The light has returned, and summer is officially here. Use this month to soak up the rays of light from the sun. Honor the solar deities as its heat and light shine down upon you. Allow the nourishing rays to enhance a project or idea that you have been growing since spring. Oct. 31: Winter Nights/Vetrablot – Norse celebration of the arrival of winter November 2022 Holidays

Suggested celebration timing: That Monday night or any day after, if you wait until the weekend you conflict with Christmas. Each of the cross-quarter Wiccan holidays—Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain—is inspired by older traditional folk festivals which were celebrated in Western Europe before the rise of Christianity. (Depending on the form of Wicca being practiced, some of these festivals go by other names. Lammas, for example, is also known as Lughnasa by those who work with Celtic traditions.)

Imbolg

In 2022 we also have two lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses to tap for spells exploring both sides of the Taurus earth/Scorpio water elemental pairing. Solar eclipses occur at dark moons, when the sun and moon are conjunct in the same sign. The first solar eclipse occurs at Dark Moon in Taurus ♉︎ on April 30. The second one occurs at Dark moon in Scorpio ♏︎ on October 25. Most civilizations came to this realization and celebrate this holiday in some from The Day of the Dead in Mexico to Diwali in Hinduism to modern-day Halloween. By contrast, we’d celebr But the real turning point in the process of constructing a modern neopagan calendar came more than a century after Grimm’s treatise was published. The Mid-Century Construction of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year Ross and Olivia Robertson posing in fancy dress at Huntington (now Clonegal) castle Ireland

Even outside of Wicca, most people are aware of Samhain — otherwise known as the witches’ New Year or, simply, Hallowe’en. The last of the Greater Sabbats tends to fall on the night between October 31st and November 1st. But life in ancient times was based on the seasons, and the Four Greater Sabbats mark the seasons. It makes sense that Samhain would be considered most important because it aligns with the shortening of the day and the descent of the sun.

High Spring, Beltane Sabbat

These are the four Wiccan holidays that are determined by the solar cycle. While these might seem more fundamental than the Greater Sabbats, they were less essential to living than the Greater Sabbats. The word sabbat might sound like the Jewish “Sabbath,” but it actually just translates to “gathering.” This taking on of power by the God as the Sun King and the end of his youthful days running in the greenwood represents the strength and power of the sun over the summer months, though pagans also remember that the God’s path is downhill now (the shortening of days until Yule). This is the Autumnal Equinox and occurs around September 21. In many traditions, it represents the harvest. It is a time of thanksgiving. At dawn on the longest day, at Stonehenge, the two stones which are located outside of the main circle, called the Heel Stone and the Slaughter Stone (now prone), channel the sun in alignment and the first rays hit the centre of the circle. Lughnasadh