Eights Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year
A Sermon delivered at the UU Church of Fort Lauderdale
by Spelcastor of MoonPath CUUPS
July 24, 2007

"In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth...." And so began 
linear time.

There was a beginning and then motion towards a finish. There will 
be a Judgment Day when the trumpets will blow and the heavens 
will open. The world will end.

In between, there is progress. We move forward through time 
inventing things like the wheel and the cell phone. New is good. 
What I am talking about is the concept of Linear Time. In modern 
culture, we look for a beginning and an end.

There is an alternative way of looking at time. Back before clocks 
were digital, clocks had arms. Time went round and round. We 
experienced the same phenomenon of light and dark with each day, 
day after day. 

In Celtic times, day began with the setting of the Sun. We would 
move through the night, through dawn, and through the bright times 
and then the day would end with the setting of the Sun. The day 
would move from darkness into light. Isn't that a positive 
concept?

It's the same with the Celtic year. One year follows another as 
you go around the same circle. The year begins at Halloween. We 
call that Samhain. We move through the dark of winter into the 
spring and then summer. The year ends at the next Samhain, and we 
start all over again. This is the cycle to be found in an 
agricultural society. You survive the winter to plant, you 
harvest, and you begin all over again.

The Jewish year begins Rosh Hashanah in September. Did I get that 
right? The Christian Calendar begins with Advent at the beginning 
of December. In contrast, the Islamic New Year falls in March. You 
can begin your year anywhere you like.

And so, my topic today is the Wheel of the Year. I can get into 
this. Each January I say to myself, here I go again, 'round one 
more time. I'm not a farmer. I don't live in medieval Europe where 
time was slow. I even have a cell phone. But I've been around long 
enough that I see patterns repeat themselves.

We live in Florida. We don't have seasons here, like Winter-
Spring-Summer-Fall. We have Hurricanes, snowbirds, brush fires, 
and drought. There is something to being connected to the world 
around us. That's what the seasonal holidays are about. I promised 
eight holidays, or sabbats,in this sermon. Four are related to 
what the earth is doing. Four are related to what is going on in 
the heavens, the sky.

It's good to be connected to the Earth and what is going on around 
us. Today in our Call to Community, we mentioned Ostara. That 
sounds a lot like Easter. Ostara falls at the Spring Equinox. 
Night and day are of equal length. It is a time of flowers and 
bunnies and colorful clothing. Ostara made more sense in Southern 
climates. The further north you are, the later spring comes until 
you bump up against the next sabbat on the wheel.

For our chalice lighting, we used a Quarter Call right out of the 
UU Hymnal. We invited energy from the four directions. There is 
much opportunity for symbolism here. The words blended together 
the times of day, the seasons of the year, and the primal 
elements: air, fire, water, and earth. It sounds kind of magickal 
to me.

We told the children a story of Beltaine. Here is a time of May 
Poles, hobby horses, and fancy dresses. That is how the nuns would 
do it for the children in Catholic schools. There's the X-rated 
version too. Beltaine marks the beginning of summer and planting. 
It is a fertility festival and a major celebration on the Wheel of 
the Year. We make a big to do with our May Pole here. The men 
carry it out and present it to the women. These ladies tie ribbons 
onto it and encourage the men to raise it. With much applause and 
fanfare, the pole goes skyward and is plunged into its hole. This 
is not how the good sisters presented it in their Catholic 
schools.

Traditionally, the May Pole is danced with the men going clockwise 
and the women going counter-clockwise. As they passed each other, 
they would steal kisses and pinches. This was the time in 
Mesopotamia, Babylon, when the King would join with the High 
Priestess of the temple. In order for the king to rule, he must be 
accepted by the land or there would be no fertility.

Remember King Arthur and how he had to pull the sword from the 
stone before he could be recognized as king?

Beltaine is indeed a bawdy celebration.

Next we moved around the wheel to mid-summers, or Litha. This is 
the time of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. It's 
summertime, and the living is easy. The crops are growing and 
there's little to do. It is a time to be silly. It is a time of 
bright colors. It is a time of fairies. We heard today from 
Tatania, the Queen of the Fairies. You can find Titania in William 
Shakespeare's Mid-Summer Night's Dream. 

In the 1600, old Will had resources to draw upon that now we can 
only try to re-create. One of the resources still available is the 
story of the Metamorphosis of the Golden Ass by the Roman author 
Apuleius. Here is a blend of erotic adventures, romantic comedy, 
and religious fables from almost 2000 years ago. The hero makes 
some mistakes using someone else's magic and turns himself into an 
ass. In Shakespeare's tale, the hero offends the Faire Queen and 
she turns him into an ass.

As we move on to the fall of the year, we enter harvest time. The 
first of the three harvests is Lammas. The Christian's call it 
Loaf Mass. This time in early August is the beginning of when we 
reap what we have sown. 

We continue around to the fall equinox, or Mabon. Again, day and 
night are of equal length. Grain is a male symbol, and the grain 
must die so that we may live. John Barlycorn is a symbol for the 
grain and this time of year he is forever being cut down, ground 
into flour, and baked into bread.

Next we come to the popular favorite: Samhain. The Muggles know it 
as Halloween. The Christians know it as the day before All Saints 
Day. To us, it is the most sacred time of the year, our High Holy 
Day and even more important that Beltaine.

This is our remembrance of our ancestors and the dead. This is our 
final harvest. In Mexico, they celebrate La Dia de Los Muertos. 
For the Muggles, it is a big-spending season eclipsed only by 
Christmas.

Samhain is the time when the veil between the worlds is most thin. 
It is as auspicious time for divination and communing with the 
departed. It is a time to seek protection for some of the dead 
have unfinished business on this side of the veil.

Thus of us in the Craft observe that Samhain is "Witch Awareness 
Week" for the Muggles. For the rest of the year, they forget we 
exist. Well, maybe at Saint valentine's Day when they come around 
looking for a love potion they remember. Don't they realize that 
some of even have pink pointed hats?

Oh, I used the word Muggle. It is a wonderful term that comes from 
J.K.Rawlings series of Harry Potter books. A muggle is a non-
magical person. Someone who sees this pulpit as just a pulpit. A 
Muggle is not necessarily bad, just as a magickal person is not 
necessarily good. But a Muggle is, well, a Muggle.

Where was I? Samhain. Yes. Our holiest of time upon the wheel of 
the year and the time best known to outsiders.

Following Samhain comes Yule. The word Yule does not mean 
Christmas, or Christ Mass. It has to so with the Winter Solstice 
and the dark time of the Year. It was a time of gift giving, just 
as was the Roman holiday of Saternalia. At Saturnalia there was 
much partying. The master and the slave would swap roles. Later, 
things would go back to the way they were but that was later.

Yule was not always the time of the New Year. Originally, the 
Romans began their year in March. In March the new Consuls would 
assume office to run the government. Wars were fought during the 
summer and in March there was too little time for preparation. So 
the Romans moved their New Year back to January 1st. The twelve 
months stayed in their places, but now there was ample time to 
prepare for conquest and the expansion of the Empire.

The last sabbat I'll tell you about is Imbolc. This one literally 
means sheep's milk. Imbolc came February 1st when the sheep began 
to lactate in anticipation of the birth of the spring lambs. In 
the northern climates, the reality of the harsh winter, the 
promise of spring brought hope. It was the time of the festival of 
lights. To the Christians, this is Epiphany or Three Kings Day. 
Legend has it that here is when the three Babylonian mages showed 
up to view the new born god. In Hebrew tradition, it is the time 
of Chanukah.

And so we have lapped around the Wheel of the Year, only to begin 
again. In the words of the late folk singer Harry Chapin, "All My 
Life's a Circle."

They tell me that the Craft is a Woman Thing. Men are more 
threatened by uncertainty. Thus, they require a religion with more 
rules and conditions. Kabahla, anyone? How about the nine levels 
in the Christian Dante's heavenly hierarchy?

But the alternative to marching through linear time, is to turn 
and spin. Sniff a flower. Stand in the moon light. Dance the eight 
sabbats upon the wheel of the Year.

Blessed be.