Wheel of the Year

     The Wheel of the Year is a Pagan way to explain the seasons and the seasonal holidays taking place within a year's time. The traditional beginning is on Samhain, the Witches' New Year and the wheel turns through the different holidays, which are roughly eight weeks apart.
     In the book Sabbat Entertaining: Celebrating the Wiccan Holidays in Style by Willow Polson, there is a lovely little pattern for each of the holidays with a final pattern for to illustrate the Wheel of the Year. It took me quite awhile to do them all, but I managed to get them all completed and found cute little frames for each of them! The book suggests sewing them together in a quilt pattern, but I was having issues with that and found I preferred them framed.

Samhain - honoring the ancestors

Yule - The Holly King is at his greatest power as the Oak King is weakest

Imbolc - purifying fires and first signs of Spring

Ostara - fertility festival

Beltane - bees pollinating flowers

Litha - the Sun is at its most powerful

Lammas - the first harvest of grains 

Mabon - the second harvest and a bountiful time

    These patterns were lovely to stitch and they make a lovely grouping on my wall!