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\u00a0<\/p>\n
The past two weeks we\u2019ve been looking at the wheel of the year, the seasons and the Sabbats. Last week was all about looking at your local area and trying to discover your specific regions real seasons, as opposed to the usual four seasons that often represent very little of the real world. \u00a0I was just going to leave it at that, the first Wheel post was about adapting the Sabbats, the second about discovering the seasons \u2013 but it occurred to me, eventually, that the two are kind of mutually exclusive. \u00a0If you discover your local seasons and they don\u2019t match the usual four, how are you supposed to celebrate even adapted Sabbats?<\/p>\n
So this week, we are looking at the problem of Sabbats and seasonal festivals when you discover your seasons are no match for the usual 8 Sabbats. \u00a0Keep in mind I was not expecting to write this post, so it is perhaps not as elaborate as the others.<\/p>\n These ones are simple. \u00a0We assume they are based on the seasons, and as such are seasonal festivals, because of their names \u2013 Autumn\/Spring Equinox, Summer\/Winter Solstice. \u00a0The seasons are in the names, so obviously they are about the seasons. \u00a0Right? \u00a0Apparently everyone thinks so, I have seen numerous debates about whether the summer solstice is the start of summer or is it as the other name suggests, mid-summer? \u00a0And the same goes for the winter solstice and both equinoxes. \u00a0Are they the start of their respective seasons or the middle, or something else entirely?<\/p>\n The answer is the latter, something else entirely. \u00a0You can go back to part 1 of the Wheel of the Year if you like to have another look at the part about axial tilt and why our four seasons are opposite \u2013 I state that when we have less sunlight and more darkness, being tilted away from the sun, this is when the weather cools. \u00a0And the opposite is so for when we are closer to, tilted towards the sun. \u00a0In between, with the equinoxes, the world is darkening and becoming cooler, or brightening and becoming warmer. \u00a0This is all still true in the general sense.<\/p>\n But it actually doesn\u2019t mean anything in relation to the other aspects of our seasons. \u00a0So the solstices and equinoxes indicate\u00a0the basic change from warm to cool to warm again. \u00a0But heat and cold are only two little things in the greater part of our real seasons. \u00a0The solstices and equinoxes are indicators of temperature changes, but not necessarily other parts of the seasons.<\/p>\n What they are however are astronomical immutable moments, they happen at exact times that do not change because of our seasons. \u00a0They are moments to do with light and darkness. \u00a0They are in truth solar festivals rather than seasonal ones \u2013 therefore, no matter what your seasons are they still exist and are able to be celebrated for what they are.<\/p>\n The longest day and shortest night. The solstices and equinoxes are, therefore, still relevant moments for us as Pagans. \u00a0If we choose for them to be so. \u00a0This is of course up to the individual. \u00a0I have already stated I do not observe them, except the summer solstice, mostly secularly as a replacement for Christmas for my kids. \u00a0This may change as I develop my regional Hellenic calendar, but for the moment, these days are nothing more than indicators of light changes, not moments to celebrate.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And this is where it gets a bit more difficult, the cross quarter festivals, Beltane, Samhain, Imbolc and Lammas. \u00a0These are not based on any immutable thing, but certainly on regional activities and changes of a somewhat specific area \u2013 The British Isles. \u00a0Let\u2019s break them down and have a look at what they mean, at their most basic. \u00a0In order of how they appear in the southern year.<\/p>\n Lammas<\/strong><\/p>\n The first harvest. The grain harvest.<\/p>\n So, mostly to do with the harvest of grain. \u00a0If you want to celebrate Lammas\/Lughnassadh it may be best to leave it until your local grain harvest \u2013 if you have a grain harvest at all! \u00a0Alternatively you may be able to find some other local harvest festival for this approximate time of year (February or August) and celebrate it in a similar way.<\/p>\n Samhain<\/strong><\/p>\n The third harvest \u2013 meat. \u00a0The new year. \u00a0The end of summer. \u00a0The day of the dead. \u00a0Liminal, veil is thin.<\/p>\n There are multiple aspects here. \u00a0Meat harvest and end of summer would be determined by location. \u00a0The new year is something you have to figure out yourself. \u00a0The day of the dead aspect however is something I would like to briefly discuss \u2013 the large majority of death feasts occur in autumn, suggesting there is something about this time of year that calls to the dead or our awareness of the dead. \u00a0Now if you have discovered your own seasons, then autumn may be something you don\u2019t care much about any more, but it may be worth looking into why death feasts so commonly happen at this time of year.<\/p>\n Personally I suspect it has to do with the growing darkness more than the whole \u201cautumn\u201d thing. \u00a0So it may still be relevant to you \u2013 especially if you note the thinning of the veil at this time.<\/p>\n Imbolc<\/strong><\/p>\n The light festival. \u00a0The lead up or beginning of spring.<\/p>\n As a growing light festival this may indeed be relevant to you, depending on your area. \u00a0For me personally Imbolc happens when it is still mostly cloudy, so even if the days are getting longer, I don\u2019t really notice much more light. \u00a0As with much of this, it really depends on your area.<\/p>\n Beltane<\/strong><\/p>\n Fertility festival. \u00a0Fire festival. \u00a0Heat festival. \u00a0The release of cows from their winter pens. \u00a0Liminal, veil is thin.<\/p>\n As a fertility festival this is probably relevant for a lot of areas, traditional spring time does indeed match up with the mating and birthing seasons of many animals and of course the growth of plants in abundant areas.<\/p>\n As a heat festival, once again this is dependent on your area. \u00a0Some years it is indeed warming up nicely at this time of year, other years it is still pretty much winter, in my area \u2013 so it\u2019s a difficult one for me.<\/p>\n This is a liminal time like Samhain, if you take note of such things, this festival is still relevant for you as well. \u00a0<\/p>\n Baring the Aegis<\/a> and Elaion<\/a> have developed a traditionally based calendrical system for Hellenism, specifically Dodekatheism, that incorporates what\u00a0is\u00a0named PAT \u2013 Practicing Apart Together. \u00a0The idea of PAT is that though many of us live far apart from each other, by observing the rituals of certain of these festivals, we can still practice together even though we are apart. \u00a0We all observe the specific ritual at around the same time \u2013 within a 24 hour or less period, sometimes exact to the minute. \u00a0Hellenion<\/a> does a similar thing with their monthly libations. \u00a0So it is that we have potentially thousands of Hellenes world wide making similar offerings to the same\u00a0deities or entities in a single\u00a0day.<\/p>\n Sounds a bit powerful right? \u00a0The same is true for other observances, such as the Rite of Her Sacred Fires<\/a>. \u00a0Not a traditional festival of Hellenism, very new in fact and thus kind of a sore point for some Hellenes and Polytheists \u2013 but it is a limited time period in which thousands of people worldwide are making offerings and singing praises to Hekate. \u00a0Even though we are all separated by small and large distances, the act of these rituals, knowing you are not really alone, feeling<\/em> that you are not really alone in this is very powerful indeed, and empowering.<\/p>\n And this is why I actually suggest you do not throw the typical 8 Pagan Sabbats by the wayside on a whim, just because your seasons have \u201cchanged\u201d. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to call it PAT, because that is specific to Elaion, so I am referring to it in this post as Global Group Practice.\u00a0 Thousands of people all over the world celebrating the same festivals and practising very similar rituals, all at much the same time. \u00a0Powerful and empowering.<\/p>\n As I state\u00a0above, the solstices and equinoxes are immutable moments, they are solar and light festivals \u2013 which we already know, but sometimes forget in the face of the four seasons. \u00a0But they are what they are and they are relevant no matter what your seasons are. \u00a0So if you personally want to celebrate them, then you most certainly should do so! \u00a0And take comfort in the fact that thousands of people around the world are doing the same.<\/p>\n Even if the light festivals are opposite between north and south, I don\u2019t think this actually detracts from the global\u00a0group practice idea. \u00a0Indeed I think that it makes it uniquely more powerful \u2013 two opposites meeting in the middle, dark and light coming together and being celebrated at the same time.<\/p>\n The cross quarters are admittedly a little more difficult to negotiate. \u00a0Nonetheless, I still don\u2019t suggest you abandon them without some deep thought and consideration. \u00a0What I outlined about them above is really very minor, because that is not all they are about \u2013 there are also the God and Goddess transitional aspects to those festivals that you personally may find relevant no matter your local seasons. \u00a0 It is possible that you have already adapted these festivals for your own personal practice making them entirely relevant to you no matter what.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The 8 Pagan Sabbats are not the only festivals, holidays and observances that exist.\u00a0 I mentioned above the Rite of Her Sacred Fires, performed in the full moon of May every year. \u00a0This is for anyone, of any path or tradition, who wishes to honour Hekate. \u00a0That is an alternative that has nothing to do with the seasons. \u00a0And it is just one, there are others, some deity based, some not \u2013 Earth Day<\/a> is a good example of a non-theistic celebration. \u00a0Though it is not uniquely Pagan, it can certainly be adapted as your own Pagan festival. \u00a0Which leads us to the idea of adapting other non-Pagan and non-religious festivals and holidays into your practice \u2013 international ones, national ones and even ones unique to your area.<\/p>\n My town has a rockabilly festival every October which is fantastic, and I wonder how I might incorporate some religiousness into that day \u2013 for myself, I am not suggesting we go preaching or anything! \u00a0Australia of course has ANZAC Day and Australia Day, contentious as that may be, or even better Clean up Australia Day<\/a>. \u00a0Globally, well I suppose you could say we already have those in the Sabbats, but there are other ones like Valentines Day<\/a> or\u00a0even Scotch Whiskey Day<\/a>. Okay so the last one is a stretch (though Dionysus may like it)\u00a0it\u2019s merely an example and the linked site is pretty fun for looking at all the international days that exist, which may inspire you.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But in the end it is up to the individual. \u00a0I don\u2019t celebrate the 8 Sabbats at the moment, and I haven\u2019t suffered any harm from it. \u00a0If you don\u2019t want to celebrate them, if they don\u2019t feel right to you, then you should certainly not force yourself to celebrate them. \u00a0But it is important to not rely on things like the seasons alone for our inspiration, there is much more to this world, and thus there can be much more to your practice.<\/p>\n So do or don\u2019t, but make sure you think about it before you make the decision.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Next week should be the final instalment of this series \u2013 unless something comes up and it gets even bigger again! \u00a0We will be looking at the cardinal points, elements and the really confusing one, what are\u00a0deosil and widdershins when you live down here in the Under?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n All 180 Degrees of Separation Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n Intro Post<\/a> This week on 180 Degrees of Separation we are looking at the idea of the eight Sabbats when we may have seasons that aren’t compatible with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,136,42,13],"tags":[50,63,66,53,51,33,52,65,32,25,58,48,64],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-calendar-events-festivals","category-general","category-paganism101","tag-180-degrees-of-separation","tag-australian-paganism","tag-blog-series","tag-calendar","tag-comparing-hemispheres","tag-festivals","tag-north-vs-south","tag-northern-hemisphere","tag-paganism","tag-religion","tag-sabbats","tag-seasons","tag-southern-hemisphere"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"jigsaw](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/06\/jigsaw-146378_960_720a.png\")
The Solstices and Equinoxes<\/h2>\n
\nThe shortest day and longest night.
\nThe two periods of almost equal night and day.
\nIndicators of growing darkness or growing brightness.<\/p>\nThe Cross Quarters<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>\n![\"globally](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/06\/abstract-1297926_960_720a.png\")
Global Group Practice<\/h2>\n
More Than Eight<\/h2>\n
\n
\nThe Moon part 1<\/a>
\nThe Moon part 2<\/a>
\nWheel of the Year part 1<\/a>
\nWheel of the Year part 2<\/a>
\nWheel of the Year part 3<\/a>
\nCardinal Elements<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"