Hey Sharon. I struggled with this decision for a long time after we moved back to Australia from England. I decided though, and follow the Northern hemisphere wheel. This is mainly because my spirituality most closely follows Asatru, and because I lived in the Northern hemisphere when I really..discovered my spirituality, iykwim. Also (and this may not be a great reason), when we have kids, I want to involve them in the celebrations (mainly noticing how everything is coming to life again, planting some new plants together, etc etc), and it will make them feel better I think, to be celebrating Yule around the same time that everyone is having Christmas, and Ostara around the time of Easter.
I'd probably say a bit of both. My heritage is more tribal than most "pagan" religions, with my Zulu heritage on Mum's side (I do have a smattering of Mongolian on Dad's side).
My last coven followed the northern hemisphere wheel of the year which was great except for celebrating a traditional northern hemisphere yule ritual in the middle of summer (which is why we used to do that ritual skyclad & mid-summers with robes on!)
I feel more in-tune following southern, this even-more-so since travelling through Africa in 94.
My earth quater at my wedding was Asatru, my air quater has since become Asatru (she married the earth), we've been to a few blots at their hearth.
Southern, TO ME it doesn't make sense to celebrate a spring festival in autumn, a winter festival in summer and vice versa. That's my personal preference though
Hey look a this thread!
I haven't been following wicca much since having kids. I still believe in it all & when I was actively practicing I followed the southern. Like Cm said, doesn't make sense to me to celebrate seasonal changes for the wrong season KWIM.
I feel like I have to justify my decision now. Blah! And it's not you girls' fault..it's because I've always struggled with the decision of when to celebrate things.
Although I 'say' I try to follow the wheel of the year..I can't remember the last time we had a celebration at the 'right' time. We tend to do our own thing really. We're pretty solitary, DH and I. We don't really know any other practising Pagans, have never been part of a coven, or to a blot. Mostly, it suits us as well, though I'd like to have that sense of community.
We mark the cycle of the year, and the cycle of life and death and renewal in our own ways. When Spring started (and I don't mean the first of September, I mean when thigns started to come alive, and the air smelt fresh again, etc), we put a lot of effort into our own garden, planting etc. Our little apple and mandarin trees have started spouting new leaves, which was so exciting. We had our own small ritual by the river to say goodbye to our baby.
Nature doesn't follow a set pattern of "ok today it's the first day of spring on the human calender, so we'll change seasons....now", it does it's own thing in its own time and just "goes with the flow". To acknowledge that natures changing and to appreciate the differing parts of the year doesn't require a highly ritualistic ceremony on a specific date at a specific time. Some people really love to do it that way and it feels more special to them and that's great everyone needs to do what they FEEL is right. To me I find taking a moment of your time to just step back and go "wow so beautiful", i.e. "to stop and smell the roses" is just as good, otherwise I find I spend too much time trying to concentrate on the order and the correct words rather than appreciating the event at hand.
I used to follow the southern, but never the set dates, rather the closest full moon to the sabbat.
Samhain was then, and still is my favourite, thats when I think about my grandparents, and others who have passed, visit the cemetary etc. Its also when I do a big clean out of the house.
There are a million different places to start it depends on what you want to know and what's of most interest to you, please keep in mind theres a lot of crud out there as well don't believe everything you read. Google any terms of interest you'll get hundreds of sites on what you want. Feel free to email me if you like I can try and answer any questions etc if you like
Northern or Southern Hemisphere Wheel of the Year
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