June 21-22 (Southern Hemisphere)
December 21-22 (Northern Hemisphere)

Everyone likes this ritual, because it is our Yule Festival our time of giving presents and sharing. this was later adopted by the Christians and called Christmas (well in the northern hemisphere anyway). We start the night usually with those who have requested Wiccaning's and then we sing and dance the Layrinth. We do deck the house with greenery and lots of tinsel and may candles.

It is what we call the "Family Ritual and Feast", we usually keep this festival closed for only our families and inner circle members and their immediate families, this way we make it very intimate and family oriented without having hundreds of people that we do not necesarily know at out feasting.

We have many ganmes, such as pass the parcel (but of course this is for the adults only), we also ask everyone to bring a green candle, this helps us illuminate the land, and each time we light a candle it brings a little more light into the world. We then each in turn have something arty and creative to offer for enternainment, such as jokes, sotries, songs, hances, poems etc.

We each bring a gift to the Circle, and this is for exchange to another who is present. we do not usually have a price setting on the gifts but do prefer if they are made by the individual if possible. We usually finish the night with the mulled mead and dance and sing around the fire-pit until we see the Sun arising upon the horizon, and we honour the new dawn of another beautiful Goddess and God given day.

It is a time of entering the silence,, and ding much Path-working, especially with nature and the forests and the woods. The trees associated with this time are Holly, Ivy, Misletoe and Eudalyptus and Teatree. It is the time of communication with the little brothers and sisters of nature, these being the animal kingdom and the insect world. I is a great time for healings, especialy on the Full Moon.

It is also a special time for Elders to do a Midnight Ritual to honour Darkness and the Crone aspect of life.©

Samhain, All Hallows Eve, May Eve

April 30 (Southern Hemisphere)
October 31 (Northern Hemisphere)

Samhain (sow-hayn), is the end of the Wiccan Year, and also the beginning. We degin with an ending because we are working with the continuous tides of Nature, and on theing always leads to another. When the leaves begin to fall, we know it is a time of letting fo of our past and a welcoming of the future. We also get ready for the start of the Wiccan New Year. We play the game "Catch the Leaf", which is not as easy as you may think. Just as you clutch one, it rises or swirls away, the heat of your hand creates a little thermal. As the trees begin to show their skeletons and the first frosts whiten the grasses. This is the time of Samhain.

Another name for this is the West Wind Sabbat, (here inAustralia the windiest times of the year are around May and October. For Samhain we celebrate the end of Autum and the western Quaeter of the Circle. Samhain is a mature ritual, one of the four most ancient fire festivals, the others being Imbolg or Oimelc, Lughnasadh and Beltane. these are Solar Rites, which fall upon the Equinoxes and Solstices. These are festivals of balance.

The times between the festivals are almost equal; there are six weeks from a solar to a nature rite, and seven weeks from a nature to a solar, making four equal divisions of 13 weeks in the year. These form the structure of our Wiccan calender. In the days before there was a written calender, Samhain would have come on the first hoar frost, or when the oak lost his leaves.

The origins of the word Samhain are obscure. One possible explanation is that it stems from a Gaelic word, pronounced something like "Raven". This was the time when surplus was killed, to provide meat for the Winter months.

I is also the time when the veil is thinnest between the worlds, so to speak. This is whereby we can contact our ancestors and those great spiritual teachers from our past history. It is a time for honouring the dead. And as in life, there is a wheel and we are reborn into a life more beautiful than before.

The Samhain Tree is the Elder Tree. I represents the embodiment of the Crone. also the herb Thyme is associated with departed sould, and Rosemary for remembrance. this is also a good time for doing spells associated with ancestors knowledge, divination, ouija, seances, and remembering.©

Lughnasadh

February 1-2 (Southern Hemisphere)
July 31 (Northern Hemisphere)

This festival has many reasins but most importantly it is the time of Thanksgiving, for here we are celebrating the beginning of harvest, and the begining of the first rains. We also morn for the soul of nature who is dying for our good. This festival use to be called the 'Feast of the Bread', it was a major harvest festival all over Europe. Ceres and Demeter were names which presided over the ripening harvest. Ceres now gives her name to our breakfast Cere-als. it is in some places still called the Lady's rite, when the first loaf of bread is made from the first sheaf of the years harvest. Lughnasadh is the festival of the God Lugh, the Celtic God who gave his name to London - originally it was called Lughnum. this festival celebrated the death and resurrection of Lugh as the Grain God. this ritual usually starts with the men telling the story of the growth and decay of the Lord of the Sun who has given his strength is now slain and cut down. this is a solemn ritual, for everyone thinks of the sadness, but with ultimate growth we know that in all life harvest is inevitable! The plants associated with Lughnasadh is Barley and Corn, it belongs to the element of Earth and is ruled by Venus. A corn dolly is made to attract health and wealth and it is hung above the front door. it is a good time for doing spells to attract money, food, travel, fire spells, protection for the household. the tree for this time is the Hazel Nut tree, it was called 'NineHazels' by the ancient Celts, which grew over the famous and legendary Connla's Well, producing flowers and fruit simultaneously. When their nuts fell into the sacred well, they were eaten by the salmon which lived in there, which was supposed to be very wise. the number of nuts the fish ate were recorded in the spots on their skin. Hazwl Nut kernel's crushed in mead and combined with purslow, Jasmine, Periwinkle and Anemone are very good aphrodisiac. Hazel wood is also exceptional for majik wands, especially from a one year old Hazel Tree. Forked Hazel is what diviners use when divining for water..©

Autumn Equinox/Mabon

March 21-22 (Southern Hemisphere)
September 21-22(Northern Hemisphere)

The Autumn Equinox is analogous to the mystical fall of man. At this time the human spirit descended into the realms of Annwyn (the Underworld), by being emersed in the illusion of terrestrial existence. in ancient Egypt, the Autumn Festival re-enacted the grief and joy at rediscovering the Goddess Isis's husband, Osiris, and her son Horus. The Autumn Equinox is also celebrated in the name of Diana who is the Italian Goddess early identified with the Greek Goddess Artemis. she was the Goddess of the Moon, of the forest, the hunt, of springs and brooks, and all flowing water, chastity, child birth and for all women. her powers were over all women, who prayed to her for offspring. She was thought of as the protectress and mother. Her original temples and shrines were where we now have the Roman Catholic Churches Vatican City. Later, worship of this Deity was adopted by Christianity in the form of the Virgin Mary. the Autumn Equinox is also the time when the Elders gathered food and grain, and at the early wee hours of the morning would leave it outside the door of those who the community knew were either poor or who were having a hard time. this was also to ensure that they ould have food and grain for the coming winter. it again emphasises the role of protector and provider. The Wutumn Equinox is the time of balance and we give thanks for the harvest, which has been safely gathered in, and here we say goodbye to the power of the Sun. For here the sun loses his solar Radiance and power, and the dark of the night begins to gain dominion over the days. the Autumn Equinox is also a time of looking forward. As the leaves change colour we think about the final gathering of berries and fruit, these are used at the later time for making potions ans wine for the winter jellies. Elderberries are gathered to make Elder rob, and as soon as the heavy rains soften the earth, we pick all our citrus fruits, for these will help gight againsr those germs we get in the winter months. At this time we also pick the dried sunflowers, and other seed plants for the birds so we can feed them whilst everything is sleeping. there should always be a huge harvest festival at this time some mulled mead. Apples are also a symbol at this time for majik and spells. the Autumn Tree, is the Vine of any sort, this is the time of Astral Travel. Also March hares are the animal of Autumn. But always remember more importantly it is a time of balance.

Imbolc - Oimelc

July 31 (Southern Hemisphere)
February 2(Northern Hemisphere)

This festival os for the farewell of the cold Winter months, and it is where we call back the Sun, we ask that he bless our land again with his Light and his Power. It is the warming of the land, in readiness of new life in the Spring. We Bless the land and prepare it for new growth and new life.

We journey to our festivals with Besoms and Stafs, and ride our Riding Poles to the Rite, men carrying flaming torches to the site and women doing the volta dance, we enter the sacred space dancing in a Labyrinth with the flaming torches in the centre, and at a said moment we ignite the Great Bale fire, as a symbol and beacon to bring back the light.

We ask for the Sun Lord to bless our sleeping lives and restful lives and awaken our souls, in readiness for the tilling of the Earth. We invoke the Sun Lord onto one of our Priests, so he can bless us and our lands.©