This year’s theme has been the Wheel of the Year, and what it means to Wiccans and Pagans. There is a large gap between Samhain and Yule; almost two months. What does this contain? In the mundane world these two months contain Thanksgiving and Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza and several other holidays of differing faiths. But to the Pagan Wiccan household, this is the “time of no time”, the thirteenth month.
Many Pagans view this time as the “death” of the world and its creators. The God has given his life for his people, and harvest has been gathered for the time of winter. The Goddess in Her mourning of Him, has also gone to the underworld. Will they come back, bringing with them the new beginning that was promised? The old world pagan and Wiccan could only hope and plan. No more will be gathered, made or started during this time; as in many pagan cultures it is considered to be a time of meditation and consideration.
As we saw in our other columns; Beltane was the time of marriage and conception. Many young mothers await the arrival of their infants in January and February. They will nurse and tend their new infant for another six weeks until the beginning of the planting in March. For now, many of them wait for their new offspring to arrive, hoping that all will be well, and that they will survive their coming labor. (As an interesting note: Labor’s pain is equivalent to about 90% of the bones in the body being broken at the same time. And yet, many women survive it, and go on to bear more children.) The time of cold and winter has arrived and with it, snow and rain, ice and sleet. It is a time to stay in and be warm, only venturing out to feed those animals that were kept for spring. Some of them will also deliver in the springtime. As winter begins to be colder and harsher, the people begin to become ill, and many of them will not see the spring come. Being cooped up starts the murmurings of discontent and the children’s begging to go outside. They come back with cold hands and feet, made to sit by the fire and fed from the soup cauldron that is kept on the fire and added to. The old nursery rhyme, “Pease porridge pot” is a comment on this old stew. And nine days old was not uncommon, although in this day and age, of course, is unheard of. But, food poisoning because of such practices was common, and some people didn’t survive that. During the dark and middle ages, plague, small pox and other maladies befell the people, and many died. At one point a full one third of the population of Europe was felled by plague alone.
At last, Yule and Winter Equinox arrived. Most pagans and Wiccans consider this to be “mid-point” of winter and start to prepare the festivities. There is still half of winter to be gone through. In our next column, we will discuss Yule, how it is celebrated, and what lies ahead. I invite you to continue the series.
Reverend LynAnne Moon is a member of the Belle Diamond Psychics and is available for readings through her site: www.numbersstarsandcards.com . She has been a practicing Wiccan Pagan for the past 35 years. She is also a partner in www.thefrugalpagan.com.
