🛞 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - The Wheel of the Year: Pagan Holidays

[BryWisteria]

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Merry meet!

Thank you once again to everyone who joined in for last week’s Weekly Witchy Challenge - Magickal Safety

With our feet firmly and securely on the ground after exploring magickal safety, it’s time to take a look at where we are- we stand between the spokes in the Wheel of the Year. Here, between Sabbats and within seasons, is a quiet moment to take a step back to observe the full cycle of a pagan year

The theme for this week’s challenge is…

The Wheel of the Year: Pagan Holidays

How do you honor the changing seasons and yearly milestones in your practice?

Time and its passage are driving forces in our lives- we all have to manage our time, deciding when to do what and how to arrange our schedules (both mundane and magickal). When we think of deadlines or pressure, time can be a stressful force- but it can also be the catalyst for joy, such as when we honor special occasions or enjoy the changing of the seasons

For the challenge this week, we are opening up our calendars and planners to take a closer look at the role of the year within our own practices. What milestones or holidays are important to you? If you follow a nature-based practice, how do you acknowledge the changing seasons and various changes throughout the cycle?

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This week’s challenge is all about pagan calendars and holidays - but as always, how you do so is up to you!

So are you ready? Because it’s…

CHALLENGE TIME!

From Pixabay: Vintage Astronomy Calendar

STEP 1 : Honoring the Passage of Time

This challenge is all about how a witch/pagan/practitioner enjoys the cycle of the year- but how you choose to take on this theme is up to you!

Still not sure where to begin? To help you get started, here are a few ways in which a witch might approach this challenge.

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Your Personal Practice Calendar

Do you follow a certain calendar? From the Wheel of the Year to Gregorian, the Lunar/Lunisolar calendar, astrological calendar and more- there are many calendars out there that one can follow, and many witches choose to celebrate a mix of holidays and occasions across calendars.

• Which calendar (s) do you use in your practice?

• Do you have any of your own personal milestones you add to your calendar (such as birthdays, initiations, practice anniversaries, etc)?

Related discussions and resources:

• Pagan Calendar 2023
• Printable Lunar Calendar 2023
• The Lunisolar Calendar and Chinese Zodiac
• Wiccan Calendar for the Southern Hemisphere
• Spells8 Events and Forum Digital Calendar

From Pixabay

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When Does Your Year Begin?

While the Gregorian calendar begins on January 1st, many witches choose to honor Samhain (November 1) as the “Witches’ New Year”. Meanwhile, the Lunar Year occurs on the first new moon in the Lunisolar calendar, and the Astrological New Year happens on the first day of Aries season each year. Others will celebrate a new cycle on Yule, Ostara, or another occasion.

• Which New Years Day(s) do you celebrate?

• When is the spiritual start of a new year in your practice?

Related discussions and resources:

• When do you start your new year?
• Astrological New Year - March 20
• Witches’ New Year Goals: Samhain Spellwork
• Chinese New Year: Year of the Rat
• January New Year Resolution Mini Altar

From Spells8: Witches’ New Year Spell

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The Holidays

History is abundant with holidays- across cultures, traditions, and time, holidays are a delightful and joyous part of our lives. From the numerous celebrations of the ancient Romans to the modern 8 sabbats of the Wheel of the Year and more- there are many occasions to mark on your calendar!

• Which holidays do you observe in your personal practice?

• Are some holidays more important in your practice than others? Why or why not?

• How do you like to celebrate your holidays?

The 8 Sabbats of the Neopagan Wheel of the Year

Pagan Holidays in 2023

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Calendar Crafting

Show off your art magick skills this week with some fun crafting! Making your own calendar or planner or adding a new page into your Sacred Book are great ways to approach this challenge. Already have one that you are proud of? Feel free to show it off if you wish!

Related discussions and resources:

• Witchy self-care planner
• 12 Days of Yule Planner
• How to keep track of moon phases
• Printable Full Moon and Moon Phase Calendar 2023

Southern Hemisphere Wheel of the Year by @TheMuslimWitch

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… And More!

The suggestions above are just a few ideas to help kickstart your creativity- if you feel called to explore or share about your magickal holidays and calendar in another way, please feel free to do so!

As always, all witches are encouraged to embrace their own unique practice with how they explore the challenge theme

From Pixabay

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STEP 2 : Share Your Experience

Click here for a note about challenge inclusivity

Everyone is welcome to join the challenge by practicing magick in line with the current theme. For lurkers and those who don’t feel comfortable sharing, it is absolutely okay to follow along with the challenge but keep your entry personal. Feel free to join in spirit and do what feels most comfortable for you!

That being said, please know that if you would like to receive a prize and a public shout-out, it is required that you share your experience.

Getting Your Credit

In order for your entry to be counted, all you have to do is write/share about your experience and label it as your challenge entry. There is a lot of chatting here (which is awesome- chatting and discussion are very welcome!) so please clearly write that it is your entry so I know to count it!

Where Should I Share My Entry?

Click here to learn where to share your challenge entry

You are welcome to post it right here- just click “reply” to this post and write your experience in the text box that pops up!

Alternatively, you could create a new post in the forum (this is good for when you have a lot to share and/or would like to discuss aspects of your entry not related to the current theme)

Note : If you do choose to create a new thread, please add the “challenge-entry” tag and/or add a hyperlink back to this post so that it can be easily found- thank you!

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Deadline

This challenge will close in 6 DAYS

To join in, please share your experience by:

Tuesday, August 15 at 7:00 AM EDT (Eastern US Time)
2023-08-15T11:00:00Z

(Note that the time zone is ET- if you don’t see your time displayed above, you can use this time zone calculator to check for your time zone!)

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Prizes

For their efforts, all participants will receive a special shout-out and a small prize!

Acknowledgments will be given in a Props and Presents Post that will appear in the forums on Tuesday.

After the challenge closes, you are still very welcome to post but please be aware that no additional prizes will be given. This discussion will remain open for about a week after the challenge finishes.

From Spells8: Sabbat Grimoire Pages

A warm reminder that the challenges are designed to be very open- everyone is encouraged to participate in a way that honors and reflects their unique practice

If you have any doubts about if something is acceptable to post or say, please double-check with the Forum FAQ and/or reach out to your friendly Moderator Team.

And for those new to challenges- welcome! Know that the goal of these activities is to help you further diversify and strengthen your abilities and to bring together the Spells8 forum family to inspire and support one another in creative ways

From Wikipedia: The Roman Calendar

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Summer, fall, winter, and spring-
No matter what the seasons bring
Each day is a chance to enjoy the light-
To celebrate life each day and night!

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Blessed Be!

[MeganB]

Oh, I have a great idea for this challenge!

[chelsie3]

My challenge entry.

Planning is my hobby…it was long before I discovered my witchy path. I have lofty plans for setting up a witchy planner…lol…but for now it’s pretty much as simple as adding the upcoming holiday to my monthly planner setup as I did for my August setup.

As for keeping track of the moon cycles, I have been a total failure at that until this month when I started using my daily planner setup combined with lots of “saving images to photos” and screenshots…lol…I’ll include yesterday’s page as an example.

As I said before, I have grand plans for coming up with a better system in the future but for now this is working.

[tracyS]

@chelsie3 I love your calendar. It’s amazing

[catherine11]

Challenge Entry-Wheel of the Year
I’ve been here for nearly one full year so this is quite timely.
For a calendar, I just use a standard calendar. I keep meaning to mark the sabbats and esbats, and somehow it never happens.
For new years, I do the standard January 1st, because I’m terrible at making time for sabbats.
I want to be doing more on the sabbats, and that’s one of my goals this year. I’ve gone for a walk outside, but that’s really the extent so far. I downloaded the spells8 calendar and synced it to my master one, so that should help. I also need to get my priorities planner and not keep losing it partway through the year.

[BryWisteria]

@MeganB Can’t wait to see what you choose to do!

@chelsie3 Look at that gorgeous calendar and planner- everything is so neat and organized! You choose some really beautiful colors and the mandala and planets are fun designs. Gosh, Chelsie, this is my witchy calendar goals right here- I aspire to have everything as neat and lovely as this! Thank you so much for sharing

@catherine11 Happy (almost) one year anniversary, Catherine! It sounds like you are making your calendars your own I’m sure that you will figure out a marking system that works well for you! And I know the feeling- doing more for the Sabbats is a goal of mine as well. There are so many fun ways to celebrate- I just need to be better at planning in advance! Thanks for sharing your entry- blessed be!

[chelsie3]

@BryWisteria

Look at that gorgeous calendar and planner- everything is so neat and organized! You choose some really beautiful colors and the mandala and planets are fun designs. Gosh, Chelsie, this is my witchy calendar goals right here- I aspire to have everything as neat and lovely as this! Thank you so much for sharing

Thank you so much!

[Phoenix_Fire]

What do you use for your Calander. Is it an app or a word document. It looks really cool n i love how its set up😁

[chelsie3]

@Phoenix_Fire

What do you use for your Calander. Is it an app or a word document. It looks really cool n i love how its set up😁

I use the Goodnotes app. My planning supplies are almost all from DPC Digitals on Etsy.

[Kasandra]

Challenge Entry

I celebrate all 8 Sabbats, but I do more for some than others. Litha is the time of the year when dragon energy is at its strongest. Because I work with dragons, I tend to spend more time preparing.

Sabbats like Samhain, Yule and Ostara are easier to prepare for, because I grew up celebrating Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. Not to mention the stores make it easier to buy decorations and food.

Mabon and Samhain are my favorite Sabbats because I’m a Fall Witch. I tend to decorate my altar more. Yesterday, I bought a few Harvest and Halloween decorations. I plan to put up a sign that says, “I love fall most of all” for Mabon. I couldn’t resist buying a lighter Halloween decoration with a haunted house and a black cat in the background that says, “I’m a good witch… most of the time.”

[tracyS]

Challenge Entry

I keep a diary. Nothing special, just a standard diary that has my special and mundane events in it.
I don’t follow the Wiccan Calendar, nor exactly the Heathen one either. I pick and choose.

Samhain is the most important and I prepare months in advance for this. I book the week of work. The whole family attends and my mother, who lives in a different town stays with us. I turn my house into a haunted mansion, and we make jack o lanterns, and leave them outside on the porch. I make a “Christmas dinner”, full roast etc, with cakes and sweets, and the kids get a Samhain stocking with gifts in it placed at the foot of their beds. We honour our lost loved ones, and any spirits and deities that are close to us, and I leave a tasty dish outside on the night, with the lanterns for them, (the lanterns protect from any dark entities) and any passing spirits that happen to be near our home. I always like to have a psychic reading done on that week too, as I find it a very strong connection. This is really my Christmas and I put up my black Samhain “Christmas” tree and decorate with skulls and dolls. Up go the lights and it’s perfect. I start this celebration on 1 October right through to the 31st. During this time I only read ghost stories, (not necessarily horror, but ghostly) I don’t know why, just feels right.

Then comes Yule. This is big too, the tree goes up (green one) and I cover my home in evergreen, lights, fairies and gonks. We offer gifts on Christmas Eve, just the 1, and we always watch a ghost story on the TV on Christmas Eve night. Christmas day is big for the family, the rest of the gifts are open in the morning , a roast, pudding, is eaten at lunch, toasts to all and then settle for movie night. This is celebrated from 1 December to 5 January.

As winter is my favourite season, I love the dark nights, the chilly weather and the quiet. The festivals around this season mean the most to me.

Finally I’ve just honoured Lokabrenna, which is July/August . It’s connected with the heliacal rising of Sirius, the period when Sirius rises just before or at the same time as the sun in the morning. Times differ year on year, and dates depend on location, so Lokeans decided to adopt July to celebrate Loki’s Torch. Art, poetry, music, recipes, are all created for Loki in this month. This can be celebrated solo, or as a group gathering round a fire in the evening, with a pint, a prayer, kennings (descriptive phrases like Scar lip or sly one, I tend to use Handsome Beastie for him). You can call upon his energy and feel it’s absorption into you.

These are my special “sabbatts”, though through Spells8 I’ve learnt of the wheel of the year, and had a go at decorating for each of these on my altar, which is nice.

So that’s it. I’m sure next year there will be more to honour our beautiful earth and gods as we go around the wheel of life.
Blessed be

[jan_TheGreenWitch]

Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE ENTRY - The Wheel of the Year: Pagan Holidays @jan_TheGreenWitch

I am a traditional pagan witch in the sense that I celebrate all of the customary 8 Pagan Sabbats and other Pagan Holidays. It connects me with the land and the spirits in a way that I love. I decided to activate my Saged App again and follow it for the wheel of the year recently, and then @BryWisteria posted this challenge - YAY!!!

‎Saged: Moon, Astro & Wellness

Their basic membership which is free has an area in Witchy Stuff that talks about the wheel of the year and there is currently this post about Lammas. Other items there are also on the free version, there is a premium version that is $5.99/mo that gives you tons more access and access to classes.

Anyway, it’s cool to have this to use and also, obviously being here in the forum and in this coven is my path specifically for your camaraderie during each phase of the wheel of the year. Love you guys!!!

[chelsie3]

Ooo! I’m definitely checking out that app!

[AIRAM]

CHALLENGE ENTRY
For me, the new year starts on September 1st. Then I start a new calendar with the phases of the Moon. Don’t think about anything wow! It’s a simple notebook hahaha!
It’s like starting to climb a new ladder
I set goals for the year I love autumn and I’m glad I decided to start the year with my favorite season!
There I summarize the successful spells of each lunar phase
the planetary spirits their seals the Angelic spirits of every day but also of every season Opening the calendar every year I compare and monitor my progress

[BryWisteria]

@chelsie3

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@Kasandra The stores certainly have a lot to offer when it comes to certain celebrations- especially Halloween/fall, Christmas/winter, and Easter/spring! I think for me the hardest one to find decorations for is Litha- the stores have mostly Fourth of July stuff, which doesn’t quite align with my mental image of Litha decorations haha.

It sounds like you hit the jackpot for fun autumn decorations- I love the good witch sign, that sounds perfect!

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@tracyS You put a lot of care and dedication into your prep work for your treasured holidays, Tracy! It sounds like you have found many special ways to honor the most important moments in the year Gosh, your Samhain activities and the haunted mansion sound like a real treat to experience- I bet you all have a blast every year And it’s interesting to hear about Lokabrenna- it’s great to have a special time to work with and honor your deity Thank you for sharing!

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@jan_TheGreenWitch Sounds like the hive mind is back at it again haha- I’m happy that the Wheel of the Year has been camping out in your head too! For whatever reason, it’s been on my mind a lot lately- seemed like a good time to open it up for discussion and exploration Thank you for sharing about Saged- it sounds like a really neat app and I’m going to have to look into it!

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@AIRAM Autumn is a lovely time to mark the new year- it feels like the old is coming to an end and the new is about to begin It sounds like you keep a lovely calendar notebook too- I agree, it really helps to have the book to look back on and see your progress over time! It’s like a physical reminder of each moment in your journey, which is a beautiful thing Thanks for sharing, Airam!

[Amethyst]

Weekly Witchy Challenge for Amethyst

I took some time to think about this, and I think Mabon is my favorite holiday.

See, in my house growing up, it was the Autumn Equinox and after that, we could decorate for Halloween. We’d have something nice for dinner with a dessert and bring out the ghosties and goblins to decorate the house with.

It always seemed like the gateway to the holiday season for me. Time to think of what we did in the last year and what we want to do for the year coming up. Here in the States, it was Samhain, Thanksgiving, and then Yule. The Autumn Equniox was a time to prepare for all that and I certainly enjoyed the turning of the leaves and the cooler weather.

So that’s it for me, Mabon is my favorite. LOL!

[wendy]

Challenge Entry
With me still being new to everything, I am taking the rest of this year to get a little more fimiliar with how i want to do my craft.

I have been looking on here each day getting my tarot reading, what crystals to carry with me and to do some more class work. I plan on either making my own wheel of the year or buying one i seen on amazon, it is done beautifully. I did however get myself a planner just for my craft so i can put what days the holidays fall on and then printing off the rituals so i can start it next year. And to also do the moon rituals.

I have always started the year off on Jan 1st. So i am not sure if this will change as i progress with my craft.

Im really not following a calander, but i plan on looking into which one i would like to follow.

All i know is im happy i started this journey and want to learn as much as i can, even though i believe i am taking on more then i can chew. So i might have to pick one thing and leqrn about it and take a month to feel comfortable in what i am doing. The best part is there is lots to learn, and i havr the rest of my life to continue on the wonderful journey that i am very thankful to be on!

[Ostara]

Challenge Entry

Did someone say calendar? I have two calendars that I use. One is everyday, work, home and the other one is tarot readings and witchy stuff.

I started both of them in June of 2022 and they will be done in December 2023. The days and weeks are flying by, and I am always making notes in them so I can look back and see where my week went. Lol!

[crystal59]

These are really cool @Ostara i like the prints and the stickers

[lisa67]

#Weekly Witchy Challenge - The Wheel of the Year

Which calendar? That’s the big question!

When it comes to celebrating, my sisters and I use the Wheel of the Year - to track and plan for Sabbats and Esbats The Wheel of the Year – Spells8

However, we follow the traditional 12 months calendar and track the lunar as well. On a personal level, my favorite time is Yule and the Winter Solistice - purely from an earth element perspective! With that said, when it comes to Samhain - my family goes all in! - In October, we are full of family events, scary movies, spells, magick, happy hours, and feasting. This year will be no exception as we are planning a Halloween party for the entire family, as not all of us “practice” so to make it friendly for all family and friends, our celebration will be slightly clandestine for those who do practice!

We did some research on the Irish/Celtic traditions and there were so many ideas, but we wanted a more personalized way for our family. We’ve held dinners for years, but in researching, I came across a prayer - not entirely sure this was the site that I found it on, but it is the same - https://www.gaia.com/article/modern-paganism-13-rituals-celebrate-samhain.

To observe the copy right guidelines, I can only tell you that we fell in love with the prayer for the Samhain Ceremony, and this fits our family to a “T”. We do this as a rite now in our family celebration of Samhain, and our table is decked out with all kinds of fallish items, candles, skulls, and celebratory habdashery! Some altars that we’ve had in the past.

During the summertime, we collect twigs, flowers, et al, and dry them to make our King of Winter and keep him inside all winter at our alter and he goes outside in the Spring. Witchbox - How to make a Samhain Altar Cloth and King of Winter straw man.
We include visiting a local farm with a large pumpkin patch for our yearly outdoor walk and observation of fall.

Some of my sisters set-up an Ancestors altar and we take turns lighting candles or adding photos of our family members who are no longer with us - including pets. What to Put on an Ancestor Altar? Ideas and Pictures – Spells8

Lastly as a self-care ritual, we get together to relax, plan, review the past year on what worked and what did not, discuss the new year coming, read runes or tarot cards, and take time to pamper ourselves, etc.

Looking forward to seeing how all of you track your favs, and how you favor one or more! Blessed Be!