THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR

    (AN ORAL TEACHING OF THE FAERY TRADITION OF WITCHCRAFT)


     In  love,  the  Horned God, changing form and changing face,
ever seeks the Goddess. In this world, the search and the seeking
appear in the Wheel of the Year.

     She is the Great Mother who gives birth to Him as the Divine
Child Sun at the Winter Solstice. In spring, He is sower and seed
who grows with the growing light, green as the new shoots. She is
the  Initiatrix  who  teaches  Him the mysteries. He is the young
bull;  She  the  nymph,  seductress.  In  summer,  when  light is
longest,  they  meet  in union, and the strength of their passion
sustains  the  world. But the God's face darkens as the sun grows
weaker,  until at last, when the grain is cut for harvest, He too
sacrifices  Himself to Self that all may be nourished. She is the
reaper,  the  grave of earth to which all must return. Throughout
the  long  nights  and  darkening days, He sleeps in her womb; in
dreams,  He  is  Lord of Death who rules the Land of Youth beyond
the  gates  of  night  and day. His dark tomb becomes the womb of
rebirth, for at Midwinter She again gives birth to Him. The cycle
ends  and  begins  again, and the Wheel of the Year turns, on and
on.