Autumn is my very favorite time of year. A time of slowing down and turning inward that I feel in my bones. After the vibrant heat and color and activity of summer, autumn feels like a welcome retreat; an invitation to start spending more days indoors cultivating nurturing hearth-warming activities like spices simmering on the stove, baking ginger molasses cookies in the warm oven, and cozying up with warm blankets and pots of hot tea against a backdrop of candles and fairy lights.
The changing seasons always quickened my senses as a child. Some of that wonder was lost as I aged and got busy with extracurriculars, employment, and taking on a home of my own. In June of 2015 I first came across The Wheel of the Year: an annual cycle of seasonal festivals celebrated by modern Pagans. I was immediately and completely captivated by it. It stirred and reawakened in me much of the wonder that I'd felt for the changing seasons as a child. I started my first year of study of the eight holidays and traditions simply enough: by obtaining the Llewellyn Sabbats Almanac and reading about each festival as it came to pass. It was a helpful tool in guiding meditations, activities and observances throughout the end of 2015 and through 2016.
I was raised in a Christian home and loved the seasonal rituals that came around each year. My family enjoyed many creative ways of marking the seasonal religious observances and it was the topmost thing that I missed after leaving the church many years ago. Finding The Wheel of the Year was such an unexpected and delightful surprise. It gave me the ritual that I'd been craving to mark each passing year, rooted in the connection that I'd long felt to the changing seasons. As I worked my way through the first year of observances last year, I quickly noticed that many things that I'd felt and observed in the changing seasons, but hadn't had a name for, were marked in rituals stretching back across time. The Wheel is what I'd been searching for without knowing it. It brought these two seemingly disparate parts of myself together.
So, this next year I'm devoting myself to in-depth study of The Wheel. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, seeking to understand the rich history and depth of how seasonal festivals have been observed by cultures throughout the world since ancient times. It's a true passion project of mine, combining my love of research, history, ritual, and nature. These days, I'm spending most of my free time reading and taking notes and making trips back and forth to the library. I'm also seeking like-minded communities to learn from, and I'll be integrating all of this learning into creating meaningful rituals through each of the eight Wheel festivals.
Even though I knew it was coming, Samhain (Halloween, the first of the eight festivals) snuck up on me this year and suffered from under-planning. However, it was still quite a magical evening. Benjamin and I prepared a feast together, listened to one of my favorite podcasts' episodes on Samhain and ate our meal in the dark, by candlelight, connecting with the darkness of this season. It was lovely.
Since I wished it had contained more (more ritual, intent, thoughtfulness), it was a great motivator towards redoubling my efforts in planning for Yule. (In fact, that's what delayed me finishing up this post for so long! I am reading all-the-things all-the-time. It's awesome!) I hope to post occasional festival updates to share some of how we mark each observance. Thanks for sharing this journey with us here!