The Wheel of the Year (Sacred Sabbats/Holidays)
As the wheel turns, Pagans celebrate 8 Holy days or Sabbats. Some say the lady of Life rules Spring and Summer, while the Lord of Death and Resurrection rules Fall and Winter. Others say the Divine Son is born of the Great Mother at Yule, lies in ecstasy with the young Goddess at Beltane, and sacrifices himself in life’s cause at Laughnassad.
Between the world, The Sabbats; “Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn; birth, growth, fading, death - the wheel turns on. Ideas are born; projects are consummated; plans prove impacted and die. We fall in Love, we suffer loss, we consummate relationships, we give birth, we grow old, we decay. The Sabbats are the 8 points at which we connect the inner and outer cycles: The interstices were the Seasonal, the Celestial, the Communal, the Creative, and the Personal all meet. As we enact each drama in its time, we transform ourselves. We are renewed; we are reborn even as we decay and die. We are not Separate from each other, from the broader world around us; we are one with the Goddess, with the God. As the cone of power rises, as the Season changes, we arouse the power rises, as the Season changes, we arouse the power from within, the power to heal, the power to change our Society, the power to renew the Earth.”
The Wheel of the Year was a tool created by Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols. They took the ideas and laid them out in the form of a wheel. This was not an odd thought, because the Sabbat Yule is actually the word “wheel” in Scandinavian. This tool caught on quickly and the different covens began to use it to train seekers that are also known as neophytes. Gardner and Nichols worked together to create several different tools that would help the modern world understand the old world concepts and traditions. Today the Wheel of the Year has been used by Pagans and Wiccans alike.
The Wheel of the Year has 4 quarters and 4 cross quarters. The 4 quarters are known as the greater Sabbats, and the 4 cross quarters are known as the lesser Sabbats. The Wiccan Wheel of the Year begins on Samhain, which is the Witches New Year, and continues to Mabon. Each Sabbat builds upon the next using two concepts… the Witch’s Manifestation Process and the Story of the God and the Goddess. Both concepts work hand in hand to bring understanding of how the energies of this world work, and the abstract concepts of reincarnation and the life we live at the present time.
Unlike many Western Religions and Theologies, a seeker first learns about Wicca and then decides whether or not to be initiated as a Witch. In order for a neophyte to be initiated into most covens, they must study with the coven for the full turn of the wheel and then they can receive initiation on the following day, giving them a Year and a Day of instruction. This allows the seeker to truly decide if the Wiccan Way is the path that is meant for them to follow in this life time.
Out Wheel/Holiday order is as Follows;
Samhain (Halloween) October 31st
Yule (Winter Solstice) Dec. 20-22nd
Imbolc (Candlemass, Brigid) Feb. 2nd
Ostara (Spring Equinox) March 20-22nd
Beltane (May Eve, Walpurgis) April 30th
Litha (Summer Solstice) June 20-22nd
Lughnassad (Lammas, August Eve) August 1st
Mabon (Fall Equinox) Sept. 20-22nd
