Beautiful and Unique Pagan Winter Solstice and Yule Decorations

As the days continue to darken and the chill in the air creeps into our bones, we look for ways to warm up our homes and our spirits! Let’s make some DIY Winter Solstice and Yule decorations!

Many Pagans, Witches, and those interested in Nature Spirituality celebrate the seasonal cycles. Sometimes referred to as the Pagan holidays or the Wheel of the Year, consisting of eight celebrations. Four of these festivals (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain) are rooted in Celtic history and origins.

The other four (Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, and Winter Solstice) represent the sun’s location. I created a complete guide to each season, including history, traditions, symbols, correspondences, ritual ideas, and how you can celebrate.

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“Snow was falling,

so much like stars

filling the dark trees

that one could easily imagine

its reason for being was nothing more

than prettiness.”

― Mary Oliver

Yule and Winter Solstice Tree Pick Decorations.

Adding some florals, herbs, and greenery to your Yule decorations really helps bring in some beautiful summer spirit! I used a mix of store-bought (Trader Joe’s) and backyard-grown greenery.

I added lavender for luck and happiness and rosemary to remove negativity. I used red and orange flowers to represent the sun. You can feel free to use any herbs, flowers, or greenery of your choice!

Hang upside down until they are dry! Make sure you leave them somewhere they will not be disturbed, these can break easily when dry.

Once they’re dry, place them in your tree just like a normal greenery pick or spray!

You can check out how I made my Yule tree picks in this video.

Yule Tree Mushroom Decorations

I love these cute mushrooms to add to Yule decorations! All you need is Sculpey, paint, faux moss, and a bit of patience to make these cuties! I added clips to the bottom so they would sit on each branch, but you could also add a jump ring to the top and hang them like an ornament.

You can check out how I made mine in this tutorial

“Extra” Cinnamon Broom Yule Decorations

Why not liven up your store-bought Cinnamon Broom and make it a bit “extra”? I purchased my Cinnamon Broom from Fred Meyer (Kroger) for $5 and used some dried orange slices, star anise, and herbs from my garden to add some pizzaz!

Use it to sweep away negative energy and hang it by your back door!

You can check out how I made my Cinnamon Broom “extra” in this video.

Antler Tree Topper For Protection

When I was little, my sister and I would sit beneath our Christmas tree, eat cinnamon pop-tarts, laugh, and talk about how the angel on top of the tree was protecting us and our home.

As I got older and embraced my paganism beliefs, I found it hard to let go of the angel on top of the tree. However, I also found the angel on my treetop didn’t connect with me anymore. Instead, I decided to incorporate something that symbolized protection. I remembered the Elder Futhark Rune Algiz, its symbolism with protection and antlers, and the idea was born.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t the easiest project, but I absolutely love the final result. It’s incredibly special to me and I hope you’ll love to create this for your home as well.

You can check out how I made my Yule Antler Tree Topper here

Elder Futhark Rune Ornaments

This is a wonderful way to add some intentions to your Yule decorations and Winter Solstice ornaments! If you’d like to know more about Elder Futhark Runes’ meanings, symbols, and uses check out this post here!

Citrus slices are a beautiful way to add solar colors to your Yule tree! Ruby grapefruit is my favorite when it has a light behind the slice, it glows a gorgeous pink/red!

Here are a few more awesome Yule tree ornament ideas for inspiration.

Yule Log

Making a Yule log is one of my favorite traditions! It’s so fun to decorate and it always smells amazing!

A Yule Log is a pagan ritual in which a huge log or a whole tree is placed on a hearth.  People would bring the Yule tree trunk inside, place the thicker end in the hearth until it was entirely consumed by fire.

A Yule log is often made of wood that has been decorated with meaningful and spiritual herbs, plants, flowers, or candles nowadays!

If you’d like to see a few Yule log examples check out this video for my 2019 Yule Log, 2020 Yule log, or my Yule log in 2021.

Natural Garland

For my natural citrus garland, I used hemp as the string, but I’ve seen others use wire. Whatever you choose for your base make sure it’s sturdy because this garland can get pretty heavy!

Create enough ornament slices for your desired garland length. You can place them vertically or horizontally across your string base. You’ll need to create a lot fewer ornament slices if you choose horizontally. I went vertically because I wanted to be a bit “extra” this year.

You can see how I made this natural garland in this video.

I added wooden beads to mine with wood-burned Runes, snowflakes, evergreen trees, and other designs. Feel free to be creative!

** TIP ** Make sure to string through the center of your citrus slices, I didn’t do that originally and ended up going back and re-doing it because it looked awful. Also hanging it above the fireplace was a great idea, because it re-activates all the amazing scents!

Winter Solstice Wishing ornament or mini Yule log

Using a pine cone as your base add in your wishes or intentions you’d like sent out into the universe. You can add these with small notes or on bay leaves. You can hang this in your tree, place it on your altar, or just use it as a beautiful decoration.

On Winter Solstice or New Year’s Eve, you can burn your Yule decorations, ornament, or mini Yule log to release your intentions!

You can see a tutorial for how I made this wishing ornament to add to my Yule decorations here.

Yule Tree Spirit Ornaments

These are really simple decorations that are really fun to make. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. Evergreen trees were believed to be everlasting due to spirits that lived in them, which is one of the reasons they were brought inside during the Winter Solstice.

This got me thinking, what if I could create ornaments symbolizing these Fae or spirits?

You can see a tutorial for how I made my spirit ornament to add to my Yule tree here.

I hope this post about Yule Decorations was helpful! Lots of love to you and remember as always…