December Witcheries-The Deepening Dark and the Work of the Witch in Winter
- Maggie Moon
- Dec 11, 2025
- 12 min read
December Witcheries
The Deepening Dark and the Work of the Winter Witch
December is the month when the land folds in upon itself. Nights grow vast and heavy, settling over hill and hearth, and the earth gathers her power deep into stone and root. What seems asleep is only hidden. Life draws inward and listens. This is the month when the bare bones of the world are revealed and spirits walk with quieter steps, their presence felt in the hush between snowflakes and the crack of ice along the branches.
A witch walks closest to the land in such a season
When the world holds its breath, the witch leans into the silence and hears what moves beyond the lantern’s reach. December asks for stillness, for endurance, for the tending of inner flame. The Winter Tide coils like a creature seeking warmth, and the witch mirrors this motion, gathering strength, crafting protections, and shaping intentions that will live through the long dark.
Many of the winter customs known today first rose from witchcraft
Long before festive colours and ornaments, these rites were spells born from necessity. Darkness pressed close and people understood that winter demanded magic. Their workings guarded the home, welcomed ancestors to the fire, and urged the returning sun to rise again. Nothing was merely decorative. Everything was connected to survival.
Evergreen branches crossed the threshold when the trees outside stood stripped and skeletal.
Fir, pine, cedar, and yew held their life deep in winter’s teeth. They refused to surrender their green when the forest went bare. Brought indoors, they worked as living wards. Their sharp scent banished malice. Their presence reminded the household that life persisted beneath the frozen crust. The forest itself kept watch through the cold.
The great Yule fire was kindled as an invitation to the newborn sun
The log upon the hearth became a vessel of promise. Families tended its flame through the longest night and read omens in the breath of its smoke. The hearth became a small sun at the centre of the dwelling. Every spark whispered of light’s return. Every ember strengthened the spirits of those who kept vigil.
Candles were set in windows as beacons through the dark
Their flame guided the beloved dead homeward. Ancestors followed the gentle glow back to their place at the table. The candle flame acted as a star held close to earth. It called to the sun across the void and it called to the spirits who still cared for the living. Each flame carried a message. You belong here. Step into the warm circle of the home.
Wreaths took shape from evergreen and berry, teaching the people that the year continued its turning even while the fields slept.
The circle held no ending. It reminded all who passed beneath it that life moves through shadow and returns again to light. Holly’s red berries carried the pulse of the blood. Ivy clung to stone with memory of survival. A wreath upon a door spoke its quiet assurance. The wheel turns. This home turns with it.
Feasts gathered the living together
In the lean months, food shared was strength shared. A cup raised honoured protectors both seen and unseen. A loaf broken among kin forged a talisman of unity that endured the storm season. Gifts were not tokens of wealth. They were threads of loyalty carried into the deep nights.
Mistletoe was harvested with reverence, lifted from oak or apple with careful hands
It lived when the world lay bare. It carried medicine of spirit and body. Hung above thresholds, it guarded the home from illness and ill will. Its later custom of kissing beneath its boughs softened the old fear of winter, transforming a charm of survival into a blessing of affection. A moment of gentleness in a season ruled by cold.
Bells rang through the dusk as guardians of boundary
Their clear sound cut through the stillness and warned unseen forces to keep their distance. Metal resonated against winter air and strengthened the courage of those who listened. The echo stretched across field and lane, shaping an unseen wall that kept the dark at bay.
The mountains held stories of Perchta walking the land in the longest nights.
She looked into each home to see if the fire was tended and if the tasks of winter living were honoured. She blessed the diligent. She kept silent vigil over those who remembered their covenant with life. Her winter passage reminded the people that survival depended on devotion to the simple sacred acts that kept the hearth burning.
These were not simply traditions
They were winter witchcraft, woven through the daily lives of those who knew that magic and survival were the same thread. Every evergreen bough and every flickering candle. Every circle of holly and ivy. Every meal shared in frost. Every bell rung at dusk. All carried the belief that the sun would return if the people tended the work with steady hands.
December is the threshold month, the deep inhale before the Solstice breathes light back into the world.
Through these long nights the witch guards the home, honours the ancestors, listens to the land, and shapes the intentions that will bloom when thaw comes. December reveals that all which rests in darkness gathers strength for rising.
Ancestral Evergreen Ward with Flame
A Winter Spell for Protection and Kinship
This working is shaped for the deep months when the veil of frost sharpens the presence of those who walked before you. Evergreen carries the memory of life through winter’s stillness. Flame awakens the blood and calls the ancestors close. Together, they form a boundary that breathes with old strength.
Prepare this spell at dusk or by the first lighting of the hearth.
Materials
• A small bundle of evergreen, cedar, pine, or spruce
• A single beeswax taper or small pillar
• A bowl of salt or earth
• Your breath and your voice
Ritual
Set the evergreen upon your altar or windowsill.
Place the candle before it, and rest your hands lightly upon the table or earth.
Breathe in the scent of the needles and remember that they remain green when the world grows silent.
Lift the candle and touch its base to the evergreen, not to scorch it but to let wax meet leaf.
Say, in a whisper that feels like winter wind:
“Ancestors of blood and bone,
Ancestors of hearth and wandering path,
Stand with me as this season deepens.
Through evergreen, your memory lives.
Through flame, your presence wakes.”
Light the wick.
Let the flame rise slowly, feeding upon the darkness of the room.
As it steadies, sweep the evergreen gently through the candle’s warmth, never touching the fire, only passing through its breath.
“Evergreen of winter’s promise,
Hold fast to life when frost surrounds.
Flame of kin and hearthfire’s lineage,
Rise and guard this home with ancient knowing.”
Place the evergreen against the bowl of earth or salt.
Let a few drops of wax fall upon the needles to seal the binding of green and flame.
Sit for a moment in the glow.
Feel the boundary forming, quiet and sure.
Closing Charm
When the candle reaches its natural end, hold the evergreen bundle and say:
“Root of the old land,
Breath of the old blood,
Walk with me through winter.
My home is watched,
My path is known.”
Keep the evergreen by your door, your hearth, or your bedside until the season turns.
When spring comes, return it to the earth with gratitude.
Iron Wards and Charms for the Winter Threshold
A Spell of Boundary, Hearth, and Ancestral Vigil
Iron holds the memory of the earth’s deep fire.
Forged in darkness and carried to the hearth, it becomes a sentinel of the season, a keeper of doorways, a guardian where worlds brush close.
In the winter tide, when the unseen moves with sharper purpose, iron listens, answers, and stands watch.
This spell works with three forms of iron, each a different way of shaping a boundary that breathes with ancestral strength.
Materials
• A horseshoe or iron crescent
• A single iron nail
• A hearth poker or fire iron
• A pinch of salt
• Your breath, your intention, your voice
The Spell
1. The Horseshoe of Shelter
Hold the horseshoe in both hands.
Feel its weight, its history, the memory of forge and flame that shaped it.
Trace your thumb along its curve and say:
“Iron of earth,
Keeper of threshold,
Hold this home within your arc.
Gather warmth, gather peace,
Gather the blessing of the old ways.”
Hang it above the door with quiet reverence.
As it rises, the entrance becomes a shield of ancient metal and winterlight.
2. The Hearth Keeper’s Poker
Rest the tip of the poker in the coals until it warms.
Do not seek heat enough to burn, only enough to awaken the iron.
Lift it and hold it upright as if it were a staff.
“Fire remembers.
Iron remembers.
Through their joining,
The hearth stands guarded
And the night stays gentle.”
Lay the warmed poker beside the fireplace or candle flame.
It becomes an unseen watcher, a sentinel who knows your name.
3. The Nail in the Lintel
Press the iron nail into the doorway.
If wood permits, tap it until it stands firm.
If not, rest it along the frame where it touches both threshold and air.
Dust the nail with a pinch of salt and speak:
“Line of iron,
Line of earth,
Line of salt,
Seal this passage with strength.
All who enter bring good fortune,
All who dwell here stay in harmony.”
Salt consecrates, iron anchors, and the doorway becomes a living charm.
Closing Blessing
Stand at the center of your home and breathe deeply.
Let your voice be low and steady:
“Iron of root and star,
Stand with me through the longest nights.
Guard the hearth,
Lift the flame,
And carry the old strength into my keeping.”
Winter rests easier with iron awake upon the threshold.
Dreams, Divination, and the Witch’s Vigil
with The Lilithian Tarot and The Lilithian Tarot Book of Tarot Magick
Under winter moons the nights grow long, stretching like dark rivers across the sleeping world. In these deep hours the land grows quiet, and stories old as root and stone rise through the mind of the witch. Dreams thicken, symbols sharpen, and the unseen steps forward with messages wrapped in shadow and light.
A bowl of water beside the bed becomes a vessel for vision.
A polished stone waiting in the dark holds the night like a mirror.
The witch wakes slowly, recording the first tremors of thought before the world settles its weight upon the day.
Winter belongs to divination.
Silence deepens, embers breathe their own language, and a calm surface of water near the hearth becomes a portal for the unseen. Prophecy travels easily when the land is sleeping.
In The Lilithian Tarot Book of Tarot Magick, the winter season is described as a natural time for oracular work, when the Witch’s Vigil and the Dreaming Body stand closest to the ancestral currents. The book teaches that dream is temple, and the cards become living messengers in the hours before dawn.
Yule Work with The Lilithian Tarot
The Longest Night Reading
(from The Lilithian Tarot Book of Tarot Magick)
Yule brings the longest night, a sacred womb of blackness from which the newborn sun erupts with fierce, radiant life. This is the threshold where endings release their final breath and beginnings tremble awake.
This reading is drawn directly from the teachings in your Tarot Magick PDF and honours the rebirth of fire.
Card One-The Darkness Behind
What dissolves, breaks apart, or loosens its hold. The shadow that must be courageously surrendered for resurrection to begin.
Card Two-The Spark Within
The hidden flame rising quietly in the dark. The ember of becoming that longs to ignite and illuminate your inner path.
Card Three-The Light Ahead
The ascending promise of the returning sun, the growth stirring beneath cold soil, the future brimming with vitality.
Card Four- The Gift of the Night
The blessing gathered from stillness. The deep nourishment carried out of shadow and into the waking world.
Place a single candle at the centre of the spread.
Let the flame be both oracle and offering.
The cards will speak in the old way, as they were meant to.
Yule Invocation
The Longest Night
“O Flame that hides in shadow,
O Sun that slumbers in the womb of night,
Awaken now in my spirit as the wheel turns.
I call to the ember of promise,
Rise from darkness into light,
As seed from soil, as fire from stone.
Reveal the hidden flame,
Reveal the dawn within.”
Draw your cards. Meditate. Reflect. Journal while the night still clings to the edges of the world.
“I give thanks to the darkness that held me,
To the spark that rose to meet me.
The flame is within, the wheel turns onward.
I close this gate in peace and in power.”
Dreamwork with The Lilithian Tarot
as taught in the Lilithian Tarot The Book of Tarot Magick
How the Priestesses and Guardians Speak Through Dreams
The Priestesses and Guardians of the suits are not bound by the waking world; they soar effortlessly into the realm of dreams, where their presence is vivid, powerful, and deeply divine. In that sacred night space, they appear in forms that shake the soul, archetypes and symbols carved from the depths of your being. The Guardian of Cups may materialize as a shifting lover or a grieving mourner, holding a chalice brimming with turbulent tides, an invitation to feel, to surrender. The Priestess of Wands might ignite the darkness with her fiery dance, wielding a serpent staff that crackles with divine passion, illuminating your inner fire and igniting your spirit. The Guardian of Pentacles stands rooted and majestic, crowned with antlers of living wood, pressing seed and abundance into your trembling hands, reminding you of the sacred earth’s promise. The Priestess of Swords raises her blade to your brow in a silent challenge, urging you to speak your truth aloud, to face the raw pulse of your soul even amid the shadows of night.
When they speak within your dreams, they do not hide behind mere metaphor, they are living messengers, voices of ancient wisdom trying to reach you. Their words may flow in gestures, in landscapes that shift with your breath, in symbols that shimmer with hidden meaning. Do not dismiss these visions or dismiss their presence. They are fiercely loving teachers, channeling the language of your subconscious, forging an unbreakable connection between your inner world and the outer universe. They are awakening something primal and sacred within you.
If you long to honour their sacred visitation, offer something upon waking, a drop of water, a single rose petal, a heartfelt line written in your journal. These simple acts are mighty; they keep the sacred channel open, affirming that you see these dreams not as chance but as sacred communion, a divine dialogue with the unseen.
The Lilithian Tarot does not sleep when you do. Its cards are messengers of vision, living portals into the collective dreamscape. To invite them beneath your pillow is to welcome the sacred initiation of the night, allowing Lilith and her spirits to speak through symbols and visions that crack open your consciousness.
Through dedicated recording, deep reflection, and heartfelt offerings, you weave your waking life and your dreams into a single, flowing current of divine energy. The dream transforms into divine prophecy, the cards become unwavering companions, and the night itself becomes a holy temple, an eternal sanctuary of truth and awakening.
The Priestess of Cups
The Priestess of Wands
The Priestess of Pentacles
The Priestess of Swords
"When they enter the dream, they come as teachers.
Offer something upon waking.
A line in your journal, a drop of water, a single rose petal.
Small gestures keep the doorway open and honour the communion.
The Lilithian Tarot does not sleep when you do.
Its cards act as portals, drawing the witch into deeper currents of the collective dreamscape. Through recorded dreams, reflection, and offering, the night becomes a temple and the cards become steadfast guides".
Dream Practices with the Lilithian Tarot
(adapted for winter from The Book of Tarot Magick)
Use these workings in whatever order the night asks of you.
The Night Gate Spread
Before Sleep
Lay out three cards upon your altar or bedside table.
The Gate
The threshold that opens tonight.
The Guide
The spirit, archetype, or presence that walks with you in the dream.
The Gift
What the dream will return to your waking life.
Speak the Portal Key Mantra of your chosen card, place that card beneath your pillow, and let the night shape your dream-body into vessel and witness.
As December deepens, the world settles into its oldest rhythm. Night stretches wide, and the land folds itself into memory and dream. The witch learns the movement of this season by heart, for winter shapes its own rites. It teaches the art of stillness. It teaches the listening that lives beneath ordinary hearing. It teaches us how light is born from the very centre of darkness, not despite it.
This is the path of the Winter Witch.
A path of embers and intuition, of bone-deep knowing and soft-footed prophecy.
A path where the hearth becomes an altar, the dream becomes a temple, and the long night becomes a guide.
Through Yule’s turning we keep vigil with fire and shadow.
Through dreams we listen to what waits within.
Through the Lilithian Tarot we seek the hidden spark that rises in times of quiet and cold.
December offers no haste, only depth. It draws the witch inward to the place where truth begins.
And from that still centre the craft moves outward again, steady as flame and sure as dawn.
The long night will pass.
The sun will rise.
And the witch rises with it.
Stay Connected to the Winter Craft
Make sure to sign up on the homepage to be notified for the upcoming blogs filled with more winter witcheries, Yule altar craft, protection magic, dreamwork, divination, and the turning teachings of the season.
