Wheel of the Year · Eight Sabbats · Manifest Differently
The Wheel of the Year: The Eight Sabbats and Their MeaningEight festivals, one turning year
The year is a descent and a return. You can step in anywhere.
What is the Wheel of the Year?
The Wheel of the Year is a cycle of eight seasonal festivals, called Sabbats, that many modern Pagan and Wiccan paths keep through the year. Four of them fall on the solstices and equinoxes: Yule, Ostara, Litha and Mabon. The other four, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas (Lughnasadh) and Samhain, fall roughly halfway between them.
Together they follow the turning of the light, from the deep dark of winter, through the first stirrings of spring, to the long light of summer and the gathering of the harvest, and back into the dark.
Below you'll find all eight in calendar order, how each one meets Christian tradition, and a page for each with a Reiki activation. Start wherever the season you're in is calling you.
The wheel
Tap a festival to read about it.
Shown for the Northern Hemisphere, with the longest night at the bottom and the longest day at the top.
The eight Sabbats
In calendar order, with a short word on what each one means and where it meets the Christian year.
Cross-quarter · Early spring
Imbolc
February 1
The first stirring. Something small is beginning under the snow.
Imbolc is a Gaelic festival on February 1 that marks the start of spring. Its name is uncertain, and one common explanation links it to an Old Irish phrase meaning "in the belly," for the ewes carrying lambs. It is closely tied to Brigid.
Where it meets Christian tradition. February 1 is St. Brigid's Day in Ireland, and the Christian feast of Candlemas follows on February 2. Scholars disagree about whether the saint grew out of the older goddess, so it is best held as a connection rather than a proven line.
Read about ImbolcEquinox · Spring
Ostara
About March 20 to 21
Balance, and the first real green.
Ostara is kept at the spring equinox, when day and night are nearly equal and the light is finally winning. The name comes from Eostre, a goddess the monk Bede mentioned in the 8th century as the source of the Old English name for April.
Where it meets Christian tradition. Bede says the Christian Easter season took its name from her, and Easter is still timed to the spring equinox and the full moon that follows it. Popular stories tying the Easter hare and eggs to Ostara rest on much later sources, so I hold those lightly.
Read about OstaraCross-quarter · Start of summer
Beltane
April 30 to May 1
Fire and bloom. Say yes to what is alive.
Beltane is the Gaelic May Day festival that marked the start of summer. Fire was central: bonfires were lit, cattle were driven between them for protection, and hearth fires were put out and relit from the new flame.
Where it meets Christian tradition. Its customs run alongside May Day traditions across Britain and Europe, such as May bushes, flowers and the maypole, and Germanic Walpurgis Night on April 30. Modern Wiccan Beltane leans closer to English May Day than to the Gaelic original.
Read about BeltaneSolstice · Summer
Litha
About June 20 to 21
The longest light. Be seen.
Litha marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The name comes from Bede's Old English month names and was adopted by modern Pagans. Midsummer fires and feasting are found across many European cultures.
Where it meets Christian tradition. In much of Europe, Midsummer was traditionally reckoned on June 23 to 24, and the Church placed St. John's Eve and St. John's Day there, marking the birth of John the Baptist six months before Christmas. Bonfires, including leaping over the flames, belong to both.
Read about LithaCross-quarter · First harvest
Lammas
August 1
First fruits. Gather what you have grown.
Lammas, also called Lughnasadh, is the first harvest festival of the year, held around August 1. Lughnasadh is the Gaelic name, and Lammas is the English one. It is a season for gratitude, for bread and grain, and for noticing what your effort has produced.
Where it meets Christian tradition. Lammas comes from the Old English for "loaf mass." Traditionally a loaf baked from the first wheat of the harvest was brought to church and blessed. A link between Lammas and the Gaelic Lughnasadh has been proposed, though a historian like Ronald Hutton considers it unproven.
Read about LammasEquinox · Autumn
Mabon
About September 22 to 23
Balance again, and gratitude for the harvest.
Mabon is kept at the autumn equinox, when day and night balance once more before the dark half of the year begins. It is a festival of thanksgiving for the earth's fruits, also called Harvest Home or the Feast of the Ingathering.
Where it meets Christian tradition. The name is modern. Aidan Kelly coined it around 1970 after Mabon ap Modron, a figure from Welsh mythology. The impulse behind it, giving thanks at harvest, has Christian counterparts in autumn harvest festivals and in secular thanksgivings.
Read about MabonCross-quarter · Start of winter
Samhain
October 31 to November 1
The descent. Down through the dark.
Samhain is an old Gaelic festival marking the end of summer and the start of winter. In the old belief, the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin at this time of year, which is where the language of the thinning veil comes from.
Where it meets Christian tradition. Halloween comes from All Hallows' Eve, the night before the Christian feast of All Saints on November 1, which begins Allhallowtide, with All Souls on November 2. Samhain is counted among the influences on modern Halloween, though how the two feasts are connected is debated.
Read about SamhainSolstice · Winter
Yule
About December 21 to 22
The longest night, and the light turning back.
Yule is a winter solstice festival that the Germanic peoples historically kept, and modern Pagans keep it at the solstice, the longest night of the Northern Hemisphere year. After it, the days begin to lengthen again.
Where it meets Christian tradition. In parts of northern Europe the word Yule came to mean Christmas, and some Christmas customs may trace back to the older midwinter feast. Today most people treat them as two separate holidays, December 21 for Yule and December 25 for Christmas, and many keep both.
Read about YuleDates here are the traditional or typical ones. The solstices and equinoxes shift by a day or so from year to year, and some people keep the cross-quarter festivals on the nearest full moon or weekend.
How I walk the wheel
Down through the dark. Back up as someone new.
Most versions of the wheel begin at Samhain, because many Pagan paths treat it as the end of the old year. I've laid this one out as a plain calendar year, January through December, because it's the simplest way to find your place.
For me, the year begins somewhere else. Lunar New Year and the spring equinox have always felt like beginnings, more than Samhain does. Both come with that first lift of new light.
What I teach is a descent, a transmutation and a return, and the wheel is one of the places I see it most clearly. The autumn leads down, with Mabon and Samhain. Yule is the deepest dark and the rest. Then the light turns back at Imbolc and Ostara, blooms at Beltane and Litha, and is gathered at Lammas. It's one way to read the year, and not the only way.
Each festival's page has a Reiki activation made for that season, and I update it each year.
Is the Wheel of the Year ancient?
The festivals themselves are old, but the eight-part wheel as a single system is modern. British Neopagans popularized it in the mid-twentieth century, when groups around Gerald Gardner's Wiccan coven and Ross Nichols' Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids combined the four solar days with four Gaelic cross-quarter days. The phrase "Wheel of the Year" was in use by the mid-1960s.
The older sources are Irish, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic, and they don't describe one unified cycle. Some of the names are newer still. Aidan Kelly named Litha, Ostara and Mabon in the 1970s, and others picked them up from there.
That doesn't make the wheel any less meaningful to the people who keep it. It simply means it's a living tradition that people are still shaping, and there is room in it for how you keep it.
If you live in the Southern Hemisphere
The traditional dates were set for the Northern Hemisphere, so the seasons run the other way below the equator. Many Southern Hemisphere Pagans shift the wheel by six months, keeping Yule at their own winter solstice in June and Samhain around the end of April and start of May, for example. Others keep the northern dates. Follow whichever is true to the land under your feet.
Where to go from here
If this turning of the year is calling you inward and then back toward the light, here is a doorway. Take it at your own pace.
The Ongoing Work
Walk the descent in the Temple
Temple of Mysteries is a living mystery school built on Inanna's descent. Inside, the seven gates are walked rather than read: the descent, the transmutation, and the return as a new version of you, with live circles and verbal Reiki activations along the way.
Enter the TempleNot sure where to start?
A short quiz that names the gate you're standing at right now.
Take the Gate QuizRead the story
The seven gates of Inanna's descent, and why I walk with her.
The Seven Gates of InannaCurious about the Reiki behind the activations? Read about the Usui Reiki lineage.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Wheel of the Year?
The Wheel of the Year is a cycle of eight seasonal festivals, called Sabbats, that many modern Pagan and Wiccan paths keep. Four fall on the solstices and equinoxes (Yule, Ostara, Litha and Mabon) and four fall roughly halfway between them (Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain).
What are the eight Sabbats and their dates?
In calendar order: Imbolc (February 1), Ostara (spring equinox, about March 20 to 21), Beltane (April 30 to May 1), Litha (summer solstice, about June 20 to 21), Lammas or Lughnasadh (August 1), Mabon (autumn equinox, about September 22 to 23), Samhain (October 31 to November 1) and Yule (winter solstice, about December 21 to 22).
What is the difference between Sabbats and Esbats?
Sabbats are the eight seasonal festivals of the Wheel of the Year. Esbats are gatherings or rituals kept at the moon, usually the full moon.
Is the Wheel of the Year ancient?
The individual festivals are old, but the eight-festival wheel as one system is modern. British Neopagans combined four solar festivals with four Gaelic cross-quarter festivals in the mid-twentieth century, and the phrase Wheel of the Year was in use by the mid-1960s.
How do the Sabbats relate to Christian holidays?
Several overlap in time or custom. Samhain sits beside All Saints and All Souls, Yule beside Christmas, Imbolc beside St. Brigid's Day and Candlemas, Ostara beside Easter, Beltane beside May Day, Litha beside St. John's Day and Lammas beside the Christian loaf mass. How each pair is historically connected is debated, and many people keep both.
Do I need to be Pagan to celebrate the Sabbats?
No. Many people mark the seasons in their own way, whatever their tradition. Nothing on this site asks you to change your beliefs.
What if I live in the Southern Hemisphere?
The seasons are reversed, so many Southern Hemisphere Pagans shift the wheel by six months, keeping Yule at their own winter solstice in June. Others keep the northern dates. Follow whichever fits the land where you live.
Every season is a doorway.
Step in wherever you are.
Guided by Carissa Andrews, Reiki Master and lineage holder.
Reiki is a practice of energetic support and is not a substitute for medical or psychological care. No specific outcomes are promised or guaranteed.