A Yule Tale Written by Moonshadow

This story was came to be after a conversation with a little girl I know, the subject of turkey and presents turned into my not celebrating Christmas but celebrating a thing called Yule instead. The little girl told me that her teacher had told her about the baby Jesus and the first Christmas but she'd never heard of Yule and could I tell her a story about it? At the time I couldn't and it perturbed me, so I sat down and made notes on what Yule meant to me, what this time of year means in various cultures, what it means to Pagans and I came up with the following tale, it took me a while but I'm more than happy with the end result I hope you like it to?

Many, many moons ago, in a faraway Sacred Place, there lived a beautiful young Maiden. The Maiden lived happily with her friends, the fairies, the trees, the flowers, the animals and the birds. All was well for a time but the Maiden began to feel sad that she was the only person in the Sacred Place. She wanted to share her friends and their secrets with other people just like her, she watched the animals give birth to babies and watched how they loved each other so she decided that she would give birth to, she waited until the moon was dark then she gave birth and became the first Mother.

She began a cycle that would be repeated every thirteen moons when the moon was dark. For the first six moons of the cycle, she gave birth to daughters with dark skin and eyes. On the seventh dark moon of every cycle the first Mother gave birth to a magical Oak tree. Then for the last six moons of the cycle she gave birth to daughters with fair skin and eyes. As the years passed, many, many daughters were born, and enough oak trees were born to make forests in the Sacred Place. The daughters played games with the animals and each other; they climbed in the leafy limbs of the trees and gathered flowers with the fairies.

One day the first born daughter of the first Mother gave birth herself. The
first Mother was very proud and happy, she went to visit her closest friend First Oak and he gave her a silver crown to wear and told her that she would now be known as the Crone and would be the source of all wisdom to her daughters. Soon many of the Crone's daughters gave birth, and the Sacred Place became a joyous place full of babies and daughters and mothers who all played together with the animals, the birds, the trees, the flowers and the fairies.

One winter night when the moon was hiding, one of the daughters gave birth
to a baby that was different from anything that had ever been known in the Sacred Place before. It was not a daughter, it was not an oak tree, it was a baby boy, a SON! It was a dark cold night, the longest winter's night of the year, so all the daughters and all the animals were snuggled up together for warmth and comfort. After the excitement of seeing a brand new baby being born had passed away, the daughters and the animals realised that all was not as it should be with the baby boy. He was not as strong or as warm as the babies and trees that were usually born in the Sacred Place. They began to worry and tried to help keep the baby warm. The animals with the softest, furriest coats snuggled up close to the mother and baby, the fairies sprinkled magic dust above him and the daughters sang songs of warmth and love. But the baby boy couldn't get warm and soon he was too cold and tired even to cry or to drink the milk from his mothers breast.

The Crone feared that the baby boy would lose his tiny grip on life and didn't know what to do, in her wisdom she decided to seek the counsel of her friend First Oak, she was certain that the two of them together could find a way to save the baby boy. She set out into the forest. The snow was deep, and covered the ground The Crone tried to walk but the depth of the snow hindered her movement and she could not continue. Just as she was about to give up, her friend the Owl came to her aid picked her up and carried her up above the snow filled clouds deep into the forest where her firstborn, most sacred wise friend First Oak lived. They reached the clearing in the First Forest where First Oak lived, and the Crone cried out in sorrow. In the place where her friend First Oak should have been there was no snow and in the middle of a perfect circle he lay on the ground broken into a pile of logs and branches. She fell down beside the broken tree and wept, and as she wept her teardrops turned to icicles on her cheeks. Through her tears she tried to comprehend what could have happened to her dear friend, as she sat hugging what remained of First Oak a Stag entered the circle and brushed up beside her. The Stag brushed away the icicles from her eyes and told her not to cry for her friend. The Crone dried her eyes as the Stag began to speak to her, he told her why the Oak lay on the ground and asked her to tell her daughters the tale and ensure they told their daughters for the rest of time. The Crone thanked the Stag and vowed she would teach her daughters about the sacrifice made by her friend The Oak, how he gave his life to help bring light and warmth back to the son. Then with the help of the Stag and the Owl, she gathered some of the branches from her oldest dearest friend and they returned to her daughter and the baby boy.

Using the gifts from the Oak, the Crone built the very first fire that anyone in the Sacred Place had ever seen. The fairies were shocked; they had never seen anything leap and dance without wings. The daughters laughed, they had never seen colours that bright except on springtime flowers. The animals didn't know WHAT to do! They stayed just out of reach of the fire, they'd never felt anything as warm as the summer sun on their faces in the middle of winter and were a little afraid. The mother smiled and brought the baby boy close to the edge of the fire, closer than everyone else. The baby boy opened his eyes as he felt the warmth of the fire, he wiggled his fingers, then smiling and gurgling he began to move his toes. The mother picked up the baby boy and nuzzled him to her breast so he could at last drink her milk, still smiling she thanked the Crone for bringing the fire that restored warmth and life to her son. Then the Crone first making sure that everybody was gathered around the fire told them the tale of the Stag that appeared in the forest to tell her about the sacrifice of the First Oak. She asked them to make a fire and give thanks on this night and tell their children the tale for the rest of time.

And the baby boy? He grew up strong and happy because of the gift of the First Oak Tree and the wisdom of the Crone. In time he had many sons of his own, and taught them all to plant acorns on the seventh dark moon of the year so that there would always be forests of oak trees in the Sacred Place.

Since that time, every Winter on the longest coldest darkest night of the year that became known as Yule, all the people who still lived in the Sacred Place gathered branches from the forests and built a very special fire.They brought in a special tree and decorated it with garlands of winter flowers, nuts and berries and the fairies sprinkled it with fairy dust. They chose one very special log out of the forest and sang their special songs while they decorated it with holly and mistletoe. Then they would give this beautiful log to the fire as a gift to honour the gift of life First Oak gave to the first Son. Then settled by the warmth of the fire all the children were told the tale.

So on the longest night of the year, whenever you light a candle or build a fire, remember the story of the Maiden who became The Mother and in time became the Crone and the Stag who made her understand the First Oaks sacrifice. And remember that no matter how cold and dark it seems, the Sun will always be reborn and bring us warmth and light again.

Blessed Be This Yuletide

Moonshadow & Raven