The Pluralism Project at Harvard University
Wheels, Cycles and Spirals
by Grove Harris, reprinted from On Common Ground: World Religions in America, Columbia University Press, 2002 and 1997.
Pagans consider the calendar year a wheel, its seasons following the agricultural cycle, and celebrate the annual movements of the light of the sun and moon, whose forces are as powerful as the ocean tides, though not as easily recognized. As the moon and the sun move through the seasons, the high, low, and midpoints of their cycles are marked by eight holidays called Sabbats--the winter and summer solstices, the spring and fall equinoxes and the four mid-points between them called Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasad, and Samhain in the Celtic tradition. Many groups also meet on the monthly full and new moons.
Pagans attune themselves to the rhythms of the natural world and let the seasons of waxing and waning, of birth, growth, death and renewal reverberate in their lives. The interconnectedness of all life is seen and celebrated in many ways. All life forms are connected to each other, and death is connected with rebirth. Growing old is an integral part of the life cycle. The mystery of life in all its diversity is respected. Because the individual microcosm is connected to the larger macrocosm, Pagans locate their spiritual life not only in the world of nature, but within themselves.
The ritual calendars of many American pagans today are based on old Anglo-Saxon and Celtic traditions. The winter solstice, known as Yule, is celebrated between December 20 and 23, the time of year when the nights are longest and the days shortest, and also the inception of the light that will begin to grow as days lengthen once again. Some Pagans stay up the entire night to greet the returning light, described by some as the Birth of the Sun God. The spring equinox, which takes place on or around March 21, is named for the Germanic Goddess Ostara, and celebrates the balance between the light and the dark. The summer solstice, called Litha, is the inverse of the winter solstice. The day of the longest light, June 21, often celebrated with all-night vigils and bonfires, is the crest of the summer and the forerunner of the harvest. The fall equinox, called Mabon, takes place on or around September 21, again a balance of dark and light. It is the Pagan thanksgiving harvest in many traditions.
Evenly spaced between these are the four other festival days. Imbolc is celebrated on or near February 2, a day in Celtic traditions dedicated to Brigid, the Irish triple Goddess of smith-craft, poetry and healing. Christianity imposed its holiday of Candlemas upon this ancient celebration, and, as in ancient times, candles are often lit on this festival today. It is a time of new beginnings, a time to make aims and formulate desires for the year to come, and a favored holiday for initiations.
The springtime festival of Beltane is celebrated around the first of May. In celebrating the abundant flowers and generative energy of springtime, Pagans also honor the energy of sexuality and the fruitfulness of union. Dancing in a circle while weaving the strands of the Maypole, they make evident through ritual the interconnection of all life. The dance is colorful and exuberant, with garlands of flowers and ribbons, songs and laughter. Following the Maypole dance, there is feasting, with fresh fruit and loaves of bread decked with ribbons, and baskets of flowers are often exchanged.
On the first of August is the summer harvest festival, Lughnasad, also known as Lammas, the wake of the Sun King. In one myth cycle, the Sun King comes into being at the winter solstice, achieves union with the Goddess at Beltane, and dies at the summer solstice so that the wheel of life can continue. This late summer harvest festival is his wake, at which fruits of the harvest will be honored and shared.
Samhain is observed on the eve of November first, the Pagan and Wiccan "New Year." This, like others, is an old Celtic festival, marking the beginning of winter and of the new year. Samhain and the eve of Samhain were widely observed even after the Christianization of the British Isles: Christian observance of All Saints Day on Samhain and All Hallows Eve (Halloween) on the eve of Samhain created a new context for this popular observance.
The beginning of the winter, the time of death and decay in the wheel of the year, is also said to be the time of year when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is the thinnest and most permeable. The night of Samhain, like Halloween, is believed to be the one night when the living are in closest communication with the spirits of the dead. The ghosts, spirits, and masks that abound in the popular celebrations of Halloween derive from the ancient belief that the spirits of the dead can become manifest in the material world on this night. For American Pagans today, meditations on loved ones who have passed away are then most powerful, and meditative trance-journeys to communicate with the beloved deceased are part of many Samhain rituals. Like other New Year observances, Samhain is also a time of divination for the new spiritual year ahead. This is the best night of the year for scrying--gazing into the surface of water in a dark bowl, or into a crystal, a mirror, or a flame where images can be seen.
In addition to the solar calendar, Pagans also follow a lunar calendar, generally gathering at the full moon and the new or dark of the moon. Pagans affirm that energy can be drawn down from the moon and from the Goddess symbolized by it and that, this energy can be brought into a practitioner or channeled directly into a magical working. The cyclical beauty and mystery of the moon has been admired for centuries and for American Pagans, the rhythm of ritual life is still lived in this lunar perspective. The full moon is the time of fullness, of maximum increase, considered the best time for raising energy, consecrating spells, or for affirming bounty. The dark of the moon is the time for initiating a new beginning, or for exploring hidden matters.
As Pagans celebrate the wheel of the year, so do they celebrate the wheel of life, with its phases of birth, initiation, consummation, repose, and death. In some Pagan traditions a blessing and naming ceremony, called a "saining," is held soon after birth. In the Wiccan traditions, it may be called a "wiccaning," considered a formal blessing given to young children from the Goddess, or a rite of welcoming for a new participant. Wiccans also celebrate the first menstruation of their daughters with a coming of age ceremony.
Those who choose to be initiated into the Craft must undertake a period of preparation of at least one year. Since one can be a practicing Pagan without initiation, undertaking initiation is a profound step, expressing lifelong commitment to the spiritual path. All traditions require an internal readiness for initiation, and some traditions have several levels of initiation. Symbolically it is a rebirth, in which many Pagans receive a spiritual name. In the initiation ceremony, a Witch may be given tools by her coven or she may be challenged to get her own tools. According to practitioners, progress in the Craft takes time. It must be lived and internalized, not simply studied. Overcoming hurdles and challenges is part of the inner development necessary for initiation.
When two Pagans, whether of the same or opposite sexes, wish to be joined as life partners, they have a ceremony called a "handfasting." Along with other festivities, the handfasting ritual will generally include vows written by the couple, an actual binding together of their wrists, and the ritual of jumping over a bessom--a broomstick made of twigs. Another distinctive ritual is the "croning" rite, held to mark a woman's transition to the post-menopausal stage of wisdom, when she becomes a community elder or a crone. The last ritual in the life cycle is the passage from life to death. For Pagans, the ritual of death is one's final consecration to the Goddess in this lifetime. It is a passage to a spiritual world and to the mystery of rebirth.
In Pagan understanding, the wheel turns unendingly, but rather than repeating the same pattern, change is a constant. The pattern may be viewed as a spiral, mirrored in natural forms such as shells, circling winds, and whirling waters.
Glossary: Paganism; Christian; Wiccan; Goddess; Craft; Sabbats; solstice; equinox