Wheel of the Year, 2016-2019, watercolor painted by Angie Yingst

I created this for your altar, vision board, inspiration book or just for your work as a 8.5” x 11” size to frame.

Print is 8.5” x 11” on Premium Matte paper with a thickness of .19 or 90lb stock

I created this painting specifically for my Mentoring Students to have a visual of the Wheel of the Year. The Celtic Wheel of the Year, now used for Wiccan, Pagan and other earth-based spiritual traditions, marks time through seasonal changes. The Celtic Wheel bases its sabbats on the Agrarian Calendar—the calendar used by farmers about when to seed, plant, fertilize, harvest and prepare the soil again. When we were farmers for our own food, raising our own livestock, or working outside, we were integrally tied to the Earth. Humans had to observe the Wheel turning, and in this way, humans had to honor the cycle of plants and the Earth herself.

Understanding the land, the seasonal changes, and the work to be done in each of those seasons makes sense for those who live and die by harvests. Agrarian cultures based their religions on gods and goddesses that controlled weather, the soil, the harvest and natural phenomenon. The Agrarian calendar puts us in conversation with the Earth and the cycles of plants and animals around us. While we often do not focus on agricultural cycles anymore (though we should all have a little victory garden to feed our people and connect us with the earth in a tangible way), the Wheel of the Year reflects our inner growth patterns and spiritual work. We can maximize our own work by using these natural cycles to enhance our spiritual and emotional work.

I have tapped into the knowledge of the Earth and Moon Cycles to work with the energies of the South. While these holy days were based on the Celtic festivals, there are many cultures celebrating similar holy days based on the agrarian needs and experiences of their land. For example, the holydays in October seems to mirror Samhain’s celebration and honoring of the end of the harvest, death and connection to the ancestors—Dia de los Muertos, All Soul’s Day, Halloween…and even other ancestor festivals like Bon Festival in Japan and Hungry Ghost Festival in China, which come in August, can be seen as a natural honoring of the end of harvest, where the dead are fed.

The Wheel of the year honors a time when life centered around the seasons, crop cycles, and home cycles. There are eight points on the Celtic Wheel of the Year, which mark eight festivals, fires or celebrations, or sabbats. The year is split into eight parts—four quarter days (solstices and equinoxes), and four cross-quarter days (mid points between the solstices and equinoxes). Most of the celebrations are goddess-centered and honor the Divine Feminine, though some work with the gods and goddesses together. The cycle of the year honors the human experience through the stories of the gods and goddesses and the harvest. Most festivals involve bonfires and honoring the wild and fiery parts of us with dancing, singing, connecting with our animal natures. The eight festivals are: Yule, often called Mid-Winter (Winter Solstice, December 20-22); Imbolc (February 2); Ostara or Vernal Equinox (March 20-22); Beltane or May Day (May 1st); Litha called Mid-Summer (Summer Solstice, June 20-22); Lammas or Lughnasdh (August 1st); Mabon or Autumn Equinox (September 20-22); and Samhain or Witches’ New Year(October 31st-November 1st).