Wheel Project

For centuries, human beings have been decrying the cold and calling forth warmth.  We have feared the winter and eagerly anticipated the spring.  In New England, where I grew up, we often complained on cold days and celebrated warm ones.  Similar sentiments are expressed, I’m sure, in other places with cold winters and bearable summers.  Once I started listening for casual conversations which express a preference for warmth over cold, I found them everywhere.

This same preference for warmth over cold appears in the celebrations of Wheel of the Year rituals.  In whatever form these rituals have ever been celebrated, human beings have been celebrating the spring and summer and fearing the winter for generations.  To take just one example, the central magickal act of many Imbolc rituals is the melting of snow by a fire, an act of sympathetic magick designed to help spring come quickly to melt the snows of winter.  In designing rituals, finding stories that celebrate darkness and cold is surprisingly difficult.

In a context of global warming and climate change, I think it is necessary to transform the celebration of the Wheel of the Year.  There are two primary reasons for this.  The first is the simple fact that seasonal milestones are happening differently and at different times.  It is possible that entirely new milestones will appear in local climate zones, such as dry and rainy seasons in locations that used to have more consistent precipitation.  Our celebrations of the nature around us should actually correspond to our environment, when we can make that happen.

The other, more important reason for transforming the Wheel of the Year is to transform the magickal intentions these rituals are putting out into the world.  Right now, in our current context, we do not need rituals to bring warmth and banish cold.  We need rituals to bring cold and banish warmth.  We need rituals that use the awesome power of group intention and cones of power to help us cool our climate again, to help us reverse the devastating effects of all that we have done that has made our world warmer.

The rituals I am suggesting would take global warming and climate change as their starting point.  The central act of magick in each of them would be designed in some way to counteract climate change and restore balance.  They would use the traditional stories and symbols of Wheel of the Year rituals in new ways, transforming them to match this new intention.

Personally, I have created a complete Wiccan Wheel of the Year cycle in this mode of addressing climate change.  If you are interested in reading them, you can find them at http://parsleyspirit.com/blogging-the-wheel/.

For a sample, here is the ritual working from the Imbolc ritual.

 

Officiant says: For many years, participants in rituals at this time of the year have used a fire in the circle to melt snow, that the snow might quickly depart and spring come swiftly.  Today, we are reversing the working.  We will light a fire and use snow to quench it, that the excess heat of our world might be quenched and balance restored.

[Light a fire in the center of the circle.  If you are inside, this should be in a vessel such as a cauldron.  If you are outside, you can light a bigger fire in a fire pit, as long as you have enough snow or water to extinguish it.  The fire needs to be big enough to last through this part of the ritual.  If you are worried about it, you can wait and light it later, just before the extinguishing ritual.]

Officiant says: As we quench this fire with this snow, we commit to working to quench the heat that is threatening the climate of our planet.  We commit to restoring balance.

In this work, we ask for the help of the God as Jack Frost.  Guardian of ice and snow, help us to restore the ices and snows of our world.  Give us your strength and your protection in this work.  In this work, we ask for the help of the Goddess Bridget in her aspect as healer.  Bridget, help us to heal our fragile planet.  Give us your love, your wisdom, and your strength in this work.

As we pass the vessel of snow around the circle, you are invited to add your energy to this work, by holding the vessel and sending your intentions into it.

[As the snow is passed, lead the participants in an appropriate chant to help raise power.

Vessel is passed to all participants.  When all have had a chance to add their energy, place the snow onto the fire until the fire is extinguished. If you have passed only some of the snow, be sure to start with the vessel that was passed.]

When the fire is out, the officiant says: Let balance be restored!  So mote it be!

All respond: So mote it be!

When preparing to celebrate the Wheel of the Year, or any other cycle of seasonal observances, I invite you to think about global warming and climate change.  What needs to be transformed to be true to the actual environment in which you find yourself?  What needs to be transformed so that your magick serves the needs of the world right now, for cooling the planet and restoring balance?  How can you help, in your life and in your magick?