A witch has so many calendars. This may not be true for all witches, of course, but there is true magic in working alongside the cyclical nature of our beautiful Earth and the heavenly skies!
For instance, some witches focus on the “Wheel of the Year” – eight Sabbats or holidays that each highlight a seasonal aspect of the year. This traditional (“traditional”) calendar includes multiple pre-Christian people’s concepts of time and the recorded celebrations of said peoples. We have the Celtic cross-quarter holidays (celebrating the seasonal shifts based on a more ancient calendar) and the more contemporary seasonal shifts (Solstices and Equinoxes). This is a short-hand of this complex history. Many witches decided Samhain is the “Witch’s New Year,” a concept that many witches hold true, near, and dear.
Astrology-focused witches also have the cycles of the sky. Our lunations from Aries to Pisces season with each shift incorporating different potential magics and experiences – still on a cyclical basis. In addition to our cyclical astrological wheel that starts in the season of Aries, we also have our beautiful Mama, the Moon. Her 28-day cycle incorporates potent wisdom and energy for magic and meditation – New Moon to Waxing to Full to Waning to New again. This is another way cyclical calendars impact the magic witches make.
In considering calendars and our magic, it makes sense to give time to our personal cycles, the space and place we occupy, and the ways in which our own magic feels most potent. Perhaps it is focusing on a single calendar – the wheel of the year or four season shifts – or it is focusing on the heavenly bodies – seeing the New Year at the start of Aries season (be that on March 19, 20, or 21). Perhaps that larger concept is too big, and your personal focus is on the Moon in her rhythmic systems which also can align to astrological determinates, as well. Or perhaps you find a unique blend of each which holds magic and wisdom within it.
I have taught classes on the Wheel of the Year, seasonal magics, and New Moon magics. My personal practice blends a variety of magical calendars which has developed over the course of 25 years of magical practice. I’ve shifted, changed, and returned to old ways a number of times. It is experimentation and play to find my landing place. The current cycle I follow now may not be the forever cycle. Noticing herbs, flowers, and trees in my area – as well as the reality of a changing Earth – creates a new calendar, a new meaning of time, place, space, and action. I am closer with Nature by seeing Her cycles less through the lens of months and more by witnessing, observing, and crafting meaningful patterns in my own mind.
I am curious how others view Time. Calendars are fascinating and determine so much of our moods, attitudes, plans, actions, and being. How do you perceive calendars, time, and magic? Are they intertwined or separate? Do you follow a more witchy calendar or the Gregorian calendar? I remain curious to see where this rumination leads.
fox & flora 