15 Herbs Of Yule And The Holiday Season

Winter herbs work for Yule because they’re still here when everything else has died. That’s the whole correspondence system in one sentence: the plants that survive the dark become signs of endurance, protection, and the returning light. The evergreens keep their needles through frost. The dried seed heads and roots in your pantry carry concentrated warmth. The resins preserve their scent across centuries.

These 15 herbs show up in Yule celebrations across cultures because their survival is observable, physical, right there in front of you. When you bring a pine bough indoors, you’re bringing winter-proof vitality across your threshold, anchoring that quality in your space through direct contact.

Evergreen (Pine, Fir, Spruce, Cedar)

Let’s start with the obvious ones, because obvious doesn’t mean simple.

Evergreens don’t go dormant in winter the way deciduous trees do. They developed needles instead of broad leaves, which lets them photosynthesize even in cold weather without losing too much water. The plant is literally demonstrating endurance through an observable physical mechanism. That’s where every “eternal life” association you’ll find in European, Nordic, and North American winter celebrations comes from.

Ancient Romans brought evergreen boughs indoors during Saturnalia, the winter festival that predates Christmas by centuries. The Germanic peoples hung fir branches to remind themselves that spring would return. Early Christians adopted the practice, layered their own meanings onto an existing folk custom.

How to use evergreens for Yule:

• Decorate your space with fresh pine, fir, or spruce branches (the scent alone shifts the atmosphere)
• Make a simple wreath for your door using foraged cedar or pine
• Burn dried needles as incense for purification work
• Add a sprig to your Yule altar as a physical anchor for “continuity through darkness” intentions
• Tuck small branches above doorways or windows as protective markers

The wreath shape matters. Circles have no beginning or end, which makes them perfect symbols for cycles, eternity, and return. A circle made of evergreen needles doubles down on the “life persists” message through both material and form.

Holly

Holly does something clever. It fruits in winter, producing bright red berries exactly when most plants have gone to seed or dormant. The berries stand out visually against snow and bare branches, which made holly a food source for winter birds and a striking symbol for humans looking for signs of life in a dead landscape.

The spiky leaves add another layer. In European folk tradition, those thorns offered protection. Holly planted near a house was thought to defend against lightning, poison, and malevolent spirits. The protective association emerges from the plant’s own defensive adaptation—thorns keep browsers from eating the leaves—which humans then read as a transferable quality.

There’s also the Holly King mythology, which shows up in Wiccan and neo-pagan seasonal frameworks. The Holly King rules from Midsummer to Yule, representing the darker half of the year. At the winter solstice, he yields to the Oak King (who rules from Yule to Midsummer, the light half).

This is a 20th-century creation, likely influenced by Robert Graves’ The White Goddess and mid-century Wiccan practice. But that doesn’t make it less useful. New myths emerge from real observations. Holly does fruit when oak has gone bare.

Use holly in Yule spells for protection, boundaries, or acknowledging the transition from dark to light. Put it on your altar to represent the turning point. Hang it in your home as a ward.

Just keep in mind that holly berries are toxic to humans and pets, so placement matters.

Mistletoe

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on host trees, particularly oaks and apple trees in Europe. It stays green in winter while the host tree loses its leaves, which creates a weird visual: living greenery floating in bare branches, seemingly disconnected from the ground.

To people trying to make sense of their environment before modern botany, this looked like magic. The plant appeared to grow from the sky, thriving without roots in soil.

Norse mythology treated mistletoe as Baldur’s undoing (the one thing that could kill the otherwise invulnerable god), which gave it associations with death, trickery, and transformation. Druids reportedly harvested it with golden sickles in specific ritual contexts, though most of what we “know” about Druidic practices comes from Roman accounts. Which are not exactly unbiased ethnography.

The kissing custom shows up in 18th-century Britain and spreads from there. It probably has roots in earlier fertility associations—the plant’s white berries resembled semen, which created direct links to sexual vitality in the symbolic logic of the time.

For Yule magic:

Mistletoe carries associations with protection, love, fertility, and transitions between states. Hang it as a blessing for your household. Use it in spells for healing rifts or encouraging reconciliation (the kiss-and-make-up connection has weight in folk practice).

Be aware that mistletoe is also toxic if ingested, so keep it away from curious pets and kids.

Frankincense

Frankincense is tree resin from Boswellia species native to the Arabian Peninsula and northeast Africa. People have burned it in religious and magical contexts for at least 5,000 years.

It shows up in ancient Egyptian temple rites, Babylonian ceremonies, Jewish Temple offerings, and Christian church services. The Three Wise Men brought it to baby Jesus along with gold and myrrh, which anchors it firmly in Christmas symbolism.

The scent comes from volatile compounds in the resin that release when heated. Those compounds affect mood and perception. Frankincense has been prized across cultures as a purification agent, a prayer-carrier, and a marker of sacred space for literal millennia.

At Yule, frankincense bridges the solar symbolism (it was associated with sun gods in several ancient cultures) with the practical need to cleanse space before ritual work. Burn it on charcoal during Yule celebrations to shift the energy in your space, to carry intentions “upward,” or simply because it smells incredible and puts you in a more focused headspace.

Bayberry

Bayberry (Myrica species) produces waxy berries that early American colonists boiled down to make candles. The resulting candles burned clean and smelled pleasant, unlike tallow candles, which is why bayberry became associated with prosperity and good fortune.

The folk saying goes: “A bayberry candle burned to the socket brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket.”

Here’s a great example of how correspondences develop through practical use rather than abstract symbolism. Bayberry candles were expensive—it takes a lot of berries to make one candle—so burning one signaled that you had resources to spare.

Abundance magic through conspicuous consumption.

For Yule, burn a bayberry candle from one end to the other on the longest night to invite prosperity into the new year. Or use bayberry leaves (which are different from bay laurel, despite confusing common names) in money spells and success work.

Rosemary

Rosemary is a Mediterranean herb that stays green year-round in mild climates. In colder regions, it survives light frosts but needs protection from hard freezes.

European folk traditions used rosemary for remembrance, protection, and purification, likely because the strong scent made it easy to associate with mental clarity and memory.

And here’s the thing: rosemary contains compounds that actually improve cognitive function and mood. People noticed that the scent made them feel more alert, and built magical associations from that observable effect. The correspondence tracks with chemistry.

At Yule, rosemary works for honoring ancestors (the remembrance angle), for protection spells (particularly involving home and hearth), and for any working that requires mental focus or clarity of intent.

Add it to wassail or mulled wine. Burn it as incense. Tuck sprigs into wreaths or garlands.

Oak

Oak trees are deciduous, so they’re bare at Yule. But oak wood, acorns, and dried oak leaves all carry strong Yule associations because of the Oak King mythology I mentioned earlier.

In the symbolic structure, oak represents the waxing year, growth, expansion, and the light half of the annual cycle. At the winter solstice, the Oak King defeats the Holly King and begins his reign. This gives oak correspondences with new beginnings, potential, and the return of the sun.

Oaks are also culturally important across Europe as sacred trees. Druids reportedly held ceremonies in oak groves. Zeus, Jupiter, Thor, and other thunder gods were all associated with oaks, probably because oaks are often the tallest trees in a landscape and therefore more likely to be struck by lightning.

That observable phenomenon (oak gets hit by lightning) becomes a connection (oak is tied to sky gods and thunder) in cultural memory.

Use oak in Yule workings for strength, endurance, protection, and invoking the return of light. Burn oak logs in your fire. Place acorns on your altar. Use oak leaves in spell work for new projects or goals you want to nurture through the coming year.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is bark from tropical trees in the genus Cinnamomum. It’s been a valuable trade commodity for thousands of years, moving along spice routes from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and eventually the Americas.

The correspondence with Yule comes through two main channels.

First, cinnamon tastes and smells warm. That sensory warmth creates a direct connection to magical warmth, solar energy, and protection against cold (both literal and metaphorical).

Second, expensive spices in medieval and early modern Europe signaled wealth and celebration. Using cinnamon in winter festivities marked the occasion as special, abundant, worthy of luxury.

Cinnamon shows up in wassail, mulled wine, baked goods, and incense blends for Yule because it makes everything smell like comfort and celebration.

Magically, use it for prosperity (the wealth association), for solar magic (the warmth connection), for success work (cinnamon’s association with victory and achievement), and for any spell where you want to add energetic heat.

Ginger

Ginger is a rhizome (underground stem) from Zingiber officinale, native to Southeast Asia. Like cinnamon, ginger creates a warming sensation when eaten. That heat comes from compounds like gingerol, which activate the same receptors in your mouth that respond to hot temperatures.

This physical warming effect makes ginger a perfect correspondent for magical warming, fire energy, vitality, and protection against winter cold. The plant genuinely makes you feel warmer by increasing circulation and body heat. The correspondence tracks with physiology.

Use ginger in Yule baking. Gingerbread is its own folk tradition with roots in medieval Europe.

Add fresh or dried ginger to prosperity spells, success magic, or any working that needs an energetic boost. Brew ginger tea as part of Yule morning rituals. Include crystallized ginger in offerings.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg is the seed of Myristica fragrans, a tropical tree native to Indonesia’s Banda Islands. For centuries, these tiny islands were the only source of nutmeg in the world, which made the spice outrageously expensive in Europe.

Wars were fought over nutmeg. The Dutch traded Manhattan to the English in exchange for Run, a nutmeg-producing island that’s now barely a footnote in history.

The Yule connection comes through the spice’s association with wealth, luxury, and festivity. Nutmeg in your wassail or baked goods signaled that you were prosperous enough to afford imports from the other side of the world. The warm, slightly sweet flavor also made it popular in winter drinks and dishes across Europe.

Magically, nutmeg carries correspondences with luck, money, and prosperity. Some folk traditions also associate it with fidelity and love.

Use ground nutmeg in abundance spells, particularly ones involving money or resources. Add it to incense blends for luck magic. Include it in kitchen witchcraft during the Yule season.

Be aware that nutmeg is psychoactive in large doses (it contains myristicin, which metabolizes into compounds similar to MDMA). This is not a comfortable or recommended experience. Stick to culinary amounts.

Bay Laurel

Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) is an evergreen shrub native to the Mediterranean. Ancient Greeks and Romans associated it with Apollo, god of the sun, prophecy, poetry, and healing. Victorious athletes and poets were crowned with laurel wreaths. The Latin phrase “poet laureate” literally means “laurel poet.”

The solar connection makes bay laurel appropriate for Yule, which marks the sun’s rebirth. The plant stays green through winter in its native range, which adds the now-familiar symbolism of endurance and continuity.

Bay laurel carries magical associations with protection, purification, prophetic dreams, success, and wisdom.

Burn dried bay leaves to cleanse space or to carry wishes—write your intention on a bay leaf and burn it. Place bay leaves under your pillow on Yule night for prophetic dreams. Add them to wreaths and garlands. Use them in success magic, particularly for creative or intellectual achievements.

Don’t confuse bay laurel with bayberry (mentioned earlier) or mountain laurel (which is toxic). If you’re buying dried bay leaves for cooking, you’re getting Laurus nobilis, which is what you want.

Pine Cones

Pine cones aren’t herbs, but they’re botanically part of pine trees, and they show up in enough Yule decorating and magic to warrant their own entry.

Pine cones are the reproductive structures of pine trees, containing seeds that will eventually grow into new pines. The cone protects the seeds until conditions are right for germination.

This protective function made pine cones symbolic of potential, fertility, and hidden life waiting to emerge.

Ancient Romans associated pine cones with Venus and fertility (probably because of the seed/reproduction connection). The thyrsus, a staff carried by Dionysus and his followers in Greek mythology, was topped with a pine cone, linking it to ecstatic states, transformation, and resurrection themes.

For Yule, pine cones work in magic focused on new beginnings, potential waiting to manifest, fertility (in all its forms, not just biological reproduction), and the return of life.

Decorate with them. Burn them in your fire for purification. Use them in spell work for projects or intentions you’re nurturing through winter.

Blessed Thistle

Blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus) is a Mediterranean plant that’s been used in European folk medicine and magic for centuries. The name reflects its association with Christian blessing traditions, but the plant shows up in pre-Christian practices as well.

It’s included in Yule herb lists primarily for purification and protection work. Blessed thistle has bitter compounds that were traditionally used to stimulate digestion and treat illness, which created associations with cleansing and healing. The spiny leaves (like holly) suggested protective qualities.

Use blessed thistle in Yule rituals for purification, for breaking hexes or clearing unwanted influences, and for protection magic.

Brew it as tea (it’s intensely bitter), add it to ritual baths, or include dried leaves in charm bags.

Spruce

Spruce trees (Picea species) are conifers that stay green year-round, but spruce has some specific uses worth mentioning separately.

Spruce tips (new growth in spring) are edible and have been used by northern cultures for food and medicine. The needles can be brewed into tea rich in vitamin C. Spruce resin was used as a sealant, an antiseptic, and a base for chewing gum.

These practical applications created folk associations with healing, protection, and prosperity. At Yule, spruce carries the general evergreen symbolism plus specific connections to health and resilience.

Use spruce boughs in Yule decorations. Burn spruce needles or resin as purifying incense. Add spruce to healing spells or protective workings.

Yellow Cedar

Yellow cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis, also called Nootka cypress) is a conifer native to the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. It’s been deeply important in Indigenous cultures of the region, used for canoe-building, weaving, medicine, and ceremony.

The wood is rot-resistant and aromatic. The inner bark was woven into clothing, hats, and baskets. The branches were used in purification ceremonies.

If you live in an area where yellow cedar grows, or if you have access to it through ethical harvesting, it brings correspondences with purification, protection, and honoring the land’s Indigenous traditions.

Use it in Yule work with awareness of its cultural significance and with respect for the peoples who have stewarded these relationships for millennia.

Working With Yule Herbs: Practical Integration

The most effective way to work with Yule herbs is to bring them into your actual life in ways that make sense for your practice and your space.

Don’t force them into elaborate spells you saw on TikTok.

Here are some practical approaches:

**Decorate with intention.** Every evergreen bough you hang is a choice to anchor “persistence through darkness” in your space. That’s spell work, even if it doesn’t look like what Pinterest told you magic should be.

Cook and eat them. Kitchen witchcraft is underrated. When you add cinnamon and ginger to your Yule baking, you’re ingesting warmth and prosperity correspondences in the most direct way possible. Magic doesn’t have to be elaborate to be effective.

Make a Yule simmer pot. Combine pine needles, cinnamon sticks, orange peel, cloves, and rosemary in a pot of water on your stove. Let it simmer (add water as needed). Your whole home will smell like Yule, and the scent itself will shift the energy.

**Create a simple altar.** A few evergreen sprigs, a pine cone, some cinnamon sticks, a bay leaf, and a candle. That’s enough. You don’t need a production.

Burn them as incense. Frankincense on charcoal, or dried rosemary and bay leaves in your fireplace, or pine needles in a fire-safe dish. Scent is a direct route to changing atmosphere and headspace.

Bring them into your rituals. If you’re doing Yule ritual work (solo or with others), use these herbs as physical anchors for the energies you’re calling in. Holly for acknowledging the dark-to-light transition. Oak for welcoming the returning sun. Evergreens for continuity and endurance.

The correspondences work because they’re built on observable properties, historical use, and cultural weight. These patterns have depth and coherence because humans have been working with them for centuries.

Which is the whole point of working with seasonal herbs in the first place. You’re aligning your practice with what’s actually happening in the world around you.

The light is returning. Life persists through darkness. These plants prove it.