Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

[Jembru]

I'd mentioned in another thread that I've been having a few difficulties with theology. Well, for the large part, this is sorted in my mind. I did something last night that should have been one of the FIRST things I did. I meditated and just asked God directly, how he wishes me to celebrate him.

My concern was with the mythology of the Wheel of the Year. More specifically, God's role, as I am quite comfortable with the stages Goddess goes through. Understanding WHY I do what I do and believe what I believe, has become so much more important to me since returning to paganism, but there was just too much that didn't add up. I was very interested in the Farrer's research on the matter. They really did A LOT of leg work and I can see how much of this has filtered through to common thought. But they version of the myths doesn't fit mine EXACTLY (and my current beliefs are different from what I was originally taught too). Nothing I read fit exactly with my beliefs, but I am okay with this now.

Perhaps because I have had a close relationship with Goddess and God for so long, there will forever be a Wiccan flavour to my beliefs. There is no way I could just switch it off and completely change my view of Deity. It would be like finding out my parents aren't my real parents when I was a child, and suddenly being sent to live with my real family who I didn't know and love.

Still, after a few weeks of frustrating research and soul searching, I am now very interested in the mythology of the Wheel of the Year and would like to hear what others celebrate.

Of course, I am talking about the Wiccan adaptation which celebrates both the fire festivals AND the solar festivals. My understanding is that this has become popular amongst many non-wiccan pagans because although there is no evidence that any society ever celebrated all 8, all 8 are indeed both ancient and yet still relevant to modern pagan life. So I am even more interested to know how other faiths fit their beliefs around the sabbats. If you celebrate 4 or 6 festivals, or even more than 8, again, please explain if you have time to do so.

Do your deities go through any seasonal changes? What are the main themes you celebrate at each sabbat? Are any of your deities sacrificed and resurrected?

Thanks to anyone who has the time to write such a complicated response. Sorry I write such long posts. I couldn't be concise to save my life.

[Dez]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

I was actually thinking about something similar recently, which led to me posting a thread in the Heathen mini-section about holidays.

Based on everything I can see, there wasn't the evidence in Germanic areas, especially With the Norse, on heavy use of a solar calendar that there was in Celtic lands.

At the same time, though, the god and goddess who really spoke to me first were Frey and Gerda, and so many of the more seasonal snd fertility-linked aspects of worship elsewhere make a lot of sense to me, particularly since I seem to experience him as a being who waxes and wanes with the seasons.

At this point, that is leaning towards a sort of hybrid practice, fully aware that what feels right in this case is pretty anachronistic.

[Jembru]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

Thanks for the reply. I'll have a dig around for the thread you mentioned. I am ashamed to say I don't pay enough attention to the threads of paths I don't follow. That's kind of annoying because that's exactly what bothers me about some wiccans (the closed-mindedness and refusal to read anything beyond books written by other wiccans), and I am guilty myself. I'm on a mission to learn from areas beyond wicca. I currently can't decide if I should call myself wiccan or not, but I hope that even if I do pick up this title again, I am a wiser wiccan.

[thalassa]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

We celebrate the WoTY in a general sort of way. Our main focus is the solar festivals, with less emphasis on the fire festivals. For the environment where we live (and despite their calendrical dates) the "height" of each season happens on the equinox/solstice and the "transition" from one season is around the time of the fire festivals...which is pretty much what we observe. With the kids, we explain the life cycle of the sun and the year in terms of Baby Sun King>Boy King/Sun Prince>Sun King>Wise Old King/Grandpa Sun. We aren't Wiccan, so the whole God/Goddess mythos has nothing to do with our WoTY. Symbolical cosmology speaking, we celebrate the sun as a god, the moon and earth as goddesses (Mama Moon as the kids call her, and Gaia), and that's about it. For us, the WoTY is about being in the place where you live, and celebrating the environment where you are.

There is another WoTY thread you might find some interest in too, in the holiday section.

[Jembru]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

Thanks for the reply and the link. I'll check it out. I suppose HALF of what I do is similar. My problem was having two main themes. One is more generically pagan with Earth Mother and Green God, who I associate more with the sun than I do the Horned God, because the sun is so vital to vegetation, and celebrated mainly on the solar festivals, with some involvement on the fire festivals. The other theme is the typically wiccan myth of the Triple Goddess and Horned God. I tend to relate to Triple Goddess and Horned God more on Esbat, as I separate them as primarily a Wiccan theme, although I do think they're a valuable myth for the fire festivals too. However, the coven used to celebrate the Triple Goddess and Horned God's stories on all Sabbats, with the other, much older myths somewhat thrown in as an afterthought. Reading around, it seems that this is not unique to us, and this just confused me even more.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't consider the Horned God as being particularly cyclic. Green God goes through phases of growth and death, but I have always felt that the connection between Horned God and vegetation is more of a modern invention. Traditionally, Horned Gods seemed to have more to do with hunting and thus rulership over the animal kingdom, hence the HORNS. If they were associated with woods, surely it was more fauna than flora they were guarding? The idea that he is sacrificed at Lughnasadh, no longer makes any sense at all to me (although I will miss making horned god gingerbread sacrifices each year ). I've been reading around about the folk customs of symbolic sacrifice at this time, and I see no mention of it being a Horned God they are sacrificing, unless the author is wiccan. This theme only fits if you consider 'God of vegetation' to mean Horned God, which I no longer do. Neither does it make sense that a supposedly old crone Goddess would give birth in the middle of winter.

See? While I no longer feel the need or desire to stick to my Wiccan roots, these themes have been with me for so long, that suddenly being at odds with them is really hard for me.

So I have one theme, in which Goddess is ever present as Earth Goddess, while her consort God is ever changing through phases, and a second theme in which it is Goddess as Triple Goddess, who changes while God remains unchanged. It fits for me and I like that it blurs the gender stereotype a little (I consider Green God to have many 'feminine' qualities and Earth Goddess to display much of what we'd consider 'masculine'). It's just going to take some time to adapt what I DO to match what I FEEL, and to fully let go of old dogma.

An offline friend has given me some decent advice and said I should just celebrate my new themes at the Sabbats, and if something feels missing then, when I am more connected to what is happening in nature at the time, then consider if and how I could reintroduce it.

I'm pleased this is not one of those forums which is dominated by Wiccan fundies, because I'd be publicly shot down in flames for writing these thoughts.

[Dez]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

I'd agree that agricultural gods and wild deities like cernunnos seem to be two different " types". I almost wonder whether the confusion is partially due to how little our culture interacts with nature....making beings that deal with green and growth all feel wild.

Pure supposition on my part.

We actually don't get a whole lot of wiccans on here. It's a pretty eclectic group, that in general prefers to start with cynicism on a particular topic and go from there.

[Jembru]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

Yeah, I think I first joined about 2 or 3 years ago (only just recently managed to log into the new forum though), and I have yet to be told 'You are wrong because the Gardnerian Book of Shadows says...' 'Or what do you mean you are Wiccan but have no lineage?' There hasn't been any of that, 'I've been a High Priest for 25 years (which is usually crap anyway) so I can tell you for sure that...'

I used to joke that I didn't like other Pagans. I have come to realise it is just SOME pagans I can't stomach. This forum is far more open minded and I kinda like the thought that fundimental Wiccans avoid it because they dissaprove of our relaxed ways. Well, something sure keeps them away. Can't say they're a miss.

[Dez]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

I THOUGHT your name looked familiar!!! Welcome back, Hun.

[Jembru]

Re: Question about mythology around the Wheel of the Year

Thanks for that. It's nice to feel welcome back.

I reappeared for a few months in Spring 2010, while I was desperately trying to reignite my passion for paganism and spirituality. Sadly, I failed and ended up quitting again. Hopefully I am back for good now. This time, I really do feel that candle inside burning brightly. It seems that the direction I had been pulled in, was just too different from the direction I had been headed in for so long. I feel that the gods broke me down so I could rebuild from the ground up, because simply changing path, after 15 years, would have been impossible for me.

It's actually fun feeling like a noob again and I know everyone here will be gentle with me while I explore my new relationship with the Divine. I have even renounced my degrees. I was always told that degrees are only relivent within the circle and between members of the coven/tradition in which they were granted anyway. It was customary for us not to mention our degree to non-members and to this day, very few of our friends even know which of us was High Priestess! So it was pretty easy to let it go.