Pagan living

Certain types of working can be best suited to the time of year, for instance, spring cleaning is obviously a spring pursuit. Below is a brief outline of the trends for each season.


SPRING = New starts; cleaning the house from top to bottom; making a fresh start; spells to enhance confidence.


SUMMER = The summer is a time for relaxation and meditation.



AUTUMN = Clearing things up; Out with the old; Reassessment time; Remembrance.


WINTER = A time for going within, focusing on yourself, your life, your aims, your dreams and hopes. Work on what is holding you back.

Also during winter the New Year falls. This is a time for new beginnings and divination.

Original source

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8 Pagan Festivals (sabats): Wheel of the Year.

Pagans celebrate an 8-fold year Wheel.
The 4 Solar festivals of
Mid-Winter Solstice,
Spring Equinox,
Midsummer Solstice &
Autumn Equinox
are joined by the fire festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas & Samhain. (Extract taken from www.witchcraftandmagic.org

Spring Eqx -21st March
Spring equinox is a time of new beginning and initiating enterprises. A time of reaching balance between Dark & Light.. day & night. It is a time of noticeable lengthening of day-light hours and quickening. Current observation shows weather to be very changeable – fluctuating between bright sunny days and wild wet windy conditions. Flowers are already blooming, and trees are looking hairy with a burst of newly sprouting buds and leaves. Astrologically, the Sun enters the firey sign of Aries. However transposing the elemental energies onto the year-wheel, it is obviously the energy of `air’ that is flowing now (and at Summer, it’s Fire, Autumn- water, and winter- Earth). Taking all this into consideration, in this ritual, we work actively to balance the opposing forces in our lives, and a bit of personal `spring-cleaning’ internally, then explore the mystery of Spring, through the God-Goddess cycle. Mating and fertility rites are obviously being played out by all wildlife in nature at this moment.

Midsummer - 21st June
Midsummer: This marks the height of the Summer, and the longest day of the year. Astrologically, it is exactly the point when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer (which is the natural house of the Moon!). The new-born Sun of the midwinter (Yule) has grown to it’s fullest potential, and so pagans are mindful at Midsummer that the wheel turns. It is when the previously defeated Holy-King returns, challenges the Oak-King and wins. Thus at Midsummer, the rein of the Oak King ends and the one of Holy King begins. Midsummer games such as tug of war enact this battle between summer and winter forces. In terms of the God myths, it is a time for the God to become Sun-King, and take his place on the throne of responsibility for his people.

Autumn Eqx -21st Sept
Autumn Equinox: This is the time when the wheel turns once more, from summer to winter. A time when the dark equals the light, and the night times begin to increase. Trees begin to shed their leaves in preparation of the coming winter, wildlife collects seeds and stocks up for winter and animal migrations begin. We celebrate the second harvest of the year- the harvest of the fruits. We also mark the balance of dark and light. In Wicca we re-enact the mythology of Hades and Persephone – her abduction, entry to the underworld, Demeter’s anguish and the withdrawal from the land, eating of pomegranate seeds by Persephone and her stay in the underworld. We use a spiral path-working to enter the inner-world, and plant seeds of our future ventures, so that we may nurture them during the winter months. In this ritual, coven members take on the symbolic journey of Persephone.
Samhain -31st Oct

Yule -21st Dec
Winter Solstice is the time when the Sun is at it’s lowest (nadir), resulting in the longest night and darkness appears to be enveloping all. Inwardly, it’s a time when hope and faith may be ebbing low and the future looks bleak. It is precisely at this point that the festive energy is needed to shift the magic within, and to celebrate the birth of the Sun Child! From here onwards, the night time starts to reduce, and daylight grows.. to a point of balance between dark and light (at Spring) and to the long days at Summer! As a symbol of hope and life, celebrants decorate the Altar and indoors with bright objects and keep greenery (ever Greens.. ie Yule tree and of course holly etc). A Yule log is also burnt in the ire, symbolising the coming of warmth and fire.
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