Wheel of the Year

In our Tradition we celebrate what has come to be called the Wheel of the Year as well as the cycles of the Moon. Not only are the Sabbats and Esbats a time to celebrate the Universal energies without, it is a time to celebrate those energies we carry within. We honor the God and Goddess and we honor ourselves and our coven mates.

The Wheel of the Year

1. Yule/Winter Solstice (Festival of the Sun) – We greet the beginning of the New Year with the Yule log and decorate the altar with mistletoe, holly, pine cones and nuts.
2. Candlemas (Festival of Flame) – We prepare for our Lady that she might find her way back to us after her repose in the darkness.
3. Spring Equinox (Festival of the Lady) – We welcome the Goddess with flowers of spring and colored eggs on the altar.
4. Beltane (Festival of Fertility) – We celebrate the time for the planting and nurturing of seeds and dance in the fields.
5. Summer Solstice (Festival of the Faerie Folk) – Also known as Midsummer, a time to dance and make merry in the abundance of nature.
6. Lammas (Festival of Corn) – We celebrate the harvest as the Lady prepares to take her time of rest.
7. Fall Equinox (Festival of the Harvest) – We welcome Pan who has returned from the Summerland and make an offering of the harvest.
8. Hallows (Festival of the Dead) – It is the time of the death of the year and a time when those departed souls can return to the earth to be with those they have left behind.

This content was originally posted on the N.E.C.T.W. website from April 2001 until January 2009.