Interesting Facts About Yule – Odin
Odin ruled over the month of December, which was called Jule. This period of time was referred to as Jultid, or Yuletide. Odin is pictured as an older man with a flowing white beard and an eye patch or a hat pulled low over his missing eye. He was typically covered in fur, as befitted his cold northern climate, and he also possessed a shape-shifting cloak. Odin rode through the winter skies dressed in warm furs on an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. This magickal horse had runes engraved on its teeth.
Odin is a patron of shamans, occultists, and the keepers of secret knowledge. He is married to the goddess Frigga. Frigga stayed happily at home while her husband took to the skies for his wild rides. Frigga is the mother of Balder and is associated with spinning, the keeping of hearth and home, wisdom, fertility, and children and their protection. If you have ever lost a child, as Frigga lost Balder, it was believed that Frigga has claimed you for one of her own.
The Yule log is also associated with Frigga, which makes sense. The Yule log was burned in the hearth, and keeping a home and raising the children is an honorable task, and one to be revered. So Odin wandered among his people, and people felt energized and happy in Odin’s presence, whether they actually knew he was there or not. Sounds like a precursor to the spirit of the season, does it not?
Ellen Dugan, Seasons of Witchery: Celebrating the Sabbats with the Garden Witch
Witches Of The Craft® 