A nice addition to the many books about the wheel of the year. I like the focus on nature and inclusivity for people who don't practice as a religion. I also enjoyed the history that was given throughout and not just in the introduction.

Many wiccan books try to claim witchcraft is an ancient religion however Rebecca Beattie takes a more no no sense approach based on factual evidence available to us and as a reader I appreciate this approach.
The wheel of the year follows the wiccan sabbats and how the changing seasons are celebrated by different cultures world. The author includes her own anecdotes about the sabats and suggestions of ways of celebrating such as spells and rituals.
Although there are a number of books on the wheel of the year I enjoyed the authors writing style so will be purchasing this one

The Wheel of the Year is the term used by many pagans to describe the eight sabbats or holidays that herald the changing of the seasons, but as Beattie points out in this new book, you don't have to be pagan to find meaning in the Wheel, just a love for nature and a desire to have your life line up more closely to the seasonal changes around us. She devotes a section to each of the sabbats, beginning at Midwinter/Yule, and for each she shares information about the festivals, traditions, myths, and spiritual practices as well as ideas for crafts, rituals, and other ways to engage with nature.

This book differs from other books about the Wheel that I've read in two key ways. First, it unpacks some of the modern myths surrounding the Wheel and offers a much more inclusive approach to the practices, especially in moving beyond the gender binary so often found in pagan rituals that call on the God and the Goddess. Second, it offers a much more approachable look at the ways to celebrate the changes of the seasons for folks who are not familiar with (or comfortable with) pagan or especially Wiccan ritual. The emphasis here is on connecting with and nurturing both nature and our inner selves, and aside from a few recipes, the book is not loaded with practices using typical witchy tools like crystals, wands, herbs, candles, and more. Yes, there's a glimpse of that aspect of witchcraft, but the general vibe of the book is less witchy and more nature lover, which may be appealing to a broader audience.

While Beattie draws on her own UK setting to describe the change in seasons, she also acknowledges the differences of climate and latitude among possible readers -- another way of making the book more inclusive. Simple and straightforward, this book is a lovely introduction for those who want to follow the year's rhythm in outward attention and inward reflection. 4 stars,

Thank you, Elliot & Thompson and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Very Good Information

The author, Rebecca Beattie, states that while living in London and on tour, she discovered her passion for her craft during one particular tour while performing in Macbeth, her favorite of Shakespeare’s plays. She states that while on this tour they were staying in farmhouses, surrounded by nature at every turn and was getting up with the sunrise, walking in the rural landscape and spending contemplative time in solitude surrounded by trees and fields, and she had time to breathe the air and inspiration flowed in. She states this was what had been lacking in my life, that in all the urban streets she walked down to auditions, in all the dusty rehearsal rooms, and the admin jobs she took to pay the rent, she had been missing her connection to nature and, more importantly, she had been looking in the wrong place for fulfilment – that she had been seeking outside myself. Thus, she realized that her journey to self-discovery had begun, and this path led to her training in Wicca.

The author states that it was on this path that she learned all about the Wheel of the Year, a concept that helped her to understand her place in the world, to deepen that connection to nature she had felt when touring the countryside and to appreciate fully the wonders of its cycle, no matter the season – or location. There are various ways of carving up the year into smaller, more manageable time periods, and our Graeco-Roman months of the year are one way, but other faiths also have their own methods of measuring time. For pagans, since the 1940s or 1950s, the year has been defined and delineated by the Wheel of the Year.

She discusses that Nichols’ druids began celebrating quarter days: the solstices and equinoxes, which mark the beginning of each quarter of the year while the Gardner’s witches were celebrating the Celtic equivalents, which had become known as cross-quarter days as they fell in between the English ones, and in the late 1950s the two practices merged, and the Wheel of the Year was born. Since that time, modern pagans have organized their practices around it, with the following sabbats:
1. Yule or Midwinter – 21 December Imbolc – 1 February
2. Spring equinox – 21 March
3. Beltane or May Eve – 30 April Midsummer – 21 June
4. Lammas – 1 August
5. Autumn equinox – 21 September
6. Samhain or November Eve – 31 October

(The exact dates can vary due to Earth taking slightly more than 365 days to travel around the sun, hence the need for leap years.)

Throughout this book, and in each of the sabbats, the author provides short rituals to help give one a moment to pause, to connect to nature and reflect on our inner thoughts, and she states that the rituals will help all of us to mark transition points and to give them meaning. She further states that we should try to let ourselves go a little, allowing for spontaneity: that is where we will encounter the divine – and find a little magic.

I found the following recipe quite unique: Recipe for Solar Healing Oil:
• A teaspoon of frankincense pearls
• A cup of ‘carrier’ oil – if we want to be properly solar, then olive or sunflower oil would be appropriate, but any plain oil will do just as well
• Six drops of orange essential oil
• Six drops of neroli essential oil
• An empty bottle or clean glass jar to keep it in – do use recycled if you can.

The author states that for her Samhain provides a space to focus on a wider sense of ancestral connection, because whenever life calls us to rebuild ourselves from the foundations up, our ancestors can be crucial in that process. Additionally, Rebecca points out that sometimes, for whatever reason, we cannot look to our biological ancestors. If this is the case, one can turn our ‘logical family’, can be an termed an ‘ancestor’ because they may be someone who have walked path before us in numerous different ways.

Rebecca Beattie discusses each of the sabbats in detail, providing techniques and rituals to awaken our inner child. This is a very good book that I highly recommend for anyone starting their spiritual journey.

ARC NETGALLEY REVIEW IN APP

A refreshing personal book, before the author gets started she take time to let you get to know her, her experience and values that lead to her writing this book. I value that so much when it comes to these types of books. She didn’t miss a mark, I enjoyed every page of this book, and plan to reference this book through tout the year.

What holidays do you celebrate? Considering that most religious holidays are really Pagan holidays, I find it interesting that more people don’t celebrate the wheel of the year…though they do, but maybe not by this name.

Get back to your roots and start focusing on the ways our ancestors celebrated this same holidays throughout the year. I’ve been doing this for a very long time and always love to read about other traditions and how they tie into these eight marked holidays.

This is an excellent discussion on the cycle of the year and how to live within it while celebrating each season as they come. The writing is clear and easy to follow and doesn't feel too flowery or overdone. This is one of those books that is comforting and fun to read.

Very recently I've become more interested in marking progress through the year with traditonal celebrations, rather than commercial ones, and this book is an excellent introduction to the wheel of the year, taking us in 6 week chunks through the seasons. You don't have to be pagan or interested in witchcraft in any way to find useful and interesting ideas in this book.

I found it fascinating to learn that the wheel was brought together in the middle of the last century, but draws on many ancient festivals which are celebrated around the world. This is a great resource to get you out of the house, connecting with nature and bringing the essence of that back home with you.