I'm an old pagan( somewhere north of 50). This will be my first Yule on open display to friends and family. Assembled the Yule alter out in the open.which I'm very proud of. Ready for the night of the 21st with some of the best homemade mead to share with the gods. And I'm gonna get eff'd up with them and my ancestors. Happy Yule Mr.Ocean and Happy Yule to anyone who reads this post........Travel well my friends. Frostproof, FL.

I'll be celebrating yule for the first time this year. As a relatively new heathen, and someone who practices exclusively alone, the lead up to and preparation of ritual for the well know holidays is always something that makes me a little nervous. At the same time I do enjoy the process. Its always fulfilling in the end, and of course videos like this are always helpful during the process and entertaining to top it off!

As you may know. "Jul" is still a word that we Scandinavians use for Christmas. Though to this day it has a lot of Christian influence, in my house we eat the traditional Norwegian foods that have been eaten for generations, we decorate for winter and instead of santa clauses hanging around we have "nisser" which are pretty much like gnomes that look like santa. Or santa looks like them? In Scandinavian folklore you find a lot of variations of these different Nordic creatures that we still use to this day, and in the case for Jul, we always have different types of Nisser hanging around. Maybe next year I can convince my family to make it 100% heathen, although Im not sure how that will work out with my atheist brother, Jehovas witnesses'ish father, Buddhist mother and other christian siblings. God Jul!

Ocean missed out on a good pun: Yule find a way or make one. Log your journey as you go. I love all the deities and entities you proposed within the video, and might need to figure out some way to incorporate them all! Especially Sol! I believe toasts to her and her brother Mani would be perfect during the Winter Solstice. After all as we celebrate Sol's gradual return with Yule, we should give thanks to Mani for watching over us in her absence. Both siblings are important after all. :D

I'm too young to drink but I've been giving a toast to the ancestors every morning with coffee which I am old enough to drink

I'll be practicing alone by taking myself out for a meal and a drink. I'll dedicate it to Odin, Thor, and Tyr. I'll also be giving thanks to Njord, Freyr, Freya, Sol, and Mani as well as honouring my late grandparents and a second cousin who took his life 5 years ago (I'll also visit his grave).

I have an obvious- or perhaps not- particular deity I like to acknowledge during this season. Skadi. Although she is usually cited as giving inspiration to women, there's no reason she can't inspire men as well. She also helps us overcome grief (since she lost her father) and to never take bs from anyone (since even though Loki makes her laugh, she never forgives him for the part he played in the death of her father) and having a strong spirit, making it through such things, is a good thing both to reflect on from the previous year and to seek out for the coming year.

I think I will be practicing yule quietly this year. I am the only one in my family that is pagan and it's difficult to come out and say that. So for now I think small things will suffice.

We are celebrating our first Yule this year. We are starting with Mother's Night in which offerings to female ancestors and goddesses such as Freya, Frigg, and Hel. Then offerings throughout for all gods. Finishing with the end with a oath on New Years. At least that is the plan but it may change as I do more research.

I have a really cool experience that I need to tell somebody. During Yule I try to set goals, this year however was something different. I prayed to Eir, goddess of healing and I asked her to guide me because I recently have gotten my EMT license, and the plan was to be an EMT and be a combat medic in the army. However, I have two children, miles-odin is only three months old and I was unsure if I made the right choice with EMT stuff. Because I will make the same amount as an EMT that I make now only I'll be working crazy hours. And yesterday, I walking out of the grocery store, and I hear somebody crying help. It was crowded so it took a second but I found a 81 year old woman on the ground and she was clearly hypoxic. I was fortunate enough to be there, she was crying and so scared and thought she was dieing of a stroke. I was able to be there with her in that moment, and literally hold her hand and promise her that she's not dieing, she just needs oxygen. I believe Eir put me there to tell me I'm needed in EMS feild. I went home, stood at my alter and thanked her and told her that I hear the call. Even my non-pagan husband was like what are the odds?! That the 45second walk to your car somebody is in need of EMS care.

Doing a small blot by myself honoring Freyja, Frey, Njord, Thor and Odin- also honoring Skadi as well.

Odin was very much expected. I even use an image of him as the last day of an advent calendar I made.

I usually go with Odin, Thor, Frigga, Freyr, Freyja, Frau Berchta, Frau Holle,, and Sunna

Ocean Keltoi: "Hopefully this will be the video yule goat to for information... This was terrible, forgive me" Me: "Gods bless this guy! He could probably defeat the Jotun with puns and laughter!"

I'll be celebrating Yule with my father this year. It's been years (around six or seven) when I last spent winter-holiday with him. I'm definitely gonna be including all the gods you have mention but I'm also gonna include Baldr because he has helped me alot this year and I wanna thank him for evrything.

I'll be practicing quietly, in my head (being raised on Quakerism, I'm comfortable with silent prayer/connection/conversation with the Divine). I might reread Terry Pratchett's _Hogfather_ (speaking of toasting our anscstors).

One of the gods I will also keep in mind this yule, apart from what I call "the big three" (Thor, Odin and Yngvi Freyr) is Lady Hel in rememberance of those who passed away during this year.

My celebration will be mostly Christian but i will do a Yule blot to hail Sol,Ullr,Skadi and Hel Sol for obvious reasons,Ullr for hes my main god,Skadi hoping for a mild but snowy winter and Hel to see over my mother whos currently in her care.

Some things I wish were included in this: 1)KRAMPUSNACHT! Is it a Viking thing or just a Norse Christian thing? 2) Santa's 8 Reindeer come from Sleipnir's 8 legs? 3)Recall that Thor's Goats were Teeth Gnasher and Teeth Grinder (aka Thunder and Lightning) and the german names of 2 of Santa's reindeer are Donor and Blitzen... Thunder and Lightning. A coincidence?! Fantastic work as always!

I love the continuous learning we get as part of the heathen community. ^^ As a Norse witch who practises Majik I often give thanks to Skadi during this time. Her unabashed determined nature and her ability to model allyship, compromise (Through her marriage and subsequent amicable split with Njordr) and inspire loyalty (as even though she is a Jotann, she sides with the Aesir on many occasions, more notably she is the one who fastens the snake above Loki's head when he is captured) is something I find worth celebrating. In many books I've ready she is considered to be the god of snow and ice, somthing that for our ancestors would have been either a blessing (ice to drinking water) or a curse (Well... dieing from the elements) she is a force to be acknowledged and I like to offer just a bit of ice cold swedish vodka to her as a way of saying "You keep being you girl, I see you I accept you, I fear for my safety around you, but your awesome and I like you xD"

This will be my first Yule that I am celebrating while studying Heathenry. I'll probably toast to Odin for now and see where my education and understanding takes me.

This is why you HAVE to wait till the end every time, "...written all here in you yule log." On the 21st, with mead in hand, and immediate family around; I will be hailing my ancestors for all their struggles and wisdom, Odin and Thoth for the wisdom so desperately needed, Freyr for peace also needed, Njordr for safe travels coming in the year ahead, and Pazuzu for nefarious reasons...

These puns just keep getting better and better. I personally think they might have worshipped Odin as a deity associated with the Wild Hunt and a god of death not unlike Hel. The latter may also have been worshipped at this time in some places, specially if equated with Frau Holle or Perchta.

this year will be my first yule as a practicing heathen,thanks ocean for the vid, i got some ideas for the blot me and my sister weill be doing

As a Celtic pagan this is so interesting!

See I love this holiday because I connect to my Celtic paganism as well, and since this is a dedicated Heathenry channel I wanted to say which Gods from Heathenry I shall be honoring this Yule. Freya, an honor in hopes of fertility in the coming year (me and my partner are trying for our first child so 🤞). Loki, for protection of my home and of those whose gender exists outside the binary commonly portrayed in our society. And Hela, for protection and care for the family I have lost, and the hope that if I were to find myself in her domain that I would be taken care of well. Just thought this would be an interesting lil diatribe, my celebration of Yule has always been one of looking forward and being thankful of all aspects of my life, not just of the bounty of harvest and the returning of the sun (not saying everyone celebrates that way, just a lot of the people ik have and wanted to differentiate).

I'm celebrating yule for the first time this year. I've chosen Freyr and Njordr as my main gods so I pretty much have to.

My cubicle decorations at work are mistletoe, ivy and antlers. Everyone assumes Xmas

I laughed out loud when u got to the hammer symbol XD wish I could've seens wolfs face

🖖

10/10 video! And that pun at the end! xD

This is gonna be my second celebration of yule, il try making a yule goat 🐐 happy yule.

I was 7 minutes in before I noticed the hat 🤣 something about it is just so in character that it seems entirely natural. "the sign of the hammer" is actually an interesting concept. I've often pondered that the inverted cross, in an extremely simple way, feels similar to some representations of Mjolnir and being Catholic at my core I have made the comment in the past that "the sign of the cross" is far more representative of an inverted cross. I personally suspect that it originated more as a reference to Saint Peter because of this but because of my personal association between the inverted cross and Mjolnir it takes no real leap of my imagination to consider it possible if someone told me that a "sign of the hammer" was a thing even if it evolved from a quick thinking liar.

Should be back in time from a Christmas trip to celebrate yule. I have the luxury of a fireplace, so there will be a yule log. I might try alenog that you mentioned, someone gifted me an early meal.

My Grandparents in MN always had a smorgasbord, sadly yes lutefisk 😂,.I noticed the old Lutheran prayers do combine alot of Yule words due to the Swedish heritage of the area. Many different holiday rituals can be seen on both Pagan and Lutheran having shared parts

As a brand new heathen I'll be celebrating Yule by myself. I'll definitely be including Odin and Frey in my ritual celebrations. Possibly Thor & Sol as well. These last videos have been extremely helpful in knowing how to prepare for the holiday. Thanks as always for the dedication and information.🍻

Sandi here (husband's account), Not Heathen/Asatruar, but several friends follow that path. I am Wiccan (yeah, yeah, I know). My husband and I facilitate pagan (including heathen) serices at our local Army post. We try to put in as much as we can in the hour allotted us (and the other faiths) by the Chaplain. Many are Asatruar, or at least profess curiosity in such. We have resources of both The Eddas and some members of the local Heathen community. Your videos are also very helpful in our Services to the Trainees. You will be happy to hear, tha when one wishes to make a profession of faith, we can arrange for a Gothi (don't know the alt-code for the d with a line through the stem) ro come and help them. Thank you so much. As for Yule (Winter Solstice) - I give honor to Bertcha, along with my patroness Brighid (although Her holiday is Imbolc) and my patron, Herne is prominent in the Celtic trditions I honor. Bertcha, on the other hand, is the Saxon Goddess of Winter (this pantheon has Wotan as the All-Father). It is said that Bertcha must be appeased with cakes, and fried dough, studded with dried friuts and coated with fine powdered sugar (called olliebollen), otherwise she will slice your belly open and stuff it with straw. Or so the legends say ^_^. Found out this little tidbit while researching ollibollen.

I'm celebrating yule for the first time this year. Thank you for your help, it means a lot to me and is greatly helping me get more in touch with it all.

We’re gonna try to celebrate Yule. It’ll be interesting since there’s not a lot of us and we’re poor lol

Me listening to the story of the gods: Me listening to the story of Sol: \[T]/

I'll be tousting all that you've said the ansestors, skadi, and maybe all that i can remember before im too drunk (sorry for my english)

A quick mention of the "real" Yule, based on the Lunar calendar might help new Pagans. Based on the current lunar calendar, Jan 17 2022 is the next Yule. Great video as usual. skål

A trvly wonderful video, many thanks

Great video, Ocean. We pour a shot of mead for Odin, Frigga (Freyja), Thor, Sif, Freyr, and Sol, but make offering to all the deities of the tradition and welcome them to our home.

That was a great video brother

I absolutely love this! 🥰

So my dad told me we are direct decendants of Eric the red four days ago.

Thank you again for your wonderful and instructive narrations. Just driving to work and listening😊

A vivid and well researched video. Thanks for sharing your research.

Appretiate the video. Keep em coming. Wish this channel had more exposure.

I’ve seen a lot more videos on Yule this year, and I love it. It brings back some specialness to this time of year that was lost growing up!

I never grew up with winter holidays, and have a hard time celebrating the coming of the sun in the dark of night. I'm not sure what to do for this holiday except be grateful when the sun finally rises.

You have a beautiful storytelling style!

Yet again, a great video. This is the first year I'll be celebrating Yule myself after coming to this Heathen path almost a year ago. Very happy about this time of year.

I really want to share my own polytheistic devotional practices, but my executive functioning spoons aren’t holding soup and I’m typing a bedamned soliloquy. Just know, you fantastic beasts all, that I have *thoughts* on Yule.

The puns. The friggin puns. 🤦‍♂️

I have met you a few times in streams. Subscribed and forgot due to ADHD. Thank goodness I remembered to subscribe! Great video!

i love evergreens, and hawthorne berrys, mistletoe, green and red in living trees, bushes etc. and wood and bark. juniper berries etc.

thank you for your so excellent & fully indepth dwelling on the Northern gods and godesses. in this vain my friend.. godt yul åg godt nytt år 2022 ... nd boy what a wale of a year this'll become . ! an asttologer

I definitely took your advice and something, something Yule Belled.

So many people are doing their first year of yule just like me!! I never expected that and I'm so so excited to keep learning from Oceans videos and the rest of the community!

The way the video cut out on the last joke was hilarious. I will likely be worshipping Freyr this year, have a nice day

im celebrating yule, and ill b giving offerings to hodr, jord, thor, mani, sunna, skadi, ullr, and vidarr.

His videos are always a goat to video I learn so much👍

Hail Ocean! Thank you for your content, humor and knowledge. This will be my first time openly practicing in a group environment from a leadership position. (Terrifying) Typically I would honor Sol, Mani, Freyr, Thor and the Hammingja but thanks to this I see that others may soon be incorporated in the future.

I made four toasts of alchohol. One to Odin, Thor, Sol, and Freyr. The first three to Odin, Freyr, and Sol, was whiskey my father left me when he passed. The fourth was black rum given to me by a friend. I shared this toast as a show of friendship to Thor. I'm new so if I messed up I'm sorry. I simply thanked them.

This is pretty dope.

good day- ousttanding goodbye!~

that was properly funny. Great Vid too, I love it

I was tought as a child that we cover our homes in lights and candles during december as a way of showing Sol the way so that she does not get lost on her way back to us

Do kids leave out milk and cookies for Santa because back in the day, people would leave out offerings for Odin?

I've been watching a lot of your videos lately, and all of these puns are groan inducing and facepalm worthy. Please keep them coming. 🤣

I know that part of my functions will be lighting candles for some ancestors; partially for myself, and partially in proxy.

I include Frigg as our celebrations are based in the home 🏘️

I am celebrating my first Yule this year! Excited but also low-key nervous hahaha

now me know how to do it properly me will honour Odin' Sol' Freyr and Njordr but mainly doing my ancestors this year cos lost three family last year and tonight another loved this video Ocean it will help me in my own practices cos where me live few Heathens look forward to the next one

I have celebrated yule for the past 5 years and this year I wrote a Yule Prayer to Odin for this years dinner. I made an Altar to him as well for Yule, So he's taking center stage for me this year :)

in sweden we still celebrate with hay goats and with pig's head and ham. before we got Santa,(1900) it was the jul goat who gave the presents during Christmas. we do not celebrate Christmas on the 25th because the Christians did not manage to change the day we celebrated. so the symbols remain even though the people have forgotten why they are there God Jul !

Our family Yule Log tradition we began about 10 years ago. Taking a log from the previous year's Yule fire we place Thanksgiving for the past year into its charred core, then we take a new log and put our prayers for prosperity and protection for the next year and hail Odin. Feasting and merry making is generally celebrated until January 3rd, my stepson's and late father's birthdays, both Capricorns, symbolized by the Goat. I think we will add a straw goat offering to our celebration this year, seems fitting. I am truly thankful I found this channel, it is inspiring to me.

Thanks!

I'll have a YYYUUUUULLLLEE Solstice without you. But no honestly. One kindred that I was once part of. We would write notes on a piece of paper tie it to a wreath and burn it before the start of the next year. And exchange gifts to everyone.

I NEED that opening pun on a loop!

Ive regarded myslef as heathen for almost 2 years, but this past year, Ive really started to dig deeper into my understanding of it all. Videos like this are an amazing tool to help deepen my understanding, gain perspective and provide me a great starting point to form my own connection to the gods. I cant say enough how much I appreciate this channel and all thats put into it.

As I go further in this journey and learn more I plan to celebrate more of the holidays since I'm leanring how to. This year for yule I'll be primarily incorperating Odin into my celebration. These past few years have been really tough for me and even very recently I've been in some pretty dark places that I've had to fight through but they've taught me a lot. And in these past few years is also when I first started realizing the calls from the gods the primary one in my case actually being Odin though recently I also think Thor has dropped some hints my way as well that I had previously been blind to probably others as well that again I've just not seen due to me not knowing as much about them and how they may reach out. I'll also be toasting to my ancestors and just in general those I've lost. Ancestors for obvious reasons but those I've lost because I wouldn't be who I am without them and for that I am forever grateful. Later when I've learned even more I plan to do far more and hopefully I'll be able to find a local group that I can actually celebrate with as well as learn from and with. I seriosuly can't thank you and the other content creators (the good ones) enough for sharing your knowledge. Its made this new and often confusing journey just a bit easier. I know I haven't beem active in the discord and for that I'm sorry. But I do genuinely appreciate all that you guys do and I wish you all a very happy yule and all the luck and prosperity in the new year.

We celebrate Yule as well as Xmas. We have a Yule goat of straw,nesses(house gnomes)and our horns and we always thank Skadi, Odin, Freya.

Happy Yule and Hail Skadi 🏔️

I am having my first Yule celebration this year. We are planning to make the Yule goat, have a gathering for a bonfire and a dinner. We shall drink and share stories before ending the night with a toast to Odin, Sol, Thor, and Tyr.

great video! 110 / 10!

I refer to christmas as "the gateway lie" as I think it is a sort of sugary sweet frosting that makes christianity a lot more palatable to children.

I'll be celebrating Yule, and giving offerings to Odin, and Thor. BTW, I got the same shirt...worship the dark lord Coffee as well

Enjoy the holidays everyone.

I LOVE the idea of toasting hamingja.❤

Skål💀🍻 I really enjoy your videos, very knowledgeable ! Hail Woden the Allfather! Happy Yule holidays everyone🥓🍻🌲

Thank you Ocean; great video! I wonder, is it possible Yule had something to do with the Balder death-return cycle? I know it seems like baggage Jesus, but we know that the church chose the winter Solstice because it was already seen as the rebirth of Sol Invictus. Perhaps, like other cycles such as Dummuzi, etc, this was the day Balder returned from Helheim? Perhaps Mother Night celebrates the drama of Frigg, Allmother, descending to win back her son from Hel? And thus Odin is Yule Father as a great celebration for the return of his son to Asgard? Do we kiss under the mistletoe from a long tradition to show that even the instrument of Balder's death no longer has power in the face of the Yule celebration?

I have been celebrating Yule rather losely for a couple years now. I believe in one Divine Source and not many or individual gods and goddesses. In my very humble opinion gender is not important when addressing the Divine IT can be either male, female or neither. I incorporate mistletoe into my decor and the Deer Mother. I am rather new to Yule and am finding my way

Blessed be. My birthday is on the solstice and I feel blessed by the many gods goddess’ x Fremantle said if you can’t slayem lay em

This was gonna be the first year I practiced Yule but due to the Tornados I will not be home for the solstice and instead helping out in KY. Is there anyway I can do something while away from home with limited items and privacy?

ill be celebrating yule this year but i have to do it alone at the same time as my family celebrates christmas

Just wanted to say thank you, your videos has helped me and my transition into norse paganism

I think I will be celebrating Yule this year. I'm still not sure how to go about it, but I'd like to toast to Odin, Nordr and Thor as well as my ancestors and my grandfather, who left this realm a couple months ago.