The Wheel of the Year

The Wheel of the Year is a term commonly used to refer to the cycle of seasonal festivals or Sabbats in the Wiccan calendar.  It is believed that in the earlier days of the Craft, only the cross-quarter days, which correspond to four major Celtic holidays, were observed by Witches. These festivals were Candlemas (or Imbolc), May Eve (or Beltane), Lammas (or Lughnasadh), and Hallow’s Eve (or Samhain).  Modern Druids, on the other hand, celebrated the Solstices and Equinoxes.  Indeed, the modern Druid Summer Solstice rituals at Stonehenge remain world-famous.

In the 1940’s, Gerald Gardner was friends with the Druid, Ross Nichols, who would go on to form the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD).  Both these men were naturists, and Ross attended Gerald’s Five Acres Cub.  It is believed that during this time, both men would compare spiritual ideas. They ended up combining both festival cycles into one cycle, celebrating the four Celtic holidays (sometimes called the Greater Sabbats in Wicca), interspersed with the four solar holidays (sometimes called the Lesser Sabbats), giving us the Wheel of the Year, with its eight Sabbats or holidays,  celebrated by most Pagans today.

These eight Sabbats celebrate the turning of the seasons. How these are celebrated can vary from coven to coven and also in different locations.  For example, when we in the Northern hemisphere celebrate the Summer Solstice, our brothers and sisters in Australia celebrate the Winter Solstice.  In the UK, Witches celebrate Candlemas (the eve of February) as the start of Spring, whereas, here in Ottawa, we are in the depths of winter, facing the coldest time of the year, but at this time, we can see that the days have grown significantly longer, and we can celebrate the promise of the coming Spring.

Many covens celebrate the Sabbat cycle with a mythic cycle.  The details of this cycle will vary in different covens, but they all tend to correspond to the birth, life and death of nature and/or the Sun God, as he changes with the turning of the seasons.  I present you now with one such mythic cycle:

Through the dark caverns under the Earth, the moaning resonates.  The Great Mother Goddess is in labour, and in the process of giving birth to the Child of Promise. With one last push, the Sun God is born, breaking the darkness of this Yuletide night.  It is the Winter Solstice, and the Lord of Light is born again.

We find the Sun God growing quickly, as all deities are wont to do.  He has been growing in strength, and the days have grown longer, until alas, his mother, rested, ascends from the bowels of the Earth, and joins him, clothed in white snow, bringing with her the promise of Spring.  This time is called Candlemas, as we celebrate the growing light with lighted candles.  To the ancient Irish, is was Imbolc, which means in the belly, for life is waiting in the belly of the Earth, waiting to come forth.

As the God grows, he becomes awakened to his  own sexuality, as does nature itself as it emerges from the sleeping Earth. The Horned God has now grown to adolescence, and is raging with hormones.  The people who have locked themselves indoors to wait out the cold are now venturing out, taking advantage of any warm days.  The Lady has taken on the form of Flora, the youthful Goddess of Spring, and she receives the young God, not as her son, but as her lover, and is impregnated.

As the young God matures and grows in strength, his rays feed the green vegetation of the Earth.  As his essence is now found in Nature itself, we acknowledge him not only as the Sun God, but also as the God of Vegetation and Nature.  Symbolically, he now makes a commitment to the Earth Goddess by marrying her, and becoming her Consort.  This is celebrated by the festivities of Beltane or May Day.  In many lands, this is celebrated by dancing about the May Pole, itself a fertility symbol, or by lighting Bel Fires.

As the Sun God continues to grow in strength and matures, he reaches his zenith at the Summer Solstice, Midsummer.  Now the Goddess, the Great Queen, whose belly is full of life, asks him to take responsibility for Her people, the children of the Earth, and to take the crown and become King in his own right.  Knowing that this means putting aside the things of youth, and accepting his own eventual death, he accepts this onerous responsibility.

As the energy of the Sun God has fed the growing crops, he is now acknowledged as the Corn King.  Here is Canada, we use the word “corn” to refer to maize, but in the UK, corn refers to all grain crops, and it is in this sense that we use it here.  Lammas, or Lughnasadh, celebrates the first harvest of corn crops.  This is celebrated by the sacrifice of the Corn God himself, for indeed, his essence has also entered the crops that we are now harvesting.  The Corn King becomes a willing sacrifice that his people may live.  Symbolically, his blood is spilled in the fields, as red poppies grow among the corn.  His blood nourishes the Earth as a reminder that all life feeds off of death. Fresh bread made from grains and flour may be shared as part of the celebration.

The Autumn Equinox marks the second harvest festival.  Here, we celebrate the harvest of fruits.  The apple reminds us of the the Land of Youth, or the Realm of the Dead, as the mythic island of Avalon (the Isle of apples).  In Norse mythology, it is Idun’s apples that give immortality to the Gods.  When cut in half, the apple shows the five-pointed star, or pentagram, sacred to the Goddess.  Having been sacrificed at Lammas, the God now goes on the perilous journey into the Underworld, as his light in the Heavens begins to fade.

The third and final harvest is upon us at Hallow’s Eve.  In ancient Ireland, this festival was known as Samhain, Summer’s End.   In days of yore, this final harvest was a harvest of blood.  It is said that at this time, farmers would have to estimate how much livestock they could keep alive for the winter months.  If too many we kept, they might run out of feed for the animals before winter’s end. If too few were kept, they might not have enough livestock to live on themselves.  Once they had estimated the right number of animals to keep, the rest would be slaughtered, and a feast would be held.  The remaining meat would be cured and kept for the long winter months.  It is also said that no crops should be gathered after Samhain, for these now belong to the spirits. At this time, longing to find out what has become of her Love, the Goddess descends into the Underworld on her own journey.  Reaching the lowest depths of the Earth, she finds her love, now enthroned as the Lord of Death.  In this role, he welcomes her children who have crossed over, giving them comfort and rest, until they are ready to be reborn again to the world above.  

As the seasons turn, and we return to Yule, we find the Goddess again, giving birth to her child, who is none other than the reincarnation of the God himself, and the cycle continues.