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We celebrate eight festivals throughout the year. These ritual thresholds include 4 earth festivals (cross quarter days) and 4 solar festivals (solstices and equinoxes).
Samhain
Death and the descent of lifeforce
October/November (Fixed day: 31 October)
Earth festival
Ritual threshold of Winter
The start of the Giamos (dark) half of the year
- The invitation: Letting go, shedding, surrendering
- The challenge: Loss, death, disruption
- The movement: Descent into the fecund darkness
- The gifts: Reclaiming our buried feminine, Soul initiation
- The wisdom: Everything, all beginnings, start in the darkness
- The archetypes/ symbols: The Cailleach, the Crone
Image credit: Christopher Campbell (Unsplash)
Image credit: Robin Canfield (Unsplash)
Winter Solstice
Dormant seeds in the depths of the earth 21 December 2021
Solar festival
Ritual threshold of midwinter
The return of the light
The moment that the Summer Solstice is born
- The invitation: Resting in the emptiness of the void, dropping into Dreamtime
- The challenge: Trusting the dark night of the soul, staying inward
- The movement: Dormant stillness and the subtle beginning of the ascent
- The gifts: Connection to our deep inner feminine intelligence, illumination of our Dán (Soul destiny)
- The wisdom: the mysterious potency of darkness
- The archetypes/ symbols: The Cailleach
Imbolc
Nature awakening from dormancy
Early February (Fixed day: 1 February)
Earth Festival
Ritual threshold of Spring
Feminine, with the stirrings of the masculine
- The invitation: Gathering our energy, attending to the seeds of our Dán
- The challenge: Clarifying our intentions, launching fiery arrows from our soul
- The movement: Emergence, awakening
- The gifts: Deepening the potency of our inner feminine
- The wisdom: The power of focused intention, staying inward, and discernment
- The archetype/ symbol: Brigid, Goddess, Fiery Arrows, Bringer of the Dawn, Maiden and Saint, Brigid’s Cross
Image credit: Marion Bergin
Image credit: Adobe images
Spring Equinox
New growth, returning fertility, life force rising
20 March 2022
Solar Festival
Ritual threshold of mid Spring
Equal night, equal day
The invitation: To create from the fertile dance of the opposites
The challenge: Commitment to our Souls deepest purpose
The movement: Rising upward
The gifts: Our inner masculine arising effortlessly from our inner feminine
The wisdom: Beyond polarity, the alchemy of manifestation, ‘the third thing’
The archetype/symbols: Brigid, Goddess, Fiery Arrow, infinity sign
Mari has led us through the Celtic wheel with grace , care and humor. Who knew we would be living within a pandemic. The Web of women, led by Mari, has been a touchstone, providing me with community, a safe place to feel, share and learn! With the guidance of Celtic Wheel wisdom I let go of several things that were not serving me and developed new skills! Mari creates a warm, no pressure to participate and travel at your own pace environment! I am looking forward to continuing traveling with Mari, through another Celtic Wheel year! Go raibh maith agat! Slán.
The Celtic Wheel is a journey that will expand your understanding of the Celtic Wisdom and Ways. The year-long course shares the knowledge which is so needed in today's world to restore balance in beings and the planet. Learn a way of living supported by nature - in community. My year on the Celtic Wheel has grounded me - opened my thinking and deepened my knowledge of the power of the Celtic Wisdom and Traditions. Thank you Mari - for sharing your wisdom. Your knowledge and sensitivity has been a true gift and inspiration.
Bealtaine
Budding and flowering
Early May (Fixed day: 1 May)
Earth Festival
Ritual threshold of Summer
The start of the Samos (light) half of the year
The invitation: The sacred marriage of the inner feminine and inner masculine as we take action in service to our Dán
The challenge: To take risks to step outside our comfort zone, gather our allies as we blossom into our Soul’s potential
The movement: Rising open and expanding from our roots
The gifts: Invoking our inner masculine in service to our inner feminine
The wisdom: Living from our sovereign centre
Mythology/ archetype: Belenos, The Queen, Goddess of Sovereignty, The King
Image credit: Becca Tabert (Unsplash)
Image credit: Roxy Blackham (Unsplash)
Summer Solstice
Full Blossoming
21 June
Solar Festival
Ritual threshold of mid Summer
Beginnings of the return to darkness
The invitation: To blossom open, to shine in our full power and potential
The challenge: To claim the power and the vulnerability of our full potential
The movement: Radiating
The gifts: Integration of our inner feminine and inner masculine sources of power
The wisdom: The vulnerability of full blossoming and shining
Mythology/ archetype: Niall of the Nine Hostages, Áine Sovereign Goddess of the Summer
Lughnasa
Ripe, abundant and succulent
Early August (Fixed day: 1 August)
Earth Festival
Ritual threshold of Autumn
The first harvest
The invitation: Gather with our tribe to feast and harvest our gifts as women and our blessings
The challenge: Pause to celebrate, let in the good and claim our gifts and visibility
The movement: Pulsing
The gifts: Our inner masculine tempered by our inner feminine
The wisdom: The dance of sadness and joy, effort and ease
Mythology/ archetype: Lugh, the Samhaildánach and his foster mother Tailtiú
Image credit: Courtney Davis (Unsplash)
Image credit K Mitch Hodge (Unsplash)
Autumn Equinox
The final glorious blast of colour, warmth and fruits
23 September 2022
Solar festival
Ritual threshold of mid-Autumn
The final harvest
The invitation: Honour the transition from fertile and action to the fallow and inaction.
The challenge: Working with completion, reaping what we have sown in preparation to deepen the spiral into the next cycle
The movement: Pausing to exhale and complete
The gifts: Integrating the polarities as our masculine mode yields to our feminine
The wisdom: The power of completions
Mythology/ archetype: Infinity symbol and the Dance of Opposites
*** Note all dates are in local Irish time
“Mari is completely authentic and brings alive the Celtic Wheel in a way that I don't believe anyone else would achieve. The course itself shows you another way to live in this world, in tune with the seasons and shows you how you can have seasons within seasons. I wasn't expecting the sense of belonging and kinship that I found and it is life changing to belong to such a widely spread group of wonderful female wisdom holders across the world”