Autumn Equinox 25

Every year my wife and I on or very near the Equinox will take some tools and trek out into the woods and recover our Yule log for the coming year. Our ritual is to gather a decent sized “log” from the surrounding woodland. There is no exact size, but we sort of just eyeball it and it always ends up right. Think like a loaf of bread that’s a bit longer. Around that size, maybe a bit bigger. Anyways, once we have it we let it dry on the front porch until the end of November. Then we add it to your Yule decorations, it gets wrapped in garland, tea light candles and little twinkle lights and set on top of a fireplace. I really love it as a part of our holiday cheer. After the holiday when everything gets put up and we buckle down for the rest of winter the log goes back on the porch to dry until the summer. That log then gets burnt at our Summer solstice and we firegaze and try to see images in the flames, out own bit of pyromancy.

Yesterday, while a day late was our first opportunity, it was a damp forest floor from recent rains but we made it out and back with out new log. In years past we had opted for something with lots of bark, with personality, something very craggy and rustic looking. Each year we sort of wing it and whatever feels right. This years Yule log has a patina of moss and green to it along with beetle tracks. It has lots of personality.

Homemade rituals are the best