The Birth of Blessings

All good stories should begin with once upon a time….. I sit here looking out my window in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. A soft rain is falling, and frozen fog that looks like a million snowflakes are suspended in the air… Such beauty!

I reflect this morning on a time about 15 years ago when my mother was pregnant, and my grandmother asked me to come to sit with them in the living room. There was a warm fire blazing in the fireplace, and my mother, who was just about to give birth to my brother, was sitting on the couch looking somewhat uncomfortable. Next to her sat my grandmother, who had a serene look on her face. My grandmother smiled and said that they wanted to pass down some wisdom. She wanted me to understand what the responsibilities of being a woman were. I sat quietly out of respect, and I watched as my mother smiled at my grandmother with a knowing look that I had never seen them share before.

They asked me to hold their hands and listen as they shared with me stories that could never be told outside of this room. We all closed our eyes and held hands as my grandmother asked us to take a few deep breaths. As we breathed with intent, the energy of the room changed, and it was filled with old magick and grounded in an illuminated light. My mother looked at me and said that soon she would give birth to a son, and that he would be more than just my brother, that he would bring the light back, and that she would birth blessings into the world. I looked at her confused, and asked her, “what do you mean that you will birth blessings into the world?” My Grandmother smiled and told me the story that all of our grandmothers before her had shared with the women in our family since the beginning of time.

She looked at my Mother and asked, “Goddess, what do you birth?” My Mother said, “I birth light.”

“I birth light into the world so that he may nourish the crops to assure the survival of all; to give warmth to the body and hope to the soul; to let all my children be it human or clawed, scaled or winged, know the beauty of my body and of each other. Let light illuminate your path so that there may always be a balance between light and dark, compassion and disdain, love and hate and sacrifice and gain. May you always awake to the father’s bright light and sleep deeply in the mother’s arms at night.”

I was confused, and I asked my grandmother, “what does it mean to birth Light? How could he nourish crops?” My Grandmother smiled at me and said, “my dear, without light, nothing could live; without light, there could be no hope. Even in the darkest of moments, we need to have a spark of light so that we can find our way. We share this world with all beings, be it the birds that fly above us or the four-legged that walk beside us; upon this earth, we all must have light to live.”

She looked at my mother and asked, “Goddess, what do you birth?”

My Mother said, “I birth compassion. I birth compassion into the world so that the strongest of my children will care for the weakest so that the pain of one person is felt by the action of many, stomachs are filled, and there is always shelter in the storm. Let compassion illuminate your path so that there may always be a balance between light and dark, compassion and disdain, love and hate and sacrifice and gain. May you always awake to the father’s bright light and sleep deeply in the mother’s arms at night.”

I thought about what it would be like to birth compassion. I asked my Mother, “does this mean that we must go out and help other people during this time of year?” She looked at me and smiled and said, “my love, we must take care of others all year round, not just in the time of Yule. Compassion is something that must live in your heart, and you must walk with it every day.”

My grandmother continued the story and asked, “Goddess, what do you birth?” My Mother said, “I birth Love.

I birth love into the world so that my children can feel the passion of the body and have the desire to continue their line, to have a benevolence of nature and all the creatures that walk the earth beside them. Let my children know that love is the fabric that interweaves us all together and gives us hope for tomorrow. Let love illuminate your path so that there may always be a balance between light and dark, compassion and disdain, love and hate and sacrifice and gain. May you always awake to the father’s bright light and sleep deeply in the mother’s arms at night.”

I paused for a minute as I was so moved by the birth of Love. My mother looked at me and said, “my child, unconditional love is the most important gift that we can give to each other. We are tethered to each other with Love. I do not speak of only our family but as a world family connected by blood. Please remember that unconditional love changes everything and can burn away all pain.”

I looked at these two women with such admiring love and respect in my eyes.

My grandmother asked, “Goddess, what do you birth?” My Mother said, “I birth Sacrifice.

I birth Sacrifice into the world so that my children will understand the gifts that I have given to them, that through trials and tribulations, they may embrace the wonder and joy of everyday life. In Sacrifice, we render part of ourselves to the greater good, and in doing so, we understand that the gift that is gained is enlightenment. Let sacrifice illuminate your path so that there may always be a balance between light and dark, compassion and disdain, love and hate and sacrifice and gain. May you always awake to the father’s bright light and sleep deeply in the mother’s arms at night”.

I held my breath for a minute as tears fell down my face. For the first time, I realized how important sacrifice was in my life. Without sacrifice, I could never understand the gifts and joys that I had in my Life.

The three of us embraced, and then they looked at me and said, “you have been given the wisdom from time immemorial that has been passed down from one woman to another. This is the gift that we give you, my Love, for you now hold the memories and dreams of everyone that has come before you. Someday, you will pass this on to your daughter, and she will become the keeper of the wisdom as well.”

I miss my Grandmother deeply as I rub my stomach, knowing that my daughter will be here in just a few short weeks and that she will be the vessel of all of her memories. I think about the day that I will be the Mother, and my Mother will be the Grandmother, and we will weave together the story of the return of Light and how each and every one of us carries with us the seed of compassion, the web of Love, and the insight of Sacrifice. May we always walk in the light of Yule all year long?

Happy Yule, everyone…..Elwin