Class VI: The Wheel of the Year
Come all ye gentle Pagans,
Come all ye of good will;
The feasting table’s laden,
The drinking vessels filled.
Come gather with rejoicing—
A holy day is here!
With carols gladly voicing
At turning of the year.
—Leigh Ann HusseySimilar rites are held at these times by just about
every magickal group in the entire worldwide magickal
community. The only difference is between the North-
ern and Southern Hemisphere. South of the equator,
the seasons are reversed, and so the calendar dates
on the Wheel for these Sabbats are opposite. For those
of you who are not involved with a larger group to
meet with, I’ll give you some ideas for your own cel-
ebrations at home—by yourself, or with your family.
For each Sabbat you should redo your altar with ap-
propriately colored altar cloths, candles, and seasonal
decorations.
As the Wheel of the Year forms a circle, any start-
ing point is arbitrary, and several of these Sabbats are
regarded as New Year in various traditions. For the
purpose of this writing, we will begin, as if casting a
Circle, with the East and the Festival of Spring:Lesson 2. Eostara
With day and night in measure,
The hornéd Ram is king
Who sows with reckless pleasure
The seed that sparks the Spring.
Safe is the Rowan’s keeping—
All ill it has fast-bound.
The Spring-fire wakes from sleeping
The green things underground.
—Leigh Ann Hussey- Introduction: The
Wheel of the Year
HE ANNUAL CYCLE OF
the seasonal celebra-
tions is variously re-
ferred to as the Sa-
cred Round, the Cycle
of Sabbats, or the Wheel
of the Year. The eight
spokes of this Wheel are the
Great Festivals that occur at the Solstices, Equi-
noxes, and Cross-Quarters midway between. These
are also called Sabbats, from the French s’battre (“cel-
ebrate”). As the year progresses, the rituals and myths
associated with each Sabbat recapitulate the great
Cycle of Life, from Birth to Death to Rebirth. Some
version of most of these festivals are celebrated by
nearly all peoples of the temperate zones, and they
have even been assimilated into the Christian calen-
dar, as Saints’ days and Masses. A bonfire in the
evening is the most common feature. Often, people
stay up all night around the fire, singing songs and
telling stories.
In my community and tradition, we have for many
years been evolving a complex cycle of celebrations
that have incorporated numerous elements of custom
and folklore from our ancient heritage. We have drawn
mainly from Western Europe and the British Isles, but
as Greek mythology has always been a strong compo-
nent of our collective Western lore, we also bring the
Eleusinian ritual cycle into our seasonal observances.
Often, the ritual will include a dramatic performance or
Mystery Play related to the mythos. The main charac-
ters in our seasonal dramas are Mother Earth (Gaea),
Father Sun (Sol), and their children: the leafy Green
Man (Florus) and flowery Maid (Flora/Kore), and
the hornéd Red Man (Faunus/Pan) and furry Maid
(Fauna). For more about these characters and perso-
nae, see 2.II: “The Soul of Nature.”
I’ll tell you a bit about how we celebrate these
Sabbats in my community, where we meet on our 55-
acre sacred land of Annwfn (AHN-uh-vun). We also
celebrate with our family at our home—Raven Haven.Corrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 14 6/10/2004, 4:02 PM