This is the purpose little book to learn about and learn how to celebrate Yule. I love how intense these books are with the information and how they seek to teach readers a true history or detailed history of a forgotten or lesser known holiday.

I love Llewellyn's books. Cute, compact, and informative. Filled with easy to read and complete spells, rituals, recipes, and more for whatever your needs are during Yule. All of the "Little Book Of..." books are fantastic!

Llewellyn's Little Book of Yule by Jason Mankey is packed with over 200 pages of helpful and interesting information on the holiday season of Yule.

I own several books on Yule and the Winter Solstice season and this is my favorite quick references of them all as it organizes all the important aspects into one easy to use and carry guide.

It gives you the history from the earliest pagans up to when Christianity overtook the season with Christmas. It even goes over holidays during the Yule season that you might want to celebrate based on your beliefs and culture and put on a calendar which is also an activity in the book to make.

There are so many recipes included in this book such as how to make Saturnalia wine, Wassail, marzipan, and a Yule log. Along with this are important activities and traditions for the season such as chalking the door for Three Kings, traditional German candle divination for New Year Eve, making a mistletoe sachet and the meaning and history behind it, making magical ornaments to decorate for the season, making a necklace to honor the spirit of Krampus, Befana house sweeping for the New Year, and many more!

The only downside to this book is it is heavy on Christian influenced practices in the Yule season and is more modern in its approach. I would have liked to have seen a more pagan view point stripped of the Christian influences but unfortunately Christianity has taken over many olden practices and done a pretty good job at doing so. For that I have to deduct two stars unfortunately from my rating.

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just in time for the season, Llewellyn's Little Book of Yule is a wonderful beginner's book for those who are new to witchcraft or anyone looking to celebrate the Wheel of the Year. The author provides just the right amount of information as to not overwhelm the reader and this would be a perfect addition for a quick reference. Jason Mankey is a wonderful author and he provided many useful ideas for what to do for Yule celebrations and more.

Thank you NetGalley and Llewellyn Publications for this advanced e-reader's copy in exchange for my review.

An interesting mix of history, traditions, practices, and more centered around Yule and Christmas, but also including other holidays around this time of year. There are different exercises sprinkled throughout, often involving crafts or recipes, and rituals to help make the winter holidays special (the Remembrance Tree is especially nice). Sure to add new meaning to your winter holidays!

#LlewellynsLittleBookofYule #NetGalley

I love the style of writing of Jason Mankey and I follow his book.
His style of writing and humour make this book an interesting and informative read.
I love the mix of history, traditions and exercises, how it is organised and I will surely try some of the exercises featured.
It's an excellent read and it's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

In this book, Mankey gives us a history of Yule, Christmas, and other Yuletide celebrations. Sprinkled among the history lessons are tips, crafts, recipes and spells that you can incorporate into your yuletide celebration.

While I really enjoyed learning about the history behind these winter celebrations, I do feel that this book is more how to make Christmas more pagan and not a book about how to celebrate Yule. Yes, Christians took Yule and made it into Christmas but I still was expecting a bit more from this book. That said, I do like that he gave us ways to incorporate our craft into Christmas because I am sure a lot of us live in households that are not completely pagan, like mine.

Some of the craft ideas he presented sound very fun and I think I will try and incorporate them this year, especially the remembrance tree because my grandmother was a huge Christmas fan and this way I can honor her favorite holiday and her. Overall, this was a great little book filled with history, crafts and spells.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

Hands-down, without question, my favorite book of 2020. In true Llewellyn style, the Little Book of Yule was informative and effortless. But Jason Mankey's voice throughout the book is where the true treasure lies. Yule is my very favorite time of year, and the author absolutely does it justice. I left the book with a better understanding of this amazing sabbat, with some new ideas for celebrating it with my family this year, and with more knowledge as to why I do the Yule traditions that I already do. A perfect book!

Lovely “Little Book” to Make Your Season Bright

Even though I now consider myself non-Christian, I'll admit to still be under the thrall of the Christmas season, or the expanded season the author calls Yuletide in this book. For someone who loves this special time of year, I found this book to be so fun and delightfully inspirational. The author takes the long view (i.e., a long festive season) and includes multicultural perspectives about this season. He extends it from Thanksgiving to Three Kings’ Day (Twelfth Night). The book touches on the history of winter celebrations around the world, which I found fascinating. Learning more about traditions that weren't a part of my Christian Christmas background was particularly fun, too. But what I most enjoyed were the variety of activities, food suggestions (including recipes!), and magical practices the author shared that could be used to celebrate during the entire Yuletide season. So many inspirational ideas. I am reviewing this in September, but this already has me thinking about what ideas I will incorporate into my celebrations this year. This book is so much fun for people who enjoy all things Yuletide (like me!), whether you focus on Christmas, Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, or some other religious or cultural variation.

A little book packed with useful information about Yule filled with history, tips and even recipes. A great introduction along with a bunch of ideas on how to make Christmastime more pagan.

Another great addition to the Llewellyn’s Little Book of series. It’s very beginner friendly and I appreciate how much useful information is packed into this little book. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was so excited to see a book all about Yule, and even more excited to see Jason Mankey wrote it! This was a great comprehensive overview of the holiday with history, tips, and even my favorite - recipes! I will be reading again in December and will be recommending it to others! Thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for this review!

Llewellyn's Little Book of Yule by Jason Mankey
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Genre: Nonfiction (Adult) | Religion & Spirituality
Release Date: September 8, 2020

This book included a fascinating history of Christmas and how to make Christmas more Yule-like.

I'm so grateful to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I'd like to thank the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love this publisher. I've followed books by this publisher for years and was very excited to get this book. And while I'm not Wiccan, I do enjoy reading about Wiccan and Pagan histories and traditions, and like to find new ways to add to our regular holidays and take them back to their Pagan roots a bit more.

If you are looking to add a little more Yule to your December holidays, this is the book for you. You'll find interesting tid bits, recipes, facts to add to your regular celebrations. If you are looking for a way to fully celebrate Yule vs Christmas or other December holidays, this book may add to what you find in other books. But I think overall, this could be a good way to introduce others to your Pagan/Wiccan celebrations.

I found a few new things that I think I'll add to our December holidays and think I'll even buy a printed version of this book for reference and to add to my library. Not the best book ever, but some good info here.

Although I will continue to post about what I consider to be fun and interesting Witchy topics, starting this month, with the guidance of my former publicist, Kat Sanborn, I gave myself permission to return to a long time passion that I unfortunately had to give up due to time constraints and that is book and card deck reviews.  Llewellyn's Little Book of Yule by Jason Mankey is my first foray back into a favorite pastime.

Back in the old days when the earth was cooling and dinosaurs roamed, I ran a popular website called "The Diva Digest" and there I reviewed literally hundreds of books and Tarot decks. I stopped when I began writing books myself in 2013 and then subsequently opened Two Sisters Botanica in 2014. The time just was not there.

Since then, I have found my stride and when the idea came to resume reviews, I felt a stirring of literary excitement I haven't noticed in way too long. Now and then, this blog will focus on an upcoming or new release from a variety of publishers. It seemed fitting to start with an upcoming book penned by Patheos Pagan channel leader, Jason Mankey.

As much as I try to be unbiased, it is a tall task when I so deeply appreciate Jason's work, from my perspective of both a reader and an author. His tireless and dogged pursuit of research warms my cold, black, little former-librarian heart. I did so much research during my years of working in a library, not to mention many citations necessary for many dogged years of college that I have a full on tantrum if I am forced to add a footnote or citation to my work. I will move Heaven and earth to avoid a citation, but Jason revels in that stuff and consistently amazes me with his due diligence in that regard.

This book is no exception and do not let the word "Little" mislead you. Llewellyn's Little Book of Yule is a powerhouse of information about my second favorite all-time holiday (I'm a Witch, so the favorite is not hard to guess). Jason's newest release has a strong presentation of history, crafts, recipes, rituals, and personal anecdotes.

Most impressively is that he covers a wide range of cultural expressions of the Yuletide season and treats each one with equal measures of childlike wonder underscored with the respectful authenticity that can come only from an experienced and diligent researcher.

Jason sets the tone for this enchanting book with a tale from his own childhood that established his love of the season and this energy permeates every word.

If you want to deepen your knowledge of cultural and magical expression regarding this meaningful time of year, this love letter Jason Mankey wrote to the holiday is your sure-fire ticket.

I have to start out by saying that I'm a big fan of the Llewellyn's Little Book Of series. What an excellent reference book for the celebration of Yule. I enjoyed all the information detailing festivities, history craft and recipes, like Krampus in Saturnalia. I feel that it's the perfect book for beginners and for solid practitioners. I do feel that this will help those of us that wish to put a little Pagan into our holiday festivals. I felt that the exercises were easy to do and personally beneficial to me and have a list I'm not difficult to acquire materials. The author writes with such ease that the reader has no problem following and understanding. I plan on reading more books by him.

I would like to thank Jason Mankey, Llewellyn Publishing and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This entertaining and well-written treatise on Yuletide will appeal to adventurous readers who wish to learn more about the roots of Neo-pagan and Christian celebrations. The author is clearly knowledgeable and shares his expertise in thoughtful, sometimes humorous prose. At times, the narrative feels a bit pedantic, but Mankey always brings us back to the merry and bright aspects of the season.

I especially appreciated how he expanded the season to include late November through mid-January and shared fascinating bits of information tied to every aspect of the celebration season - food, clothing, home decor, and spirituality included. The galley lacked photos and formatting, so I have no clue what the print version will resemble, but do know the narrative is canvas for luscious photo illustrations. One can hope!

Although this book talks about winter celebrations, has some recipes, crafts and such, I found it a bit frustrating. It was more "make Christmas a bit more Yule-like" rather than a book about Yule.

Something to consider before reading this is what are you hoping to get out of it. If you're only looking for a book on Yule and how to celebrate it from only a Wiccan standpoint, you may not like this book. I can see where it would be viewed as a book around giving your Christmas some pagan flair. It gives an overview of a lot of holidays that happen around that time and how they're interconnected. It gives recipes, crafts, tips and exercises to help you get creative and a bit magical around the holidays. However, there does seem to be a lot of emphasis on Christmas.

Thank you to Llewellyn Publications and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book that celebrates winter holidays. There's history, lore, and projects that span from November through January. Some are pagan, some are not, and it's nice to see the author to be mindful of including different beliefs and traditions.