A modern, personal calendar
This article is meant as a point of reference to reflect my own seasonal customs based on the various traditions / lineages I follow, and to incorporate them within the ecoregional rythms and tides of the land I currently stand on. A calendar of a witching and liturgical quality, it provides a compendium of beliefs and practices on a quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily basis, detailing my private schedule of devotional observances and basic ritual outlines.
As a French native living in the Isles, who I am, who and what I believe in, and what makes sense to me, are the basics component I used to devise this deeply intimate tool. The resulting calendar (and the holidays, feasts and celebrations thereof) thus reflect my own worldview and cosmology, solidly rooted in animism and polytheism – my personal ‘Wheel of the Year’. It cannot be taken at face value to portray any pre-Christian or pagan celebration with historical accuracy, nor does it pretend to do so. Rather, it is most definitely a personal interpretation of themes, observances and seasonal activities : the main Irish and Gaulish influences which can be identified here, and occasionnally the Anglo-Saxon, Brythonic, French and Alpine ones, serve only to map out family practices and outline remnants of a reconstructed, common ritual year for vastly different Celtic tribes – with unapologetic comparative parallels serving my own exclusive means and ends. Although drawing from reconstructionist sources and looking at archeological evidences (including the Coligny calendar and various publications, papers and articles by competent scholars), this calendar is not established within a strictly reconstructionist mindset or worldview. Again : it is a personal tool, made for personal use.
In order to establish a working calendar, I studied many sources and school of thoughts, and arbitrarily decided to keep what I wished. It has been in the works since summer 2020, I truly consolidated and solidified the bare bones of my ritual year after a profoundly transformative reading by Sfinga, who highlighted the necessity for me to dedicate specific seasonal times of the year to specific spirits in my court, and devotional / magical activities tied to them (such as the crafting of tools or fetishes), so as to better help me discriminate and ultimately boldly arrange between their various voices and influences. This calendar helps me to be rooted in the land, lends me a clearer signal altogether, and allows me to further refine and cultivate discernment. It is and should stay a work in progress, and I will be fleshing it out further, coming back to it often, to amend or change or refine its components – for as the land is a living, breathing thing, so too is my calendar, and so too am I.
Last iteration: September 2024
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Currently trialing / trying to incorporate :
– French Republican Calendar influences, and in particular how to each day is attributed a “patron” or symbol from the vegetal, animal, and mineral kingdom, or a tool used to work the land. Thinking of tying it to the Gaulish notion of unfavourable / favourable days.
– Astrolatry / Stellar devotionals : particularly when the Moon is conjunct some of the prominent fixed stars in my own parans as well as during their appropriate heliacal rise + working on the ‘Stellar Transvocation’ ritual of the Dragon Book of Essex, adapted to the Behenii
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Monthly Devotionals
Quarterly : on the four Quarter Days (Samhain, Beltaine, Imbolc, Lughnasadh), saining of the house : protection and blessing for the next three months + pilgrimage to the hawthorn tree I am pacted to
Flamekeeping : community practice in a sisterhood cill, a 24h vigil of tending Brighid’s flame from sunset to sunset
Monthly moon rites :
Full moon : water devotional schedule, moon-drawing and knotting, moon remediation through moonbathing (when the moon is in Water signs, to nourish and replenish the houses of the dead, working with Mélusine and Sirona as moon-patrons) + ritual observance (when the moon is in any other sign, songs, prayers and praises)
New moon : Uncrossing, purification and banishment, exorcism + ritual observance (songs, prayers and praises)
Lunar eclipse : Red Meal with the spirits of the land, renewal of personal vows, contracts and oaths + total abstaining from social media (also during solar eclipse).
Planetary retrogrades & transits, stellar movements : observed and tied to my own natal chart, remediation based accordingly.
Weekly Schedule
Lustration : Routine maintenance of magical hygiene / spiritual health, magical wash or bath
Ritual order : a weekly eucharist, devotional feast with the gods and ungods where offerings are laid out at the altar and libations poured outside
Daily Practices
Observance of favourable (matti) and unfavourable (anmatti) days, honouring the day’s patron (cf. French Republican Calendar)
Morning : making of holy water, prayer to the sun, rising prayer, good wish prayer + daily prayers
Evening : lighting of the “flame-in-the-water” to recall the divine principle of Fire-in-Water as higher inspiration, prayer to the moon, nightly prayers, bedding prayer
Genealogy of Brighid
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The “Wheel of the Year” : Seasonal Rites & Customs
My calendrical year follows a primarily Georgian compass for practical purposes, as I need to be able to function in the shared time and experiences of the world with others. It is divided between two ‘seasons’, corresponding to a binary of mytho-poetical principles which can be roughly described as the ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’ halves of the year : a Winter half (Giamos) and a Summer half (Samos). These seasons are respectively ascribed two patron trees holding high significance and patronage in my particular tradition: the Blackthorn (Prunellier / Épine noire) for Winter, the Giamos principle, and the Dark; and the Hawthorn or White Thorn (Aubépine / Épine blanche) for Summer, the Samos principle, and the Light. Great festivals hereby take place from sunset to sunset.
The Dark Half of the Year
Winter | Giamos / Blackthorn Season - Saison Sombre
This season is characterized by a slow turning inwards, and a focus on the home and hearth.
As the land lays dormant, the chtonic spirits awaken, and in their goetic howls is found the wisdom of the dark half of the year.
October 3: Cathu Alesiae
This is the anniversary of the Battle of Alesia – arguably, the moment of the downfall of Celtic European dominance in favor of Rome. A day of grief and sorrow to honor the heroic ancestors for their sacrifices, and to mourn a lost culture. The Morrigan, particularly in Her incarnation as Badb Catha/Cathubodua (as battle-goddess and mountain corvid from my native region), as well as Epona and Donn for their psychopompic roles as guides and caretakers of the souls, are given special attention. Libations of mead are poured to the ground, and raw meat is burnt outside. The altar is largely decorated with crow feathers and curios, and offerings of tobacco, alcohol, copper and silver coins are laid out.
Second Saturday of October : the « Descente des Alpages » / Alpine Cow Parade
A joyous, traditional, mountain folk celebration from my native region, the Alpine Cow Parade (also called Return of the Pastures) marks the moment where the herds return to the farms in the valley for the cold season. It is celebrated all over the Alps but I know of it specifically in Switzerland due to the close proximity of my birth town to this country. Dairy animals, such as cows and sheeps, but also goats, donkeys and, occasionnally, geese, are decorated with loud bells and detailed flower garlands. They parade accompanied by shepherds and folk groups playing traditional music with old-fashioned instruments (barrel organ, accordion, harmonicas…). An abundant consumption of rich cheese, meat and potatoes, as well as other mountain dishes and specialties from the Alps is traditional, such as raclette, tartiflette, white wine diots, polenta or fondue. This consumption is carried over throughout all the cold seasons, as such dishes “qui tiennent au corps” (holding the body together) are meant to be nourishing, fulfilling, and a bit heavy to ground the body and prepare it to stand strong amidst the cold. It’s a good time to buy good cheese and ensure the cheese plate stays full for the whole of the Winter. Where I come from, Alpine people will eat cream, cheese and bread in pretty much everything – including, and perhaps especially, in thin tasty vegetable soups such as cabbage soup.
October 31st, November 1st-2nd – Samhain / Samonios (Summer’s End) / Halloween
Marking the official start of the Winter / Giamos season. The ‘Three Nights of Samonios / Samhain’ (Trinoux Samoni) correspond to the Old / Witching New Year, and in keeping with the Samos / Giamos duality worldview, this time marks a cosmological landmark indicating the period wherein the Giamos (Winter, Dark) principle is completely settling on the land. Samhain / Samonios is, first and foremost, a celebration of the Mighty and Beloved Dead, and a time of rememberance of the Ancestors. It is an ideal moment for the ‘parting of the veil’, i.e any spirit related work. The main themes of the season include renewal, often via a new, potentially destructive or purifying fire ritual, hospitality to the dead, dissolution, timelessness, and sacrifice (Kondratiev). It is a time for making offerings to those who preceded us in Craft, Blood and Land, and for doing divination specifically pertaining to one’s own spiritual path or journey and its development. I hereby honour Cernunnos (in His role as psychopomp and Witchfather, Donn (as First Ancestor and King of the Dead), and my own Ancestors beloved and mighty. My main practices include joining the Hunt to ride, the baking of the barmbrack, carving pumpkins and turnips to light candles and place them inside or outside the windows to help the departed find their way, and observing and pouring libations honoring chtonic spirits (in particular, strong alcohol and wine, milk, water, and honey), both at the altar, in cemeteries, and to the land. It is the moment I open the cordial left to infuse since Lughnasadh for the first time. Apples and pomegranates sliced in half are the core food offerings, together with ashes, smoke and incense (particularly funeral and resinous scents such as pine and cypress, as well as tobacco for the vices and indulgences of human spirits). It is the proper time of the year for visiting and tending to graveyards, and for collecting graveyard dirt honourably. Divination by scrying is favored – in fire and smoke, or with a black mirror / some black water and ink. Ancestor vigils and dumb suppers observances apply. Other activities include baking soul cakes and making mulled or spiced red wine (le “Clair-Obscur“). As one of the four major feast days of the year, a Quarter Day, Samhain / Samonios marks the necessity to sain (purify + bless) the house for the next three months to ensure the protection of the household. This leads to an extensive saining ritual with smoke, fire and water.
Nov-Dec-Jan – Day of the First Snow, the “Premières Neiges”
A day to celebrate the magic of the first snowfall. The first snow and ice are collected and used throughout the year, namely in rites of purification.
December 20th – Mōdraniht / Modranicht, Mother’s Night
I have Dirty herself to thank for this particular Feast Day, as she was the first to brought it to my attention a couple of years ago. This night is to celebrate our mothers, from the first to the last, and generally speaking our female ancestors – the ones who made our lives possible… and the unseen “mothers” hidden in the French landscape, syncretized with the Virgin figure: the fairy “Dames”. The Matres / Matrones / Matronæ are given special honours as weavers of our fates and fortune. An altar is built with evergreen boughs (fir, pine, juniper, cypress, etc.). The female spirits of the line are given multiple candles and offerings of fresh water, incense, and mead, as well as homebaked goods. Fibercrafts are celebrated, such as embroidery, knitting, weaving, or crocheting. I engage in the ritual dying and blessing of threads, and spider imagery proves especially relevant.
December 21st-22nd (approx.) – Winter Solstice / Midwinter / Giamounox + Îwos Dumanni / Medigiamos – the « Longest Night »
This is the moment where the Giamos (Winter / Dark) principle is at its peak strength. The “Longest Night” of the year marks Îwos Dumanni, the holiday of Giamounox : from this moment onward, we have reached the heart of Dubnos (hell, lower-world, underworld, otherworld), and the world will slowly begin to move back up toward Albios (heaven, white-world, upper-world). Iwos Dumanni (The “Festival of the Darkest Depths”) is the darkest and coldest time of the year, when Epona returns from the Otherworld and wanders the land, accompanied by a retinue of spirits. This may or may not be connected to the Welsh Mari Lwyd processions. The activities of this time of year often include guising and wassailing, in both the modern Celtic countries / British Isles, and in formerly Gaulish-speaking regions. Midwinter customs in the Alpine countries of Europe show processions of men in grotesque, grimacing costumes, often horned, suggesting that spirits like the Anderoi and Dusioi are active at this time of year, lead by Wild Hunt kings such as Cernunnos. Offerings for such willful, chaotic beings are laid out, the Fae are included – honeyed bread, mead, raw honeycomb and whole milk. A candle that burns through the night is lit to protect the home and all who reside within, in hope of propitiating the return of the Sun. I see the “Longest Night” of Medigiamos, the perfect time of the solstice, as a moment to rejoice profoundly with Giamos / Otherworld gods and ungods, and to admit the victory of darkness. I turn to the mysteries of the sacrifice of the self and of headlessness, in particular tied to the constellation Orion – indulgence in self-seclusion, isolation and retreat, watching the Sun “dies” as it sets, and bathing into its bloody rays in rememberance of the sacredness of the severance, the loosing of one’s own head in ecstasy and goetic trances, the ego-death as a key to magical knowledge, and beheading as a literal tool to leave the body behind.
December 24th-25th – Christmas / Noël
Kept here for family reasons.
December 31st – January 1st – New Year’s Eve & Day / Hogmanay / the “Réveillon du Nouvel An”
This one is in rememberance of celebrating the New Year in a Scottish retreat in 2019, which fits in nicely with the rest of the calendar. A time to offer blessings to others and seek out theirs, as well as the blessings of the gods for the upcoming months, especially our patrons / matrons gods and goddesses, the gods of the tribe, and the Matrones / Matres / Matronae, who not only turn the wheel of fate and weave our fortune, but also control it to an extent. Mead is an acceptable tribute/offering, alternatively to be replaced with the iconic champagne, or the Alpine Clairette de Die.
February 1st – 2nd – Imbolc / La Fheill Brighde / Feast Day of Brighid
A day dedicated to Brighid to honour Her as my matron goddess in all Her aspects of Dawn / Inspiration / primordial Fire goddess, Smith, and Healer. Practices include flamekeeping and / or fire-tending vigils, the preparation of remedies, the hanging outside, tied to the garden tree, of the brat Bride, and the leaving of materia magica and materia medica for Brighid to bless. Making of the Brighid’s cross. Offerings to the goddess coming from the mound, effigy of the « Daughter of Ivor » (the snake) ; in the form of dairy products (sheep cheese in particular), milk, honey, cream, as well as warming alcohols such as mead or whisky. Fresh water, incense, and flame – this is a preparation for the coming Spring, a celebration of the hearth and of fire in anticipation of the return of Light / Samos / Summer principle to the earth. Other honored gods may include Sulis as a possibly cognate goddess linked to the healing baths, as well as household and local land spirits. Milk festival. Other associated deities include heifer-goddesses, such as Boann. This is another Quarter Day : we sain the house to renew its blessings and protection for the next three months.
February 11th – Feast of St Gobnait
An informal observance in which I honour one of Brighid’s three faces, as Divine Blacksmith and Beekeeper. For more on this, read my notes on milk and honey and my ideas on how to tame fire as an occultist. This is to thank the Goddess for Her freely given insight in revealing to me how St Gobnait is Her in disguise (obligatory UPG disclaimer, though some of it can be academically confirmed here).
March 21-22nd (approx.) – Spring Equinox
The Festival of Spring is described by Bloody Bones as “the primordial birth of water into the world through both the physical thaw and the metaphysical induction of chaos and Samos. In short, a celebration of life”, through water. Symbols of eggs, stars and snakes abound in honour of Sirona and Her affiliated star-cult. Ritual practices include visiting sacred wells and holy springs, offerings of coins in fountains and rivers, and rites of fertility (both physical and spiritual), abundance, bounty and generosity. The garden is made ready in preparation for the agricultural year and for the first blessing and planting of seeds. Mélusine is also honoured, with mirrors and jewelry. Ex-voto offerings are laid in water.
First full moon after the Spring Equinox – Giamouretîmâ / Winter Releasing
This celebration to mark the definitive end of Winter / Giamos is closely associated with the Carnaval tradition of the Bonhomme d’Hiver (literally, Winter Man) where I come from – a life-size cloth poppet is burnt to free ourselves of the long winter from the previous months, and to officially welcome the arrival of spring. In her article “Tradition goes up in flames”, Julia Slater (2008) explains that “one very widespread custom is the burning of an effigy, often a snowman, at the end of the carnival held in many Swiss towns and villages around the beginning of Lent. (…) This is frequently interpreted as symbolising the burning of the demon of winter, or alternatively as welcoming the spring with the light of the flames.” I practice by drawing inspiration from the Senobessus tradition, as prescribed on their website (paraphrasing) :
The corn dolly created from the ‘last harvest’, and which dwelled in the home on the altar until the festival comes, is at the center of the celebration. We start with a feast involving meat, lard, and butter, and then a religious fast as an observation of how the ancestors would run out of meat during this time. “Rich foods might be prudent to fast from, such as dairy, fat, meat and sugar. Period may vary for practicality reasons (1-28 days from the vernal equinox would be a realistic range).” In the meantime, offerings are made to the corn dolly “for a good (and relatively short) next winter as well as continued survival”. Good offerings also ensure the blessing of the house for the upcoming agricultural year. A sacrificial bread baked with no yeast is made and shared with all members of the household, including the corn dolly. On the full moon after the Equinox, the corn dolly effigy is burnt and placed in a body of running water to release her so that she may bring spring. The fast ends, and another feast happens, with a bonfire where stories and tales are told.
April – Easter / Pâques
Kept for family reasons (inlaws). Celebrated the Orthodox way, according to Romanian traditions. A lamb roast is cooked, and the blessed eggs from the Spring Equinox are painted – dyed with natural plants, vegetables and spices. Family reunion is key.
The Light Half of the Year
Summer | Samos / Hawthorn Season – Saison Claire
This is the moment where my focus shifts from the home and hearth to the land and its inhabitants – both from this side and the other.
As the sap is rising and the trees blossoming, plants and herbs, fruits and flowers, are given special attention and are harvested ritually for cooking, baking, and witching.
Apr-May-Jun – Day of the Rose
The first rose of the year in the garden is gifted offerings, harvested, blessed, and ritually consumed to honour certain personal mysteries of speech and thorns, of petals and secrecy, of swords and bones.
April 30th – Walpurgis Night
The effective beginning of the festival of Bealtaine / Beltane is given special attention. I celebrate it as a primordial witching night of trances and ecstasies, of hedgecrossing and spirit flight, of dreams, oneiric sabbats other and other delights of altered consciousness. It is a potent magical night, pregnant with possibilities to ride with the trooping fairies, commune with wilder spirits, and peer into the abyss to divine what it portents. As a counterpoint or mirror to Samhain, it also symbolizes the archetypical dark before the fire / dawn. I look at the symbolic repercussions of the conflict between “Taranis as Dragon-slayer, and Cernunnos as Primordial Serpent” (Bloody Bones).
May 1st to 3rd – Bealtaine / Beltane
Another quarter day – saining day. Bealtaine is the beginning of the light half of the year, observing the transition from spring to summer. According to the folklore of several regions of Europe, the rules of society and sexuality are to some extent suspended during this time. Marking the official start of the Summer / Samos season, Bealtaine is, in keeping with the Samos / Giamos duality worldview, a cosmological landmark indicating the period wherein the Samos principle is reaching peak strength. It is thus a welcoming of the Samos-associated deities, the Bright Ones or Shining Ones, and a joyous celebration of life and living, nature and culture, the “tribe” and the Others, the gods and ungods. A day placed under the patronage of the blooming Hawthorn, dedicated to the fae, their mercurial and aerial delights, and their more chtonic-Venusian aspects. Trickery, dissolution and mischief are in the air. Other celebrated gods include Belenos (Lord of the Samos principle, Bright God; Belotenia is also Litu Belenos), Taranis (as the Sky-Father, Thunderer, and King of the Heavens), Lugh (as tribal god, and gods of oaths and their keeping), Maponos (whose return we celebrate) and Angus Oc, Rosmerta (whose domain is the wheel of fate and fortune, chance and luck). Rituals of love and beauty, of balance and harmony, are particularly welcome. I wake up at dawn to collect and filter the morning dew and bathe myself in it. I celebrate love and family, the return of the warm weather, and light ritual fires (especially bonfire and hearth fire) – cattle used to be purified and blessed by being passed between the flames. Benevolent spirits are invited to visit, and there is tending to the land spirits and hearth spirits involved. Rites of protection and purification (especially by fire), charms and divinations regarding love and marriage are made especially potent. Erecting a May Pole with my stang decorated with flower crowns and coloured ribbons. Music and dance. Ritual sex and sexual magic. Fertility and fecundity rituals. Floral infused wine.
May 30th – Feast of Joan of Arc / Jehanne-des-Fées
A day in which I honour St Joan of Arc as venerable ancestor of the French Fairy Faith, under her given epithet of St Jehanne-des-Fées. For more on this, please see my article on Joan of Arc as Fairy Saint and, should curiosity lead you there, feel free also to follow my dedicated masterclass. This is to thank the Saint for her heartfelt patronage, protection, and calling (obligatory UPG disclaimer, though some of it can be academically confirmed here).
May-June – Day of the Dandelion
The making of dandelion honey (Cramaillotte), to keep us healthy during winter.
June 21st – Summer Solstice / Midsummer / Medisamos
This is the period of the peak of Samos’ strength, and therefore a time to honor all Ouranic deities, Sky Fathers, Thunder gods, and the Sun and Moon as Divine Luminaries. With the longest day also comes the promise of the returning darkness : from this moment onward, the world begins to descend back down to Dumnos. The Sun once again sits on the shoulders of Orion, and is about to loose its head : mysteries tied to the chtonic sun / sacrificial sun, dying gods, and headlessness, are echoed in the cosmological time. Theoretically this is also when Epona begins her archetypical descent to the Otherworld. My practices pay hommage to these various allegiances. I wake up at dawn to observe the sunrise and bless myself by bathing in its light, spending the day harvesting all manners of potent plants – particularly Solstice herbs. The circling of a room or the home / property with a lantern or candle to enshroud it in light and provide luminous shelter at sundown. This is also the day where I honour another of my patrons, and “pay the rent” to Mannanán Mac Lir : I leave a bundle of rushes to a body of running water – the sea, ideally, or a river – to thank Him for His tutelage and divine guidance.
July 18 : Cathu Alliae
The anniversary of the Gauls’ victory over Rome, the Battle of Alesia, and thus arguably the high point of the ancestors’ history. particularly honoured are the ancestors and Cathubodua. Hero-worship – Camulos (as the bringer of victory), Cú Chulainn. Primarily serves as a counterpoint to the October holiday Cathu Alesiae.
Last Sunday of July – Crom Dubh Sunday / Dé Domhnaigh Crum-Dubh
Dar Chruim ! A central point in my calendar, where I pay hommage to the Celtic Cult of the Head as Siege of the Soul through an acknowledgement of the old god Crom under His epithet of Crom Dubh (descended from Crom Cruaich) – the Dark Crooked One. This festival is a dense and intense center of gravity in my practice, and one who acts like a black hole, choking up the light completely in profit of complete and utter darkness. Crom is a complicated entity to engage with, a bloodthirsty king of the fertility of the land, sitting on a pile or heap of headless, rotting corpses, and who can only be pacified with human sacrifice in exchange for a good harvest. A « god before the gods », to whom I politely nod to as kin, but maintain safe distance with. Most of my practices involving him are essentially apotropaic in nature, but I make a point of engaging in shamanistic and necromantic work via the intermediary of a particular guardian and familiar spirit intimately tied to Crom, in rites pertaining to beheading and severing concepts, partaking in the sacrifice and the renewal of the self. It is a day of hunting, of primal fear, of obliteration. For what better day to remember, and what better way, than with a red scar on the nape – an old cut, a new scar ? The god Lugh (or, in certain version of the myths, St Patrick – as Christian saints have displaced many gods) is said to be riding in His chariot to defy and slay Crom with His lightning spear : for this reason, thunder on this particular day is considered lucky, as it symbolizes the triumph of Lugh over the forces of darkness.
August 1st – Lúnasa / Lughnasadh / Lammas / Îwos Lugous
Îwos Lugous just means the Festival of Lugus / Lugh, and this is what it is. It is the festival when the victory of Lugh over Crom is celebrated, marking the beginning of the harvest season. Lúnasa is the First Harvest, brought about by the god for His tribe, which marks out anticipation of the cold months to come while still rejoicing in the lighter days left. Offerings of the harvest’s produce, such as fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables, are laid for deities and the fae (dé ocus andé) to honour the Taking Of The Sidhe. As such, this festival is a celebration of the tribe and of civilization, of crafts and law, of oaths and their keeping. We honour our debt to the land and those invisible we share the world with, and the god Lugh under His epithet of Samildánach, (meaning ‘skilled in all the arts’), as a Keeper of Promises. Other associated deities and spirits are the hearth and home spirits, the patrons and matrons, the ancestors, and the « Toutatis » figures (« the gods my people swear by »). Spoken and written words are honoured through storytelling and reading (particularly of poetry), as a pledge of oaths and memory. Good time to make auspicious pacts and formal dedications. Kondratiev sees the holiday in terms of several themes: « the assembly on a height, the pageant of the triumph of Lugus, the reaping of the first fruits, the racing of horses in water, men and women paired in fertility magic, the burial of flowers to mark the end of summer, and the reaffirmation of the tribe’s order. » Making of the corn dolly, who will dwell in the house during winter.
Aug-Sep
Day of the Blackberry
The making of blackberry cordial as an allegory for the Blood of the Land.
Day of the Rowan
Making and blessing of Rowan berries chapelets for protection against all manners of harm, evil spirits, and bewitching.
September 21 – Autumn Equinox
The equinox is the festival of autumn which corresponds to the Second Harvest. This is usually the point in time where summer shows clear signs of dying, and where darkness starts crippling in with sudden, cold gusts of wind and dappled light. It is a time of in-betweenness, the Great Dusk, which I use in preparation for the months to come, slowly turning to the home and hearth for comfort. A time to remember our relationship with gods and ungods, particularly the land spirits and those of the home cultus being the providers of material wealth, watching over our natural resources. Similarly. They are honored for their bounty, and offerings should be left to garden or farm spirits in thanks for the treasures of the warm season – fruit, vegetables, wheats, nuts, and braided bread. I like to make rye bread with nuts, in particular, apple compote with cinnamon, yellow plum tarts with ginger and rosemary. It is a time to start thinking and planifying about pickles, juices, jams and preserves, as they embody the still ripe gifts of the summer together with the crisp flavour of time ever turning.
Resources
In constructing this calendar, and aside from the ones mentioned above already, I am more particularly indebted to the following authors and practitioners for their research and skill :
Ronald Hutton, Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, 2001.
Kevin Danaher, The Year in Ireland, 1994.
Tairis : Festivals, Celebrations & Recipes