It’s that time of year again. Winter solstice. Yule. The birth of a new spiritual year. Many (most?) Wiccans and eclectic-style pagans feel Samhain is the spiritual new year, and in Celtic tradition, it is. But it’s just never felt right to me. I feel much more spiritually connected and grounded on the solstice, where at last, darkness will once again turn toward light. It’s a time of light and renewal, and what better way to begin a new year?

Bucking my own tradition, I did not have a huge ritual this year, but instead, kept things simple. A sunrise. A cup of cinnamon apple rooibos tea. A fuzzy blanket and some cats. And Tarot.

It was nice. Comfortable. Warming. Not too stressing. I found a new tarot spread for Yule, called the Sacred Days of Yule Spread. It’s meant to be performed over 12 days, one card drawn each day. I’m a day late, so I drew two today. This sort of thing stresses me out - being ‘behind’, that is - so I’m trying to take it in stride.

Tsuki has been laying under the tree there for hours and hours and hours. She likes it. A lot. Silly kitty thinks she’s a present! Speaking of presents, I opened a gift from TJ, who sent wonderful things from Washington - like smoked salmon and MarketSpice Tea (cinnamon-orange flavor!) along with some other goodies. All my other gifts will, of course, be opened on Christmas Eve with the family. I don’t think they’d buy the whole “But my holiday comes two days early!” bit. Heh.

I also opened the kitties’ Secret Paw packages, because they’re Yulecats. Felony was quite excited. For her, anyway. They recieved some fun toys - like feathers and pompoms (okay, I stole these for my tree, but only momentarily… honest…) and catnip and a feather boa, which Felony likes very much… and this cute little birdie with a bell on a stick. At first, they were freaked out by it, and Sebastian actually meowed and ran away. But I got him and Felony to play with it eventually. Tsuki just wanted to curl up in the now-vacant spot under the tree to sleep. She even refused the treats their Secret Paw sent!

“Hey, gimme more treats! Those cheese ones were great!”

Here’s my effort to do some introspective tarot every dark (new) moon. Though I do an entire dark moon spread, the entire thing is a bit personal, and so I’m only going to post the center card each moon, the card I need to focus on and the lessons I need to learn each cycle.

Time of reading: December 10th, 6ish a.m.

Moon Cycle: New (as of December 9th)

Weather: Snow, 23 degrees.

9 of Wands
(click for larger picture)

This cards is from Revelations Tarot, which in use is my favorite deck, simply because it’s so easy to read. It’s meant to be read with some variation of reversed cards. Each card has two images - one right side up, the other upside down, which will be read when the card is reversed.

The 9 of Wands is a card indicating the need of strength, focus, and perseverance. In relation to this month’s troubles and stresses, the focusing and persevering aspects are particularly dead-on. And considering my patience with various situations has run thin, I could use a little strength as well. You know, so I don’t go all homicide on someone’s ass, as has been tempting.

Now to put this card somewhere I won’t miss it for the next 28 days…