Reblog: Why aren’t polytheists talking about Canada?

Versions of this were done in the US, Mexico, Australia, and all over the world, in which possibly millions of children were kidnapped and tortured both emotionally and often physically for “Christianity”. Note the end date. This is not ancient history. It is still happening in some places.

I’m realizing that a lot of my readers, especially in the US, probably aren’t all that familiar with Canada’s historical relations with the …

Why aren’t polytheists talking about Canada?

Rethinking the Wheel of the Year

The morning after the Winter Solstice, I started thinking pretty heavily about the substantial disconnect between our “standard” Gregorian calendar, the liturgical calendars used by various polytheisms, and the Wiccanate neopaganisms’ “Wheel of the Year”. For newer seekers and the general laity, this is a hurdle to regular practice and thus to stronger cultus.

So, for the last couple of weeks I’ve spent a lot of time noodling how to reframe the Gregorian calendar as a liturgical calendar. While I’m really designing this around my particular brand of syncretic polytheism, I’m hoping that it will be useful for others.

I don’t intend it as a replacement for reconstructed liturgical calendars, especially in mystery traditions. Rather, I think of it as a gateway calendar- a way to help reprogram our relationship to time.

Currently, it’s nigh-impossible to escape the crush of monotheism in our overculture’s calendar. However, “Holy Mother Church” taught us the power of subverting a culture’s existing calendars, holy days, and observances. I think we need to heed that lesson. Heck, they kinda stole that idea from the ancient Romans anyway.

Most of the “Wheel of the Year” charts I see split the year either by the solstices and equinoxes or by holy days that fall roughly halfway in-between those- such as the Irish calendar. The Wiccanate Wheel of the Year is a combination of both:

A four-armed Sun Cross. An eight-armed Solar Cross.

 

Of course, many cultures historically divided their year up differently- the Hellenic, Kemetic, Hindu, and Cree calendars, for example. In all of these cases, their agricultural seasonality is different from the “typical” Gregorian seasons.

In thinking through this new Wheel of the Year, I wanted to aim for a decidedly American (U.S.) calendar. If this takes off, I think folks in Canada, Mexico, and many other places could easily use the same principles to adapt their own.

I’m going to get into specific observances later, but for now I just wanted to share my first draft of the wheel:

A first-draft Wheel of the Year for SANCT.

I’m not entirely happy with the “tide” names for the liturgical months, so those will probably change. Suggestions?

That said, changing tides at roughly the ides of the Julian month seems to help the calendar feel aligned with the solar quarter days without turning them into moveable “feasts”. Of course, this won’t work for Work that requires the actual astronomical moment; but, many rituals already get scheduled for the nearest weekend anyway.

I’ve added a ring with four alternate “seasons” since not all of us get real winter (or summer- Minnesota?). These are based more on the feeling of available light than on specific cultural assumptions like snow, falling leaves, or going to the beach. I also included a rough mapping of rainfall patterns in Central Texas to reinforce how our “seasons” don’t necessarily fit the “traditional” pattern.

I said earlier that I would get into specific holy days and such in later posts, but I did want to share some (very) rough noodling about the transition days at the center of the four “sun seasons”:

Yuletide (Dec. 31 to Jan. 1) – “New Year’s”: A day for safeguarding all that is good in our past and correcting or discarding that which is not. Cleansing and warding Work should definitely be undertaken, even more so than normal.

Blossomtide (Mar. 31 to Apr. 1) – “April Fools”: A day for frivolity and rejoicing in the sensorium, a celebration of life and living.

Victorytide (Jun. 30 to Jul. 1) – “TBD”: I still have a lot of unpacking to do here, but it has something to do with the Gods’ restoring the divine order and us following their example to restore right relations.

Harvestide (Sep. 30 to Oct. 1) – “Autumn Sage?”: A day for taking stock, planning for the future, budgeting, and making hard choices.

Those are very cursory descriptions- obviously, I didn’t really get into the specific Gods and the specific liturgy for worshipping Them on those days. I’m just not yet far enough along in the process to do so.

Anyway, that’s a quick overview of one of my many projects.

-In Deos Confidimus