Jane Meredith - Rituals of Celebration: Honoring the Seasons of Life Through the Wheel of the Year

Photo David Brazil

About the Author

Jane Meredith is a Priestess of the Goddess and a writer. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and presents workshops worldwide. Her interests include mythology, magic, and ritual. Her books are Aphrodites Magic: Celebrate and Heal Your Sexuality and Journey to the Dark Goddess . You can sign up for Janes e-zine, learn about upcoming workshops, and read more by visiting www.janemeredith.com.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Rituals of Celebration: Honoring the Seasons of Life through the Wheel of the Year 2013 by Jane Meredith.

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First e-book edition 2013

E-book ISBN: 9780738736716

Book design by Bob Gaul
Cover art: Background leaves iStockphoto.com/Ingmar Wesemann

Tree of Life pendant handcrafted by Ethora www.ethora.com

Cover design by Adrienne Zimiga

Editing by Amy Quale

Interior art: Wheel of the Year illustrations Llewellyn art department

Tree of Life pendant handcrafted by Ethora www.ethora.com

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated
to Damon Artemis Meredith

And with thanks to the many, many people who came to these Festivals over fifteen years, bringing food, energy, enthusiasm, masks, candles, ribbons, painted eggs, and the willingness to celebrate the Eight Festivals. You created the community that made these rituals possible

Contents

Introduction

The Winter Solstice arrives at midwinter, the shortest day and longest night of the year. From now on the light gains strength day by day. It is the great turning point, the birth of the year and the new cycle.

Imbolc arrives with the realization that winter will come to an end, and is traditionally associated with lambs and the first snowdrop. It symbolizes hopes, wishes, and all new beginnings.

During the Spring Equinox, day and night are of equal length, a moment of balance before the summer months. This is the time to sow the seeds saved from the previous year, whether they are literal seeds of barley and corn or the projects and plans weve dreamed up.

Beltaine, also known as May Day, heralds the beginning of summer. Flowers and greenery abound, displaying the raw force and fertility of nature. It is a celebration of joy and sexuality.

The Summer Solstice is the longest day and shortest night, where the year hovers at its peak. Love, plenty, and the full power of the summer season are celebrated in this sacred marriage between earth and sun.

The Wheel turns again and Lammas arrives. As we begin to gather in our harvestwhether from our spiritual life, our vegetable garden, or our relationshipswe recognize the hard work still to come and decide what needs to be sacrificed or discarded.

The Autumn Equinox is another day and night of equal length, and this time we face the dark half of the year. Our hard work is measured in the completed harvest and we take this opportunity to consciously turn inward.

Samhain, popularly known as Halloween, is the late evening of the year. On this night we remember and honor the dead. We submerge our awareness into the spirit realms, release whatever holds us back, and walk boldly into the dark, trusting that rebirth will occur.

These Eight Festivals make up the Wheel of the Year, a wheel that is ever turning and where each aspect forms a vital part of the whole. In celebrating the Festivals we celebrate the entire cycle of life, death, and regenerationa cycle to which the whole of nature is bound. We come again into awareness of belonging to the earth and a deep sense of participation in the natural world.

When my son Damon turned five, I made a momentous decision.

I decided I wanted him to grow up believing that celebrating the natural cycles was an ordinary thing to do. I did not want him to think our earth-based religion was a couple of people isolated from the mainstream, connected to a few others scattered around the edges of the world. I wanted to give him an experience of security, acceptance, and belonging in a spiritual path. To do this, I had to create a context where ritual, magic, and a relationship to nature would be the norm. We already celebrated the Eight Festivals of the Wheel of the Year and I decided to try to create a community around them. I wanted him to feel that even though what we were doing might differ from the secular world all around us, or the vague Christianization of our Australian culture, our beliefs were just as valid and he was not in any way alone.

I began creating large rituals eight times a year. I invited everyone I knew, and people came; sometimes forty people were there, and sometimes eight. People came with their children, their partners, visiting brothers or sisters, friends, or parents. They brought colleagues, acquaintances, and their childrens friends; once, someone brought a hitchhiker. Community activists came, and permaculturalists; feminists, people who were into yoga, healing, and conscious parenting. Some of them called themselves Pagans, but there were also Buddhists, Sanyasans, Christians, atheists, and spiritual seekers. These people wanted to be part of celebrations that were related to our season and location. They wanted to be creative, have fun, and be with others in a deep awareness of the natural cycles of their lives and the earth.

The rituals were held on the Sunday afternoons closest to the date of each Festival. Everyone present was an active part of the ritual. There were always children, from babies and toddlers to teenagers. I ran the Festivals for fifteen years, always at someones house and always free of charge. I distributed the cost of materials by asking people to bring things, such as decorated eggs for the Spring Equinox, masks for Samhain, and ribbons and gifts at Beltaine. After a ritual we would always share a meal together. We had a Harvest Feast for the Autumn Equinox; on the Summer Solstice we celebrated with fruit; and at Samhain we had an Ancestors Feast, making dishes traditional to our family, culture, or background.