When considering what to put in this Book of Magic I debated with myself if the Wheel of the year or the Sabbats as many like to call them should be included, as this is not a Druidic or Wiccan site. For many years I did not see the relevance in this day and age of holding rituals to celebrate solar events and harvest times. But I have always enjoyed such holidays as Yule (Christmas), Samhain (Halloween) and others, even though here in the Southern Hemisphere they are not aligned according to traditional solar timing. The strange thing is in many different cultures all over the world tend to have very similar Festivals at the same time. Or if not at the same time they have similar themes to them at different times.

This could suggest a collective unconscious need to celebrate the change in season or a festival of remembrance of the dead such as Samhain. I hope to provide here an unbiased and historical account of the pagan festivals without too much Christian or Neo-pagan influence. It is neither a guide to practicing ritual during these times for that you should do some study and create your own ritual for each festival if you feel the need. 

At the moment I just have the traditional dates according to the hemisphere you live in. Descriptions and Lore will be coming soon. Here in the southern hemisphere many pagans simply flip the northern dates to correspond with the seasons here. I personally think that that is not always appropriate. You should make your festivals occur with your local climates no matter where you live.

For example; In the heat of summertime here in Australia the landscape actually looks dead. Trees are dying from lack of water, people lawns turn brown. And many vegetable plants are frazzled by the heat, not exactly a life giving time. Perhaps a festival such as Samhain would be more appropriate at this time?

Samhain (New!)

Southern Hemisphere Date: April 30th

Northern Hemisphere Date: October 31st

Yule

Southern Hemisphere Date: June 21st

Northern Hemisphere Date: December 22nd

Imbolc

Southern Hemisphere Date: August 1st

Northern Hemisphere Date: February 2nd

Ostara

Southern Hemisphere Date: September 23rd

Northern Hemisphere Date: March 21st

Beltane

Southern Hemisphere Date: November 1st

Northern Hemisphere Date: May 1st

Litha

Southern Hemisphere Date: December 22nd

Northern Hemisphere Date: June 21st

Lughnasadh

Southern Hemisphere Date: February 2nd

Northern Hemisphere Date: August 1st

Mabon

Southern Hemisphere Date: March 21st

Northern Hemisphere Date: September 23rd

 

 

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Murray Byfield © 2000-2002