The Celtic Wheel of the Year

Last Wednesday was Imbolc or St. Brigid’s day, the celebration of winter reaching completion and the first signs of spring appearing. I say that as I look out and piles of snow and an outside thermometer reading of 10 F degrees. Perhaps it is because of the climate where I reside, but my primary sense of this holiday is that it symbolizes and celebrates Hope. The light gets noticeably brighter and the days longer. Spring is coming. New beginnings are on the horizon.

I have written about the Celtic wheel of the year before, yet thought it was time to write again about the Celtic wisdom of attuning to the cycles of the earth and a year based on the sun and  moon and their effect on our world-both internal and external.

Turning to the internet for fresh ideas, I came across the image above and this great article to which I refer you: 

https://theselfcareemporium.com/blog/beginners-guide-wheel-of-the-year

The image really says it all. You see in it the four festival days, the four fire festivals from mark the change of seasons and the four solar festivals that mark the sun’s position ( the equinoxes and solstices .

Focus on the wheel for a moment. Once you have a sense of the meaning of each section, image the image as a wheel, a slowly spinning wheel.

I invite you into the wheel and into the rhythm of change. Like the playground spinners we loved as kids, this wheel will move to your movement, as fast or as slow as you wish. Others may join you or you may proceed on you own. Just imagine traveling around the wheel of the year. Start here at the beginning of spring. Ask to be shown what learnings or experiences might present  themselves to you in the days ahead.

Imagine the joys and the opportunities for celebration that will come. Ask for protecting and guidance for all the days ahead. Enter into a place of thanksgiving. Celebrate the coming of the Sun.