A Wiccan Bible - Exploring the Mysteries of the Craft from Birth to Summerland

Liber ab Sol (Book of Sun)^135

counting each by degree around the Wheel of the Year. This method counts Winter

Solstice first, or at 0 degrees on the Wheel. These opinions no doubt come from a

stressing of the importance that the Germanic tribes associated with the solstice. To a

much lesser degree, some choose to begin with Fall Equinox, commenting that the Fall

Equinox marks the division between Summer and Winter, so that day would be both

the end of the old year as well as the beginning of the new. Those folk would mark the

Fall Equinox as at 0 degrees, Samhain at 45 degrees, and Winter Solstice at 90 degrees.

In considering these two ideas of where to start the new year, I find myself in the

middle. Yes, the new solar year is marked at the Winter Solstice, but that is the day on

which our Lord Winter is at his strongest. Certainly we are not at either our strongest

at the moment of our birth. Instead, I find Winter Solstice to align with our Lord’s

attribute of maturity, his Father stage. Keeping in tune with the threefold path of mas-

culinity (Master, Father, Sage) this means that He would have been at the youth/

Master stage during Samhain and at the Holiday prior (Fall Equinox) His state would

be newborn/infant. Consider the following from the Wiccan Rede:

When the Wheel has turned to Yule

light the log,

let the Horned One rule

—From the Wiccan Rede, Author Unknown^1

I begin my list of Wiccan Holidays with Samhain, not because it is the Holiday that

marks the end of Summer, but because it is the first Holiday of Winter, said to be the

first in the Dark half of the year. As we are all born (beginning) in darkness, it just

seems like the natural way to do things.

In our larger world culture, the calendar day is considered the 24 hours between

midnight and midnight. In some Eastern and Native American cultures it has been

considered sunrise to sunrise. Finally, in many Western cultures it has been seen as the

amount of time between sunset and sunset. Here again we see the principle of Dark-

ness coming before Light.

Making matters even more confusing, the actual dates of the Solar Cross Quarters

were far more flexible prior to the invasion of Germanic customs. As an example,

Bealtaine hopped around so much that some folk cite it as being a month and a half

either prior to or after its current position on the Wheel of the Year. By introducing

the idea that these things are marked by the Earth’s travel around the sun, things be-

come much easier to place.

So, when is the best actual date to celebrate these events? Well, that is what all

Wiccans have to decide for themselves. After many years of thought, I have decided it

is more Wiccan that I celebrate Winter Solstice on December 24th because that is the

day my family has chosen, and I cannot imagine belonging to a religion that would not

promote family relationships.

p WB Chap 08.p65 135 7/11/2003, 5:52 PM