The 5th Day of Yuletide 2021
Santa
The Yule Tree
Oat Straw, herbal ally for anxiety
Santa Claus
I STILL get excited about Santa Claus and his reindeer. On Christmas Eve, December 24th, you could find me standing on the shoreline in our back yard scanning the sky for the red light of Rudolph’s nose. If I see it, rest assured that I am headed directly to bed.
Even though I am Santa.
Even though I have piles of gifts to put under the tree for my husband, our 5 kids, and their beloveds.
Santa is real. Santa may not be a fat man in a red suit, but rest assured, Santa is real. I am Santa in my home but also Santa is, beyond all else, the Spirit of Giving. He is also the art of Receivership, something many of us could practice.
There’s an overwhelming wave rolling through the world that we do Christmas because of greed. Maybe that’s a thing, but it’s also true that we give at Christmastime. At Yuletide. And that giving is truly what bring us the biggest joy, the greatest pleasure.
There are many stories about the roots of Santa Claus and how he has evolved from St. Nicolaus, Father Christmas, Odin, and Kris Kringle into the movie and shopping mall Santas we are most familiar with today.
For me Santa is about magic, love, and mystery. The idea that so many of us for so long have given gifts without the need to have some sort of recognition for it, well, it lets me know that we are not beyond redemption. We are able to give for the joy of giving and that brings us all together in the spirit of the season.
The Yule Tree
Imagine being twelve, living in a snowy, winter wonderland, and that it’s near the Winter Solstice. Your father takes you and your little brother out to cut the Yule tree.
You are all bundled up in boots, mittens, scarves, hats, warm coats and pants and you waddle your thickly padded selves through the snowy woods until you find the perfect tree. You’ve all had your eye on it all year. You’ve visited the tree. Brought it pinches of corn meal, maybe your Mama has poured out libations of her homemade wine or beer as offerings to the tree spirits.
Your father places his hand on the tree and closes his eyes, “Thank you for your spirit and for the offering you make. Your spirit is honored now and through Twelfth Night. Your gift will be further honored at Imbolc when you will be sent with prayers into the fire. It is with gratitude that we take this offering and ask that you shelter the tree spirits within your branches. Blessed Be.’
He picks your little brother up and lays his hand on the trunk, they close their eyes for a moment. Then your father puts your little brother down, hands you the axe and allows you to offer your own blessing to the tree and then to take the first bite with the axe.
Originally we brought a tree inside, hung it from the ceiling by the trunk, and kept it so that the fairies could come inside and find a warm place to stay on cold winter nights. This brought us their goodwill and kept us from their pinchy ire during the coming year.
The upside-down tree has become a fad. Now they are hanging in hotels and homes all over the place, leaving floor space open and minds boggled!
“Followers of the upside-down Christmas tree practice say that it was a popular way of doing things in in the 12th century in Eastern Europe. Yet it is important to note here, the hanging element was generally just the top of a fir tree – not a huge, heavily decorated tree like you may find in a shopping center or luxury hotel today. In Poland , the top of the tree, or a branch from a fir tree, was hung pointing down from the rafters, usually facing the dinner table, in preparation for the holiday of Wigilia or Wilia. These decorative features were adorned with fruit, nuts, shiny sweets, straw, ribbons, golden pine cones, and other ornaments. An article by The Spruce says that the treats and sweets on the tree could not be eaten until the day after the festivities.” (From Ancient Origins.)
The tree, in very olden times turned so that the trunk was down like it grew, could be decorated with charms for things we wish to have in our lives in the coming year. Fruit, for fruitfulness-either in our work, in our wombs, or in our harvests; love charms; coins or representations of coins for wealth; and etc.
Today our trees have become part of the ritual tradition of Yule. Decorating the tree has always been something I’ve done with my children and this is the herald of the beginning of the Solstice Season for us. Yule, then Christmas, then releasing the Old Year and welcoming the New Year. The tree stands sentinel over all.
I’m minded of the book, ‘Anastasia,’ by Vladimir Megre, and the Ringing Cedars of Russia. '
“…a ‘ringing cedar’. On top of that, the cedar, which he said reached forty metres in height, needed to be cut up into pieces which could be carried by hand to the ship. We must, he said, definitely take the whole lot.”
And later in the book, “‘God created the cedar to store cosmic energy…
”When someone is in a state of love they emit a radiant energy. It takes but a split second for it to reflect off the planets floating overhead and come back to Earth and give life to everything that breathes.
”The sun is one one of those planets, and it reflects but a tiny fraction of such radiance.
”Only bright rays can travel into Space from Man on the Earth. And only beneficial rays can be reflected from Space back to Earth.
”Under the influence of malicious feelings Man can emit only dark rays. These dark rays cannot rise but must fall into the depths of the Earth. Bouncing off it’s core, they return to the the surface in the form of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, wars etc.
”The culminating achievement of these dark rays is their direct effect on the Man Originating them, invariably exacerbating the Man’s own malicious feelings.
Cedars live to be five hundred and fifty years old. Day and night their millions of needles catch and store the whole spectrum bright energy’ during the period of the cedars’ life all the celestial bodies which reflect this bright energy pass above them.
”Even in one tiny piece of cedar there is more energy beneficial to Man than in all the man-made energy installation taken together.
”Cedars receive the energy emanating from Man through Space, store it up and at the right moment give it back. They give it back when tehre not enough of it in Space—and consequently, in Man—or in everything living and growing on the Earth.
”Occasionally, though very rarely, one discovers cedars that have been storing up energy but not giving back what they have stored. After five hundred years of their life they start to ring. This is how they talk to us, through their quiet ringing sound—this is how they signal people to take them and cut them down to make use of their stored-up energy on the Earth. This is what the cedars are asking with their ringing sounds, They keep on asking for three whole years. If they don’t have contact with living human beings, then in three years, deprived of the opportunity to give back what they have received and stored through the Cosmos, they lose their ability to give it back directly to Man.”
We have a long history of love for the cedar tree, the pine tree, the fir tree. The cedars of Lebanon are mentioned many times in the Christian Bible. And now we’ve lost track of the reasons why we bring these trees inside but I suspect it’s mostly so that we can absorb a bit of their magic into our depleted bodies.
Oat Straw and Milky Oats for Anxiety
It seems right to talk about anxiety here, on Christmas Eve, when those who celebrate might be wrecked after a day with family and friends who know how to push every button you own.
Instead of sitting down with a cocktail, try a quart of Oat Straw or Milky Oat infusion.
Ideally you would get up on Christmas morning, put about half a cup of oat straw/milky oats into a quart (liter) jar, pour boiling water over the top to fill the jar, put a cap on, then let the infusion sit on the counter until the afternoon. This will make a strong, and very pleasant tasting infusion.
Why oats?
Let me be clear here—oat straw and milky oats are not the same as oatmeal. Oat straw is the chopped stem of the oat plant, harvested just before it is completely ripe. Milky oats are the tops, the seed heads, of these same slightly green oat plants. When you squeeze the just underripe seed head, it will ooze a little milky liquid. When the oat tops are completely ripe, they are dry and do not contain any observable liquid. You can order from Mountain Rose Herbs, or other ethical purveyor of your choice.
Avena sativa is filled with magnesium, known to be soothing for many things—aches and pains when used in a hot bath with Epsom Salts, and when taken internally to soothe life’s emotional pains. Oat straw also has plenty of calcium, something most all of us can use an extra dose of. The calcium and magnesium work together and are so bioavailable when consumed in this way.
Oat straw is what is known as a ‘tonic’ herb and it is a very safe and natural way to help calm and relax the nervous system. An extra bonus is that the infusion tastes mild and delicious.
So, here’s an Oaty Toast to you and yours at Christmas. xo
