians, and modern-day wiccans and neo-pagans around the world, Lughnasadh, Lúnastal, and Lammas are Quarter-Day Holidays and festivals within pagan calendars. If you’re a witch, pagan, or Celtic-focused historian on the internet, chances are – even if you’re not a pagan, druid, or wiccan yourself – you’ve heard mention of at least one of these holidays. You may have asked yourself, ‘why are there so many names for holidays with such similar, if not identical, customs?’ and ‘are they actually different at all, or are they all just the same holiday with different names?’ Let us explore the individual origins of each of these holidays, perhaps coming to better understand their

Holidays & TraditionsKeziahJuly 29, 2021lughnasadh, lammas, lunastal, harvest, holiday

The Yule Father

When the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer and darker, that’s when I feel I’m at my best - creatively, emotionally, psychically, and, of course, magically; when I feel my ties to Óðinn strengthen. It’s a time of year I’ve always used to re-dedicate myself and parts of my practice. Jól, a holiday with such lasting traditions that have shaped the imagery and practice Christmas and winter holidays around the world, is not now commonly associated with Óðinn, and yet there is so much that ties it to the Wanderer.

Folklore, Holidays & TraditionsKeziahDecember 23, 2019odin, yule, jol, winter, the wild hunt, folklore, european folklore

Ringing in Krampusnacht

Today, Krampus and his traditions are being revived in places like Germany, Austria, and Bavaria with annual events such as Krampuslauf and Austria’s Krampusnacht parade. For the most part, Krampus has been adopted into popular culture to the extent that even Americans may occasionally send or receive a Krampus-themed holiday card. But what are the true origins of this dark Christmastime figure? And how did he come to be the counterpart—or, in some places, companion—of Jolly Old St. Nick?