The Wheel and the Tree

The Wheel and the Tree
Draft Stage
Co-Created by Bill Stewart and John Smulo
Illustrated by Steven Hallam

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Pagans observe eight religious festivals called "sabbats" during the year as part of the cyclical Wheel of the Year. A sabbat is one of the eight major annual holidays or seasonal festivals. Parallel to each of the eight sabbats is a story or myth that begins with the first sabbat and progresses until the eighth sabbat. At the beginning of each year the sabbats and myth repeat in a cycle.

It’s important to understand what is meant by the story of the Wheel of the Year. Witch Starhawk explains,

"Myth is the telling of the collective story about what really happens in the spiritual counterpart of the physical world."

In other words myth points to a greater reality in the spiritual world.

The Wheel of the Year myth is cyclical. It begins and ends yearly. Thus there is never a completion or fulfillment of the myth.

What we would like you to consider that the Wheel of the Year myth or strory contains symbols that find their reality and fulfillment historically.

Let me explain by exploring the sabbats or festivals in the Wheel of the Year and explaining the symbols.

Samhain

During the first sabbat or festival, Samhain, the Pagan story tells of the Goddess being impregnated in the union of the earth Goddess and the sky God. The sacred writings also speak of a union, the union of the divine and the human. As we follow the wheel we will look at the intersection of these stories and ask if the sacred writings can point us to the fulfillment of the Pagan story of the wheel, and how this might transform our lives.

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