2023 Witch's Diary: Northern Hemisphere

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When I was growing up, I always thought Beltane was the coolest, but that’s because I thought of it only as the holiday in which you lit a bonfire and went and made love in the woods. In Wiccan tradition, the Goddess (in her Mother aspect) gives birth to the God on the longest night of the year (the winter solstice) and then, like the Earth during winter, rests. From kindred holidays to the return of my local Pagan Pride Day, I've had a lot of community experiences this autumn. It's been awesome and of course I am sharing my fun with my blog readers. American Celebration Kindred has one fully trained gythia besides me, and a couple more apprentice gythias coming along, so I'm not the only ritualist in the group and some rituals are done by others. Also we've had at least one gathering hosted by someone else, since Tom's passing (his house was used as our kindred temple, used pretty much just for ritual during the 2 years he lived in a care center. I did the actual prep over there for those rituals but it was sure easier to do when no one was using the house for anything else.) I'm still the only person who seems interested in organizing everything by seeing who can make it to what on which date and who might be interested in planning, leading, or hosting a ritual. The summer solstice, or Litha, is when the days are the longest. Nature is at it’s peak and the sun is at the highest point in the sky. Pagans give thanks for all of this and at this time, ask for a rich harvest. For Wiccans, this is also when the god is at his full power.

Lughnasadh marks the midpoint between summer and fall, and is the first harvest festival of the year. It’s a time for harvesting grains, giving thanks for the growth that has happened, and to enjoy the warmth and light that is still to come. Stay tuned for my next post, Honoring the Bear Spirit! And then my upcoming post, Blessing at Pagan Pride Day!We also tend to do more outdoor activities in the yard than we previously did, although we always did some outdoor activities in nice weather. Mabon or the fall equinox is the second harvest festival. Traditionally, it’s when fruits and vegetables are harvested, when autumn begins, and when Wiccans believe the Goddess moves from Mother to Crone. It’s a time to give thanks for all that has been provided. The Urglaawe hold Zisasege on Sept. 28th, so I thought our fall ritual would be a great time to have a Zisa Day. My kindred members have more availability on weekends though so we scheduled ours on the closest Saturday. I try very hard to organize the ritual schedule for the year so everyone can get to do all the things but it isn't always possible. As it happened, only those who live here attended because others canceled due to illness. But unexpected guests came and brought pizza and serendipitous garlic knots. I felt that was oddly appropriate for Zisa Day, and might have it again deliberately next time I want to honor Zisa. The Wheel of the Year is a symbol represents the 8 festivals important to many pagans, Wiccans, and witches. These holidays — knows as Sabbats — follow a nature-based calendar and include four solar festivals and four seasonal festivals set in between them.

Traditionally Asatru sumbel includes passing a drinking horn from which everyone drinks. Early on in the pandemic, we switched to having everyone drink from an individual cup. At first we used disposable cups, and these days we still sometimes use them if the gathering has enough people to make it impractical to wash an individual cup for everyone. When we weren't passing the horn it was hard to tell whose turn it was to speak, though, so we eventually went with passing the horn for people to pour from into their individual cups. If you choose to celebrate the festivals on the Wiccan calendar, how you choose to do so is up to you. If you’re part of a coven, you and your fellow witches may have follow certain rituals and customs connected to the holiday. If you are a solitary practitioner, take the time to learn about each Sabbat and learn about the colors, foods, and decorations associated with each. Because solstices and equinoxes are tied to exact astronomical moments, the holidays shift slightly from year-to-year. There is a celebration about every six weeks, so there’s always something to look forward to! At the end of this post, I’ve included the Wheel of the Year dates for 2023 and 2024. For Wiccans, Lughnasadh is marks when the god’s power begins to decline. And, for some pagans, it’s the time when the Celtic Sun God Lugh transfers his power to the grain. When the grain is harvested and baked into bread, his cycle of life is complete.Samhain, or best known as Halloween, is Celtic New Year’s Eve and the final harvest. It’s when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest and when pagans believe spirits easiest roam the earth and when it is easiest to communicate with them. Samhain is a time to honor all those who have come before, for all that was gifted to us during the year, to ask for guidance, and to set intentions as the turning of the wheel begins again. Our next holiday is going to be Thanksgiving with a possible side of Wolfenoot. It's mostly going to just be modern American style Thanksgiving, which is a harvest feast with each person saying what they are thankful for, and I think that's a fine ritual on its own. We might do some wolf howling though if either we're outside and the cats are inside or vice versa, unless there's a service dog there-- there are two possible attendees who have them-- in which case we'll skip the howling. This practical guide will show you how to harness the magic of nature, reclaim your personal power through the discovery of ancient wisdom, and embrace the feminine divine. You will journey through the year, learning to work with the forces of nature through spell work, incantations, rituals, sigils, age-old recipes, and charms that use herbs, candles, and crystals. American Celebration Kindred usually does our fall ritual as Rainbow Season, for two reasons. Firstly in honor of Heimdall, Tom's patron. Secondly, because we live in the Mojave Desert, where summer is the rainy season. After the rain comes the rainbow, so after the rainy season comes the rainbow season. This year we held Zisa Day in September and I did a Rainbow Season ritual at Pagan Pride Day in November. We'll probably return to doing our Rainbow Season ritual in September in other years, but we also try to do a least one or more new rituals each year. Last year my kindred's other gythia Amanda led Haustlong, a traditional autumn ritual, in September. This year we held Zisa Day. Over the past few years, the goddess Zisa has become increasingly important to me. One of her titles is Undoer of Knots, which is also a title of Mary; the two were euhemerized in continental Europe. Zisa can be represented by a pine cone. Her traditional libation is stone pine liquor, so we toasted her with it on our Zisa Day.

After that we're doing Yule, which is a union of heathen and American customs. We do a full sumbel and blot for Yule but we also exchange presents and have a decorated tree and so on. After that comes birthdays, American style. And sometime before any more holidays arrive we will have to plan our ritual calendar for the year and decide which holidays we're doing and who is hosting and performing them. In between the weekend of the eclipse etc. and my next kindred ritual was Halloween, which the households on my street do up in style. My housemates and I and my neighbors did the American holiday of Halloween including a bonfire and marshmallow roasting. I was having mobility challenges again for the nth time this year, but with my housemates' help I pulled it off. Imbolc is the holiday during which some pagans give thanks to Brigid as well as to the increasing daylight, which comes with hope for an abundant spring. It is also a traditional holiday for rededications or for witch initiations.The greater sabbats or cross-quarter days fall approximately halfway between the greater sabbats and have origins in Celtic traditions. They include: Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain.