The name of December came about from the Latin ‘decem’, meaning 10. It was originally the 10th month of the year in the old Latin calendar, but was made the 12th month when January and February were added. We’ve been confused ever since.
December is a tricky month. For those who love the holidays, it’s exciting and filled with warmth and celebration with family. For those who don’t get along with their family, have financial problems (but have to shop regardless), or for people who work extra hard during the season (retail workers and restaurant staff), it can really be horrible. I have a mix of both of those reactions, but I try to make it as special as I can because my husbear really loves the winter holidays. I like to try and make him smile if I can.
Lunations:
Cold/Long Nights full moon in Gemini, December 3rd, 10:46am (EST) – This one’s a super moon!
New moon in Sagittarius, December 18th, 1:30am (EST)
Astronomy:
Mercury goes retrograde December 3rd, returns to direct December 22nd.
Geminids meteor shower December 13th.
Celtic Tree Month: Elder- Endings and new beginnings, completion of the cycle, focusing on greater happiness and your heart’s desire, evaluating what you’ve learned over the last year, cutting loose ends, thinking about your dreams for the new year, light flowers (birth)/black berries (death), wood regenerates when damaged, protective due to a dryad spirit contained within, elderberries cure insomnia
Holidays (mundane):
World AIDS day- December 1st.
Day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, and fundamental rights were recognized world-wide- December 10th, 1948.
Old European festival of evergreen trees- December 21st-22nd.
Day the Endangered Species Act was established, also a day of mourning for all that have already gone extinct- December 28th.
Holidays (Pagan):
Feast of the light-bringer (Juno in Rome, Lucia in Sweden)- December 13th.
Saturnalia! Honoring Roman god Saturn with shenanigans- December 17th- 23rd.
Poseideon Noumenia, honoring all Greek gods and goddesses- December 18th-19th.
Feast of Goddess Athena- December 20th-21st.
Yule/Winter Solstice- December 21st (11:28am EST)
Feast of Aphrodite and Hermes- December 21st-22nd.
Old Romano-Egyptian festival of Goddess Isis giving birth to God Horus- December 21st-25th.
Old Anglo-Teutonic dates of Yule- December 25th- January 1st.
Feast of God Poseidon, Goddess Amphritrite, and all Old Greek Gods and Goddesses of the seas- December 25th- 26th.
Feast of Saturn as Father Time- December 31st.
Themes for the month: Celebrating the longest night with family and friends, the decline and then rebirth of the sun, gift-giving, decorating the Yule tree and the rest of the home, quiet stillness of the long nights, bringing a sense of joy into the cold days.
General activities for the month: Shopping, shopping, more shopping. Crafting to finish up decorations or last-minute gifts, decorating, spending time in the woods to find natural elements to bring inside, parties, holiday festivals and events, creating that perfect playlist that rides the line between annoying and sublime. Spending time with loved ones, eating too much.
Herbs I’m using: All the typical holiday greenery, including holly (ward against evil, shelter for the fae during winter), cedar (cleansing, healing, protection), fir (uplifting, blessing, long life), pine (purification, protection, prosperity), and a touch of peppermint essence in my coffee or tea (for the energy to get through it all, and a touch of joy and brightness in the day).
Stones I’m using: I like to use stones for abundance and prosperity around this time of year. There’s something about the feeling of gift giving that shows you how much abundance you have in your life, and I feel like this kind of work goes hand-in-hand with that energy. I tend to use a lot of malachite (brings prosperity and abundance), pyrite (generating wealth through one’s own power, manifestation through perseverance), and tiger’s eye(stone of prosperity and good fortune, also protection of your existing wealth). The good news is that these crystals are also protective, so they can help ground you and create good protective boundaries during the scattered month of December, where peopling is a necessity. Tiger’s eye and malachite are also both good for protection during travel. Triple threat!
Goddess of the Month: I’ll be celebrating Nyx, the Greek goddess of night, as Yule is the longest night of the year. If you would like to read more about her, take a look at this post I wrote over on the MoonBooks blog.
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3 card reading
With the 9 of Wands reversed, it looks like we’re going to start out the month feeling a bit beaten down, like we’ve been disappointed or let down, and we can’t count on anyone. December can be kind of a rough month for this anyways, as we feel like we’re running around, doing everything for everyone else, and we may or may not feel gratitude for that. Add to that frustration with family, and it can be a rough month.
With the Strength card reversed, it looks like anxiety will be getting to us. ‘Tis the season, no? So it looks like that feeling of being all alone is going to follow us through the middle of the month. It’s one of those times where we’re going to have to do the best we can, face our fears and anxieties, and just try to find our inner reserves.
Finally, we have Death. So something is going to have to change. You can’t do everything for everyone, and there’s a chance that there could be a health crisis, a mental break, or just the final determination that you have to cut this shit out. You can’t run yourself ragged and just expect there to be no repercussions. So do the best you can, but you may have to scale back on what you were intending to do. You may even have to scale back on your shopping list.
The special guidance rune, Nauthiz is telling us that this is an experience that we need to go through. We wouldn’t have chosen this, but it’s important for our growth. Maybe we’re supposed to really examine the things we do this time of year, and find out if they’re really all that important at all?
Don’t look at this reading as all bad news. See it as a potential pitfall to look out for, and heed the warning to take care of yourself. Take some long baths, or spend time reading or watching your favorite holiday movies. I’ve been guilty of stressing myself out so bad that I haven’t enjoyed the holidays for most of my adult life. Reclaim it, take care of yourself, and find the magick in the holidays for yourself too!
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In Tenebris (by Ford Madox Ford)
All within is warm,
Here without it’s very cold,
Now the year is grown so old
And the dead leaves swarm.
In your heart is light,
Here without it’s very dark,
When shall I hear the lark?
When see aright?
Oh, for a moment’s space!
Draw the clinging curtains wide
Whilst I wait and yearn outside
Let the light fall on my face.
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My personal tides: Lots of pain from fibro and the weather change are causing me to reevaluate (again- a constant process) where my energy is going. I’m definitely wanting to nest, read, knit, cuddle Husbear and pets, do things that don’t involve a lot of people or a lot of anxiety. I’m not sure if this is going to help me fight depression, or just sink gracefully into depression, as it usually comes this time of year regardless of what I do.
The December reading is really resonating with me, as I see the winter months as my kind of symbolic death, so that I can be reborn in the Spring. Winter is tough with pain and depression, but it’s definitely just a part of my cycle that I’ve learned to work with.
My personal goals: Right now I’m really focused on spending less time on the ‘time wasters’ that I occupy myself with. NaNoWriMo in November was really good to help me focus back on writing, and I want to maintain that focus. While 50K words in a month seems to be beyond me for the past few years, 25K wasn’t. In fact, it was enjoyable. And I want to write 25K in December, January, February, and March. Writing includes writing more here on my blog, and also on the MoonBooks blog in addition to fiction, so there will be some new stuff coming.
I’m also going to be listing some new readings at my Etsy shop in December, including 2 different types of reading for the full year ahead, and full year subscriptions. So if you would like to see what 2018 holds for you, or get a personalized reading at the first of every month, take a look!
So I’ll be taking a break from my YouTube channel for a while, but will probably make one final video to talk about that. (Client readings will still be uploaded to YouTube when they’re ordered!) I’m also going to give Facebook a rest, and pare down any of the extraneous things I tend to distract myself with, like games on my phone, etc. I’m also going to be reading a lot, and trying to compile/format my BOS into a .pdf format so I can have it on my Kindle. Yes, I will have a Kindle of Shadows. So what? :0)