We're prepping for Jul chez Signy and Sven.  It's even feeling wintery, at least in the mornings when it's been in the low 40s (about 5 Celsius).  Today is the day of the Solstice, so I'll be changing the altar cloth on my personal altar and thinking about my personal devotion to Sol Invicta.

We also have a very special hypostasis of Odin paying a visit.

I found him at the Navy Exchange near my work, and I almost wept.  I've been envisioning Odin as the Gift Giver and Huntsman for a while, and my gosh, this is him!  He even came with his eye obscured the way it is in the picture.  He has pine cones on his coat and he's dressed for the forest.

There's been some talk about how Odin influences our images of Santa.  I also know I heard someone talking about Santa Claus as a modern deity.  This morning, there was this beautiful story on Storycorps on NPR. San Diego truck driver Boyd Applegate tells about what happens when he puts on the Santa Claus costume, and how he first heard his calling.

http://storycorps.org/listen/boyd-applegate-and-rhonda-dixon-2/

It's only a couple of minutes.  I heard this story and looked at Sven and said, "He's a priest of Santa Claus!"

This of course means Santa is real.  I'll leave everybody to interpret that as they will.

Happy Solstice!  Happy Jul!  Hail Sol, and Blessed Be.

SIGNY