The Wheel of the Year

or, You mean I get more holidays?

Wiccans celebrate eight major holidays, the beginning and midpoint of each season. They are based on a mythology that involves the Goddess travelling through the Lunar stages of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and the God travelling through the Solar stages of seed, birth, growth, harvest, and rebirth. Starhawk wrote the Myth out rather poetically in her book The Spiral Dance:

In love, the Horned God, changing form and changing face, ever seeks the Goddess. In this world, the search and the seeking appear in the Wheel of the Year. She is the Great Mother who gives birth to Him as the Divine Sun Child at the Winter Solstice. In spring, He is sower and seed who grows with the growing light, green as the new shoots. She is the Initiatrix who teaches Him the mysteries. He is the young bull; She the nymph, seductress. In summer, when light is longest, they meet in union, and the strength of their passion sustains the world. But the God's face darkens as the sun grows weaker, until at last, when the grain is cut for harvest, He too sacrifices Himself to Self that all may be nourished. She is the reaper, the grave of earth to which all must return. Throughout the long nights and darkening days, He sleeps in Her womb; in dreams, He is Lord of Death who rules the Land of Youth beyond the gates of night and day. His dark tomb becomes the womb of rebirth, for at Midwinter She again gives birth to Him. The cycle ends and begins again, and the Wheel of the Year turns, on and on.

That said, let's look at the eight holidays in a more concrete way, in terms of both mythological significance and agricultural observance. I've also included the appropriate aspect of a Year Project - a magickal/mundane project that you do in accordance with the time of the year.

Yule or Winter Solstice (December 19-22): THINK

This is the birth of the Sun King to the Great Mother, the triumphant return of the light on the longest night of the year.
This is the time of year that you will begin to think about what you want to do in the coming year. This is when you will formulate ideas, organize your thoughts and decide in your mind what you wish to work towards.

Imbolc, Brigitmas, Candlemas (February 2): PREPARE

This is the time of the growing light as the young God learns from his Mother, the midpoint of Winter, the preparation for Spring.
Now is when you will want to synthesize your ideas in more detail, map or chart out on paper in physical form what your goals are; choose a specific goal and direct your energy towards this.

Ostara, Eostre or Vernal Equinox (March 19-22): BEGIN or PLANT

This is the moment that the Lord and Lady meet and begin their courtship, not as Mother and Child but as lovers, equals. This is the balance of light and dark at Equinox and the beginning of Spring.
This is when you actually begin projects, planting the seeds for what you wish to accomplish during the year.

Beltane or May Day (May 1): ACT or MOVEMENT

This is the Sacred Marriage, the consummation of the love of the Lord and Lady, the celebration of the lengthening light and the warming days at the midpoint of Spring.
Here the union of energies starts the movement towards what we wish to accomplish. We have planted the seeds of desire; now we must empower what we want as we energize the seeds.

Litha, Midsummer or Summer Solstice (June 20-23): NURTURE

Today the union of the Lord and Lady conceives the Year Child in love. This is the celebration of the longest day, the triumph of light, and yet at the same time the moment when light begins to wane.
Our seeds have begun to grow, our projects mature and develop. Now is the time to nurture what is growing.

Lugnasadh or Lammas (August 1): ACCEPT or HARVEST

This is the sacrifice and wake of the God of the Harvest. At the midpoint of summer, the grains are ripening and harvest begins.
Our seeds are now ripe for harvest; our goal has begun to physically manifest and we must take responsibility, sacrificing what hinders us as we begin to attain what we have worked for all year.

Mabon or Autumnal Equinox (September 20-23): RECEIVE

The Sun King has become the Lord of Shadows going forth into the unknown. As fall begins, we give thanks for what we have harvested and prepare what we need to sustain us as we enter the barren season.
Our projects have come to fruition, our goals are accomplished. We give thanks for what we are receiving.

Samhain (October 31): RETURN

The Lord of Shadows becomes the Lord of Life, the seed of His own rebirth, in the cauldron of the Crone that is the holy grail of immortality, the tomb that is the Mother's Womb. Samhain teaches the mystery that every ending is a new beginning.
Now we let go of our projects, allowing the seeds to die in order that new ones may be prepared at Yule.

- Compiled from Janet and Steward Farrar, Lady Sabrina, and Starhawk; original material and interpretation by Cecylyna.