Destiny: Old World Traditions for Christmas and Winter Solstice
Earth Ancients
Cliff Dunning
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2023
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
• Explores in depth the medicinal and magical properties of the many herbs, barks, and berries associated with the Christmas and Yuletide season
• Looks at the origins of the Christmas tree and Santa Claus, as well as female gift bringers, holiday Spirits, and Yuletide animals
• Shares crafts such as how to make a Yule Log, practices such as Winter Solstice divinations, and recipes for traditional foods and drinks
For millennia cultures have taken time out to honor the darkest days of the year with lights, foods, and festivities.
In ancient Egypt, people decorated their homes with greenery at the festival of the rebirth of the God Horus. The ancient Romans shared gifts, especially candles, at the midwinter festival of Saturnalia. In Scandinavian and Germanic cultures, the Yule Log was burned in the hearth, fruit orchards were wassailed, and sheaves of wheat were displayed to carry luck into the New Year. In Celtic cultures, mummers and guisers went door to door, and European mistletoe (Viscum album) was gathered by Druids as a medicinal and magical aid.
Ellen Evert Hopman shares folklore, recipes, rituals, and crafts to enliven your Yuletide observance. She explores the origins of the Christmas tree and Santa Claus as well as holiday Spirits and Yuletide animals. She explains how to perform Winter Solstice divinations and make traditional foods and drinks such as Elizabethan gingerbread cookies and Wassail. And she looks in depth at the medicinal and magical properties of the many herbs, barks, and berries associated with the Christmas and Yuletide season such as Frankincense and Myrrh, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Hibiscus, Bayberry, and many more. This guide offers practical and magical ways to celebrate and honor the darkest days of the year.
Ellen Evert Hopman is a master herbalist and lay homeopath, who has been a Druidic initiate since 1984. She is a founding member of the Order of the White Oak, the Archdruidess and founder of Tribe of the Oak, a former professor at the Grey School of Wizardry, and a member of the Grey Council of Mages and Sages. She is the author of Celtic herbals and Druid novels, including Secret Medicines from Your Garden, The Sacred Herbs of Samhain, and Once Around the Sun: Stories, Crafts, and Recipes to Celebrate the Sacred Earth Year. She lives in Massachusetts.
www.elleneverthopman.com
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Transcript
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| 0:29.0 | Critics are calling one life, deeply moving and powerful, based on the incredible true story. |
| 0:35.6 | Is there anyone here who owes their life to Nicholas Winter? |
| 0:38.8 | Starring Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins. |
| 0:41.2 | You never think about the children and what? |
| 0:43.0 | Johnny Flair. |
| 0:44.0 | We are working to evacuate these children. |
| 0:46.0 | Academy Award nominees |
| 0:48.0 | Helena Bonham Carter and Jonathan Price. |
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| 0:52.0 | Save one life, save the world. |
| 0:54.0 | One life in cinema's January 1st. Oh, Welcome to Destiny. |
| 1:30.0 | Destiny. |
| 1:33.0 | Now he is your host, Cliff Dunning. Happy. Happy Winter Salstice and Happy Holidays as well. How you doing? Hope you're doing well. |
| 2:02.0 | Come on in, have a seat. This is a special time of year for a lot of people. |
| 2:08.0 | Today is the longest evening of the year and it's also a time to kind of quiet the mind, quiet the |
| 2:18.0 | activities, kind of dial things down before. |
| 2:21.0 | We meet for Christmas Day if you follow that and we're going to be talking |
... |
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