The Wheel of the Year

Mother Earth, like all living things of beings and matter, has her own rhythms and cycles to the circle of life of beginning and end. The changing seasons of the Wheel of the Year hold a functional rhythm or purpose of rebirth, renewal and hope for all life on Mother Earth. The Wheel flows as if singing life’s song and purpose through an 8-point cycle: There are eight holidays that honor these sacred rhythms of the Wheel of Year. These sacred days are traditionally celebrated through sacred rites and festivals. When we celebrate these holidays, we join in partnership with the earth, lending our energies to the turning of the Wheel. The Eight cycles permeate for the univererse to balance out all of nature, life and rythem. The cycle of these 8 stages of the Wheel of the Year are found again and again in the many rhythms of our lives: The wheel is life’s journey from birth to death. Everything in life has a beginning and end. Everything in life is reborn. By consciously tuning to the Wheel of the Year, we atune deeply to this vibrational cycle of life, and learn to work with the energies of nature, rather than struggling against the natural currents of life on Mother Earth. The Four Seasons are known as Solar Festivals, in that they mark a seasonal change caused by the Sun. The cross quarter days are marked by Fire Festivals and are usually celebrated as significant agricultural festivals. Together the Solar Festivals and the Fire Festivals make up the Wheel Of The Year. The Wheel Of The Year, is often broken into eight festivals, whether they are the eight Asatru Blots, Seasonal Festivals or Celtic Sabbats, and the observance of Solar energies at the solstices and equinoxes and the Fire energies on the cross quarter days, is a common theme throughout the world. The Festivals of the Wheel Of The Year also represent the active and dormant states of nature, man and agriculture. Each of the festival days was ruled by a governing deity, whether a God or Goddess, with each region having its own associated deity. From planting to reaping to winter to summer… the seasons were of great importance to our ancestors, for their very existence depended upon good harvests, mild winters, enough rainfall.

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