The wheel of the year…image found on Pinterest via russellcottrell.com
We all experience the Divine in different ways. Most established religions capture and hold their particular idea of the Mystery, creating a conformed approach and structure for its followers. This has assisted many folks in finding meaning and having a reference guide for living their lives. But not everybody feels their own personal experience with the Divine is so easily defined, nor able to be expressed fully within organized religions. I came to understand this early, although raised up in a wonderful Lutheran church, seeing the beauty of transcendence and grace from the teachings. Even then I embraced a more animistic spirituality, and one that did not understand condemnation of any soul because they did not have the beliefs of a certain man-created faith. Seeing all life as holy, and nothing without soul grew as I did. I could not imagine the hierarchical view that everyone else seemed to accept as “the way”. With all the challenges and difficulties of life, I felt the need for a broader spiritual hospitality, where nothing and no one is less than, where tolerance, respect, and true charity exists for all living things. No abandonment, neglect, or debasement of “what is” could be part of it. Connection to what is around us, on this earth matters. Deserving of respect and reverence, all the parts that make the whole call to us.
The story was told to me, (I can remember some of it), about the 5-6 year old, stopping the bulldozers across the road from our house. There was laughter about it when retold, but it never seemed funny to me. Big machinery was clearing forest for a new house to be built. There was nothing but woods all around the homeplace at that time. It was my sanctuary, my playground. I recall the noise of trees being pushed over and racing the 100 or so yards to stand in front of the men on dozers. For me, it was about the birds, animals, and the beautiful trees. Although the workers told me to go, apparently someone had to go get an adult from the family to remove my little body. I remember screaming and crying, but the work continued and I was forbidden from interfering.
At 18, I discovered the Wheel of the Year calendar structure, and it became the model I follow. Many ancient civilizations were deeply attuned to the natural cycles. These societies made sense of the world and the mysteries of life, death, and rebirth, marking these times with ritual and ceremony, and also transitions and initiations were honored according to the seasonal calendar. They witnessed the turning seasons, and found what was needed to survive, and thrive… when to stay, and when to migrate, when to plant and harvest, and what was required to meet the needs of the community. The movement of the sun was the consistent guide. Therefore, the two Equinoxes and two Solstices make up the Lesser Sabbats/HolyDays on this calendar. Of course the associations are determined by where you are, as seasons are flipped in the southern hemisphere.
*The Vernal or Spring Equinox (may be called Ostara) falls near March 21,
*The Autumnal Equinox (may be called Mabon) falls near September 21.
These are the two days in balance within the year, when night equals day and then begins to grow or lessen.
The word Solstice comes from the old 13th century French by way of the Latin “solstitium” which means, “when the sun seems to stand still”. Of course we know this as the time the sun is at either its highest or lowest points in the sky.
*The Winter Solstice (may be called Yule) falls near December 21.
*The Summer Solstice (may be called Litha) falls near June 21.
These times form a 4 quadrant circle with four seasonal cross quarters, or Greater Sabbats/Holydays. Samhain (November 1) begins the winter quarter, Imbolc (February 2), spring, Beltane (May 1), summer, and Lammas/Lughnasadh (August 1), Autumn. Because time is not fixed there are some variations. But this circle is really simple… An elemental pie of eight equal slices, based on the natural seasonal cycle, so ever replenishing. With each of these quarters, come an energetic shift, that happens gradually, just as seen and felt in the phases of the moon each month.
From winter solstice to Vernal equinox is a cleansing clearing energy.
From vernal equinox to summer solstice is a growing creative energy.
From summer solstice to autumnal equinox is a reaping using energy.
From autumnal equinox to winter solstice is a resting reflective energy.
Imagine these energies as a spiralling circle. Our outer world (observed and experienced nature around us) provides an interior model, showing us ways to align our own energies with the natural cycles, with which we are intrinsically a part. As we move through the never-ending cycle, of the annual solar and monthly lunar calendars we can notice, and acknowledge what we see/know/feel. There is no right or wrong way. I see the turning of the wheel as a living compass for spiritual navigation. Whether we do meditative work, or ceremonial ritual, solitary or together in a group, inside or outside, it matters not. Dancing, singing, writing, walking, sitting in silence, belly laughing or serious prayer… there is a place for all expression. We are free, open to whatever guidance may be offered. Whether we are celebrating the return of life in spring, honoring the ancestors at Samhain, or releasing what no longer serves on Winter Solstice, there are limitless ways to commune with nature as divine. It is up to us, as we make our own “liturgy”, open to creativity, and ground ourselves, and our practice within earth‘s receptivity.
This model also offers a view of soul progression, from birth through maturity and to old age, passing through the many seasons of life until we reach our winter, that our world calls death. With every pass through the seasons and Holydays we are given doorways, portals to awakening perception and new opportunities. An open invitation is offered. We can respond by giving our attention. Through simple daily living, an infusion of spirit awaits if we hold to our intention. There may be revelation. There may be a sense of deep resonance and connection. In western society, there is a very formal attitude toward prayer, and no natural path to approach the Divine. Following the rising and setting of the sun and phases of the moon, honoring the wheel of the year and all of nature in our own way, allowing responsiveness to whatever is happening, can be a prayer itself that lifts, supports, and sustains us.
In New Zealand the Maori fought for the Whanganui river after years of witnessing its degradation. It is a priceless treasure to the first peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand). The simple phrase, “I am the river, and the river is me.”was repeated by the activists. Finally, it was recognised to have the same rights as a human (considered an ancestor). The large, wild Te Urewera forest park was granted personhood, and also the sacred Mount Taranaki. This is good common sense and a reverent acknowledgement of the lands and waters that sustain all life. A long trip of solo hiking, camping and talking to folks in this island country just a couple of years ago was a spiritual journey for me, meaningful, amazing, and restorative to my faith in possibility for humans to remember a different way of seeing and being on earth.
Te Urewera forest North island New Zealand
I could write at length about each one of the four quarters and the eight sections of the Wheel of the Year, and maybe sometime I will. It is foundational. But I am moved to share about simple connection with the Divine. It is not far out there somewhere, and we are not separate from it. In my own spirit vision, we are manifestations of the Divine, as is every other being, animal, vegetable, mineral here on earth. We share the same matrix of material. We are one and the same. Whether we call this experience, God, Goddess, Source Energy, Universal Mind, Great Spirit, Allah, Yahweh, Mother Nature, or any of the 10,000 other names, it matters not. For me, Nature (with a capital N) and the balancing principles of Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine feel right. I may use many names, depending on what work I am doing. But I always experience the sacred through the senses, connecting to it through trees, flowers, clouds, stars, rivers, oceans, animals of every sort, stones, the people I pass on the street. I feel the power of spirit in the wind, the rain, the sun on my skin, the ground beneath my feet, breathing, in the food I cook and eat, music I hear, poetry I read… and just experiencing beauty all around. Whatever touches the Divine within offers a blessing. It is in the living, the shaking off our spiritual amnesia that we reclaim our rightful place in nature and with the Divine. The embodied spiritual path is available each moment. An awakening might happen while sweeping the floor, or weeding the garden, walking the dog or hanging out laundry. All that is required is our presence, putting distractions aside for a bit. We do not have to be transported away from our humaness, as taught over generations to meet “the other”, to be loved and accepted. The opposite is where truth lies. Dissolving the mental structures that keep us separate, brings us back to our true place in the scheme of things. We see there is no “other”. There is the convergence of life, spirit, and this beautiful earth. “We are the river and the river is me”.
The Wheel turns. Through each cycle of seasons we remember, reclaiming our place. We are Nature and we are Divine expression.