To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day (6 page)

of chance comes in. As with finding a life partner, finding

your folk is not a simple matter of looking through the Yel-

low Pages.

It can be tempting to join the first group you encounter,

especially if you have been looking for other like minded peo-

ple for a long time. Before agreeing to join with any Pagan

group, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the group share your personal world view? If not,

how far are you willing to compromise your spiritual

identity? What connects you to this tribe?

• What are the tribe’s expectations of its members? Are

these expectations clearly defined?

• What is required to leave the tribe if you later choose to

do so? If a membership oath is involved, is there a pro-

vision in the oath allowing you to leave the group hon-

orably? (The wording of some oaths do not require this,

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seven steps to a new way of living

but be sure that you understand exactly what you are

promising.)

• Does the group or its leaders take an undue interest in

recruiting new members? This should raise a red flag.

Pagan groups do not normally recruit.

• Do the other members of the group share a lifestyle

compatible with your own? If you are a single and in

your twenties, you may not fit well with a group com-

prised of retired couples. Or maybe you would, but it is

a factor to consider.

If you are not completely satisfied with the answers to

any of these questions, it is better to wait until you have

found a group that you are sure of. An inhíred or demos or

coven is not, or should not be, merely a social club. Member-

ship in the group is an emotional contract that you should

not enter into lightly.

This is why there is an element of chance. With the first

six steps that I have outlined, you have complete control. You

decide to take those actions. You do not have complete con-

trol over this seventh step. So while I have said “find your

folk”, it may be more accurate to describe this as leaving

yourself open to finding your folk. To some extent, the pro-

cess is in the hands of the gods.

I should add here that these tribes can and do sometimes

overlap. It is never a good idea to “collect” covens or kin-

dreds, but a Pagan may belong to more than one tribe when

the groups have different objectives and non-conflicting sched-

ules. The oathed members of my inhíred are all Saxon Pagans.

We honor the same gods and share similar values. However I

also belong to an Ár nDraíocht Féin grove. The grove’s pur-

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seven steps to a new way of living

pose is to foster spiritual community in our immediate area.

Not everyone in my inhíred belongs to the grove. Converse-

ly, members of my grove do not have to be Saxon Pagans.

These are two separate tribes, with different parameters and

objectives. However it is not a good idea to belong to two

groups with similar objectives—two Wiccan covens, for exam-

ple—because there will almost inevitably be competition for

your time and energy. This is another reason you should only

become a member of a group that you are completely com-

fortable with. Once you have your tribe you cannot reasonably

participate in other groups of the same type.

*

Now you have read about all seven steps. How many of these

have you taken? If the answer is “none”, go back now and

start with Step 1. Rather than simply reading about Pagan-

ism, take that first step and begin to walk the walk.

In the following chapters we will explore various activities

that can take your personal Pagan practice to even deeper lev-

els, but the “seven step program” will lead you to a new way of living almost immediately. The steps are very simple. Eventually you will probably elaborate on some of them—establishing

a secondary altar, or sacralizing more of your daily schedule—

but the initial steps are easy actions anyone can take.

The only thing you might find difficult, especially if you

are new to Paganism, is observing the holy tides. Depending

on your lifestyle and environment, some of the high days may

not seem relevant to you. In the next chapter we will look at

the sacral calendar and how you can adapt it to your own life.

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CALENDAR

A calendar is a system for reckoning time by defining the

beginning and divisions of a year. The secular calendar we

all share today divides the year into twelve months of 28–31

days, and begins the year on the first day of January. Most

calendars define a year as the length of time it takes for our planet to orbit the sun, but there are exceptions. The Islamic sacral calendar is purely lunar, so each Islamic New Year

begins 11–12 days earlier than the year before. Most calen-

dars divide the year into twelve or thirteen months, based on

the moon’s orbit around our planet.

These divisions define the passage of time in a way that

gives it meaning. For those of us who live in the temper-

ate northern hemisphere, January evokes memories of ice

and snow, June of warm afternoons, and October of crisp

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the sacral calendar

autumn leaves. A sacral calendar should create an even deep-

er meaning reflecting our spirituality. It
should
do this, but very often the calendar fails in its purpose because of the tendency many of us have to accept and follow a generic sacral

calendar regardless of how appropriate it may or may not be

for ourselves.

As a sacral calendar, the Neo-Pagan “wheel of the year”

is a nice construct that all contemporary Pagan people can

acknowledge when we get together with others of disparate

paths. I like to think of it as the Esperanto of Pagan calen-

dars; it does not belong to any one culture, but it is nevertheless a simple yet expressive way for all Pagans to measure the

passage of the seasons. For the eclectic Pagan, the Neo-Pa-

gan wheel of the year is as good a choice as any other for a

primary sacral calendar.

The Neo-Pagan calendar observes eight holy days. This

calendar can just as accurately be called the Wiccan sacral

calendar, because it originated with the Wiccan religion in

the early to middle 20th Century. The calendar combines

Celtic fire festivals like Samhain and Beltane with Anglo-Sax-

on solstice celebrations. This amalgamation was hammered

into a calendar of eight “sabbats” spaced five to seven weeks

apart. Today it is used as a sacral calendar not only by Wic-

cans, but by many contemporary Pagan groups such as the

Church of All Worlds and Ár nDraíocht Féin.

However useful the Neo-Pagan calendar may be, your

own personal sacral calendar will be more meaningful to you

if it reflects your spiritual path. Unless you follow the Wiccan religion, assuming you follow a specific path, your spiritual

culture will have a calendar with unique emphases.

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the sacral calendar

As a Saxon Pagan, I observe a Saxon calendar. The early,

pre-Christian Saxons had a lunar based calendar, but, unlike

the Islamic calendar, the solar year was also taken into con-

sideration. Most years have twelve months, or “moons”,

but every few years there will be a
thrilithe
, which has thirteen months. The thrilithe adjusts the lunar calendar so the

month of Solmonath always occurs around February, Hreth-

monath always occurs around March, and so on. For the

early Saxons, a new “monath” began at the full of the moon.

In southern Europe—in Rome and Greece—a month began

at the new moon, but in the northern European cultures it

seems the months were reckoned by the full moons.

My inhíred gathers once a month to observe a húsel, giv-

ing offerings to our gods, but these “months” are not Gre-

gorian (secular) months. They are true
monthas
, or moons.

Because of this, we are keenly aware of the moon’s cycles.

Remember that Hal Sidu is all about integrating your body,

mind and spirit. By following a lunar based calendar, my

híredmenn and I attune ourselves to the rhythm of the nat-

ural world and, of equal importance, with the ways of our

Saxon predecessors.

The lunar months help us connect with the world view

of the early Saxons, and thus express our spirituality more

fully. Solmonath, which falls in January and February, liter-

ally means “mud-month” in Old English. The historian Bede

recorded that the Saxons gave offerings of cakes during this

month. By cake he meant a baked product that was probably

more like our modern bread. When the Solmonath moon

grows full, I leave a loaf or cake on tilled soil as an offering.

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the sacral calendar

The two months following, Hrethmonath and Eostremon-

ath, are named for the earth goddess Herthe and the vernal

goddess Eostre. After this comes Thrimilci, “three-milkings”,

so named because the cattle could be milked three times a day.

The next two months are Ærra Litha and Æfterra Litha.

The Old English word
lith
means a point or moment, and in this context it is a reference to the summer solstice, that point in time when the days cease to increase in length and begin

to decrease. The names of these two months, Ærra Litha and

Æfterra Litha, mean Before the Solstice and After the Sol-

stice. Incidentally, during a thrilithe the thirteenth month is inserted between these two, and is known simply as Litha.

Next comes Weodmonath, or “weed-month”, and, if you

have ever had any connection with the earth, you understand

why it has this name. Weodmonath occurs around August,

when weeds grow like…well, like weeds…in the summer’s

heat in the temperate northern hemisphere. Then comes

Haligmonath, the “holy-month”, when offerings are given in

thanks for a successful harvest.

It is almost always sometime in October when the Win-

terfylleth moon grows full. This month, as its name suggests,

signals the beginning of winter. At this time, Saxon Pagans

celebrate Winter Finding. It is not the end of the year, but it is an important transitional month that leads into Blodmona-th, or the “blood-month”. Winter began for the early Saxons

with a final harvest—the harvest of meat. Only the best live-

stock would be wintered over, and the excess was butchered,

smoked and salted.

The final two months are Ærra Geola and Æfterra Geola,

meaning Before Yule and After Yule. The meaning of “Yule”

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the sacral calendar

is uncertain, but it may mean “wheel”. Both of these months

comprise the Yule season. Ærra Geola marks the end of the

old year, while Æfterra Geola is the beginning of the new.

Observing the lunar months is an important aspect of

my personal spiritual practice, but the Saxon calendar also

acknowledges holy tides—holidays—at various times of

the year. These holy tides correspond more closely to the

Neo-Pagan calendar than those of some other Pagan paths.

This is because Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, was

an Englishman. While the Neo-Pagan calendar is often

thought to be Celtic in origin, the fact is that it is simply

English, blending both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon holy days.

Beltane and Samhain are Celtic fire festivals welcoming in the

summer and winter. Yule and Midsummer are Anglo-Saxon

festivals marking the summer and winter solstice. Lughnasa-

dh is a summer festival commemorating the Celtic god Lugh

and his foster mother; the Anglo-Saxons celebrated a grain

festival called
Hláfmæsse
at the same time of year. The feast of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre was celebrated at the full

moon following the spring equinox, but has become equat-

ed with the equinox in the Neo-Pagan calendar. Of course

the pre-Christian Saxons and Celts lived together on an island

roughly the size of Missouri, so cultural exchange was inevi-

table, and Pagans today who follow a Welsh or Scottish path

will also find that their personal spirituality blends very well with the Neo-Pagan wheel of the year.