Astrology, from the tarocchi · Master of the E-Series Tarocchi, before 1467 · Cleveland Museum of Art 1924.432.29

Eight festivals, about six weeks apart: the witches’ year. Its shape comes from England in the 1950s.¹ The sun kept those dates long before.

Rites

Calendar

The DescentRead it any time Our story for the autumn equinox. You read it in the dark, moving a light around with your hand. Its three cards wake up again on 31 October.Luna, from the tarocchi · Master of the E-Series Tarocchi, before 1467 · Cleveland Museum of Art 1924.432.41Equinox is Latin for “equal night”: aequus and nox. The day still wins by a few minutes.At dusk, switch the lights off for ten minutes and let your eyes adjust.
Samhain31 OctoberThe dark half of the year begins. A new reading opens that night: One fire.A Bonfire and Moonlight · Jean Le Blond, 1650–67 · Cleveland Museum of Art 1920.305Samhain is the Irish word for November. Halloween is a short way of saying “All Hallows’ Eve”: the evening before the holy ones.Cook something a grandparent used to make, and eat it by candlelight.
The winter solstice21 DecemberGenius of the Sun, from the tarocchi · Master of the E-Series Tarocchi, before 1467 · Cleveland Museum of Art 1924.432.31Solstice is sol plus sistere, the sun standing still. Around the shortest day the sunrise really does seem to stall.Light one candle when the sun sets, and blow it out when you leave the room.
Imbolc1 FebruaryStudent at a Table by Candlelight · Salomon Savery after Rembrandt, 1642/65 · Art Institute of Chicago 1927.5146Scholars aren’t sure what Imbolc means: “in the belly” or “ewe’s milk”. Both point at lambing season.Open a window for two minutes and clear one shelf.

¹ Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon, Oxford 1999. The dates are the northern ones.