The Celtic Wheel of the Year

The wheel is called many things. In popular culture, it is referred to as the sacred wheel, the Celtic wheel or calendar, the Irish wheel, the pagan’s wheel, the witches wheel, and the 8 sabbats. It is a solar calendar that marks the time and the seasons, an ancient wheel of connection to each phase of nature as the seeds sprouted, plants budded and bloomed, fruited, turned to seed then went to ground; these cycles repeating in an endless turning of the wheel of our lives.

The wisdom traditions of the Celtic lands are dreams wrapped in myths, woven into endless tales rooted deeply within the waters and the earth. There are many streams feeding the Celtic pool of legend, many trees singing the songs of the ancients. The expressions of Celtic spirituality are rich and diverse, and the term itself covers many living cultures and languages. The exploration of the sacredness of my ancestors is more a query of the soul for me than one of scholarship, and though I do appreciate and enjoy learning from scholars I’m more drawn towards the heartfelt explorations of mystics and spiritualists.

Many are rediscovering the pleasures in a slower life. Moving back towards the Earth is a deeply nourishing and rooting journey and offers us a way to remember who we are, and where we came from. We, all of us in the human family, have ancestors who understood at one time, maybe a long time ago, what it meant when a particular bird sung or when the clouds moved quickly across the fields. They understood what the yellowing leaves brought, and when the salmon swam upstream in the Spring.

One of my favorite words happens to be “heathen” which is derived from “the people of the heath” who were country people, lowland or heath dwellers, and remained committed to their animistic beliefs as the religion of the one-god moved through their lands. They were the last to be converted (and many never were) and had old, strong beliefs about family; human and non-human alike. They, I feel, embody the mythological spirit of the Celts those who lived close to the seasons, who spoke to the trees and winds, and who had wild, free, untamable hearts.

To learn more about the indigenous wisdom, myth and legend of our Celtic ancestry, the collective living peoples and cultural lineages of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, some of England, as well as lands that spread across Northern and Western Europe, head over to my podcast Animisma - All Things In-Spirited.

I, as their namesake (my given name is Heather), invite you to join me in setting free your heart, honoring the waters and the wells, and living in deep relationship with the natural world, celebrating each turn of the Celtic wheel of the year. It is a traditional, joyous, healing, celebratory, reverent and beautiful way of walking through this life.

Quarter Points: From Solstice to Equinox and Around Again

The Quarter Points are located on the north, south, east, and west points of the wheel and are the winter and summer solstice, and the spring and autumn equinoxes. These are also referred to as ‘solar’ days, given that these four points mark the standing sun ‘solstice’ where it reaches its highest point in the sky and therefore longest day, or, lowest point in the sky and therefore shortest day and appears to ‘stand still’ (latin) or the ‘equinox’ when the sun crosses the celestial equator and the days and nights are of equal length. The latin meaning of equinox derives from aequus ‘equal’ and nox ‘night.’

The solstices offer us a time to pause and reflect at the half-year mark and consider where the next half-year may be heading for us. The equinoxes focus on the balance of dark and light as both are equal on these days. They are all times of seasonal transition and offer us an opportunity to mark time in a conscious way as we reflect on the Earth’s cycles and our own cycles woven with hers.

The quarter festivals are:

• Winter Solstice (Yule) - NORTH - Earth

• Spring Equinox (Ostara) - EAST - Air

• Summer Solstice (Litha) - SOUTH - Fire

• Autumn Equinox (Mabon) - WEST - Water

Cross-Quarter Points: The Four Great Fire Festivals

The Cross-Quarter Points are the four festivals that are marked in between the solstices and the equinoxes. They occur at the peak of each season and have been known as the Four Great Fire Festivals. These cross-quarter festivals offer us a time to celebrate the gifts each season offers and invite us to deeply connect with the Earth at the peak of her seasonal cycles.

The cross-quarter festivals are:

• Imbolc (peak winter)

• Beltain (peak spring)

• Lugnasadh (peak summer)

• Samhain (peak autumn or fall)

The origins of the names of the festivals can be traced to Celtic, Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and Germanic origins. It has been posited that the modern names we use are predominantly from Irish tradition as the Irish were able to keep the early literature safe from destruction during the dark ages (Christian monks recorded these traditions in writing - prior to that all sharing and history was passed down through oral tradition), especially story around the cross-quarter celebrations of Imbolc, Beltain, Lughnasadh, and Samhain.
The solstice and equinox names are derived from Norse and Anglo-Saxon origin, with yule being traceable back to traditional norse festivals.

Elemental Connections

In addition to the festivals being located at points on the wheel, the elements are also associated with the quarter points. North for Earth, East for Air, South for Fire, and West for Water.

The 5th element of ether, spirit or source, is located at the center of the wheel, in honor of all that is unseen and yet surrounds us - the unseen worlds, the spirit at the center of our being, the fabric of love that connects and unites us all.

The elements play an important role in many spiritual traditions and in Celtic myth and legend, the elements are partnered with and revered for their relationships to Gods and Goddesses, nature spirits, and as sacred sites.

Each of these beautiful festivals also has trees and herbs associated with them, each with their own deep meaning and energy. To learn more about some of the sacred trees and plants celebrated around the wheel you are warmly invited to listen to Season 2 of Animisma.

eight sacred festivals

Starting with Samhain (Sow-wen), these 8 celebrations are the 8 points on the Celtic wheel of the year. Each year is slightly different so ranges of the dates of each year are provided below:

1. Samhain - End of October / Beginning of November

2. Yule (Winter Solstice) - December 20th to 23rd

3. Imbolc - End of January / Beginning of February

4. Ostara (Spring Equinox) - March 20th to 23rd

5. Beltane - End of April / Beginning of May

6. Litha (Summer Solstice) - June 20th to 23rd

7. Lughnasadh - End of July / Beginning of August

8. Mabon (Autumnal Equinox) - September 20th to 23rd

To learn more I lovingly invite you to listen to the first two seasons of my podcast Animisma - All Things In-Spirited.

The first two seasons are devoted to the Wheel of the Year and include lore, blessing, myth, story and ceremony for each turn of the wheel.

You’re also more than welcome to follow my missives on Substack where I reach out at each celebration to connect with community and offer breadcrumbs of meaning and myth as the wheel turns.

May your life and path be endlessly blessed.