Yule — FWM Wheel of the Year Open Ritual
Details
The Wheel of the Year is the cycle of eight seasonal festivals kept across the Western Mystery Traditions — eight turnings of the year that echo the seasonal rites of our ancestors.
This turning of the Wheel is YULE.
Yule is the longest night. From here the dark stops growing and begins, imperceptibly at first, to give ground. Nothing visible changes for weeks — the cold of January is still ahead — but the direction of travel reverses on this night, and every midwinter custom in Europe is in some way a way of saying so.
Hence the fires and the greenery. The log kept burning through the night, the holly and ivy and fir brought indoors because they are the only things still green, the candles multiplied against the dark, the feast held at the leanest point of the year. It is a festival of stubborn good cheer, and of a light being born that nobody can yet see.
Our Yule rite is a rite of that turning: light kindled at the year's lowest point, the long night kept in company, and the naming of what we would like to see come into being in the year now beginning. It is the warmest and most convivial evening of the Wheel, and there is usually rather a lot of singing.
TICKETS
€15 plus Eventbrite booking fee online in advance (non-refundable), or €20 cash at the door. No cards — the door is cash only.
Book online here
The event and the ritual will be held in English unless otherwise noted. We sometimes have other groups host rituals, and sometimes they work in other languages. If that is the case it will be noted here.
Doors open at 19:30. The ritual talk-through begins around 20:00 and the ritual follows shortly after. Ritual length varies, but the ritual itself should be over between 21:30 and 22:00. Afterwards there is time to stay and talk, so plan to stay longer if you are feeling social and you can — and of course leave whenever you wish. There is a bar on site.
Attire: Street clothes are perfectly fine, but if you can, try to come dressed as much as possible in a single colour — black and white are best. If you have ritual dress (robes and so on) and would like to wear it, please do.
You do not need to have done anything like this before. Everything is explained beforehand — what will happen, what it means, what your part is, and what to do if you would rather simply stand and watch. Newcomers are guided through the ritual as it unfolds, so there is no problem at all coming with no idea what to expect.
Beginners, experienced practitioners and the merely curious are equally welcome. The environment is friendly and unpressured.
The Fellowship of the Western Mysteries is a Vienna community for the Western Mystery Traditions — Wicca, Paganism, Druidry, Ásatrú, Hermeticism and related paths.