Yule Witch Ball

My life is becoming quite chaotic (last minute holiday shoppers unite!) as the end of December approaches.  My weekends have been filled with commuting back and forth all over the city to various dinners and festivities and I haven’t had as much time as I would like to focus on my practice.

Like many pagans, I will be celebrating Yule this week.  I’m mostly a solitary witch so I’ve planned a simple feast (with a tasting of my Solstice Brew) and ritual that I will be performing at home.  Sometimes I wish I was a member of a coven that had big sabbat celebrations I could join.  Despite Chicago being such a large city, the pagan groups here are fairly small and often too far away to go to regularly.  I like to think that in the future I might create my own coven, but if that’s to happen, it would most likely be a couple years from now.  

That hasn’t dampened my spirits much though.  I really enjoy my solitary rituals and I’ve been filling my time with lots of Yule-themed crafts and meals.  The most recent activity I’ve worked on was to create a Yule Witch Ball.

Witch Balls can be used for protection against negativity, evil spells, ill fortune, and sickness.  They are best hung in an east window where they can catch the morning light, though you can really place them anywhere in your home or garden.  

The theory behind Witch Balls is that negative energies or malevolent spirits become mesmerized by the bright colors on the outside of the ball and get trapped inside, thus preventing any bad energies from affecting its surroundings.  

My Yule-themed Witch Ball is filled with fragrant cinnamon sticks and anise stars, silver snowflakes made from cardboard, and a variety of red (fake) berries.  I draped the ball with bright red ribbon to make it even more festive.  I look forward to displaying this object each Yule season and I’m confident that it will facilitate positive thoughts and energies at this joyous time.