Dionysian Dreams

Doors open after the equinox

The Descent is waiting.

The Wheel of the Year feels old as the hills. It was actually put together in England in the 1950s, out of two older sets of four.¹ The sun had been turning up on those dates for a while already.

Rites

Calendar

The DescentOpens at nightfall, 22 Sept The autumn equinox. You read it in the dark, moving a light around with your hand, and pull three cards at the end.Equinox is Latin for “equal night”: aequus and nox. The day still wins by a few minutes.Try it at dusk: switch the lights off for ten minutes and let your eyes adjust.
Samhain31 OctoberSamhain is just the Irish word for November. Halloween is a squashed “All Hallows’ Eve”: the evening before the holy ones.Cook something a grandparent used to make, and eat it by candlelight.
The winter solstice21 DecemberSolstice means “sun stands still”: sol and sistere. 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 FebruaryScholars 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