Whether you've studied the wheel of the year in depth or just heard about it in passing, chances are high that you have had some form of run-in with this beloved pillar of modern witchcraft. Comprised of the eight sabbats of Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, and Mabon, the traditional wheel of the year is, on some level, part of most witches' daily and yearly practice. Not included in this version of the wheel are local seasonal celebrations, specific climate considerations, and your own unique traditions.
To some degree, we each practice our own year of the witch. This year can be comprised of birthdays and anniversaries, local and cultural holidays, religious and spiritual holidays, and vacation days. These years are fluid and change with us over time as we gain or lose family, start or end careers, move to a new place, and pursue our pathway of personal truth.
My goal with this book is to give you what you'll need to create your own personalized wheel of the year. In the following pages, we will explore the basic concepts of intuitively guided witchcraft, its role in the wheel of the year, the traditional wheel of the year, climate change, and more.
Today is the first day of the rest of the year. Tomorrow will also be the first day of the rest of the year. Looking at the year in this fashion means stepping outside of calendars and events and intentionally becoming present in the moment. This simple-sounding concept is deceptively difficult in practice and requires dedication and devotion.
Today, as people find their way to witchcraft, one of the first things they learn and copy into their journal or book of shadows is the wheel of the year. It is easy to know the dates and basic correspondences, but I have seen many struggle to harness and manifest the nuanced energy of each season as it passes by using just these sources.
In the past few years, I have taken an active role in teaching paganism and folk witchcraft online and in person, and I've noticed that when someone first starts on their path it is often the subtleties of the holidays that are overlooked in an effort to become “advanced” more quickly. To make matters worse, many sources would have you think that most modern religious holidays were directly and viciously stolen from pagans as the Catholic Church converted the folk religions of Europe. For these reasons, among many others, many novice witches discover they face challenges in developing an individual and intuitive wheel of the year practice. Through my own experience, I have found that a connecting with and practicing one's own intuitive wheel of the year starts at the most basic level—our day-to-day life.
The year of the witch is the year of you. My biggest goal in writing this book has been to inspire a spark of change in witches both new and old to their path. By learning the origins, traditions, and alternatives to the wheel, it becomes easier to craft the reality we want on our own journey.
For the witch, every day of the year can become a sacred one. The year of the witch starts with you, and it starts right now. In the words of psychologist Charles Richards, “Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week's value out of a year while another man gets a full year's value out of a week.”
One of the most important skills the modern witch can develop is intuition. This skill is not easy to access, though, and there are many ways to lose touch with the intuitive sense. Throughout the pages of this book we will learn specific ways to practice intuitively guided witchcraft, how to grow more confident in your intuition, and how to use the wheel of the year to empower you in choosing your own methods to celebrate the changing of the seasons.
While intuition is widely talked about, I find that many beginners I teach will often ask what exactly it is and how it can be tapped into. Intuition can be broken down into three levels: passive intuition (complete guessing), intuition (moderate intuitional awareness), and educated intuition (active intuition). Intuitional awareness is especially relevant to this conversation of the wheel of the year and climate because a lot of what occurs outside can be felt through our body not only physically but also spiritually and intuitively.
Every sentient creature is capable of experiencing intuition, and most people experience some form of all three levels throughout the day. When we begin to focus and hone in on our practice of witchcraft, we expand our intuition from passive levels to mindfully active levels. Using active intuition is similar to how one would work a new muscle; the more you practice and develop it, the stronger and easier it is to use.
Working with the wheel of the year fits into any secular, religious, or spiritual witchcraft practice. You don't have to observe any specific religion or creed to work with the rhythms of nature, and that is what makes it so special. When looking at the traditional wheel, the festivals mostly all observe some deity relating to Wicca. These gods and goddesses can be found in other forms of paganism as well and could even be recognized (while not worshipped) on a secular level.
For secular or more folky witches, the wheel of the year in its current form might seem scattered with religious overtones. So many times, I have come across beginners following a more secular path asking themselves how they can observe these festivals when they aren't working with those specific deities. By developing an intuitively based wheel of the year practice, secular witches are free to practice in a way that is genuine to their unique path.
On the journey to an intuitive year, everyone walks a different path. As such, everyone has preferred higher powers that they like to work with, whether that's the energy of the universe in a broader sense, or, more specific gods and deities. As we progress through this book, we will explore the world of land spirits and their role in daily and seasonal practice. Land spirits can be worshipped, called upon, and observed in any way a god or goddess may be, but they have the unique benefit of being tied directly to the land that we reside on. Working with land spirits and crafting a personal intuitive wheel are two pillars of developing a folk witchcraft path.