Throughout the year, the cycles within cycles that occur are a feminine oriented connotation of regularity through change. This is exhibited in observance of the eight seasonal days of the Celtic / Wiccan calendar. Each season has a separate meaning, and yet the continuity of the seasonal flow unites them all. Setting aside some block of time to observe or acknowledge these transitional periods provides a depth of connection with self, the world, and the cosmos. It becomes possible to actualize the oneness, as a quantification, by celebrating the constancy of change.
Change is a universal constant. The Triple Goddess concept represents the changing phases of the feminine divine: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Each stage carries with it an individual symbolism. They are unified due to the emblematic representation of the phase progression through the life cycle. This is an honoring of and reverence for the phenomenon of change embodied by the woman, the divine feminine. Youth, fertility, and wisdom are qualities synonymous with the maiden, mother, and crone archetypes, respectively.
The annual cycle is marked by periodically spaced days of observance. These days, facilitate harmonization with and deeper awareness of the environment. Humankind, no, all life, would be lost without the environment. The four major seasons receive scant notice of their arrival on the calendar. These are times of noticeable (particularly in northern, temperate climates) weather patterns and environmental changes. People are too concerned with their daily efforts of survival to notice anything different within themselves or with their immediate environment.
Celebrations for each of the holidays encompass practices that draw from the previous season / holiday and prepare for the season / holiday that is to follow. There are eight seasons, holidays in the Celtic / Wiccan Calendar. The four major seasons and the four interseasonal observances are contained within this calendar. Each specific day lends to the recognition of connection; connection to earth, connection to each other. These holiday observances provide a grounding, a source of equilibration, to the human experience. The human experience, within the milieu of each holiday, is given license to hear, feel, smell, touch and taste the surrounding environment.
The Celtic / Wiccan interseasonal holiday observances foster a connection to the environment by providing the opportunity to slow down. The slowing down provides a base from which one can feel the passage of the year and thereby connect with that motion. Many people do not connect with the passage of time as they are so occupied with making a living. When the realization that some time has passed, people are shocked, dismayed. They will say that time passes so quickly. In truth, it, time, passes no more quickly than it always has passed.
All change exist within and is encompassed by one overarching element. The Yugas are time segments, they are four segments in total, that encapsulate Hinduistic divisions in time. They comprise the complete Cycle of Brahma that lasts 144,000,000 years. Each yuga represents a different mental state that pervades humanity. Similarly, the Precession of the Equinoxes is made up of twelve, 2160 year time segments. Each segment corresponds to a sign in the zodiac, and thus, to a mental state that exist within humanity. These aforementioned cycles, the progression of change within the human life, the seasonal rotation on earth, all of them are encompassed within larger cycles.
Even though change happens, at the deepest levels all is connected. The appearance of separation is an phenomenon of perception. People view seasons, in particular, as different events, not as a flow of continuity. This perception gives substance and sustenance to something, a separation, that really does not exist. Conscious observation of the progression within the yearly cycle facilitates a connectivity between the land and humankind. Without this connection, modern society will continue to experience ennui, a malaise, an emptiness that will expand. This expansion can be arrested by a mental and physical melding into the continuity of change that the observance of the WICCAN / CELTIC Seasons / Holidays can provide.
The connotation of regularity through change year is a cyclical rotation through which the divine feminine is exhibited. The eight seasonal days of the Celtic / Wiccan calendar provide a framework for honoring the constancy of change . . . . the Divine Feminine. The continuity of the seasonal flow is the unifying thread that runs through each of the separate seasonal days. A deepened depth of connection with self, the world, and the cosmos is commiserate with setting aside time to acknowledge and internalize these transitional periods. Celebrating the cycle of seasonal change facilitates an awareness of the oneness that that can connect the individual to the continuity of the cosmic flow.
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