Building a Wheel of the Year

It started with Yule, a holiday that felt somewhat familiar to me from all the old books I’ve read, and its associations with Christmas.  It began as a chance to celebrate the season apart from the commercialization, family obligations, and traditions that were already wrapped up in Christmas.  A chance to reflect, to release and close out one year while ushering in good things for the next.  After a few years we began to expand and celebrate solstices, equinoxes, and other holidays as well.  They have become important moments – times to stop and reflect, to notice the earth and the cycles happening within us as well.

This year I’m planning to do a deep dive into each of these celebrations, to expand and deepen my understanding of how these days have been celebrated, and what they teach us about the cycles and growth of the earth.  I think it is a beautiful testament that across time and space we have noticed the cycles of life, the patterns of light and darkness and have collectively found ways to incorporate that into our lives and traditions that still remain alive in our cultures today.  I hope to learn these universal lessons, and discover more about how others have celebrated, while building my own new celebrations around the traditions that come from my ancestral homes and religious practices.

I invite you to join me, I’ll be looking at the two solstices, two equinoxes and four seasonal days.  It will be concentrated on the Northern Hemisphere (for those who don’t know, the holidays are opposite south of the equator).  And while I hope to learn and share about traditions from all continents and religions, my celebrations will focus on mine and my partner’s heritage which is primarily Italian and British Isles ancestry by way of the United States. 

I’m hoping to deepen my understanding of these celebrations and time markers.  To learn from their history and natural cycles and incorporate the magic of nature, food, and tarot into the rhythm of my year.