The Players play, the Dance it goes
Through all of us the Magicks flow
And so it is the Wheel Of The Year
The time is now, our time is here...

Our Holidays -- those times when the Magicks are especially influenced and strengthened by the Moons -- offer us times to celebrate the equinoxes, the turnings of Earth's Moon and to gather and celebrate our Journies, wherever we may be along our way.

SAMHAIN
October 31st

Samhain...Halloween...All Hallow's Eve...The time when the veil between the 'world of the living' and the 'spirit world' is thinnest. This is the Witchs' New Year's Eve (the 1st of November marks the new year and lies within the Celtic traditions)and lets us know that summer is ending and winter is beginning. Once, the final harvest was completed and preparations were made for the coming winter. Our focus on Samhain now is to honor and remember our ancestors..a time for divination and contacting the Spirits...a time enhanced greatly by the Lifting Of The Veil. We traditionally wear costumes that we feel tells of our aspirations for the new year. We visit friends, family and generally have a good time. Stories are told and memories sparked wherever we may go on this day.

The month of October has always been associated with apples. Candied apples are still a traditional Halloween treat as is bobbing for apples. An apple-based Samhain meal might consist of apples, apple pie, apple butter, apple fritters, apple juice, apple cider and applesauces.The Feast Of The Dead -- a celebration of death for the Great Sabbat -- is always a large and varied one.
If your ritual is to be held out of doors, an apple tree or apple orchard would be a nice place to hold it. This ritual need not be a solemn one. However, with the Lifting Of The Veil contact with those whose Spirits reside on the 'other side' is usually a main feature.
A candle in the window, to help guide the Spirits who are perhaps wandering, is another traditional gesture.

YULE
December 20th - 23rd

Yule...Alban...Arthan...pretty near Christmas...Yule marks the Winter Solstice. It is also the longest night of the year. Our days start to become longer, slowly but surely. Winter will slowly give way to spring. People knew this from the very beginning. Thus, a cause for celebration was established from the earlier tribal times. With the Turning Of The Wheel, Yule signals the beginnings of a rebirth in that the Wheel Turns Anew. We can throw all depressions and despairs right out the window!
The Goddess has given birth to the Sun again. We can all reflect on past experiences and begin to move on, a new light being cast upon whatever Paths we have chosen.
This is a time to gather our sacred and magickal greens and to carry on the traditions which we have borrowed from others which they borrowed from those before them. Baking cookies is one Yule tradition that we are all familiar with. To our Pagan ancestors, eating cookies and sweets was associated with partaking of the body of the Grain God/Goddess. Using honey as a sweetening agent, this insured that the new rime would be 'sweet'. Kissing under the mistletow came from the Druids (mistletoe being very sacred to Druids past and present).
Yule is a solar festival. Therefore, the Yule Log. The Yule og represents the 'blazing forth of the newly-born Sun'. Traditionally, the unburnt part of the Yule Log is used to rekindle the fire of the following year, representing continuity.
Even our Christmas trees can be traced back to ancient times.

IMBOLC
February 2nd

Imbolc...Candlemass...Brigantia...The first awakenings of new life beneath the Earth. The grey of Winter is finally beginning to show slight signs of warmer, brighter days to come. We take a look at our own 'grey' times and look forward with keen anticipation to some brighter, more colourful times that are coming. Winter has taught us much, and with that wisdom the warmer, brighter times are eeven more enriched!
Although there is quite a bit of symbolism attributed to Imbolc (February itself being known for its grey days, snow and sleet at times), seeds are stirring underneath the soil. The Moon takes on many aspects as does the Goddess...the Storm Moon and the Chaste Moon...the Maiden as pure as the driven snows of February to the enchanting seductress of the night. We celebrate all of these things.
Imbolc is also a good time to begin delving into divination. Any of the many forms of divination that appeal to you are good. All take your time, study and experience in order to become more effective. The Magicks of this time of year are stronger for these types of Scryes and the Magicks will aid you in your quest for knowledge and abilities in these areas.
As we get closer in tune and tend the Magicks, we feel the anticiaption of the coming of Spring just as all of nature around us does.

OSTARA
March 20th - 23rd

Ostara marks the exact moment that day equals night, when female and male become equal. Our Rites of Spring are better celebrated at dawn or at dusk, for these are the times that are the in-between times, not quite day and not quite night. This is the Spring Equinox and is also the second of our three fertility festivals. New life is stirring all around us, over and under the soils. Seeding is begun, starting with a blessing of the seed and continuing through to planting.
Ostara, being the Goddess of Fertility and Rebirth for many, watches over these proceedings closely. Thus, the name.
This is an excellent time for sex magick and tending the Magicks for balance in us and everything around us. This is a good time for work and active introspection in between our workings. As we physically plant seeds that will grow and see new life, we also plant new seeds within ourselves and those around us, tempered by the time we spent reflecting on our experiences during the Winter. This is a wondrous time, for we are seeking and experiencing a balance within ourselves as well as with Mother Earth, tending the Magicks which flow through both.
It might interest you to know that Easter eggs were originally eggs painted and decorated to symbolize the fertility of this time of the year.
Although most herbs are still dormant, now is a good time to gather vines and supple woods that can be made into amulets and Magickal containers. Some woods can be bent and twisted together to make some very good designs and Magickal working boxes and pouches. Although you may not need to use these right away, they will certainly come in handy for the seasons to come.

BELTANE
May 1st

Beltane...Mayday (no no, not the emergency one!)...The last of our three fertility festival celebrations. With the coming of Beltane, we reach one of two dividing points of our Year. Beltane marks the beginnings of Summer, an extremely fertile time for our Mother Earth and ourselves as well. It is a time for us to celebrate the fertility and flowering of the Goddess, a wedding (handfasting) of the Goddess and the God. There is no time as fertile as this one!
Beltane is packed with significance. It heralds a time for strong conception magick at a time when the Magicks flow with a love that is unavoidable by even the mightiest of beings. Seeds reach out from their home in the Earth, embracing a Sun that is becoming warmer, brighter and stronger with the Magicks. This is an energy time...a joyous time as celebratory as all others, if not more so.
It is traditional for many flowers to be present during our ritual-workings during this time. Fire also plays a large role, this being a time of the Sun and the energies that the Magicks breathe into us and everything around us. Whether the fires are candleflames, bonfires on beaches and mountainsides or a BIC lighter, it makes no difference. We can tend the Magicks with any or all, as long as our thoughts and feelings are directed toward the energies. The Maypole -- a representation of the Tree Of The World -- is something we have all either experienced or have heard about. This, too, has its roots deep in ancient Pagan tradition. The Old Ways survive. As do we.
This is the time of the Dyad Moon, when the God and the Goddess become one, when everything meets -- opposites in perfect balance. We should keep all of this in mind as we tend the Magicks. The Magicks and our Living will be better for it.

MIDSUMMER
June 20th - 23rd

Tending the Magicks could not be easier than during Midsummer. With the Sun being at its strongest peak to our Mother Earth, the Tendings can go through the whole spectrum, with an emphasis on healings, love magicks and protections. Energy abounds wherever you are and wherever you go. The Goddess is nourished by the God and the God is energized even more because of it. That extra warmth you feel is there for a reason.
Midsummer is the Summer Solstice. Everything is going full-tilt and the Magicks carry an extra playful boost through its flowings, comings and goings. For ourselves, Midsummer offers us a perfect time to feel our own intensities coinciding with the intensities of everything around us. The Magicks always celebrate in one way or another, and this time is especially good for doing so yourself. And do not forget to take some advantage of those 'lazy' times in between the Tendings! Well-intended relaxation after good work makes for better and more effective tending.
Birds are having their heyday now. This is a good time for collecting feathers and eggshells (never harming the birds) for any Tendings that you might do when you feel that the times are right. The colours of these feathers and eggshells can lend more effectiveness to your Tendings.
It is also a time for gathering and drying herbs of all kinds. Herbs not only lend taste to our foods, but also have magickal and healing properties of their own.
June is the time for Divine Marriage. The whole lunar marriage month of June was not only known as the Mead Moon, but also as the honeymoon. Thus, this month has been considered the best month for Marriage Before The Goddess and God for a very long time.

LAMMAS
August 2nd

Lammas is the first Harvest Time...the first of the Trilogy Of Harvest Festivals. Summer begins to fade now and marks a time when Earth itself begins a change of life-cycles and the Magicks reflect this. True vibrancy and power being a constant with the Magicks, our Holidays mark the times when we can Tend the more prevalent flows that the Magicks take. Here, the Goddess assumes all of her three aspects -- Crone, Maiden and Mother. Again, the Magicks reflect the Goddess’ and the God’s cycling aspects.
During this time of year, as we Tend the Magicks, we can also share in the prosperities that are the Goddess. The Harvest is bountiful and so are your Tendings. Your Tendings should be aimed at giving thanks and setting goals for the next Harvest now, because this taps into the ‘stronger’ ebbs and flows that the Magicks present to us during these changes of the seasons.
Lammas is an ancient celebration...perhaps the oldest on Earth. With an emphasis on the Deities Of The Grains, we go back to when the first grain -- the first seed -- ever sprouted and grew to fruition. Just as you return to the first grain, you return to the first beings and what the first beings ate on this Earth. This is traditionally an excellent time to bake breads. Special ‘Lammas’ bread has been around for a long time.
Everywhere you look there is abundance now, including within yourself. The Magicks reflect this. Your Tendings can be very strong and very effective now. As always, this is a time for working, with introspection mixed in between your Tendings. We celebrate the abundance around us and thank the Goddess and the God for what they have given us. Lammas is one of our Thanksgivings.

MABON
September 20th - 23rd

Day and night have become equal once again. The Magicks flow with an even stronger sense of balance as your Tendings should stress this same balance in all things.
This is the second of the Great Harvest Festivals. Now is the time of when you are between many things. The Harvest begun during the time of Lammas is now finishing up for this cycle, with a new Winter coming right around the corner. We give thanks and at the same time see that a great time of abundance is ending...a new time for reflection beginning...more celebration times always coming and going.
As with the grains and the crops, we harvest within ourselves, too. You should reflect on your own experiences and what you have learned from them, committing them to your life as well as your Tendings. We cannot change the past. We can learn from it and add it to our own wisdoms that accumulate inside of us for a lifetime.
Mabon is a great time to gather gourds and other ornamental vegetables and woods to use as decoration in your house and as aids in your Tendings. Some of these make excellent containers. All have magickal qualities of their own. When you hang a bunch of corn on your front door, for instance, you are saying that yours is a Pagan household that welcomes the Goddess and the God in your heart and the Old Ways as your living.

The Magicks will take care of us as we Tend the Magicks.

'Faerie Ring' courtesy of Earth Wisdom Graphics

I would like to thank Scott Cunningham, Marion Weinstein and Pauline & Dan Campanelli for providing such indepth and colourous references.