Fundamentals

Wheel of The Year

The modern Wheel of The Year as we know it today, while suggested to in the 17-1800’s; gained popularity in the 1950’s.  The holidays and ideas it represents date back much further. For centuries various cultures around the world have seen life as a cycle. Life – Death – Rebirth.  Our seasons change, life has a natural ebb and flow that never ends.

The Wheel of The Year puts this into a visual perspective and highlights the 8 Sacred Sabbats.

wheel of the year
Click to view full size

If you google Wheel of The Year you will find a ton of images. I like the one above for actual reference because it’s laid out nicely, very clean cut and well defined.

The wheel represents 8 important celebrations, also known as Sabbats.

4 Solar/Fire– Summer (Litha) & Winter ( Yule) Solstice // Autumn (Mabon) & Spring/Vernal (Ostara) Equinox

4 Seasonal/Agricultural– Samhain, Imbolic, Beltane, Lughnasadh

The midpoint of the four seasons is when the Seasonal/Agricultural Sabbats occur and these are considered main celebrations.
The beginning of each season is when the Solar/Fire Sabbats occur and these are minor celebrations.

Twice a year the hours between sunrise and sunset are exactly equal to the hours between sunset and sunrise. This is an equinox.  Day and Night are in equal balance.

Halfway between each equinox there are two points on the earth’s path which mark the Solstices. In the summer Daylight is at it’s longest on this day and night the shortest. In the winter it’s the longest Night and shortest Day.

wheelofyear

Everything in life is a cycle. Some cycles should be honored and cherished while some personal cycles should be broken and fresh ones started.  Do not allow negative energy to get trapped into your life cycle.

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.