šŸŽ‰ Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - 13 Days of Holiday Celebrations

My Challenge Entryā€¦

Hey sweet witches!! A very Merry Meet! I want to apologize first of all for the delay in posting my entry, but of course, I also know itā€™s the 12th Night of Yule tonight soo, yaay! At least I made it in time! :face_holding_back_tears: I had to rapidly work on setting up my altar and finally, finally it is Done! Though I did it quick, I prayed to the Goddess every second to bless my little sacred spaceā€¦to adorn it with her sheer presence! Also, I couldnā€™t place the Horned God on my altar as I have yet to sculpt him (because of studies! :smirk:) and it is a very misty weather here which doesnā€™t suit for drying purposes! So probably it will take another 2-3 days. Anyways, I personally Love Christmas and so, I Heart Yule!! I just kept sitting before my Altar for a few long minutesā€¦it felt so very peaceful and rejuvinating! :innocent::wilted_flower: Here are some lines poured out by my Heart, for this Yule :

"May the light engulf the shadows this Yule,
as the darkness slowly retreats,
May the Goddess be called upon by every Heart,
as our souls reach out to her magickal treats!"

Blessed 12th Night of Yule,
Love & Light :wilted_flower: :sparkles:

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Thatā€™s very sweet of you but credit goes to @BryWisteria , I believe. She is credited with the spell recipe. I just changed it from singular to plural :laugh:

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Itā€™s time for a friendly reminder:

:exclamation: This challenge will soon close :exclamation:

If you would like to participate and havenā€™t done so already, please post about your challenge experience(s) by the deadline:

ā†’ January 3, 7:00 AM CET (Central European Time)



Happy New Year, Infinite Roots! :partying_face: Although some may still be celebrating, for many the holidays are now winding down. Iā€™d say Iā€™d hope you all enjoyed it, but I can see from the entries shared that it was a very creative, fun, and magickal season for so many of you! Thank you to everyone who has shared their holiday magick so far :pray::heart:

If you havenā€™t already shared an entry but would like to join in, this is your friendly reminder that you still have a bit of time left to do so!

Blessed Be! :tada::sparkles:

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WWC Entry 13 Days of Holiday Celebrations

This was the second year I celebrated Yule as a witch. :evergreen_tree:Yule is a much better fit than Christmas for me but the entire season is really :sparkles:magickal no matter what or how you celebrate.
My season did not go as planned but that is ok. I think I did most of the things I wanted to do.
:sparkles:I made a wreath with the pine cones I collected in the fall.
:sparkles: I made 3 simmer pots during yule.
:sparkles: My husband helped me change out my Yule log. He made me one last year with a log he saved from the land fill. This year he found some Birch logs :wood: and he made me another one! He is a sweetie :heart: :heart: :heart:
:sparkles:I made some handmade gifts for friends and family
:sparkles: I read alot
Here is a picture of my wreath:

And here is a picture of my new Yule log. I donā€™t plan on burning this one until I feel the need.


With Real Candles

For the last day on Yule, Oath Day, it was my 17th wedding anniversary and I spent the day with my husband. I bought some red carnations because they go with this anniversary and the white snap dragons were just awesome! Check them out, they did this all on their own! They look like antlers to me :wink:

We ate lots of good food and enjoyed watching it snow, ALOT!!!
I wish everyone a wonderfully happy new year!
:infinite_roots:Bless Be
:butterfly:

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My Challenge Entry: Parts 2, 3

Since had more time, I opted to do a few things for this challenge (although I didnā€™t do 12 days of challenges!).

Holiday Crafting
While I was running on Saturday, I spied windblown pine boughs that looked like perfect brooms. On my way home I collected a few to make into brooms to symbolically clean my space. I picked a black cord to bind a couple of boughs together and took inspiration from https://forum.spells8.com/t/a-little-knotty-magick/5326, I thought Iā€™d try my hand at making a Celtic heart knot at the top of the binding.



Magickal Journaling
It was the perfect chance to try out my newly gifted fountain pens with some putting thoughts and memories to paper in my common journal.

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Happy New Year everyone!

For Yule, I decorated my altar with faux evergreen boughs and red berries. I also had a baby tree (again, faux b/c hubby is allergic).

During the holiday, I journaled on each of the virtues that I mentioned in my post on Nordic Traditions on the appropriate day in my Book of Mirrors. It was enlightening for me to reflect on each of these as they apply to my life.

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Seriously speaking hereā€¦I am captivated by your Yule Celebration!! Itā€™sā€¦just too too beautiful sweetie!! The Wreath caught my breath! And the Yule log was beyond words!! I do love your carnations too!!! Everything is just soo surreal! It is a beautiful entryā€¦thank you for sharing! :gift_heart:

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I am lost in the other world really. This is the effect your Yule Crafting has!! It is just magnificent dear @Artemisia !!! :face_holding_back_tears: I do journalling all the time as I keep ordering customized journals or diaries! And the celtic knot is just incredibly made with so much sophistication!! I looooove the wind blown pine boughs broom!!! I wish I had one! Sooo much magick in one post, WOW! Amazing entry! Blessed be! :sparkles:

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Your altar is just BEAUTIFUL!! I love your decorations and specially the evergreen boughs and red berries!!! Soo pretty! Thank you for sharing and blessed be! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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This challenge is now CLOSED :exclamation:

The holidays have been winding down, but the energy is always up here in the coven- look at all these amazing crafts, spellwork, decorations, celebrations and more! Fantastic job to the coven and thank you so much to everyone who shared their festive and seasonal spellwork over the holidays! :heart:

A Props and Presents post will soon appear with shout-outs and prize details for everyone who submitted an entry. Please keep an eye on the main page of the forums.

Note : To avoid confusion, this discussion will be locked until the Props and Presents post appears. At that time, this thread will reopen for discussion for a few more days- comments are welcome during this time, but please note that no additional prizes will be given.

Thanks again for joining in the challenge! :partying_face:

Blessed be! :tada::sparkles:

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The challenge deadline has passed- thank you to everyone who joined in! :sparkles:

This topic is reopening for any continued discussion and comments (feel free to respond to entries that were shared, chat about the challenge theme, etc!) :speaking_head:

The Props and Presents Post for this challenge is now live in the forum and badges have been sent to all entrants! :trophy:

ā†’ Props and Presents for the Holiday Celebrations Challenge

Thank you once again to all those who joined the challenge! :star2: I hope you enjoy your new badge :medal_military:

This thread has been reopened for discussion- feel free to comment on the theme, ask questions or reply to entries! However, please remember that no additional prizes will be given out now that the challenge has officially closed. Thank you!

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I missed this challenge but I wanted to make sure I went through and read everyoneā€™s entries :heart: If I miss yours, Iā€™m sorry!


Honestly, this is a goal of mine ā€“ to have enough decorations, time, and space to make my home cozy and joyous at every holiday :heart: Youā€™re an inspiration to me there for sure!

That was such a beautiful ritual Cosmic, thank you for sharing it with us :heart: I really love your log and all of your decorations. Your altar looks perfectly suited to you! Itā€™s interesting how you kept part of your tree from last year. I think youā€™re right ā€“ something knew your path was going to be changing and it was preparing ahead of time!

Thatā€™s a beautiful practice, Jessica :heart: Iā€™m happy to hear that youā€™ve found someone close by that can teach and guide you! That type of support is invaluable!

Itā€™s always nice to have the encouragement of those close to us, even if they donā€™t participate fully. Iā€™m really happy that you have that! It sounds like your holiday celebrations were jam-packed and super busy. I hope you enjoyed it! Your pendants are also very pretty. I really like the one on the top left with the blue and gold. Something about it is catching my eye. Great job!

I know Iā€™m a bit late and the Solstice was a few weeks ago but I just wanted to say that I hope you were able to find that balance with your work and your life! I think your plans to focus on self-care are great :clap: I hope that as you move into the colder months, youā€™re able to keep that balance!

Youā€™re absolutely right, Garnet! :clap: I really appreciate you taking the time to highlight other Winter/December traditions and holidays around the world. They donā€™t get near as much time in the light as Christmas does! :heart: It sounds like you had a wonderful time as a kid with your mother during the holidays. You reminded me of these paper chain advent calendars weā€™d used to make at school for the holidays. Iā€™ll have to do that this year with my daughter!

Youā€™re really sweet to make roller bottles for your daughter and her friends :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I hope they appreciate them as much as I appreciate you doing it! And Iā€™m not even there :laughing: Ya know, Iā€™m really glad that youā€™ve come so far in your personal journey that you can now enjoy the holidays. I know itā€™s really tough when things are different or you have a difficult past in relation to your family. The holidays are supposed to be filled with love, joy, and family ā€“ and Iā€™m glad you have that now :heart: also, super jealous of that beach picture lol

And I love you, Jeannie! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

This is beautiful, Amethyst, thank you for sharing this part of your life with us here :heart:

How cute! I love it :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I hope you enjoy working with your crystals when you get them!

Oh my Gods, can I just tell you how perfect that is?! Thatā€™s so clever! Youā€™ve been a busy bee :honeybee: in the kitchen lately it seems. I love to see it!

This is perfect, for sure. Iā€™m glad you were able to put your thoughts into motion so now you can start planning for those things you want ā€“ and kicking out the things you donā€™t want! Youā€™ve come so far and had so much personal growth that Iā€™ve seen :sparkles: Iā€™m so proud of you for recognizing the things in your life that are unhealthy for you and doing what you can to balance out your days. Great job!

It looks like inspiration struck you at the witching hour! :mage:

I think thatā€™s a perfect way to begin your Solstice celebrations :clap: I hope they went well for you!

I hope your spells and intentions were successful! :heart:

I think itā€™s wonderful that you and your family were able to connect and bond over your holiday celebrations. Hereā€™s cheers to many more years of family traditions! :clinking_glasses: :tada:

I loved reading about your advent spiral and the different traditions you and your family have. Itā€™s truly inspirational ā€“ we donā€™t have many traditions as a family here in my house besides decorating the tree and having a pot of chili (which we didnā€™t even get to do this yearā€¦long story lol) :heart: I didnā€™t know A Boy Called Christmas was a book! I watched the movie with my daughter last year, I think? It was really, really good! I hope you enjoy it if you ever get the chance to watch it!

So mote it be! :pray: :sparkles:

I can feel the joy, radiance, and dedication you have to both your family and your practice in this post. Reading your entry brought me so much joy and many feelings ofā€¦ something (good) I canā€™t quite place. :thinking: Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us!

Cheers to that! :partying_face: :tada: :clinking_glasses:

Iā€™m so happy to hear that your practice and altar space are bringing you so much peace and joy! :heart:

Congratulations on your second successful Yule! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Even though it didnā€™t go as planned, you made the most of it and still counted your blessings. To me, thatā€™s what this is all about!

It looks really good! Iā€™ve never done something like that ā€“ was it easy?

Having lived in an RV myself, itā€™s always so inspiring to see how you make the most of the space you have :heart: I love your altar and everything youā€™ve shared with us!


There are so many wonderful entries shared here, so much tradition and love, that my heart almost canā€™t contain it! :heart: I know I missed this challenge myself ā€“ life, ya know? ā€“ but I am definitely inspired with some new ideas for the next Winter Solstice!

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Aww, thanks! I love me some traditions! And we have a bunch from all different walks of life. If it speaks to us, we try to make it our own!

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Cā€™mon! The catch up challenge is not so far dear! I just know that you might blow everyoneā€™s mind with your entry!! Honestly, I wanna see yours as soon as possible! And thank you soo much for taking out time to write this for all of us Megan!! You know, life is sometimes really busy and fast trackedā€¦but what remains is the loving words and generosity of people like you!! Love you and Blessed be :gift_heart:

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@AileyGrey ā€“ Youā€™re welcome! The older I get ā€“ and the older my daughter gets ā€“ the more I try to incorporate different traditions into my practice and our holiday celebrations. The holidays arenā€™t generally a ā€œbig thingā€ here anymore since all of our family is spread across the country. But ya know, weā€™ve gotta make due with who we have around us!

@Solasta_Amore ā€“ Aww thank you so much :heart: That really means a lot to me, truly! Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll get something in the catch-up challenge. It might come close to Imbolg, too, which is great for me as Brigid is the deity I venerate the most :blush: Thank YOU for being amazing, generous, and loving to everyone here in the coven!

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I just want to be sure that my kids are well rounded and that they have beautiful childhoods filled with memories and magic (whether that be with a k or not)! They are only little once.

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@MeganB thatā€™s one of those pictures that I was likeā€¦ oh, banging a right to snap that coming up!

It was definitely a last minute decision on our way home :laughing: I have a couple others from that beach that day too. Alphie didnā€™t want me to leave, I think he wanted to go wandering the beach, but it was way too cold.

My daughter loves hers. She keeps telling me how good it smells. It was a much better holiday season than it has been for a long time for me. So I really tried to enjoy as much as I could with my family. :two_hearts:

Thank you so much, without it really dawning on me until you said something, Iā€™d imagine who I am now & the path my journey has taken me down since I started at Spells8 the last couple of years, it must be even more noticeable to those around me than it is to me as Iā€™ve been going through it how much Iā€™ve evolved? Changed? :thinking:

I think I take for granted the work & chamges that Iā€™ve put in, at least based on my providers feedback during the last few appointments weā€™ve had. Thank you so much! It means a lot :revolving_hearts:

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@Susurrus ā€“ I wouldnā€™t want to leave either. Iā€™m such a beach bum :laughing: and I would give anything to stay at the beach all day!

I mean, itā€™s definitely noticeable to me! I wonā€™t go too much into it but I can totally tell youā€™ve changed and grown so, so much! You need to give yourself credit, for sure :joy: but I know from personal experience thatā€™s a difficult process.

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