Vidar's Gothi

As we approach the end of Yule, we prepare to start a new year. As you close out your celebrations, it is time to include some planning.

The end of Yule is usually accompanied by a feast. This is a celebration of the lengthening days. We acknowledge that the warmth of the sun is returning. We celebrate a world reborn. Are you reborn as well?

Today is the Winter Solstice, that shortest of days and longest of nights. It is also the traditional start of Yule. It is time to think about the previous year and contemplate where to go in the next.

If your climate is amenable to such things, the Winter Solstice happens in winter and most of nature looks a bit dead. We know that it is not dead, of course, but is merely sleeping. Most of the plants and animals entered a dormant state or shuffled off to warmer climes. There, they wait.

For those in the United States there is the looming issue of the so-called Fiscal Cliff. This is ending of a set of tax rules that will automatically set tax rates up for most people and remove a great deal of deductions and exemptions. Many are afraid about what this will do to businesses, jobs, and the pocketbook. Others are just worried about how messed up a government must be to get into such a position.

Because I am a gothi dedicated to a specific deity, folks sometimes ask how a God chooses a person. Unfortunately, that is not a simple question and yet, there is a sort of simple answer.
At no time did I ever think of Vidar as choosing me. I always saw things as me hanging around so much that He just decided He should make use of me. That may or may not be how it happened; Gods are difficult to read most of the time.

Yule is a time to celebrate the cycle of the year and the chance for new beginnings. When the Earth goes to ground in the dark of the Solstice, we trust that the Sun will return and bring with it growth and renewal. It is a time for new beginnings! Do you celebrate Yule? If so, please tell us about it in the forum.