The Wheel of the Year
We, as human beings, are composed of mind, body and spirit in sacred union with the physical universe. Our living involves changes of and with the physical world. Although our paths in life can be unpredictable, the rhythm of change is not. There is always a beginning, middle and an end. A birth, growth/maturation followed by a death. Each ending lays ground for the next beginning. It is within this cycle that we move along our paths where ever they may lead.
One of the most significant rhythms of change for mankind is brought about by the Sun, a symbol of the God and male vitality. As is radiates its life giving light to the Earth Mother, she and all things reach skyward for His warmth. It has been His solar cycles that bring us the gift of the seasons. Since pre-history, Mankind’s hopes and prayers have been intertwined with the transformations of the Earth during His solar cycles. If one did not plant in planting season, one might not have enough food to live. If one could not harvest and preserve that which was grown, it might be a very hard winter. Traditions were made to keep from forgetting what needed to be done. These traditions included festivals and sacred days that marked the turning of the seasons and gave opportunity to express appreciation to the Divine forces that are a part of our world. These sacred days and transformations of tour living world formed the basis of what we now know as “The Wheel of the Year”.
The Pagan “Wheel of the Year” is a sort of map of changes that the Sun has been observed to invoke in the Earth every year. The “map” is circular, because it is always the same pattern over and over. It is called a “wheel” because that implies travel and movement. Each time we travel the circle of a year we “come full circle” but arrive in a different place. We have changed. The world and those in it are a bit (or a lot), different and our thoughts, views and understandings have changed.
Though it has not always been so, today the Wheel of the Year is broadly known in Wicca as having eight sacred celebrations called Sabbaths. These Sabbaths mark the eight parts of one cycle of change that the Earth moves through during the course of a year. From beginning to end they are Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Litha, Lammas, Mabon and then back again to Samhain. Each Sabbath is a unique and vital portion of the one great cycle of change and can only truly be understood in context to the whole. This great cycle of change that is mapped out in the Wheel of the Year includes change on a physical, mental and spiritual level because those three things are key components of life in the physical world. They are inseparable components of us. The “Wheel of Life” turns and we, as whole beings, turn with it.
