Merry Meet, my Magickal Ones. ✨
So. What in the name of Gaia is the Wheel of the Year?
Sometimes referred to as the Wheel of Sabbats, or just known as plain ol’ Sabbats, seems to come from Pagan Germanic, Celtic, & even Roman cultures. The Wheel is a calendar for the seasons. It goes through solstices & times of harvests through the year, & reminds you when it’s time to throw a witchy holiday party!
The holidays with Celtic origins are Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, & Samhain.
& the holidays with Germanic origins are Yule, Ostars, Litha, & Mabon.
Lughnasadh 🌽 :
Pronounced as ‘LOO-nah-sah’
Also known as ‘Lammas’
This takes place on August 1st
Marks the first harvest, celebrating wheat crops
Ways to celebrate: enjoy a feast, bake bread, brew/enjoy beer or non-alcoholic ginger beer, make corn husk dolls, decorate your altar with wheat, do rituals for abundance, & give thanks to the Earth
Mabon 🍂 :
Pronounced as ‘MAY-bon’
This takes place from September 21st & September 23rd
Marks the Fall Equinox & second harvest, celebrating with a feast like Thanksgiving
This is the time when day & night are the same length
Ways to celebrate: create cleansing bundles with sage, orange, & cinnamon, bake warm fruit pies, reflect & give thanks for manifestations, make hot apple cider, donate to charity, collect acorns & nuts, make your besom broom, collect colorful leaves for your altar, do a ritual for restoring balance
Samhain 🎃 :
Pronounced as ‘SOW-een’ or ‘sOW-in’
This takes place from October 31& November 1st
Marks the new year on the Wheel!
It’s not only the pagan New Years & Halloween, but it celebrates the final harvest of the fall
This is when the veil between worlds in the thinnest. On this night, we celebrate death by honoring ancestors & remembering them
Ways to celebrate: carve a Jack-O-Lantern, remember passed loved ones, do some candle magic, bake some soul cakes. visit & maintain a loved ones grave, tell ghost stories, scrying & divination, eat sweet treats
Yule 🌲 :
Pronounced as ‘Yool’
This takes place from December 21st & January 1st
This is the Winter Solstice. The final preparations for the coming winter are complete. This marks the rebirth of the sun
This is the longest night & the shortest day of the year. Ths is celebration of rebirth & new beginnings
Ways to celebrate: perform cleansing & blessing rituals as well as rituals to welcome the sun, create cinnamon & pine cleansing bundles, make a Yule log cake, make a Yule wreath, make Yule decorations with natural materials, make seed covered apple treats for birds, decorate a living tree for Yule
Imbolc 🍃 :
Pronounced as ‘IM-bullug’ or ‘IM-bulk’
This takes place on February 1st
This is the celebration of the pending return of Spring. The days start getting a little longer. The Earth begins to thaw & warm up, bringing a renewed sense of life
This is meant to be a fire festival to celebrate the blessings of hearth & home
Ways to celebrate: do rituals for renewal & growth rituals, craft a Brigid cross, use flowers in your magic or to decorate your altar, look for signs of Spring’s return, cinnamon spell work, plant your garden, burn red candles
Ostara 💐 :
Pronounced as ‘o-STAR-uh’ or ‘OHS-truh’
This takes place on March 20th
The Spring Equinox! Winter is over!
This celebrated the full return of Spring. This is the celebration of abundance & fertility. This is a time of rebirth
The day & night are equal in length
Ways to celebrate: do abundance, growth, & fertility rituals, also rituals honoring the life of the Earth, add flowers & herbs to your candle magic, decorate eggs for your altar, plant seeds, go on a nest hunt (look, but don’t touch!), do some spring cleaning, incorporate some fresh floral scents into your space
Beltane 🌻 :
Pronounced as ‘BELL-tane’
Also known as ‘May Day’
This takes place from April 30 to May 1
This is the mid point between the Spring Equinox & the Summer Solstice. This celebrates a time of abundance & warmth, & a time of fertility & love
How to celebrate: do some personal rituals focusing on cultivating abundance in relationships, take a ritual bath, dance around a May pole or decorate your altar with colored ribbons, add dried herbs & petals to your candle magic, leave offerings for the Fae (proceed with CAUTION!), have a picnic, craft a decorative wreath or flower crown, decorate cookies with herbs & flowers
Litha 🌞 :
Pronounced as ‘LEE-ta’
This takes place on June 21st or June 22nd
This is the celebration of the Summer Solstice. Literally translated, Litha means ‘longest day’.
This is a time when the herbs & plants of the Earth are in their prime. The world is so colorful!
Ways to celebrate: do some rituals that honor the sun, make homemade petal popsicles, bake Litha honey cakes, decorate your home & altar with dried citrus ornaments, decorate caked with flowers & suns, make cinnamon sweet tea, make flower & herb infused oils, do some cloud divination, water your plants with intention
When you have something to celebrate about every six weeks, it allows us to stay in tune with our practice & stay in tune with the way the Earth changes.
Your magic continues all year round.
Until next time! 🌙
Resource(s) Used:
“Spirituality 101: A Crash Course on the Wheel of the Year & the Sabbats”
By Dev
Updated July 30, 2019
https://www.technicallyadults.com/spirituality-101-a-crash-course-on-the-wheel-of-the-year/