The Word for 2022

 For the last ten years I've chosen a word to focus on each year. At the end of the year, I reflect on what has happened in my life and how the word played into the year.

Share the Wealth - Link up #10

First let me apologize for not visiting the posts!! I'm having some serious computer issues - one has a dead keyboard and now won't even recognize the wireless keyboard - and the one I'm using has some corrupt files so sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't! Looking at new ones now. Until that new one gets here, please bear with me! 

And now - onto the the party! The holidays are over and the new year has begun. We've had some wild weather, so I have been working indoors - cleaning and planning my spring garden! 

What have you been doing? Many of us are stuck indoors and need some ideas!

So come on in, share your creative posts - cooking, crafts, gardening, journaling - anything that can spur those creative juices! 

On the first and 15th every month a new party will start and run until the day before the next one is to start (14th and last day of the month). 

Please remember to share something you did not share at the last party. 

12th Night

 Tonight is 12th night. It is a celebration of all the godesses and gods. A meal of ham or pork is served. The mead is broken open and a pot of wassail is put on the fire. 

It is also a time for beginnings and endings. 

On the 11th Night of Yuletide...

 This 11th day of Yuletide celebrates Valkyries and warriors.  Armed with a spear, these ladies served Odin and rode on horseback into battle. She is tasked with choosing worthy warriors from the battlefields to join the gods in the afterlife. 

The idea of how angels might look may have originated in the versions of Valkyries. But Valkyries are goddesses, daughters of Odin. 

On the Tenth day of Yuletide...

 On this tenth day of Yuletide, tribute is paid to the sun goddess, Sunna. She becomes stronger and stronger with each day and shines longer and longer until the the summer solstice. 

On the 8th and 9th Day of Yuletide...

On the 8th day of Yuletide...

The 8th day of Yuletide is a celebration of the hunt and winter. Tonight's celebration is the feast of Skadi and Ullr. These are Norse gods of winter and they are honored for the blessings they will bestow in the season. 

On the 7th Night of Yuletide...

Early people had to deal with the powers of the darkness, and to help with that they called on the god, Thor. Thor was the one who was brave and powerful enough to defeat the lady of death. He is the great protector of Mother Earth and middle earth from all the powers of darkness and evil.

 His wife, the goddess Sif was the goddess of grain and fertility and protector of the children. 

The winter goat became the symbol of Yule. Thor would sacrifice his precious goats, then resurrect them with a blow of his hammer. This represented the resurrection of the sun and nourishment. 

Tonight we remember what role we play in community and our responsibility to protect the children. It is appropriate the the focus virtue tonight is hospitality.