Snow in itself is a magickal component of winter. When everything is deeply at rest and dormant, its white mantle covers the earth as if to protect what lies beneath.
Since snow is water, it has feminine energy, aligning with the west’s cardinal direction. All goddess aspects are connected to water in all forms, and water is also closely associated with emotions and passion. The color blue mainly represents water, but white can be used for snow. In the Tarot, water, and therefore, snow is denoted by any of the cards in the Cups suit.
Like water, snow can be used for cleansing, healing, and purification in magick and rituals. It’s vital to bear in mind that snow takes on the energy of where it falls or how it falls. Take this into consideration when collecting snow.
For example, light, fluffy snow from a quiet snowfall is imbued with the energy of calm, peace, and tranquility. Whereas wet, heavy snow from a blizzard is permeated with powerful, raging, and commanding energy. Snow from rural areas has countryside energy, while city snow is busy and pushy.
This article looks at how you can use snow in magick and ritual this Yule season.
15 Great Snow Magick Ideas for Yule
- Anoint your home with snow protection.
Melt a bowl of clean snow and add a few drops of peppermint essential oil. Using a small paintbrush, apply the mixture to all windows and exterior doors. You can paint it on gates, fences, and in your vehicle as well. While doing this, repeat: Goddess of the snow, your power I know; freeze all harm afore it reaches my door – we live in peace and fear no more.
- Bless your home with abundance.
You can use the same mixture of melted snow and peppermint essential oil to bless your home with abundance. Peppermint attracts an abundance of all kinds. To add to the potency, do it as snow is falling, cleaning your house of previous lack, and sealing in your abundant blessings from the outside. While painting the inside of your doors and threshold, repeat: abundance galore, lack live here no more; this is a home of plenty, never will its reserve be empty.
- Build a shielding snow figure.
Winter does regrettably sometimes bring ill-health and misfortune. To guard against anything ill-fated happening, build a shielding snowperson or animal to keep your household safe. It can be masculine or feminine, such as a god or goddess you identify with or your spirit animal. Plan what you want protection from and write these on dried leaves or bark. Meaningful magick symbols and sigils are also excellent. Build them into your snow figure.
- Melt away bad habits.
Use melted snow to break bad habits. Collect some snow and let it melt. Before you use it, run it through a fine strainer or piece of cheesecloth to ensure all harmful particles are removed. Add 3 drops each of bergamot, lavender, and rose essential oil. Stir into a warm bath and relax while visualizing your bad habit melting away. You can use this same method for cleansing, banishing, or purification baths. All you need to do is change the essential oils. For cleansing, use 3 drops each of cypress, lemongrass, and rosemary. Banishing baths need 3 drops each of lavender, peppermint, and sweet orange. And for purification, use 3 drops each of lemongrass, rosemary, and tea tree oil.
- Freeze something or someone out of your life.
Create an image of what you want to be rid of and then bury it deep into a snowball. While you’re making the image, draw in divine energy and ask that this be removed from your life. Throw the snowball as far as you can to get rid of it. If you can toss it into the ocean, lake, or stream to drown, all the better. As you do this, repeat: you be gone, our time is done; get out of my life, stop causing me strife.
- Cleanse yourself with snow.
A snow-cleanse can work wonders if you have any pressing issues you want to be washed away. Walking in the snow and visualizing it washing away body, mind, and soul problems can be very healing. (It’s essential, however, to be practical and wear appropriate clothing and not put yourself in harm’s way.) Gentle snowfall is also very relaxing and calming, making it ideal for divine communication.
- Cleanse crystals with snow.
Crystals and tools that are water-resistant enjoy being cleansed in snow. Correspondences associated with Yule, death, rebirth, protection, and magick’s darker side, even more so. Clear a spot in fresh snow and bury them either at midday or midnight, depending on the solar or lunar energy you want to capture.
- Snow drawings.
Expressing pain, stress, and sorrow through art can be very healing. Snow is a beautiful medium and very symbolic too. Use drawings in the snow to depict your pain, or draw symbols or specific sigils. Embellish them with leaves, seeds, bark, and cones. Dedicate your snow art to the goddess of your choice. Ask that with the melting snow, she allows all obstacles to melt away and guide you through the darkness of your journey into the light.
- Build a snow altar.
If you have any specific spells or rituals to do at Yule, why not do them at a snow altar built explicitly for their purpose. Decorate your altar with natural Yule correspondences and those that relate directly to your work. Since the altar is temporary, it’s ideal for anything you want to return to the earth.
- Make sacred water.
Sacred water is like holy water. It’s water to bless anything throughout the year. Collect clean snow and allow it to melt. Add a few drops of either lotus or sandalwood essential oil. Before you decant the water into an airtight, leak-proof bottle, draw the energy of the divine from your crown chakra, through to your heart, and into your palm chakras. Hold your open hands over the water while visualizing the blessing you want flowing through you and into it.
- Melt difficulties away.
You can make this the focal point of any spell or ritual. Write what you want to be rid of on a leaf or piece of bark with a natural colorant, such as beetroot juice. Collect snow and put what you’ve written into the center and form a mound or snowball. Place it in a bowl and let it melt while you’re doing the spell or ritual. Afterward, pour the water at the foot of a tree, where it will be absorbed and repurposed. Allow the wind to blow your note far away.
- Freeze good intentions.
The right thing at the wrong time becomes the wrong thing. If you want to do or have something, but the timing isn’t right, you can save your intentions in snow. Write down what it is and bury it in a compacted snowball. Bless the snowball and ask that it hold your intentions until the right time comes. Save it in the freezer.
- Make offerings to Mother Nature.
Gather nuts, seeds, and berries and bless them with love, gratitude, and appreciation. Bury them in places in the snow or scatter them on top while giving thanks for everything you have and offering prayers for those who don’t have much.
- Snow for divination.
Scrying is the ancient practice of seeing visions in water, a crystal ball, or fire. Snow is a fantastic medium for water scrying. Place melted snow free of any debris into a black or dark bowl. Spend some time in deep meditation and then look into the depths of the water for psychic visions.
- Stock up on snow.
If you enjoy snow magick, you don’t only have to practice it at Yule. Gather enough for your needs throughout the year and compact it into a bag. Keep it in the freezer and break off chunks whenever you need to.
All in All…
The uses for snow to make magick at Yule are only as endless as your imagination.
Regrettably, today, using snow comes with strong caution. It absorbs all kinds of toxic pollution from both the atmosphere and ground, so it’s best not ingested. If you’re using snow on your body, like in a bath or sacred water blessing, you can boil it beforehand if you’re unsure how clean it is. It won’t lose its magick qualities. Another vital point to bear in mind is that snow is a gift from Mother Nature. Always treat it with respect as you collect it. When adding other natural elements to your work, treat them with care as well. In addition, avoid leaving sigils, drawings, or other objects made from synthetic and toxic materials in the snow. Once it’s melted, they’ll just become more pollution.
