#witchy calender

[hellmouth]

Okay, so, because I was caught in 4K HD in the tags on @hero-adjacent's post rambling about this theory that I don't think I've heard anyone on the brainwave of before, I figured I'd write the whole thing out. This is probably going to be a goddamn dissertation and I am so sorry. Giving credit where it's due for being the one who first said it, @reetamorgan was the original Oh Shit Oh Fuck mastermind here.

So bare with me here alright, this is off the fucking walls at first but hear me out:

We never get a specific timeline (to my knowledge) of exactly when Angelus was cursed with his soul, only that it happened when he killed a Romani girl (I'm not using the slur, Whedon, get bent) and the Elder of that tribe had him cursed with his soul for the pain and suffering he caused On Purpose like he was some kind of vampire psychological sadist Picasso. Now, here's where we get into the theory at hand: what if that girl was Drusilla?

Dru was sired in the mid-1800s, Darla was the one who hand-picked her for Angelus to bat around like a cat with a mouse, but it was his decision to sire her instead of kill her because he thought she was special (Angel 2x5). Darla was not 100% on board- case in point:

Angelus: "We turn her into one of us. Killing is so merciful, in the end, isn't it? The pain has ended."

Darla: "To make her one of us? She's a lunatic."

Angelus: "Eternal torment."

And he sires her before she can take her vows solely so that he can have the final laugh. Which... is kind of a big fuck you to just have nothing done about it, you know? What sparked the theory itself is a conversation that takes place in BTVS 2x14 Surprise in an exchange between Jenny and her uncle and the very specific language he uses to describe the situation which is as follows:

"...You just forget that he destroyed the most beloved daughter of your tribe? That he killed every man, woman, and child that touched her life? Vengeance demands that his pain be eternal as ours is!"

Except we do! Because it's my post and I said so and I warned you this might get dissertation length!

So the main reason this made us pause and stare at each other like the slow-pan to look at the camera in The Office after our- what- I think this is our third or fourth rewatch together? Was because he used the word "destroyed". He didn't say killed. And because he used the phrase "eternal pain" directly after this. Obviously that kind of tragedy stick with you for a very long time, but that specific usage very much sounds like something that they are actively still suffering with the consequences of, and not just because Angel is still alive.

We get a little bit of Drusilla's life in Angel the series, granted, with her mother telling her that her visions are an affront to the Lord and a little bit about her sisters, but to my recollection, we don't really get that much about her family life or ties other than this? I would think that it's entirely reasonable to assume that they could be of Romani descent, that her mother may have decided to possibly step away from her family once she was married and embrace a different lifestyle, or one of many different scenarios that would put her and her family slightly out of the frame of that lense, and that the visions Drusilla has could very well be a hereditary thing, something passed down from generation to generation, or possibly one that skips a generation, much like the Elder Woman is mentioned having visions in Surprise when Jenny's uncle tells her that she's seen that Angel's pain is lessening, that her visions are never wrong. This could also be why her mother reacts so aggressively to Drusilla having these visions in the first place, why she was so adamant that only God was supposed to see things before they happened.

Angelus proceeds to kill her entire family in front of her for The Bit, before forcing her to run to a convent to escape him and waits until just before she's about to take her holy vows before he turns her, again, purely for The Bit, and if that shit doesn't get you cursed, especially a curse of that magnitude, I don't know what else says fuck around and find out quite like that does.

I also think that it would be a rather karmic thing if the fate of Angel's soul was quite literally in the hands of the girl he tortured to madness and turned into a vampire, eternally bound to kill to live and still wracked with visions of things to come, whether it be knowing Buffy would become someone that would irrevocably change Spike, the man she herself sired, hence her almost desperation for him to get rid of her when he first comes into contact with her, or even the smaller glimpses at visions she gets throughout the Buffyverse of things that one way or another do come to pass.

It would also serve to tie into the weird connection and mutual trauma that Buffy and Drusilla seem to share, down to the fact that they even share a birthday. That because of Angel and Spike, their lives are always going to be a little bit entwined, they both love Spike in their own unique ways, and they both have a love and loathing for Angel for the attention and love he's given them and for the utter betrayal and frankly sadistic level of malice he has for both of them for making him feel anything for them when he's without his soul, how he's absolutely overtaken by the need to destroy everything that they hold dear, to take every last bit of light in their lives and make them suffer for as long as possible because they made him feel before he kills them or sires them- which I'm entirely convinced that if he got the chance when it came down to it, he'd have tried to turn Buffy too. Because as he said before, death is an end to the suffering. He wants it to last. He wants it to be eternal.

Anyway, that's the Overview of the "what if Drusilla is the reason for Angel's curse" bit that Wills and I have been tossing back and forth like Apollo's prophecy dodgeball. This was way more words than I had originally intended but goddammit I do my research when I have quite literally nothing better to do with my time. This has been Theories With Boofer, thanks for tuning in, that's my time.

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Book Of Shadows Index

I see a ton of Witchtoks/people who only give a basic summary of what to research along with a ton of books and I'm more of a bullet point girl. So... Here we go.

A book of shadows was coined by Alaisar Crowley, alongside garnder who was the founder of Wica, then changed to Wicca later on [I will go in depth in history with links/sources and more detail on another post]

So here's the index for a book of shadows, full of all things you the individual want to learn include in your practice and like Pirates of the Caribean, take it more as guidlines and you're free to decide what you like/don't like.

So Include a Book Of shadows Blessing in the begging of your book [or digital document] And a BOS is like a diary, only you can see it or your coven.

____________________________________________________________

Beginner Studies; Introduction to Witchcraft. I.e: What is Paganism, Wicca, Witchcraft? What is the difference? Wicca History: Origins in your country of origin. Salem, etc. Covens and Hierchies and Solitary witches. Basic rundown, you have your first, second, third degree. Like an employee, a suvervisor and a manager. Managers are in charge of their own store, like a third degree can create their own coven.

Lore: Tree of life, Triple goddess, Horned God, Morgan le fey and other mythical lore and research depending on which one your aligned with. Like Norse, Greek, Celtic, Viking, Roman, or any other types. Wiccan Rede, rules of Wicca power of three times three. Etc.

Symbols: Look up certain symbols, or sigils, runes, thats commonly used in Wicca/Paganism or your preffered craft. Cast a circle: Most begin a spell and cast a protection circle before you begin your spell. Pentacle [Star with circle] Pentragram [No circle] *Include the Spirit, fire, earth, water, air. Evil eye. [usually used as protection AGAINST the evil eye]

Witch Tools: Witch tools you use, or place on your altar. Like an Athame, cualdron, wand, etc Tools of Divination: Pendulum, spirit board, tarot, angel cards, scrying mirror, playing cards, etc Additional tools: Candles. Crystals. Elements Herbs Chakras/Meditation Lucid Dreaming Astral projection Milk baths

______________________________________________________________

Year Calender/Sabbets Month Calender Day Calender: Like Moday is MOON. Sunday is SUN, Saturday is Saturn etc. Deities Celtic/ Roman/Norse Other gods to research. etc Astrology.

Star Sign, Moon sign, Sun Sign, other planetary signs. Planet Retrograde, Mercury retrograde, mars, venus etc Moon Phases. Like hunters moon, pink moon etc.

Animals as omens [Careful with this one, as it links to other occult/cultures/religions and best not to appropriate and lead to indiginous tribes or others. But not all animals as omens is a sign, usually it links to the Fea as animals are fea and fea are animals and other religions like kitsune, tanaki, are shapeshifters or known as spirits in other cultures]

______________________________________________________________

Spells Moon Water Witch bag/bottle Broomsticks Seashell collecting [A practice looked down on now for enviormental effects, but I have bottles/jars of shells I've collected when I was six so I've kept them and included them as I have some] Witch Outfits [this is just my personal interest, it ties in with the history a little] Symbolism of the Hat [Like a Candle] Witch Nudity Haute Couture Bohemian/Grunge goth fashion Media/Pop culture:

Books or movies that have had witch consultants or other ties to witchcraft/wicca etc. Such as practical magic, the Craft and maybe even Neil Gaimans works such as the ocean at the end of the lane. Coraline that had mentions of a dowsing rod, and rock with a hole in the center to find lost things. Music:

Listening to music can also set da mood, so I will compile playlists and songs that made me feel witchy. Anything else to include feel free to ask or reblog :D

*ALSO IMPORTANT! CLOSED/OPEN Practice! Wicca as it is is open, you can buy a wicca book/watch withtok who have you whatever whatever! But a closed practice? Thats a religion or something you CANNOT access too UNLESS you are invited in, or iniated into that group! Indeginous tribes/jewish traditions/hoodoo/voodoo/ etc. A closed practice is a closed door. You cant access that by yourself. Which is why White sage cant be used, theres many alternatives and other incenses/sages to burn. Not the one thats sacred/endangered and used speicifially in indeginous tribes. They've already had enough taken away from them what do witches need white sage for in this current enviromental crisis? so yeah...

Additional last note: I will also include passages alongside the books I have by cunningham and others with the book as well as the passage and page/chapter and try to include web links in any future post I make.

Bear in my mind and I will TRY to be as accurate as I can, but I will make mistakes and end up posting some things thats misinformed even when I post links. But I will try my best to fix any mistakes if I can.

Blessed be.

[somethingwitchythiswayflows]

2024 Witchy Calender dates.

2024 Witch's Calendar

January

11th: New Moon

25th: Full Moon (Cold Moon)

February

2nd: Imbolc

9th: New Moon

24th: Full Moon (Quickening Moon)

March

10th: New Moon

19th: Ostara / Spring Equinox

25th: Full Moon (Storm Moon) / Lunar Eclipse

April

1st: Mercury Retrograde

8th: New Moon / Solar Eclipse

22nd: Earth Day

23rd: Full Moon (Wind Moon)

25th: Mercury Direct

May

1st: Beltane/May Day

7th: New Moon

23rd: Full Moon (Flower Moon)

June

6th: New Moon

20th: Litha / Summer Solstice

21st: Full Moon (Strong Sun Moon)

July

2nd: New Moon

21st: Full Moon (Blessing Moon)

August

1st: Lammas/Lughnasadh

4th: New Moon

5th: Mercury Retrograde

19th: Full Moon (Corn Moon)

28th: Mercury Direct

September

2nd: New Moon

17th: Full Moon (Harvest Moon) / Lunar Eclipse

22nd: Mabon / Fall Equinox

October

2nd: New Moon / Solar Eclipse

17th: Full Moon (Blood Moon)

31st: Samhain

November

1st: New Moon

15th: Full Moon (Mourning Moon)

25th: Mercury Retrograde

December

1st: New Moon

15th: Full Moon (Long Nights Moon) / Mercury Direct

21st: Yule / Winter Solstice

30th: New Moon

[ms-circely]

Reminder to keep updated y'all

[violet-the-witch]

@violet-the-witch 💜

[calicocauldron]

[gozuforce]

it's like a sign in front of a lgbtq+ shop. it has everything: crystals(for the witchy types), binders, lubricants, jackets, calenders (for the gay agenda)...

[fates-fables-fortunes]

Virgo Moon

From Jan 3-Jan 4, the moon is in Virgo. 

This is a good time to start laying out your day to day plans for the new year, your goals, and your intentions! For those that do Lunar work, look ahead in the new year. Where do you want to be at each lunar cycle? Where do you want to be next week? Next month? When the moon is in Virgo, it’s all about planning your work calendars- meaning literal jobs and jobs you want to do. 

[lady-boa]

Days of the week: Monday

Planet: Moon

Archangel: Gabriel

Colors: Silver, Translucent White

Element: Water

Crystals: Moonstone, Mother of Pearl, Pearl, Selenite, Opal

Incense: Jasmine, Myrrh, Mimosa, Lemon

Trees: Willow, Alder

Herbs and Oils: Lotus, Poppy, Wintergreen

Metal: Silver

Astrological Rulership: Cancer

For home and family matters, for women, children, animals, fertility, secrets, psychic gifts

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Welcome to my Witchy Blog!

Here are some links to the pages or speicific post of any speicific thing your looking for :D [I'll post the links once I have them]

About me -> Read!

P.s: I am working on a fictional story, most media I enjoy had influence from real witches/research into Wicca/Paganism. All posts here are for self-gain, research purposes only. So take ALL my posts with a grain of salt. And put a circle around yourself ;P

Index: Introduction: Book of Shadows/Grimoire | Wiccan Rede | Baby witch first steps.  Symbols For Protection-many Others. Pagan/Wiccan/Witch |  what's the diff? | The Founder Fathers of Howarts- I mean Wicca as we know it. [Link to their misdeeds] More in depth about the problems of Wicca [Might need to make a seperate page into cultural appropriation of Wicca. Wicca/Witch History | Do/Don'ts of Wicca: Appropriation List.   Coven Hierarchies. Left Hand Path. Widdershins |

Lore:

Tree of Life |  Triple Goddess  | Horned God  |  Morgan Le fey |  After Life: Return to the Cauldron | The THREE Cauldrons | After Life: SummerLands | Tree People | Shadow people | Triquetra/Relation to Triple Goddess | Lambton Worm Myth

Witch Tools:

Cast a circle/Pentacle [Protection circle before you cast] Elements | Consecrate your Tools. | Altar  | Cauldron  |  Chalice  | Athame | Wand | Boline |  Witch's Bell |Besom/Broom | Witch's Ladder |  

Additional Witches Tools:

Candles|  Crystals  - Cleansing VS Charging | Flowers | Herbs |

Divination Tools:

Ouija | Seance | Pendulum | Runes | Scrying Mirror | Dowsing Rod | "Hag Stones."/Wishbone/jack o lantern | Tarot | Angel numbers | Oracle Cards | Call/invoking a spirit |

Calender

Year Calendar\Wheel of the year Weeks |  Astrology | Retrograde | Moon Rituals | Moon Phases | Moon Phases through the year| Moon Water / Moon Bath | Moon Glyphs |

Spiritual

Deities |Christian hierchies|   Animals as omens/Familiars |  Chakra | Meditation | Milk Bath | Lucid Dreaming | Astral Projection |

Spells and others:

Witch Tips |  Spells |  Witch bag/bottle | Evil Eye | Seashells | Feathers | Witches Alphabet | Faerie Circle/Faerie ring |  Circle Bridge\Devil Bridge | HandFasting

Artistic expression in Wicca:

Using Arts and Crafts in Wicca Wiccan Fashion history | Wiccan Fashion Modern | Occult in Media | Occult in Literature | Occult in Anime |

The good the bad and the Ugly In Wicca

Since I'm a casual observer with no skin in the game, and prefer the media/artistic side of witchery in doing research for my own media ideas I don't want to make mistakes. So here is additional pages I was going to do last, but ugh Wicca should just be chucked in the bin, I've never felt more irritated and wanted to delete this whole blog by this research [and people online who assume everyone KNOWS this stuff and think whats common knowledge to them isn't new information to anybody else. Esp since its not someones social circle/not on the internet much and has my own life etc so thats annoying] And so- Here are going to be Page Links once it's done of-

Symbols in Wicca that are also affiliated with HATE Symbols Like nazisim. -> Problematic Symbols. Individuals in Wicca and their Problematic History. -> History Page. Closed Practices/speicific rituals that are closed -> Closed List. Why Lilith is Closed Explaination -> Source Divided Opinions: When two people are divided if something 'like Chakra' is problematic. I've seen a lot say it's okay- it's not okay etc. So I'll post the 'unsure' stuff here.

The problem with Sabbats -> Blog Post bear in mine OP made a mistake stating that British forced ireland into catholic conversion which wasn't true that was st patrick- the comments/reblogs explain it better. Wheel of the Year in depth information -> [Source]

Closed/Open Practices -> [Post]

Sourced Sites:

[Wiccan Websites here once I've posted all my ducks in a row before I shoot them] Everything Under The Moon -> Source

*Also I WILL Post on my blogs where I got the Info from. Such as sited/sourcing everything and if I took it online/pinterest/tumblr as well as books I've also sourced. I'll post the book/author chapter page etc. Source : Witch

[patibuart]

Well, mine is very boring:

"calendar weeks 2025" xD

Had to check that because my partner and I are working on a calender with animal photos he took! Doing this since 2019 ^^

@witchy-capri @wasleichtesart @ennislost

last google search, go

um. Tag four people.

what do they make sewer tunnels out of

@ncc1701ohno @affixjoy @the-magpieprince @twinkboimler

[burntanus]

Sal and Larry with a wiccan s/o

Sal fisher

When you first told Sal you were wiccan, he was a little worried.

He's only heard about wicca in movies, so he has a very small idea of what it is.

"Isn't that were you worship demons???"

After explaining to him that no, wiccans do not worship demons and that wicca is a religion surrounded by peace and acceptance, he'll calm down.

Whenever he sees you practicing magic, or charging your crystals, he'll sit next to you and quietly observe.

One time he watched as you casted a protection spell on a crystal necklace and as soon as you gave it to him he felt at peace.

He might actually start dabbling in magic himself

He doesn't know what he's doing, help him.

"Babe, what's in this jar here?"

"Sage and moon water."

"Sal, why would you mix sage and moon water??"

One time you had to stop him from accidently hexing someone because he tried following a spell he found online.

He asks you to cleanse Larry's apartment while he has him distracted, which works, but Larry starts sneezing up a storm when he comes back due to the strong sent of lavender and sage.

He introduces you to Meghan and she absolutely loves you.

Whenever he goes up there by himself she asks "where's the nice lady/man at?"

Honestly he just adores having a witchy/warlocky partner.

Larry Johnson

Unlike Sal, Larry has a pretty good understanding on what wicca is and the beliefs around it so when you tell him he's pretty chill about it.

Always asks to borrow your crystals

Regularly takes you on dates to magick shops

Mainly because he loves to see how excited you get when you find something you've been looking for.

Buys you a jar specifically for your moon water.

Has put moon water in a bong before.

Has a calender marking each full moon so he can remind you to charge your crystals and to manifest.

Please cleanse his home, the boy needs it.

He goes to you whenever the spirits of the apartments won't leave him alone.

Laughs whenever he catches you telling those "Edgy motherfuckers" to "leave your man alone."

Tries to put a hex on Travis, only to get scolded by you when you find out.

"What part of do no harm do you not understand?"

"Karma wasn't working fast enough."

He protects you when Travis finds out that you're into magick

Nearly beats the shit out of him when he told you that you were going to rot in hell for your sins

All in all, he really loves you, and your magick.

[theclosetedwitch]

My New Moon’s Resolutions+ Ideas

Along the same line of discussion as my last post, I will be posting some of what I hope to accomplish in the next two weeks or so, along with some ideas for your new moons resolutions. I know a lot of people say that posting your intentions for others to say somehow damages them ( and I might agree) this is more of a checklist then anything, and I think it’s important to see what other witches are doing. So we can steal their ideas basically.

Ok, here goes

My Witchy  Resolutions:

Post on Witchblr every day, original content hopefully.

Practice the tarot everyday, and write in my tarot journal

GET THERAPY

Start doing affirmations every morning

Remembering to cleanse my space more often

Some other good ideas, not mine but just a suggestion:

Remembering to smudge every so often, such as a week.  A lot of people ( including myself, seem to forget

It’s helpful to make a plan ahead of time as far as what rituals you want to get done and when, instead of just winging it. If you plan a couple weeks or even months ahead you are able to pick the best astrological  time, or select a certain moon phase. I keep a mini pocket calender ( I won it at a mary kay party of all things) and write down astrological stuff/ moon phases as well as any important witchy stuff I have planned. It helps to plan ahead. 

The new moon is a good time to start doing beauty rituals, especially daily ones, since beauty is so linked to the moon and with every day that the moon grows (with your intention of course and ritual) you can set the intention that your beauty will grow too. 

[error-area]

something i could keep in my room

[starrgh]

Oooo a sweet little Witchy Calender!

[witchynyx]

Southern Hemisphere Witchcraft: Seasons & Sabbats

With seasonal celebrations being an important part of most folks' practices (whether you follow the Wiccan/neopagan Wheel of the Year, observe just the solstices/equinoxes, or even stick with more mainstream religious and cultural holidays), living somewhere that doesn��t follow a Euro-centric seasonal model can make the question of “how do I approach these here??” a common stumbling block.

Having put a lot of thought into this question myself, and participated in a lot of discussions on the topic, I’m going to suggest getting at least some basic understanding of your areas seasonal (and possibly agricultural) patterns first, and then looking at how you might approach it.

Southern Hemisphere Seasons

One of the most obvious and well-known difference between the hemispheres, that even most folks living in the Northern half are aware of, is that our seasons occur at the opposite time of year.

Obviously this is an over-simplification, as seasonal patterns are affected by far more factors. This idea of “opposites” is also largely based on a Euro-centric seasonal model, which awkwardly sits over the calendar in some places, and in others - like the tropics - is almost entirely absurd.

I feel like it’s beneficial for most of us to try to learn about the actual natural weather patterns of our own areas. It might be pretty similar, and most of the differences are down to the different flora and fauna, or it might not divide into four distinct seasons at all. For Aussies: I’ve found Indigenous weather knowledge to be a useful place to start researching, because that’s going to give you much more reality-based information in a colonised country than modern science, which is still often interpreting data through a foreign lens.

It’s hard to try to adapt a system built around the patterns of another place to where you live, if you don’t really know what the patterns are here. Once you have some idea of the seasons, you can look more into what might be the best approach to celebrate them.

So When do I Celebrate the Sabbats?

Ok, so there are a number of different ways to approach this, depending on how quickly you want to make a decision and how much effort you want to put into said decision.

Approach #1: Follow the “Traditional” (European) Dates

An easy option, that requires zero real thought, is to just follow the dates as they’re celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere, as they’re presented in pretty well every witchy/Wiccan/Neopagan book you’re likely to get your hands on.

Pros:

Follow the dates in most books/resources;

Celebrate at the same time as the majority of the (international) community;

Sabbats will thematically match the European seasonal holidays that have made it into our secular calendar (Yule/Christmas, Samhain/Halloween, Ostara/Easter);

If you follow European pagan beliefs, particularly any that the Wiccan/neopagan wheel has borrowed traditions from, you’re celebrating those holidays at the same time as they were/are celebrated in that land;

Does your environment come alive in winter (when the NH are celebrating the height of vitality at Beltane and Midsummer) and die/go into hibernation over summer (when the NH are focusing on the quiet/hibernation of winter)? Because that might match up well!

Cons:

Celebrating Summer Solstice when it’s Winter Solstice where you are (and vice versa, and the same with the Equinoxes) can just be.. weird?

The imagery and symbolism is likely to be double-out: Not only do you have the disconnect, for example, of Yule/Christmas symbolism being heavy on foreign flora and fauna like pine trees, holly, and robins, but it can also cause some cognitive dissonance decorating with snowflakes and heavy roasts and mulled wine when it’s the height of summer and you can see heat rising off the road outside.

Approach #2: ‘Flip/Rotate’ the Wheel

Another easy option, and probably the most popular, is to just flip/rotate the Wheel of the Year so that the solar events (solstices and equinoxes) match up. This shifts the dates by 6 months, and “swaps” the Sabbats. It’s version that you’ll see in almost any book/resource you look at that acknowledges those of us in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Southern Hemisphere Wheel of the Year above by Jenwytch (2004) shows the flipped/rotated version, with the Sabbats on both images arranged synwyse (and thus anti-clockwise for the SH)

Pros:

Follow the Southern Hemisphere dates in most books/resources;

Celebrate at the same time as the majority of the Southern Hemisphere community;

Sabbats will thematically match the Eurocentric view of the seasons: You’re celebrating mid-winter at Winter Solstice, and midsummer at Summer Solstice;

Does your environment come alive in summer (when Beltane and Midsummer are celebrating the height of vitality) and die/go into hibernation over winter (when the focus of Yule is on silence and scarcity)? Because that sounds like a match!

Cons:

Celebrating opposite the international community can be alienating, especially when so many people/spaces don’t acknowledge that their experiences and practices aren’t universal;

If you follow any European pagan beliefs that the Wiccan/neopagan wheel has borrowed traditions from, you’re celebrating those holidays at the opposite time as they were/are celebrated in that land;

Sabbats will thematically oppose the European seasonal holidays that have made it into our secular calendar, and might make you extra-aware of how weird it is decorating for “autumn” Halloween themes at the height of spring and “spring” Easter themes when it’s autumn. How do you decorate for Halloween AND Beltane, or Christmas AND Midsummer? If you have children, how to you explain that dichotomy?

As listed above, this approach can leave folks pretty confused and frazzled as to how to reconcile celebrations with “energies” so different to what folks in the other half of the world are celebrating, or especially how to reconcile these celebrations with the European holidays in our calender. One of the things worth noting is that the planet is a constant state of balance: what’s happening in one place is a balance to that which is happening in another. The other thing to note is how the “opposing” celebrations relate to each other: eg Samhain and Beltane both have a focus on the ‘thinning of the veil between worlds’, with Samhain on its way into winter lending itself to a closeness with the dead, and Beltane at the height of spring holding a focus on the Fair Folk - one gives thanks for the bounty of harvest and the other to the bounty of life flourishing (which will later lead to the harvest), and both traditionally focusing on divination and relationships. They can easily be seen as different sides of the same coin.

Approach #3: ‘Flip/Rotate’ the Wheel and then Customise it

This is where the work starts to come in. Again, one of the more popular approaches is the flip the wheel (as above) and use that as a framework to customise your own Wheel of the Year.

Usually the names and dates will remain intact (although aligning with the timing of the astrological events might become more important than celebrating on the same calendar date each year), but then how much you stick with the ‘traditional’ vs how much you customise things is completely up to you. Maybe you keep the themes and mythologies but add in/swap out seasonally-appropriate local flora and fauna? Maybe you add in some extra days that are important to you as well, because they’re important to your religious path, or because they hold great personal significance to you. You really can take this where you like.

Pros:

Following the Southern Hemisphere dates from most books/resources, either exactly or close enough;

Celebrating the same things at the same time as most other folks in the Southern Hemisphere community, or pretty close to;

Great for forming a connection with your local seasons and environment;

Flexible and customisable: If something doesn’t gel, explore why, change things, try stuff;

Interactive and dynamic: Your relationship takes priority over the information written in a book, and being forever-changing rather than fixed can be interesting and engaging.

Cons:

You might never be “finished” building your wheel;

It takes active thought and involvement. Particularly if you’re new, this can be incredibly overwhelming;

If you follow pagan beliefs from elsewhere in the world (especially any of those that the Wiccan/neopagan wheel has borrowed traditions from), you’ll have to decide whether it makes more sense to celebrate events by the seasons or the calendar.

I think probably the easiest way to approach this is a little at a time. Start with just flipping the wheel, and as the wheel turns, work on your relationships with both the sabbats as they’re presented and the seasonal shifts happening around you. Maybe set one goal to focus on for each revolution: Get a feel for the ‘traditional’ wheel, get a feel for the seasons where you live and how they compare, notice what the local flora and fauna are doing, meditate on what colours/energies are prominent, learn about what your local agricultural cycles are doing and what food is in season. The fact that there’s no time limit on it means that you can just do a little at a time, and you can tweak it each time it rolls around.

One book which uses this approach is Dancing the Sacred Wheel (2012), by Adelaide witch/author Frances Billinghurst. Frances presents her approach to the Sabbats in this book, and it’s highly influenced by both the natural cycles around Adelaide, and her path as a Celtic Wiccan.

Approach #4: Create Your Own Wheel from Scratch!

The final approach is to completely throw the Wicca/neopagan wheel straight in the bin and build your own wheel/calendar from scratch. No guides and no preconceptions! Is that exciting? Terrifying? Maybe some of both?

Pros:

You’re starting from zero with no existing frameworks or ideas!

Ultimate freedom and flexibility;

Cons:

You’re starting from zero with no existing frameworks or ideas!

Enormous job: starting from zero with no framework or guide;

For a great example of this approach, check out Australian Druidry (2017) by Julie Brett, who takes this approach creating a Wheel of the Year for her area in Sydney (pictured).

My own Wheel of the Year is probably somewhere between approaches 3 & 4. I’m still working on it, but here’s where I’m at as of late 2020.