12 HOLY NIGHTS / RAUHNÄCHTE GUIDE

Rauhnächte or 12 holy nights are a tradition of central germanic Europe which dates back to pre-christian times and is especially centered around female entities connected to offering grace or determining the destiny of the people, a time where the wheels are supposed to stand still, meaning no work should be done, one should not leave the house much, but remain in the contemplative darkness of deep winter. It was and is considered a time outside of time because it is the days in which the sun and moon calendar don’t add up and create a window of 12 nights of which each one co-relates to one of the 12 months to come, thus giving room for divination about what is to come and utilizing stillness and focus to align our foundation in ways that enhance what we want to see grow in our lives.

Starting just after the solstice (which used to be around the 24th, but the degrees between earth and sun shift) with the „mother’s night“ and ending with the day of what is today known as the day of the three holy kings, but back in the day was connected to the pagan female trinity, the “Beten”: Katharina (Wilbeth „New Life“) & Margarethe (Ambeth „Continuation“), Barbara (Borbeth „Death“).

The „Perchta“ an old germanic goddess, which is very at home in southern Germany and the Alps, would come around in this time to bring the karmic repercussions of people’s actions to them, parading through the sky with a loud procession of beings called the „wild hunt“, in another version of this it is the Norse god Odin traveling with his companions. This gives an indication for the roots of Christmas as well, which most probably stems from the Norse pagan cosmology in which who we know today as Santa Claus was actually the shamanic God Odin who travels through the other world (meaning the world of spirit) with his chariot pulled by reindeers or white horses. He enters the house through the chimney which represents the gate to other realms, bringing „gifts“ from the dimensions he traveled. The red and white colors of „Santa Claus“ come from the association of Odin with the Amanita mushroom which people used to consume in the darkest night of the year, to „take flight“ and connect with their ancestors and listen to their messages. The Christmas tree in this context represents the evergreen „tree of life - Yggdrasil“.

The deeper meaning of this time is very special to me and especially reclaiming it is. I warmly invite you to discover the true meaning of Christmas and the 12 holy nights with more extensive anthropological mythical background information about the figures and their hidden meanings, along with instructions and exercises for each night, to support you in coming into closure for what was, what is and what is to come, listening to the weavings of the Norns, the grandmothers of creation, which sit at the „Urdbrunnen“ at the roots of „Yggdrasil“ weaving the destiny of humans and even the gods & goddesses.

You can simply buy the PDF, receive it and follow the journaling practices, read about the background of this tradition and meet with everyone who is participating in a Zoom Call at the beginning and end of 12 nights.

„If we refuse or neglect the responsibility for drinking the tears of the world, her losses cease to be registered by the ones meant to be the receptors of that information. It is our job to feel these losses and to mourn them. It is our job to openly grieve for the disappearance of wetlands, the destruction of forests, the shrinking whale populations, the erosion of soil, and on and on. We know the litany of loss, but we have collectively neglected our emotional response to this emptying of our world.“

- Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow.