EarthDreaming Wheel of the Year

COMING OF THE RAIN

Awaiting and receiving the first rains... Season of the greening of the Land as the winter grass begins to sprout.
An energy of rebirth and renewal, presided over by Frog,  keeper of the wisdom of childhood and green growth

 
Sing Frog, sing! And call the tumbling rain
That the Land shall be made green again.
Sing a song of praise for the pleasures of the Earth
That the Land and all it's creatures shall know the joy of birth.

This is the time of the early winter rains.  The weather is changeable: rain one day, sunshine the next.  Nights are suddenly feeling cold again.  As the Winter Solstice  gradually approaches, the shadows grow longer and longer.  By about the middle of the season it's time to think about light the first fire or getting the heater out again.

This season correlates to the childhood phase of human life - a time of play, curiousity and intensive growth. Potentiality becomes reality - unfolding from it's inner blue-print.  We take in nourishment from the environment outside ourselves.  We learn about our own needs.

At festival time, we celebrate the birthday of the Land, throw coins in the wishing well, raise energy with a rain dance to bring abundant winter rains, bob for apples, run three-legged races and generally get into the spirit of childhood.
 

Rain Buckets Down

She changes everything She touches
and everything She touches changes

During this season Perth gets the bulk of it's winter rains, raising the water levels in the Canning dam and Mundaring Weir, swelling the Avon, Canning and Swan rivers, bringing the coastal wetlands to life.  Days are grey and wet with occasional bursts of sunshine.

On the Wheel of Life, this is the season of adolescence / young adulthood and sexual maturation, the mystery of the caterpillar's metamorphosis within the crysalis.  A time of rapid growth and adventurous exploration, of tumultous emotions and desires.  Moving from emotional and physical dependance on parents (Water and Earth) toward self-motivation, self-discovery (Sun).

Gathering and storage of creative inspiration. A time of making choices, about which resources to take in and which to let go by.

At festival time, covens invoke the EarthDreaming spirit beings and dance into trance for two or more hours in celebration of the Mystery of WaterFlow.

As the water seeps into the deep earth, its stirs the faerie folk in their underworld homes and sometimes they venture abroad.

Flowering Earth

Bud to blossom, hand in hand.
Warmth returning to the Land.
Set your wildest heart's desiring
Flowering, flourishing, promising much;
Secret wishes on full display now
Opening self to another's touch...

This season belongs to Magpie, the Bringer of Flowers.   The flowers are out everywhere, and so are the ducklings and goslings.  Magpies are fiercely territorial now, protecting their babies as they learn to use their wings.

At festival time we celebrate the flowers and the returning warmth of the sun. Our Flowering Earth celebrations are strongly inspired by the old northern hemisphere traditions of Beltane or May Day.  We publicly recommit ourselves to our loved ones as we pass under the floral arch, and invoke the fertility of the land by dancing around the Spring Pole.  In this season we particularly remember the value of family and community - the web of interpersonal relationships which sustain us as we parent our children and creative projects.

This season correlates to the 30's and 40's, with partnership, parenthood, and community as dominant themes.

Blossoming. Fertility. Parenthood, literal and otherwise. Finding creative expression in the world.

Central symbolism - the flower, aligning our individual purposes and expressions with the collective Earth energy.

Seedfall

The ground is beginning to dry out again.  The days are getting longer and there are less clouds around to dampen the burning heat of the sun.  During this season we experience the shock of the first hot days when the temperature rises into the mid-thirties.

At festival time, we celebrate the Mystery of SunRadiance, the ripening of fruit and seed.  We retrace the journey of unfolding from the falling seed to the fruiting plant, and give thanks for our own harvest of dreams.  This is a time to honour our teachers, and to find ways to give back to our community - sharing the fruit and passing the seeds on to the next generation.

50's and 60's. Seeing results. Reaching full potential. Reviewing the tangible outcomes of earlier creative expression. Entering grandparenthood. Waning of physical fertility and energy. Beginning of wisdom.

Mentoring & rites of passage: - fostering the creativity and wisdom of our young people as they leave the shelter of the parental home and embark on the journey of adulthood (like the seed going out into the world).

Central symbolism revolves around sun-ripened fruit, ready to fall.
 

Dry Earth

Spirit of the Dry Earth,
The seeds of the new
lie
in a dreaming half-life
in the dust.

Spirit of the Dry Earth,
the fierce heat of your sun brings
us
to a standstill.
Your wild fires
seer
all outward forms,
releasing us to see
through
to the essence.

Spirit of the Dry Earth,
you bring us the final lessons of mortality:
to honour our endings with due ceremony and grief,
to claim our elderhood with both hands,
and then
to just be.

The hot dry time of year when the Land bakes under the fierce rays of the sun.  A time of heatwaves and bushfires.  Water is very precious this season, as the Land dries out.  The season of Dry Earth is presided over by Snake, the Keeper of the Seeds.

At festival time we honour the elders in our community, confront our mortality, and seek the hidden waters of wisdom.

Season of old age, the latter end of life, coming to terms with mortality. An inward journey to find the core self, spirituality. Concern with outward forms falls away.  Reflecting on the distilled essence of one's life.

Sharing water - dipping into the inner well and sharing one's life wisdom with others.
 

Dewfall

Cold   dark   release...
 ...crossover    mystery   clarity.

Seeds of life
bring new birth
We are the children of Mother Earth

Dewfall is thunderstorm weather.  As the humidity returns after the long dry, we begin to feel the return of dew on the ground overnight.  Washing, which last season would dry on the washing line overnight, now feels damp to the touch in the early morning.  By the end of the season, the grass is soaking wet from the heavy dew.  Thunderstorms bring the odd shower of rain, but the sun is still fierce in the middle of the day and under it's damp skin the Land is still bone dry.  All of a sudden the dark arrives early, as the balance shifts back towards night.

The arrival of Dewfall marks the beginning of our annual cycle of growth, the time of releasing the dry bones of the old year and choosing and planting the seeds of dreams we will tend through the coming turn of the Wheel.   At the Autumn Equinox, midway through the season, we celebrate the Feast of the Ancestors.

At festival time, we honour the twinned forces of life and death, the germination of the seed within the compost.   Covens perform a special ceremony to remember the recent dead and assist them on their passage into the underworld, and those who are wishing to conceive invite the spirits of the unborn into their lives.  Painted eggs are exchanged, reminding us of the new possibilities which are being conceived at this time.

Death/Conception. Hint of what might be. Potential.

Transitions between this world and the Other World.

Finds its turning point in the compost heap, where old life dies and decomposes and new life is germinated by its dying warmth. Acknowledging all the deaths of the past year, literal and otherwise. Making wishes for the new. Preparing the ground.

This season is the time for reviewing our dreams and desires and making wishes for the forthcoming year.