Wiccan Calender

rcunning03

Can someone tell me how many months there are in a pagan year is it 8 months based around the major festivals, also what year is it(pagan obviously) and is there any website that you can see a pagan calendar ?

I am new to paganism I got interested in it after reading the pilgrimage by paulo coelho

Evil Phil

Personally I'd go with 13 lunar months. Thats 13 cycles of the moon in 365 days. The Sabbaths, both major and minor, then seem to come roughly every 6 weeks or so.

Talliesin

Ah. Not only am I a Pagan, but I'm also a big nerd about calendars!

There isn't a single answer here, which probably doesn't help you, but it does allow me to indulge in my nerdiness

For the most part though we use the same civil calendar as everyone else here, that is the Gregorian Calendar in which it is currently the 11th day of December 2003 C.E. (for obvious reasons Pagans would be slightly more likely not to use the old A.D. abbreviation for C.E. or the old B.C. abbreviation for B.C.E. but the old Christianity-based abbreviations are still used by many Pagans simply because it's what they grew up with). Of course while the Gregorian Calendar takes it's years from an estimation of the date of the birth of Christ the months used are of Classical Pagan origin, as indicated by the fact that the first 6 are named after Roman Gods and Goddess (the next 2 are named after Emporers Julius and August and the final four from their ordinal position before July and August were added - "September" through to "December" mean "seventh month" through to "tenth month").

Apart from the every day use of the Gregorian calendar, it's also common to refer to the state of the moon or the nearest sabbat, though this is generally in a context where it is easily remembered ("sunday after the full moon" is a useful enough time to agree to meet someone if I'm going to be doing something with that person on the full moon itself, "saturday before Yule" is a good day to get some last minute shopping done. "Sunday after the fifth full moon" is less useful.)

There are also calendars related to the practices of particular peoples. The recreated Viking Calendar <http://www.wundermoosen.com/wmViking.html> and the Ogham tree calendar being two examples. The Ogham calendar is quite disputed with a lot of ogham experts (most academic ogham experts for a start) doubting the whole thing, and those who do either believe it was used, or who see no reason not to use it whether it was used by the Celts or not, disagreeing on the assignments between trees, parts of the year, and ogham letters. <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9344/calendar.html> shows two different views on the assignments.

Finally many Pagans make use of astrological periods in time keeping. Notably the solstice and equinox sabbats are of a astrological/astronomical[1] basis, falling on the moment the sun enters Capricorn (Yule), Aries (Œstara), Cancer (Litha) and Libra (Mabon).

[1] Of course a lot of astronomers hate it if you use "astrological" and "astronomical" in the same sentence, but the astrological periods are based on the relative position of the earth in its origin which is a matter of astronomical fact whether or not you believe in the astrological significance attributed to it.

rcunning03

thanks, useful to know pagans use the same calendar as everyone else, but just a few questions for you if you dont mind

1. what does ce stand for

2. why are the festivals over two days e.g. imbole feb 1/2

3. I am looking for the book of shadows by Gerald Brosseau Gardner but the best i could find was the book of shadows:The unoffical charmed companion, is this book any use ? if not could you recommend a good one (this would be my first pagan book)http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609806521/qid=1071219354/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_3_7/202-9382177-9365457

4. If i decide to join a wiccan group are there any you could recommend in the dublin area, im 28 so i would be looking for a group of people round my own age

5. Is wiccan offical recognised in ireland ?

Cheers

silja

1. CE stands for Common era- pretty much the same thing as AD (ie, after Christ's borth), but a more politically correct term.

2. Some Festivals take more than one day, they can last up to 8 days if you worship Roman deities for example. Also, most witches celebrate at night, and so their festivals may spill over to the next day. Thirdly, those festivals which are dependant on star constelations and similar, such as the Equinoxes, may shift a day or two from year to year.

3. Do not buy Garnder's BoS. It is very boring and very dry- good for historical research once you know a lot about witchcraft, but not very practical for today's witch. For beginners, I'd recommend books by Scott Cunningham, Kate West or Elen Hawke.

4. If you are looking for a coven, I think you should do some more reading and experimenting by yourself first. I can only talk for my own coven of course, but I know several other covens in Dublin, and most would want you to have a solid understanding of Paganism, and have explored a few paths before you join their group.

5. Yes, Wicca is officially recognised.

Talliesin

Originally posted by rcunning03
3. I am looking for the book of shadows by Gerald Brosseau Gardner

Janet and Stewart Farrar's A Witch's Bible contains just about all of Gardner's BoS, though not following the original format and adding a good deal of original work. It's a great book (with a bad name) if a bit outdated on some points.
Arguably it isn't the best for a beginner, though it doesn't assume any prior knowledge and it is a book you will still be re-reading a few years later. Unlike the actual manuscripts of Gardner's BoS it is not dreadfully boring, doesn't contain any pseudo King James Bible style of English (except for one or two bits where they quote Gardner) and isn't split across 3 different contradictory manuscripts.

I agree with Silja about Kate West, disagree about Scott Cunningham, and I don't know Elen Hawke.

I'd add Rhiannon Ryall (I don't believe her claims as to where she learnt the Craft, but the books make for really interesting reading) Starhawk (can be a bit heavy-going). I like the slightly more intellectual than usual Wicca: A Comprehensive Guide to the Old Religion in the Modern World by Vivianne Crowley simply because it is very different in style to a lot of books out there and that gives a degree of balance.

It's a good idea to try to read a few authors with very different opinions and style. A lot of books may seem to imply is something is the way things are done even though it might actually be a relatively rare practice. Reading differing opinions helps one to keep thinking for oneself rather than simply following "Gerard wrote it, I believe it, that's good enough for me"

5. Is wiccan offical recognised in ireland ?

Kind of. Religions aren't recongnised per se in this country (nor should they be, this is meant to be a republic). However some Wiccan organisations are recognised by bodies related to a particular matter (I think ATC is recognised by the Revenue Commission as a non-profit organisation, am I right in that Silja?). This means that as far as religion can be recognised it is.

However there are some things which the ministers of some religions can do that Wiccans can't, such as register a civil marriage at the same time as the religious marriage is performed (though apparantly the reason some of the Christian Churches can do that in this country is the burden it would but on the registrars if they had to register all of them).

rcunning03

Cheers Guys,

I agree with Silja about Kate West, disagree about Scott Cunningham, and I don't know Elen Hawke.

I am definately going to research it a bit more, before joinging a coven, so i can decide for myself what i want to get from it, also i found that book by kate west just after i posted my last message, the reviews look great much better than the other one i was looking at. So during my break i went to my local bookstore to order in The real witches handbook by Kate West.

The look the cashier gave me might take a little getting used to though

Talliesin

I suppose I should add that even if they don't use a calendar that starts on the date many Pagans consider the year as beginning at Samhain (many Witches for a start).

Many other Pagans consider the year as beginning at Yule (if I remember right the Heathens do, though I'm not sure).

Yoda

That's one thing that irritates me about Graves' and King's "ogham" calendars. (There are other things.) They don't begin on Samhain.