So I follow the ADF calendar and my pantheon is celtic. Since Imbolc I have celebrated with a protogrove and can say I enjoy it thoroughly. We are starting the process of becoming a full grove.
So I follow the ADF calendar and my pantheon is celtic. Since Imbolc I have celebrated with a protogrove and can say I enjoy it thoroughly. We are starting the process of becoming a full grove.
"If you want to know what a man is like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." -- Sirius Black
"Time is an illusion, lunch time doubly so."-- Ford Prefect
Just the standard wiccan holidays; when I was starting out, most of the books I read were wiccan and it has a strong infulence on my practice, though I wouldn't classify my self as wiccan. I also try and celebrate the full moons, when I remember
I can definitely see the benefit of taking your cues from nature and celebrating with the first snowdrop, or thorn blossom, or ripened cherry you see.
There's some wild wheat growing in one of the lanes leading up to the cemetery I do some of my witching in (by day and during opening hours... I'm not that kind of witch!). I've been planning to collect some at Lughnasadh since I first spotted it. It seemed a bit under ripe when I was gathering it, but when I got it home and put it on the fireplace, it's still really quite green. It could have used another 2 weeks or so.
We've had a lot of sun lately so I was a bit surprised. When I did a bit of googling, it seems that mid August is the usual time for wheat to ripen up here. As a land based witch, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't move the sabbats to match what's happening in nature locally.
Has anyone else done this? I'm torn because I like the idea of having a fixed time when we can all celebrate, and I worry that setting my own dates would make me forget to celebrate at all.
夕方に急なにわか雨は｢夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は｢朝立ち」と呼ばれないの？ ＾＾If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?
I too enjoy having a set time of when to celebrate. I know that nature has a way of keeping her own schedule but I recognize that the when I celebrate closely correlates with what is happening in nature.
"If you want to know what a man is like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." -- Sirius Black
"Time is an illusion, lunch time doubly so."-- Ford Prefect
I've been working on keeping the dates, but changing the symbolism.Originally Posted by Jembru
We've started celebrating two sets of holidays--solar holidays (solstices and equinoxes) and seasonal holidays (cross-quarter days). The solar holidays correspond with the relationship between the Sun and the Earth as a life-cycle (Baby Sun King, Boy King, etc) and cross-quarter days as a reflection of the local bioregion...I'm still working this one out, since we just moved...
“You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom
“We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
"Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett
Pagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
I like this idea! I've been thinking about keeping a note of the changes I observe over the course of a year, but never get round to starting. I might try to pull my finger out and look for key moments that fall near the sabbat dates. I've noticed the sycamore have already started dropping their helicopters. I'm not actually sure if this is normal or if they're early because of the hot weather we had early in the spring. A diary would help me to keep track of what's normal up here and I could maybe work some imagery into my celebrations.
夕方に急なにわか雨は｢夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は｢朝立ち」と呼ばれないの？ ＾＾If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?
I'm surprised I've never posted in this thread.
For a long time, I celebrated the traditional WotY. Since I have moved to the north, I only celebrate the solstices, which are big, defining points of the year for us. I have been meaning for a long time to change my calendar to celebrate what is important to me bioregionally - but I never find the time to do so. It's on my list of projects in the upcoming months to redefine what the WotY looks like for me, living in sub-arctic Canada.
I guess in a nutshell, it would be something like:
Dec 21 - Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and often the coldest. We have only about 2.5 hours of daylight this day.
March - April sometime: the first hint of spring, when the lakes are still frozen, but the days finally appear longer, and while it is still winter, the promise of spring to come is in the air
Nearer to the end of April: The snow melts, and the lakes finally expose open water
Mid-May sometime: The local lakes are clear, but there is still ice on the big lake for a few weeks. The ground snow is gone, and if you look closely, you might find the buds starting on the willow bushes. This is officially spring.
Beginning of June, after the last frost: Time to plant the garden.
June 21: Summer solstice, the longest day of the year. The sun DOES set on this day, but it doesn't seem like it. Anything darker than twilight is a distant memory. Lettuces and early bloomers (radishes) are ready to harvest. Everything else is week by week after this - with so much sunlight, it doesn't take long for the peas, and green beans, and raspberries.
Beginning of August: the first night that darkness reappears, where instead of twilight, we briefly get true darkness. The aurora returns to us.
End August- very early September: The final harvest. Autumn is fast approaching, and the boreal tundra turns shades of yellow and red. Root vegetables come out of the garden. Mid august, the wild cranberries are ready for picking, if you can find them.
September-October: The first snowfall. Winter is coming.
End October-early november: the lakes start freezing over. Winter is here.
“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” – John Muir
Mostly art.
I celebrate the 8 sabbats, but I also celebrate some of the Catholic holidays with my family. I don't always like to do this, but I do because they are my family and I love them. I try to celebrate the different moons, but I don't always get to. That is my personal Wheel of the Year. It can change though.
Anubisa
Dedicated and devoted to Lord Anubis and Lady Bast. A follower of the path of Egyptian Wicca.
My personal wheel would have to be based upon the seasons for where I live as well as the traditional / festive holidays observed by my family and region. As such some aspect have some similarities with the traditional Wiccanesq holiday dates while others are more aligned to more Hellene inspired dates or observances. Yet that doesn't mean they are monthly or even annual for instance the cake offering to Artemis where every 6 years not every month like many modern pagan practices make them on a full moon type thing.
I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!
Mine is growing, having only really started this year. Samhain, the solstices and Beltane are the big ones, but I intend to incorporate the two harvest festivals. I have dates based on the real world, so the second day of May is to be a celebration of countryside wildlife as, on that day this year, I saw an unusually high number of hares. My Beltane will be two full moons after the spring equinox and Samhain two full moons after the autumn equinox.
I will be including Christmas as a family day, which despite being from a Christian family, the Big Fella never seems to get mentioned. And they're all quite active in their respective churches so it's not like they're Christian in name only.
I couldn't give a rats ass about birthdays, but I guess milestones are important.
I am developing celebrations for my historic (Polish, Norse, Celtic, Anglo Saxon) prehistoric ancestors and the earth itself (ie nature generally including the forces).
I am learning flint knapping and will be making flint tools to bury once a year for the ancestors. I hope to pick up skill in coil pot pottery and sacrifice/offer these, too.
I am also developing a constructed language, purely for ritual use.
Last edited by Briton; 08 Aug 2016 at 10:52.
I'm not one to ever pray for mercy
Or to wish on pennies in the fountain or the shrine
But that day you know I left my money
And I thought of you only
All that copper glowing fine
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