Green Man Blog - Wheel of the Year

Samhain

nospam@example.com (Dryad) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:53:00 -0700

Tonight is Samhain (pronounced SOW-in), the third and final harvest of the year. The dark half of the year starts tonight.

Samhain is one of the eight annual festivals, or Sabbats. In many Wiccan traditions, this is the beginning of the New Year, because as the end of a cycle, it is also the beginning. The seeds from the dying plants previously harvested lie in the Earth, waiting for new life to begin. For Wiccans, the God has died, or gone into the underworld, awaiting his own rebirth at Yule, when the light begins to return.

As the God has passed into the underworld, the Goddess becomes the Crone, stirring the cauldron of life, death and rebirth. The veil between the worlds is thin on this night, making it easier to communicate with those who have passed on. The mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, allowing those in the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Many Samhain rituals involve paying respect to ancestors, loved ones, friends and pets who have died. The spirits of the departed may be invited to attend the festivities.

Since the veil is so thin, this is a good time for divination of all sorts. Tarot, runes, scrying and pendulums are just a few of the ways to look ahead into the future and see what the upcoming year may have in store.

The modern holiday of Halloween (which comes from the term "All Hallow's Eve") started out as the night before All Souls (or Saints) Day, the Roman Catholic Church's day of remembrance of the Saints and the dead. Many pagan practices were "Christianized". Trick or treating came about this way. Pagans would leave gifts of food and drink on the doorstep for the spirits who wandered that night to keep them from coming into the houses looking for food. In the Christian tradition, beggars could come to the door and ask for "All-Souls Cakes" in return for saying prayers for the recently deceased of the household. (Stinginess was rewarded with vandalism.) This has evolved into our modern tradition of going door to door and trick-or-treating for candy. In ancient times, people wore masks so that they would not be recognized by the wandering spirits. This became the custom of dressing up in costumes.

But the wandering spirits were not necessarily feared. In Celtic countries, food offerings were left on altars and doorsteps for departed loved ones. Single lit candles were left in a window to help guide their spirits home. Extra chairs were put at the table and a place set for the unseen guest. Apples were buried along roadsides for those spirits who were lost or had no descendents to return to.

Many Witches and Wiccans celebrate this holiday twice. The astrological date for Samhain occurs when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio (usually around November 7). This is the astrological midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. You can celebrate the "party" aspect on October 31 and the "worship" aspect about a week later.

However you choose to celebrate, either partying, with solemn rituals and worship, or a combination of the two, be sure to take a moment to remember those loved ones who are no longer with us. Who knows - if you listen hard enough, you may hear them again.

Litha

nospam@example.com (Dryad) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:53:00 -0700

Today is Litha, the Summer Solstice. This is the longest day of the year. At this time of year the sun seems to just hang in the sky without moving. The word "solstice" is from the Latin word "solstitium", which translates to "sun stands still". This is the end of the waxing year and the beginning of the waning year. From this point on the days will slowly get shorter and the nights longer. At Litha we celebrate the sun's warmth and the fertility that it brings to the earth. We begin to prepare for the upcoming harvest season.

In Wiccan traditions, we honor the Mother Goddess who is pregnant from mating with the God at Beltane. We also honor the God, celebrating him as the Sun at its time of greatest strength, and we celebrate his approaching fatherhood. Litha is a time to celebrate both work and leisure, a time for children and for childlike play.

Litha is a fire festival. In times of old Litha festivals included singing, dancing, storytelling, feasting, and of course, a bonfire. It was believed that the Litha bonfire possesed great power, and prosperity and protection could be earned by jumping over the bonfire. Courting couples would join hands and jump the bonfire to ensure a long and happy marriage, financial prosperity and many children. Even the charred embers had protective power. They would be placed around the fields and orchards to protect the crops and ensure an abundant harvest.

The Romans celebrated this time as sacred to Juno, the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of women and childbirth and the patroness of marriage. The month of June is named for her, and even now June is a popular month for weddings.

Beltane

nospam@example.com (Dryad) — Sat, 01 May 2010 01:50:00 -0700

Today is Beltane, the first day of May. Beltane marks the beginning of pastoral summer, and for the ancient Celtic people was one of the two greatest festivals of the year, celebrating rebirth and life. (The other great festival is Samhain, Beltane's opposite point on the Wheel of the Year, which marks summer's end and the beginning of winter.)

In Pagan traditions Beltane celebrates the union of the Goddess and Her Consort, who is often seen as the Greenman or Cernunnos, the Horned God. The young God who was born at Yule has grown into manhood, and falls in love with the Maiden Goddess. Their union encouraged the fertility of the Earth. In times of old, people would "go A-Maying" on Beltane Eve, slipping away into the woods to spend the night together. Marital vows were relaxed during Beltane, and one-night "Greenwood Marriages" were common. This was believed to have a positive effect on the crops, the animals, and the people themselves.

The next morning the people would bring back spring flowers for decoration ("bringing in the May") and would cut down a tree and bring it back to their village and tie ribbons from it for the Maypole Dance. Dancers would dance around the pole with ribbon in hand, weaving the ribbons together. The Maypole Dance is a fertility rite; as the dancers weave the ribbons around the phallic pole, they weave magick for fertility and abundance. Many modern Pagan communities celebrate Beltane with a Maypole dance. Here in San Diego we celebrate every year in Balboa Park with a community Beltane ritual and a Maypole.

The sacred marriage of the God and Goddess is known as the Great Rite, and in present times is enacted in some form in nearly every modern Pagan circle. It is most often performed symbolically by placing an athame, or ritual knife (a phallic symbol) into a chalice (a female or yonic symbol).

Beltane is one of the four fire festivals of the Wheel of the Year. Cattle would be herded through the smoke of the Beltane fire to purify them and bless them with fertillity and health for the coming season. Newywed couples would jump over the fire for luck. The next day, coals from the remains of the fire were carried home to light their hearth fire, bringing the magick of the Beltane fire to bless their home.

Summer is almost here! The Earth has come alive again - it's time to feast and celebrate!

Lughnasad

nospam@example.com (Dryad) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:00:00 -0700

Lughnasad (Loo-na-sa), or Lammas, is an ancient Pagan festival celebrating the first harvest of grain and corn. The name "Lammas" comes from Anglo-Saxon origin and means "loaf mass", a celebration of the bread made from the first harvest of grain. Lughnasad honors the Celtic God Lugh, whose name means "shining one". He is often equated with the Sun God. Although the light has been waning since the Summer Solstice, here in the Northern Hemisphere we are very much in the heat of summer. The hard work in the fields is ending, and now is the time to celebrate the harvest with games and feasting. Lugh is credited with inventing certain Celtic skills and games, such as ball games, horsemanship and fidehell (an ancient Celtic board game). Celebrate the day with sports and games of skill, and honor the meaning of the season with freshly baked bread and beer.

In ancient times, the success or failure of the harvest determined whether or not the winter could be survived. Nowadays, most of us do not live off the land and no longer need to fear that there will not be enough food to carry us through the winter. Instead, we plant projects and ideas rather than crops. Lughnasad is the time when we bring our projects to fruition and reap the rewards of our efforts.

In Wiccan tradition, the First Harvest starts the season of sacrifice, when the grain of the harvest must die in order to provide food. The last sheaf of corn may be kept and made into an effigy to represent the spirit of the corn and the harvest (sometimes called John Barleycorn). The effigy is placed in the center of the feasting table, and then ploughed back into the soil the following spring when the fields are being prepared for the sowing of new crops, so that the spirit of the sun and the corn does not die.

The daylight is now visibly waning as the mature Lord of the Forest and Field becomes more the Wise Sage and his power awareness begins to pass from without to within. The pregnant Mother Goddess rules beside Him as they both bask in the bounty of Nature in this, the beginning of the harvest season.