Witchy Christmas Tree Ideas: Six Themes, Toppers and Skirts for a Yule Tree
The witchy Christmas tree has gone from a niche idea to something a lot of people are searching for, and most of the photos fall into one of two camps. Either the tree is a clear idea, carried through every branch, or it is a pile of everything vaguely occult the owner could find. The first kind looks like a decision. The second looks like a craft fair.
The fix is simple: pick one theme and let it decide everything else, the ornaments, the topper, the ribbon and the skirt. Below are six themes that work, with practical notes for each, and then the details that apply to all of them.
1. The celestial moon tree
Moon phases, crescents, stars and the occasional sun. This is the easiest witchy tree to make look good because the motifs are simple shapes that read from across a room. Use a dark green or black tree, warm white lights, gold and cream ornaments and a few in deep blue. Glass moon ornaments catch the lights; the celestial moon goddess glass ornament and the sun and moon goddess ornament are made for this. A crescent moon topper finishes it.
2. The apothecary tree
Skirts that carry the theme to the floor
Dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, bundles of rosemary and bay, small glass bottles, brown paper tags written in ink. This is the kitchen witch's tree, and it smells as good as it looks.
Drying oranges
Slice oranges about a quarter inch thick, pat them dry, and bake on a rack at around 200 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours, turning them now and then, until the slices are dry and slightly translucent. Thread with twine. Cinnamon sticks tie in pairs with a loop of string.
Safety
Dried fruit and herbs burn easily. Use LED lights only on this tree, keep dried pieces away from the bulbs, and never place it near a candle or fireplace. Our kitchen witchcraft guide covers the correspondences of the herbs if you want each bundle to mean something.
3. The crystal tree
Raw points and tumbled stones wrapped in wire, glass prisms, clear and smoky glass ornaments. A crystal tree wants a lot of small light sources, so use more lights than usual on a lower setting. Keep heavy stones on the inner, thicker branches. Our guide to crystal decor explains which stones hold up to handling.
4. The tarot tree
Hang printed tarot cards, or cards from an old deck you no longer read with, as flat ornaments. The Major Arcana gives you twenty-two, which is about right for a medium tree. Put The Sun and The Star near the top, The Moon and The Hermit lower down. Gold ribbon and plain gold baubles fill the gaps. For card meanings, see all 22 Major Arcana.
5. The black cat tree
Black cats under moons, cats in witch hats, cats among stars. This is the tree for the house that started it in October and has no intention of stopping. Mix cat ornaments with plain black and gold baubles so the cats stay the focus. The black cat collection carries the same motif onto signs and stockings for the rest of the room, and our black cat Christmas guide shows the whole look. For a tree converted straight from Halloween, see keeping the spooky tree up through December.
6. The Yule sun tree in gold
The solstice is the rebirth of the sun, and a tree dressed entirely in gold, amber and warm white says so. Sun wheels, gold baubles, dried orange slices, brass bells. Warm white lights only. A sun topper with rays is the natural finish. This is the most traditional pagan reading of the tree, and the one that sits best in a house that keeps Yule rather than Christmas. Our piece on the sun symbol in paganism explains why.
Toppers
Sun
Gold, with rays. Suits the Yule sun tree and the apothecary tree.
Moon
A crescent, ideally gold or silver. Suits the celestial and black cat trees.
Pentacle
A wire or wooden five-pointed star in a circle. Suits any tree with a clearly pagan theme. See the pentacle meaning.
Star
A plain star works for every theme here and offends nobody, which makes it the right choice for a house with mixed views.
Lights
Warm white suits five of these six themes. Cool white or a few pale blue strands suit the crystal tree and can work on a celestial tree if the metal is silver. Avoid multicolor strings on any witchy tree; they flatten every theme into generic Christmas. Wrap the lights deep into the branches, toward the trunk, as well as along the tips, so the tree glows from inside rather than wearing its lights like a net. Then put the ornaments on.
Ribbon
One ribbon, one color, run in loose diagonal swags or tied in small bows at the branch tips. Velvet in black, burgundy or forest green for darker trees; gold for the sun tree; natural twine or linen for the apothecary tree. More than one ribbon color is where most trees start to look busy.
Mixing themes
Two themes can share a tree if they share a palette. Celestial and black cat work together because both sit happily on black and gold. Apothecary and Yule sun share warm amber tones and dried orange. Crystal and celestial both suit cool light. What rarely works is three or more, or two themes in clashing metals. If you are unsure, hang the ornaments from both themes on one side of the tree first and look at it from the doorway after dark. The answer is usually obvious.
Ornaments in sets
Buy ornaments in families rather than singles. A few matching pieces repeated around the tree read as intentional; many different singles read as clutter. The Yule ornaments come in glass, acrylic and ceramic sets with consistent styling, including the owl familiar acrylic set and the Hecate keys set.
The skirt
The skirt is where many witchy trees fall down: a perfectly themed tree standing on red felt. Match the skirt to the theme. A pentacle moon phase skirt sits under a celestial tree; a tree of life skirt suits the apothecary tree. The full range of Yule tree skirts is on black grounds, and our tree skirt guide covers sizing.
One skirt to finish the tree
Frequently Asked Questions About Witchy Christmas Trees
How do I make a Christmas tree look witchy?
Choose one theme, such as moon phases, black cats, herbs or tarot, and let it decide the ornaments, topper, ribbon and skirt. Keep to one or two metals and warm lights. Consistency matters more than quantity.
What do you put on top of a witchy Christmas tree?
A sun, a crescent moon, a pentacle or a plain star. Match it to the theme: sun for a Yule tree, moon for a celestial tree, pentacle for an openly pagan one.
Is a Yule tree the same as a Christmas tree?
Physically, yes. Many pagans call it a Yule tree and decorate it with solar and evergreen symbols to mark the solstice rather than Christmas.
Can I use dried oranges on a tree with lights?
Yes, with LED lights only, keeping the dried pieces away from bulbs and the tree well away from open flames.
A witchy tree is not a theme park. One idea, carried through every branch and down to the floor, does more than a box of everything.
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