Liber ab Luna (The Book of the Moon)^163
was put forth to support the Tree Calendar, the poem itself has been embraced by the
Wiccan community. Most notably, it has been included in the rituals presented by our
beloved Janet and Stewart Farrar. Despite the difference in opinion between the Pa-
gan and academic communities, I feel the Tree Calendar deserves a place in our com-
munity and believe the information presented here will help to further its inclusion by
addressing not only its supporters but also its detractors. With that goal, I present three
theories about the ancient Celtic year.The Ancient Celtic Tree Calendar (Theory 1—The least accurate)
Presented as the first theory is how I received it as a teen. Since that time, I have
noted that this system is also the most often cited in the Pagan community. It is a 13-
part division of the year with an extra day or two at the end of the year to adjust the
lunar cycle to the solar cycle. The last day of the year is seen as a day outside of the year,
and while this may be confusing, calling that day a day is not very accurate. It might be
a couple of days depending on how the solar year and lunar months line up. This is the
source of the Wiccan term ‘A year and a day.’ Most claim it means one year (365 days)
and a day (1 day) for a total of 366 days. It is actually a Celtic year (approximately 364
days) and a day (approximately 1 day) for a total of 365 days or modern year.
To add just a bit more confusion to the matter, Samhain (Gregorian approxima-
tion October 31) is often cited as the Celtic New Year’s Eve with November 1 cited as
the first day of the Celtic Winter. Thus, because the Celts followed the principle of
counting in the order of Darkness before Light, the new year began on November 1st—
the first day of Winter and the Dark half of the year. I believe this is not true if we
consider Samhain to be a single day. Instead, if we consider it to be a season that is
marked at conclusion, we see a different story unfolding. If that is how we address the
months, we see that a more accurate way of approaching the months of the Celtic Year
would be to start at the first new moon after Fall Equinox. That being the case, the first
month in the Celtic Tree Calendar would be Gort. If, on the other hand, we say that the
first day of the new year is the day after Samhain, then we would say that the first
month is Ruis.
Whichever you choose, I have arranged the chart to depict the Celtic Tree Calen-
dar starting with Beth for two reasons. First, Beth is most representative of January,
and January is where we start the new solar year. The second, and perhaps more enter-
taining reason, is that if we choose to believe what all those Pagan books say about
Samhain being the Celtic New Year and we choose to believe that the Celtic Tree
Calendar is valid, then we are left with a major paradox. You see, if we use the Celtic
Tree Calendar, we are forced to accept that which Robert Graves used to support its
premise, “The Stag of Seven Tines.” In doing that, the first month of the year is Beth,
which is as I have ordered the months. To be most accurate, the chances of a solar-
marked day (Solstice or Equinox) and a lunar-marked day (new moon) lining up per-
fectly are slim. Therefore, in considering the approximate Gregorian dates, know that
I have set these dates as the most commonly cited but rectify them against the first newq WB Chap 09.p65 163 7/11/2003, 5:53 PM