Today is the winter solstice, marking the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Rather than trying to think of some beautiful, new words all my own, I will let a few of our authors handle it. Here are a couple excerpts to enjoy while sipping something warm and watching the snow fall in the dark afternoon. December is a month for holiday celebrations, no matter which religion you follow. For Pagans, that holiday is Yule, which falls on or around December 21st. Yule is a celebration of the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. In the Wiccan symbolism of the turning Wheel of the Year, this is the time when the Holly King (who represents the dark half of the year) is

Ask four Pagans the name of the full moon this month, and you’ll get five different answers. There are several traditions for naming moons; to give just one example, the full moon in December could be called the Oak Moon, the Cold Moon, the Snow Moon, the Winter Moon, or the Long Nights Moon. Poke around some more, and you’re sure to find other names and interpretations. I bring this up because people can also call two different full moons the same thing once in a while. Some people go by zodiac sign when determining the full moon’s name – is the sun in Virgo or in Libra? Others calculate based on which festival the moon is actually closest to, in number of days – the Harvest