The Wheel of The Year: A Beginner's Guide to Celebrating the Traditional Pagan Festivals of the Seasons

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Selbie, John A. (1914). "Gifts (Greek and Roman)". In Hastings, James (ed.). Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Volume 6. New York; Edinburgh: Charles Scribner's Sons; T. & T. Clark. p.212. This day is sometimes also known as Brigid’s day—the Celtic Goddess of fire, creation, and healing. Around Imbolc, her fire begins to spark and awaken the earth, as well as our inner fire. Ostara (named after the Goddess, Eostre/Ostara) is the day Christians borrowed from the Pagans and renamed “Easter.” The Easter bunny was originally a hare, a nocturnal animal sacred to the Goddess, and a symbol for the moon. Each day, the moon and hare were said to die and be reborn, which is why the hare became a symbol of immortality. And because the hare can conceive while pregnant, it (along with eggs) became a symbol of fertility and abundance.

a b Zell-Ravenheart, Oberon; Zell-Ravenheart, Morning Glory (2006). "Book III: Wheel of the Year". In Kirsten Dalley and Artemisia (ed.). Creating Circles & Ceremonies: Rituals for All Seasons And Reasons. Book-Mart Press. p.192. ISBN 1-56414-864-5. It might also be related to the goddess Ashtorah or Asherah, who was the ancient wife of the Semitic god El. As we have established, the eight Sabbats generally represent the masculine energies of the Sun God. Each point on the Wheel is thought to correspond with a certain point in the god’s lifecycle. Similarly, we can see the Moon Goddess take on the Maiden, Mother, and Crone forms as the months pass. Germanic neopagans call their summer solstice festival Litha, which is part of the reconstructed Germanic calendar used by some Germanic Neopagans and takes its name from Bede’s De temporum ratione that provides Anglo-Saxon names for the months roughly corresponding to June and July as sēǣrra līþa and sēæfterra līþa (the “early Litha month” and the “later Litha month”) with an intercalary month of līþa appearing after sēæfterra līþa on leap years.Though leading Wiccan Gerald Gardner (1884-1964) called this ‘greater sabbat’ Hallowe’en, for many pagans - perhaps wanting to distance themselves from the popular trappings of modern Halloween - it is Samhain. Imbolc is a time of transition and hope as the first signs of spring begin to emerge. The Imbolc festival is deeply rooted in Celtic and Gaelic traditions and honors the Celtic goddess Brigid (or Saint Brigid in Christian lore), who represents the divine feminine and is associated with healing and the hearth. Related Post: 53 Winter Solstice Quotes For Peace & Inner Stillness pagan holidays ~ Imbolc Imbolc ~ Spring Begins

The significance of Litha lies in its connection to the power of the sun and the energy of life. Pagans rejoice in the abundance of the Earth, the blossoming of flowers, and the ripening of fruits and crops. It's a time to honor the fertility of the land and the growth of nature. The Wheel of the Year is a symbol represents the 8 festivals important to many pagans, Wiccans, and witches. These holidays — knows as Sabbats — follow a nature-based calendar and include four solar festivals and four seasonal festivals set in between them. On Ostara, day and night are in perfect balance, as are the feminine and masculine energies. Growth and fertility is the main theme of the Sabbat, so we see plenty of rabbit motifs, seeds, and flowers. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Easter has adapted many pagan traditions — down to painting eggshells! Beltane or May Day – April 30th-May 1stBudapest, Zsuzsanna E. (1980). The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. Wingbow Press. ISBN 0-914728-67-9. I encourage you to make your own choices, too. Ones that truly serve you and align with the woman you’re becoming. Imbolc (Candlemas) – 1st feb Kelly, Aidan. About Naming Ostara, Litha, and Mabon. Including Paganism. Patheos. Accessed 8 May 2019. Beltane heralds the arrival of the warmer months and the peak of spring's energy. It's a time of celebration, fertility, and the intertwining of the masculine and feminine energies in nature. a b Gagarin, Michael (2010). "S". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome: Volume 1. Oxford University Press. p.231. ISBN 978-0-19517-072-6.

Natural processes are seen as a continuous cycle. The passage of time is also seen as cyclic and it is represented by a wheel or a circle. Birth, decline and death, as experienced in human life, is repeated as the seasons progress. The change of the seasons is traditionally celebrated in the form of holidays called Sabbats. It explores some of the most important Pagan festivals, including Samhain, Yule, Beltane and Lammas, looking at their origins and how they are celebrated today. Like the spring equinox, Mabon is a time to celebrate balance but also abundance, as the second harvest comes in. Some people call it the Wiccan Thanksgiving as it encourages reflection, gratitude, and sacrifice (in the form of charity). Like the winter solstice, the spring equinox tends to shift from year to year. For the past several years, it has consistently fallen on March 20th, though it can be as early as the 19th or as late as the 21st.

Samhain, or best known as Halloween, is Celtic New Year’s Eve and the final harvest. It’s when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest and when pagans believe spirits easiest roam the earth and when it is easiest to communicate with them. Samhain is a time to honor all those who have come before, for all that was gifted to us during the year, to ask for guidance, and to set intentions as the turning of the wheel begins again. Falling between October 31st and November 1st in the Northern Hemisphere, Samhain is a time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. It's a time to honor deceased ancestors, reflect on the cycle of life and death, and embrace the mysteries of the afterlife.