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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

 

Hymns, Offerings, Words of Praise

Goddess Known As Freedom – A Lively Hymn

The Apotheosis of Washington - a fresco from the rotunda of the United States Capitol showing at least two faces of the Goddess known as Freedom.
The Apotheosis of Washington – showing at least two faces of Our Lady.

Goddess Known As Freedom

Tune: Battle Cry Of Freedom, by George Frederick Root (Played adagietto)

We were threatened by a king from the darkened age of yore,
A red tide to wash away our freedom!
But like tinder and a spark, our young nation knew fervor-
Fanned by the Goddess known as Freedom!

(Chorus)
Athena, Minerva, Columbia too,
Liberty’s author, and Washington’s Muse.
We got Victory from Her sword, the Republic from Her pen,
Honor the Goddess known as Freedom!

Torn asunder by mistrust when the markets would not mend,
The Colonies could never form a union.
When rebellion flared again, a Constitution did they pen,
Thanks to the Goddess known as Freedom!

(Chorus)

Then Women, Slaves, and Tribes, all abandoned, all ignored,
Called for the gift of Her Republic.
But tradition raised a sword, vultures feasted on the gore,
She wept, oh the Goddess known as Freedom!

(Chorus)

The great battles come and go, but the wisest of us know,
The struggle for freedom’s in our own hearts.
Alone mortals cannot win, the Republic will fall in,
Without the great Goddess known as Freedom!

(Chorus)

Altar, Ceremonies, Hymns, Offerings, Words of Praise

Thinking About Ceremonies for Our Lady of the Republic

One of the major difficulties in worshipping a modern, New World manifestation of an ancient goddess is the lack of a continuous religious tradition.  We have some historical documentation of how She was worshipped in places like Greece and Rome, but much of the cultural meaning is irrelevant or even abhorrent to Americans today.  That leaves a bit of a gap to fill and quite a quandary in terms of planning ceremonies for Our Lady.

Interestingly, though, there is one tradition that seems to be fairly analogous between ancient Greece and the modern United States- burning meat.  The ancient form of this ritual was called “hecatomb”, meaning essentially “one hundred cattle”.  The modern form of this ritual is called “barbecuing” or “grilling”.

Mind you, I doubt that most Americans today would view their fire+meat activities as a ceremony for Our Lady, let alone a sacrifice to Her.  Yet, here in the U.S. the three dates when we feel the most social pressure to engage in barbecue-type picnics are festivals quite appropriate to Her worship- Memorial Day (Athena Promachos – “First in Battle”), Independence Day (Athena Laossoos – “Rallier of Nations”), and Labor Day (Athena Ergane – “The Worker”).  I find the synchronicities a little too pat to think them mere coincidence.

Okay, so fire+meat is pretty much a given.  I’m pretty sure that we aren’t going to be slaughtering a hundred head of cattle in front of the whole town anytime soon.  So, in developing a modern liturgy, we will need to consider not just scale but the availability of materials.  In the Greek hecatomb, priests typically burned long bones, fat, and hides- things that were readily available because the cattle were slain on the spot.  Most Americans would have trouble finding an uncured cowhide, and few supermarkets carry whole bovine femurs or large sheets of suet.

On top of this comes the issue of fire.  Unfortunately, here in the States, outdoor fires are increasingly heavily regulated, meaning that the size and scope of our sacrificial fires would often be limited.  Worse, in many areas the only sites available for fire ceremonies for Our Lady would be public picnic areas.  It’s a little hard to erect and hold sacred space when surrounded by errant frisbees and poorly-thrown footballs, let alone self-righteous interlopers.

Another issue (unrelated to fire+meat) is the shape of a gathering.  Many in West seem to think that all non-Abrahamic rituals need to take place in a circle, yet we don’t see a lot of that in Classical worship of Our Lady, nor in the practices of those modern institutions most closely identified with Her.  If anything, something more akin to a military formation is probably more appropriate.

Music might be a good idea, but most of the American songs that reference Her also call out to an unnamed deity, generally assumed to be Yah by virtue of His cultural dominance in the West.  Since I haven’t seen much evidence that He had much to do with our Republic, I’d prefer to steer clear of those.  That means having to compose new hymns and teaching them to people.

Then there comes the problem of democratizing the ceremony to just the appropriate level that it honors Her message of responsibility and empowerment while allowing the ceremony to work.  I think one of the keys will be having two or more “tiers” of ceremony- not just a “high holy” ritual but a “friends and family” rite that people can perform at home.

Hmm, I’ve rambled on enough.  I need to noodle a bit more.