Wheel of the Year
Eight standard Craft holidays are
recognized during each calendar year. They are called Sabbaths,
and their relationship is usually with the Sun deity.
The eight
Sabbaths represent seasonal birth, death, and rebirth; the cycles of the
Earth.
Performing Magick is not necessary on the Sabbaths. You
might chose to observe them as celebratory holidays, a time to honor
your deities. Use of the Sabbaths varies by Tradition, denomination and
sect.
I'll begin with Yule (Winter Solstice), because it is
the first seasonal holiday after the Witches New Year (Samhain).
Yule, Yuletide, Winter Solstice
The shortest day of the year,
therefore, the longest night. This is usually the 20th or the 21st of
December. This is a time when the waxing sun overcomes the waning sun.
In some traditions, it is a time when the Holly King (representing the
death aspect of the God) is overcome by the Oak King (who embodies the
rebirth of the God, and is sometimes called the Divine Child). On the
longest night of the year, the Great Mother gives birth to the Sun God.
Some witches observe a "longest night vigil" followed by a daybreak
celebration of the Sun's rebirth.
Since this is a solar festival, it
is celebrated by fire and the use of the Yule log. The colors of the
season, red and green, are of original Pagan descent. Bayberry candles
are burned to ensure wealth and happiness throughout the following year.
The reindeer stag is also a reminder of the horned God. You will find
that many traditional Christmas decorations have some type of Pagan
ancestry or significance that can be added to your Yule celebrations.
Candlemas, Imbolic (February 1)
Candlemas welcomes the change
from old to new. This Sabbath marks the time to welcome the coming of
Spring.
Imbolic means "in the belly;" this may refer to the promise
of spring. The Sun Child play happily (becoming stronger each day) as he
grows towards manhood and the days get longer and longer. The Great
Mother however, is growing younger and younger with each passing day.
Lavender and white candles can be burned in honor of this holiday. This
is a good time to "spring clean;" room painting, cleaning draperies,
wallpapering and fixing furniture.
This is also a good time to look
over your magical cabinet to determine what you are low on and what you
may need for the coming months.
Ostara (March 20)
This
is a celebration of balance-not really Winter, but not yet Spring. This
festival is considered one of fertility, and is the second in the
trinity of spring celebrations. Seeds are blessed for future plantings,
Eggs are colored and placed on the altar as magical talismans. The
colors light green, lemon yellow, and pale pink are traditional for this
holiday.
The Sun Child is now an adolescent; because the Great Mother
Goddess has been growing younger and younger ever since Yule, they are
now the same age (March 20 is an equinox day), and she welcomes his
embrace. The conceive a child who will be born at the next Winter
Solstice. It is a chaotic, sensual time.
Beltane (April 30)
This is a time for love and union. Beltane is the last of the three
spring fertility festivals, and is when people, plants, and animals
prepare for the warm months ahead. Ribbons of bright blue, lavender,
warm pink, lemon yellow and white are nice representatives of the
season, but the traditional colors are red and white. These colors
represents the blood that flows from the woman when her purity is taken.
Traditionally, this is the time when the Great Rite (which involves
sexual intercourse) is celebrated.
Lithia, Summer Solstice
(June 21)
This is the longest day of the year, the Sun King in
all his glory. A celebration of passion and success. This is a good time
for magic that needs the power of male energy. Colors are red and maize
yellow or gold are excellent. Altar candles should be of gold and red.
Midsummer Night's Eve is also an excellent time to commune with field
and forest sprites and faeries.
It was believed that whatever one
dreamed on this night would come true (thus the Shakespeare play A
Midsummer Night's Dream). On this the longest day of the year, the Sun
God is at the peak of his power.
Lammas, Lughnassad (August 1)
This is the first of the three harvest celebrations in the Craft. This
Sabbath represents the beginning of the harvest cycle and rests on the
early grain harvest as well as those fruits and vegetables ready to be
taken. The altar is decorated with the first fruits of garden labor.
Herbs for magical use should be harvested this day. You may wish to
empower some of them for use in your ritual.
Most flowers are gone;
however, they are still some varieties still available. An altar
decorated with pots of yellow and red cockscomb is truly arresting as
the tassel of the plant resembles a flame.
Mabon, Autumn
Equinox (September 23)
This is the second harvest celebration, a
time of take the corn and other foods that are harvested at this time.
The frost will hit soon, so the last of the herbs and other plants you
wish to dry for winter use should be harvested now. Colors of brown,
orange, gold or red are good choices. Altar cloths can be of fall
patters. River stones gathered over the summer can be empowered for
various purposes.
This Sabbath is named for Mabon, the son of Modron,
who is a hunter-god. According to tradition, this is when the old Sun
God, who was born last Yule, dies. The Great Mother is pregnant with the
new Sun God, who will be born in three months.
Samhain
(October 31)
This is considered the Witches New Year,
representing one full turn of the seasonal year. This is the last of the
three harvest Sabbaths. It is said that the veil between the living and
the dead is at it's thinnest this night. Jack-o-lanterns, gourds, cider,
and other fares of the season can be used in ritual and family
celebration. Black candles are burned to ward off negativity. Divination
is heightened this night. Pots of yellow and gold mums are placed about
the house for decoration.
At Samhain, the Sun God, having died at
Mabon and having returned to the womb of the Great Mother, grows strong
and awaits his rebirth at Yule. This beings the time of greatest
darkness, the time of the Crone, the ancient Queen of Death. In the
natural world, life is decaying into death, returning nutrients to the
soil that will bring life again in the spring.
Taken from the
book "To Ride a Silver Broomstick" by Silver Raven Wolf
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