2024 Wheel of the Year

Imbolc - Sprout

Activity: Scatter the Yule ashes to complete the Cycle of Light and Life that are our Trees

Celebrate together the first stirrings of spring as we honor Brigid, the Names and Images of the myriad Goddesses of our community, and the Return of the Light. Crowned with evergreen lit with candles, we welcome the return of the Goddess of Light as She leads us on a labyrinth walk where our individual candles add to the magic of the group until the entire spiral pathway is filled with Light, showing us the Way.

We scatter the ashes gathered from the Yule fire upon the earth, returning their elements to the land and completing the cycle of life-death-life - given to nourish the new life and the eternal cycle of regeneration.

As we walk, we will find where this year’s new sprouts that naturally occur, renewing the life of the forest.

Ostara Spring Equinox - Seedling

Activity: Plant new trees, prune the fruit trees, give offerings to the Tree Spirits

This is a chance to dress as your favorite magical forest creature, play games, win prizes, and join the great Ostara Treasure Hunt as we celebrate the return of the Equinox.

As a community we will embody our favorite magical forest selves, dressing as faeries, sacred animals, and elements, embodying those magics for a day of laughter and adventure. Run with the Sacred Bunny and seek the Earth Goddess Herself for clues and gifts as we celebrate the joy of Spring’s fullness and the Power of the Greening.

As we play, we also note the magical presence of the seedlings about the forest floor, drawing the nutrients into themselves of the ash that was scattered at Imbolc and giving new life to the dead – showing that even in death there is purpose and renewal.

Beltane Festival - Sapling

Activity: Harvest the sacred tree, raise the Maypole adorned with the Horned Mask, choose and thin the saplings

Beltane is a 4-day festival that focuses on a different Mystery tradition each year. At its core, it connects us to the season of the year in which it comes and the rites of spring, which include the choosing, harvesting, decorating, and raising of a Maypole with the Horned Mask, among whatever other ritual activities are planned.

As stewards of the forest, we choose and thin, to encourage the strongest saplings from our sacred groves.

Sunfest - Stripling

Activity: Tend the sacred groves, weed and water

This is the Summer Solstice festival sponsored by our friends at Other Worlds of Wonder.

The Maypole stands as a talisman of our collective community efforts to nourish the land and each other, reminding us all of the symbiotic nature of Ffynnon which cannot exist without community, and community, which cannot be supported and nurtured without the land.

We tend our sacred groves, weeding and watering the young stripling trees on the longest days of the year.

Lammas - Mature

Activity: Tend and water the sacred groves, identify next years Maypole

In honor of our harvest of first fruits, we join together in a Symposion - a community feast of sharing food, drink, entertainment, and conversation - in honor of the symbiotic union of land and community.

We continue to tend and water our sacred groves — paying special attention to the maturing trees, and sanctifying the sacred tree for the next cycle’s Maypole.

Fall Equinox Festival - Fruiting

Activity: tend the sacred groves, harvest fruit

This is a 4-day festival of the Equinox that focuses on a different Mystery tradition each year. At its core, it ties us to the season of harvest and the rites of autumn.

As we prepare for the season’s harvest, we observe the peak fruiting time of early autumn and celebrate the bounty of our community.

Samhain - Snag

Activity: Bring down the Maypole, adorn the Ancestor Shrine, final harvest

This is the final harvest of the season where we bring the Maypole down, divide it into logs, then use them to support the magic of the Ancestor Shrine. We journey deep into the Underworld and connect with our ancestors, allowing our creative energies to stir inside, a seed blanketed for the winter - transforming - with Their blessings and in anticipation of new life.

We walk the forest, observing the snags where Nature has reclaimed its resources through the standing dead trees that provide habitat and nutrients to the forest.

Yule - Seed

Activity: Burn the Yule log - collect the ash

We gather around a warm fire and celebrate the Winter Solstice as we burn the Yule log which is a log from the Maypole, now brought forth from the Ancestor Shrine. Doing this we prepare ourselves for the darkest days to come wherein we contemplate the blessings we wish to bring to the community at next year’s Beltane rites, and sing carols and praises for the Return of the Light on the Longest Night.

We collect the Sacred Ash from the Yule fire, keeping its nourishing carbon and minerals to return to the land for the overwintered seeds at Imbolc.