What is the Wheel of the Year?

The Wheel of the Year is the eightfold solar calendar of the modern pagan traditions: the two solstices and two equinoxes, with the four cross-quarter days between them. Samhain opens the dark half; Yule holds the longest night and the sun's return; Imbolc carries the first milk of spring; Ostara balances the year; Beltane fires the light half; Litha stands at the height of the sun; Lughnasadh gathers the first harvest; Mabon balances again and descends. Each gate has its rituals, its foods, and its question.

The wheel and the older calendars

The wheel as drawn today is a modern synthesis, but its stones are old: the solstice alignments of the Neolithic, the fire festivals, the quarter days of the pastoral year. The Celtic and British traditions carry much of this heritage, and the lunar counterpoint to the solar gates is the lunar cycle, month by month through the wheel.