I have just completed the Yule Ritual for 2006. I was unable to attend the online ritual at The Magical Circle school, so I performed the ritual by myself on December 23, 2006. This was my first ritual.

To begin with, I do not have a permanent altar. I use my kitchen table for my altar at the moment. I am going to look into a permanent altar very soon. I did a “test run” of setting up the altar to see how everything would fit on the altar. Once I had completed this, I prepared myself by taking a shower and putting on my most comfortable clothing.

For the incense, I chose Vanilla because to me, that reminds me of Winter things like baking, etc. Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes were the cakes, as my oven quit on me and I cannot bake anything right now. Welch’s Sparkling Red Grape Juice Cocktail served as the ale for my ritual.

After getting dressed, I sat down and meditated for a moment, and did a grounding and releasing technique I learned to get myself into the appropriate frame of mind for the ritual. I then began the ritual.

Unfortunately, this ritual got off to a rocky start. I had a bit of trouble with the beasom, it simply would not remain standing up. I also suddenly had a lot of trouble remembering the tunes to the songs, although once I started singing them, I was able to get myself on key. (I could not hear the music playing on the computer from the kitchen.) Then a couple of the candles didn’t want to light. However, once I got into the ritual itself, things began to fall into place.

I was able to focus my mind and energy on the ritual. During the prayers and energy requests, I sent out a few prayers to people I knew who needed them.

The closing of the ritual went much smoother than the opening of the ritual. I believe this is mostly due to this being my first ritual that things went a bit awry.

I did not feel any different during the ritual, but when finished I was rather shaky until I grounded and released again, so I am aware that I did raise and focus energy during the ritual, even if I did not realize it at the time.

I am sure that in time, my rituals will get better and will not be as rocky as this one was.