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The Wheels of
Time
by Julie Gillentine
"To everything
there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the Sun."
— Ecclesiastes 3:1
Telling Time
Before modern clocks
and electricity we could see the night sky, and the cyclical motions
of the sun, moon and stars were the way we "told time." In the middle
ages the Universe was seen as a static, clock-like mechanism, ticking
out ages and dispensations. But the ways of the "gods" are capricious.
The shifting of cogs in the great mill, which heralded the beginning
of a new age, was seen as fraught with peril.
The ancients probed
the night skies, searching for unexpected alterations within predictable
patterns. Occasionally the sky changed, the alarm was raised, and
disaster struck. Disaster and catastrophe meant literally disturbed
order in the sky, ill-fated crises in the stars, or "asters," from
the French for star. Power grew from predicting the influences of
the cycles.
Circles or
lines?
To the Mayas of
Central America time was seen as circular. Mayan cosmogony depicted
humankind as a walker around the wheel of existence, a pilgrim,
seeking home through continuous life experiences. Modern Western
thought conceives time in a more linear fashion, flowing in a continuous
line from the past into the future. But in point of fact, our measures
of time are increments or intervals which repeat, such as hour,
day, month and year.
The sun's apparent
rising and setting (Earth's rotation), became day, divided into
four corners: dawn, noon, dusk and midnight. The moon's major phases,
defined by the cyclical journey around the Earth, gave us the month
which is divided into eight lunar phases.
Earth's longer
movement around the sky (Earth's orbit), gives the illusion that
the Sun moves around us. The Sun's apparent passage through sky
gave us the year, delineating the annual journey of the mythical
Solar King. The year is quartered by thirteen-week seasons, marked
by equinoxes and solstices.
As ancients watched
the skies over millennia, larger divisions of time such as ages
developed. The passage of an age lasted more than two thousand years
and was replicated in Egypt in statues of bulls in the age of Taurus,
and rams in the age of Aries, gracing temples built during those
epochs.
Once we identify
the pattern or interval, we can predict when it will repeat. We
observe the cycles and name the intervals. The Hindus observed the
small interval of a breath or a heartbeat.
Circles, Quarters
and Eighths
The annual frame
of time can be viewed as a sphere where the seasons intersect the
circle of the year. Astronomically these points of intersection
are called colures. In the northern hemisphere as summer begins,
and the moment of summer solstice reigns supreme, the shifting yearly
pendulum "stands still" and moves once again toward darkness. Six
months later winter begins, announcing the return of light. The
cycle is a balanced dance of polarity, like the symbol of infinity,
mirroring above and below.
The four cardinal
points, or beginning of the seasons, in the northern hemisphere
are denoted in Astrology by: Aries, Spring Equinox; Cancer, Summer
Solstice; Libra, Autumn Equinox; and Capricorn, Winter Solstice.
The passage of
the seasons are like the phases of the Moon, ebbing and flowing
through periods of maximum light, equal light and darkness, and
complete darkness. This fluctuating rhythm seeks equilibrium. Visually,
from the vantage point of Earth, the Sun and Moon appear to be the
same size. This perspective causes one or the other to be "blacked
out" during the perfect alignment of a total solar or lunar eclipse.
Each season has
its special characteristics. Spring is characterized by emergence,
or resurrection of new life. Tentative at first, breaking through
newly thawed Earth, this new life is courageous and powerful. Summer
is a celebration of life in flower, beauty in radiant multiplicity.
Autumn is the harvest of life, the fruits of the cycle, and the
seed gathering for the next cycle. Winter is the quiescent period
of gestation.
The Julian calendar,
based on solar cycles, was named for Julius Caesar. This calendar
was the system of time measurement widely used between 46 BCE and
1582 CE. The year was divided into twelve alternating thirty and
thirty-one day months, with February having twenty-nine days. The
Julian year was eleven minutes and fourteen seconds longer than
the actual annual solar cycle, resulting in a discrepancy of ten
days by the year 1562. Pope Gregory XIII corrected the problem and
brought the so-called Gregorian calendar, which we still use, into
synchronization with the solar year.
Eight-fold
pattern
In Eastern traditions
the Moon is the more important celestial body since she courses
through the "lunar mansions" against the backdrop of stars. The
lunar mansions are divisions of the sky which house perils and promises,
depending on which stars are engaged in passing. Vedic Astrology
focuses on the opportunities presented to everyone by these monthly
passages.
Jewish, Islamic
and Hindu calendars are lunar, based on the cycles of the Moon rather
than the Sun. Many ancient cultures used multiple calendars, separating
the sacred from the mundane aspects of time and cycles. Easter,
which echoes Passover, is the only Christian holiday still based
on the lunar calendar. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday following
the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Celtic Fire Festivals
Earlier cultures
honored the seasons more consciously. We still have holidays which
mark the passage of the year. In the pre-Christian era the halfway
points between the equinoxes and solstices were known as "fire festivals."
Sometimes marked by a full moon, these festivals divided the year
into eight stages. The eight "phases" of the sun are reflected in
eight monthly lunar phases. The four fire festivals alternated with
the shifting balance of light and dark created by the equinoxes
and solstices.
At that time, the
year began around October 31st, on Halloween, or All Hallows Eve.
Spiritual traditions believe the veil between the seen and unseen
worlds is thinnest then, and rites and prayers for the dead, honoring
the continuity of life are common.
Samhain (pronounced
sow-en), October 31 st (Now Halloween)
Yule, Dec 21, Winter Solstice (now Christmas)
Imbolc, February 1 (now Ground Hog Day)
Ostara, March 21, Spring Equinox
Beltane, May 1 (now May Day)
Litha, June 21, Summer Solstice
Lughnassadh, Aug 1, Mid-summer
Mabon, Sep 21, Autumn Equinox
Kindling of Tein
Eigin, "forced fire," was carried into every house and was sustained
as the hearth fire throughout the year. These cycles marked the
yearly passage of the Sun King as he traversed the sky.
As the cyclical
march of the seasons, and the annual fluctuation between light and
dark, continues, we still celebrate the annual rites of passage
with other names. Our attempt to Christianize the calendar doesn't
alter the seasonal cycles.
Father Christmas,
Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas is a mythical representation of the
end of the yearly cycle. The Baby New Year is the birth, or rebirth,
of the Solar King at the Winter Solstice which signals the return
of the light. Mithras, who developed from the much older Indian
deity Mithra, was born on Dec 25. Placing the symbolic birth of
Christ on this day overlays a Christian holiday on an ancient myth,
claiming the inherent power of the cycle, and retaining the potency
of ancient belief.
We celebrate January
first, rather than winter solstice, as the beginning of the year.
January is named for Janus, the two-headed Roman god who looked
both forward and backward simultaneously. Ground Hog day replaced
Candlemas, the midway point between winter solstice and spring equinox.
If the Ground Hog sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of
winter. If not, spring is said to be imminent.
May Day masquerades
as the earlier Beltane rites of spring, between spring equinox and
summer solstice. No modern festival honors the onset of Summer;
perhaps we are reluctant to acknowledge the annual turn toward darkness.
Instead, in America, we have a festival of lights on July fourth
to celebrate the nation's birth. We memorialize our war dead at
the end of May.
Midsummer, which
is Lughnassadh, is the halfway point between planting and harvest.
All Hallows Eve touches the unseen world of ghosts and goblins.
Thanksgiving honors the harvest. Christmas and Hanukkah celebrate
the return of light.
What goes around
comes around
Many have said that
we live in perilous times which have been noted by prophetic traditions
for centuries, perhaps millennia. Many have viewed this as portending
the end of the world as we know it. The Mayas saw this as the close
of one cycle, a single cog in a vast wheel of interlocking cycles.
In our modern world
mechanical clocks and printed calendars have replaced the sky as
the way we track time and navigate our way through the cycles of
our lives. We have artificial light and "twenty-four/seven" convenience
stores and telemarketing. We no longer move in harmony with natural
cycles. Our lack of balance with the Earth and sky has brought us
to a dangerous place.
An ancient maxim
states, "Equilibration is the secret of the Great Work." Perhaps
by taking a larger view and accepting responsibility for some of
our far-reaching behavior, we can make a difference.
Since the great
cycle of the ages is also a repeating pattern, perhaps we can learn
about our present and future from a better understanding of the
past. As Winston Churchill said, "Those who do not learn the lessons
of history are doomed to repeat them." Our lesson may be learning
to walk in balance and harmony with the ebbing and flowing cycles.
The Wheels of
Time
by Julie Gillentine
"To everything
there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the Sun."
— Ecclesiastes 3:1
Telling Time
Before modern clocks
and electricity we could see the night sky, and the cyclical motions
of the sun, moon and stars were the way we "told time." In the middle
ages the Universe was seen as a static, clock-like mechanism, ticking
out ages and dispensations. But the ways of the "gods" are capricious.
The shifting of cogs in the great mill, which heralded the beginning
of a new age, was seen as fraught with peril.
The ancients probed
the night skies, searching for unexpected alterations within predictable
patterns. Occasionally the sky changed, the alarm was raised, and
disaster struck. Disaster and catastrophe meant literally disturbed
order in the sky, ill-fated crises in the stars, or "asters," from
the French for star. Power grew from predicting the influences of
the cycles.
Circles or
lines?
To the Mayas of
Central America time was seen as circular. Mayan cosmogony depicted
humankind as a walker around the wheel of existence, a pilgrim,
seeking home through continuous life experiences. Modern Western
thought conceives time in a more linear fashion, flowing in a continuous
line from the past into the future. But in point of fact, our measures
of time are increments or intervals which repeat, such as hour,
day, month and year.
The sun's apparent
rising and setting (Earth's rotation), became day, divided into
four corners: dawn, noon, dusk and midnight. The moon's major phases,
defined by the cyclical journey around the Earth, gave us the month
which is divided into eight lunar phases.
Earth's longer
movement around the sky (Earth's orbit), gives the illusion that
the Sun moves around us. The Sun's apparent passage through sky
gave us the year, delineating the annual journey of the mythical
Solar King. The year is quartered by thirteen-week seasons, marked
by equinoxes and solstices.
As ancients watched
the skies over millennia, larger divisions of time such as ages
developed. The passage of an age lasted more than two thousand years
and was replicated in Egypt in statues of bulls in the age of Taurus,
and rams in the age of Aries, gracing temples built during those
epochs.
Once we identify
the pattern or interval, we can predict when it will repeat. We
observe the cycles and name the intervals. The Hindus observed the
small interval of a breath or a heartbeat.
Circles, Quarters
and Eighths
The annual frame
of time can be viewed as a sphere where the seasons intersect the
circle of the year. Astronomically these points of intersection
are called colures. In the northern hemisphere as summer begins,
and the moment of summer solstice reigns supreme, the shifting yearly
pendulum "stands still" and moves once again toward darkness. Six
months later winter begins, announcing the return of light. The
cycle is a balanced dance of polarity, like the symbol of infinity,
mirroring above and below.
The four cardinal
points, or beginning of the seasons, in the northern hemisphere
are denoted in Astrology by: Aries, Spring Equinox; Cancer, Summer
Solstice; Libra, Autumn Equinox; and Capricorn, Winter Solstice.
The passage of
the seasons are like the phases of the Moon, ebbing and flowing
through periods of maximum light, equal light and darkness, and
complete darkness. This fluctuating rhythm seeks equilibrium. Visually,
from the vantage point of Earth, the Sun and Moon appear to be the
same size. This perspective causes one or the other to be "blacked
out" during the perfect alignment of a total solar or lunar eclipse.
Each season has
its special characteristics. Spring is characterized by emergence,
or resurrection of new life. Tentative at first, breaking through
newly thawed Earth, this new life is courageous and powerful. Summer
is a celebration of life in flower, beauty in radiant multiplicity.
Autumn is the harvest of life, the fruits of the cycle, and the
seed gathering for the next cycle. Winter is the quiescent period
of gestation.
The Julian calendar,
based on solar cycles, was named for Julius Caesar. This calendar
was the system of time measurement widely used between 46 BCE and
1582 CE. The year was divided into twelve alternating thirty and
thirty-one day months, with February having twenty-nine days. The
Julian year was eleven minutes and fourteen seconds longer than
the actual annual solar cycle, resulting in a discrepancy of ten
days by the year 1562. Pope Gregory XIII corrected the problem and
brought the so-called Gregorian calendar, which we still use, into
synchronization with the solar year.
Eight-fold
pattern
In Eastern traditions
the Moon is the more important celestial body since she courses
through the "lunar mansions" against the backdrop of stars. The
lunar mansions are divisions of the sky which house perils and promises,
depending on which stars are engaged in passing. Vedic Astrology
focuses on the opportunities presented to everyone by these monthly
passages.
Jewish, Islamic
and Hindu calendars are lunar, based on the cycles of the Moon rather
than the Sun. Many ancient cultures used multiple calendars, separating
the sacred from the mundane aspects of time and cycles. Easter,
which echoes Passover, is the only Christian holiday still based
on the lunar calendar. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday following
the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Celtic Fire Festivals
Earlier cultures
honored the seasons more consciously. We still have holidays which
mark the passage of the year. In the pre-Christian era the halfway
points between the equinoxes and solstices were known as "fire festivals."
Sometimes marked by a full moon, these festivals divided the year
into eight stages. The eight "phases" of the sun are reflected in
eight monthly lunar phases. The four fire festivals alternated with
the shifting balance of light and dark created by the equinoxes
and solstices.
At that time, the
year began around October 31st, on Halloween, or All Hallows Eve.
Spiritual traditions believe the veil between the seen and unseen
worlds is thinnest then, and rites and prayers for the dead, honoring
the continuity of life are common.
Samhain (pronounced
sow-en), October 31 st (Now Halloween)
Yule, Dec 21, Winter Solstice (now Christmas)
Imbolc, February 1 (now Ground Hog Day)
Ostara, March 21, Spring Equinox
Beltane, May 1 (now May Day)
Litha, June 21, Summer Solstice
Lughnassadh, Aug 1, Mid-summer
Mabon, Sep 21, Autumn Equinox
Kindling of Tein
Eigin, "forced fire," was carried into every house and was sustained
as the hearth fire throughout the year. These cycles marked the
yearly passage of the Sun King as he traversed the sky.
As the cyclical
march of the seasons, and the annual fluctuation between light and
dark, continues, we still celebrate the annual rites of passage
with other names. Our attempt to Christianize the calendar doesn't
alter the seasonal cycles.
Father Christmas,
Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas is a mythical representation of the
end of the yearly cycle. The Baby New Year is the birth, or rebirth,
of the Solar King at the Winter Solstice which signals the return
of the light. Mithras, who developed from the much older Indian
deity Mithra, was born on Dec 25. Placing the symbolic birth of
Christ on this day overlays a Christian holiday on an ancient myth,
claiming the inherent power of the cycle, and retaining the potency
of ancient belief.
We celebrate January
first, rather than winter solstice, as the beginning of the year.
January is named for Janus, the two-headed Roman god who looked
both forward and backward simultaneously. Ground Hog day replaced
Candlemas, the midway point between winter solstice and spring equinox.
If the Ground Hog sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of
winter. If not, spring is said to be imminent.
May Day masquerades
as the earlier Beltane rites of spring, between spring equinox and
summer solstice. No modern festival honors the onset of Summer;
perhaps we are reluctant to acknowledge the annual turn toward darkness.
Instead, in America, we have a festival of lights on July fourth
to celebrate the nation's birth. We memorialize our war dead at
the end of May.
Midsummer, which
is Lughnassadh, is the halfway point between planting and harvest.
All Hallows Eve touches the unseen world of ghosts and goblins.
Thanksgiving honors the harvest. Christmas and Hanukkah celebrate
the return of light.
What goes around
comes around
Many have said that
we live in perilous times which have been noted by prophetic traditions
for centuries, perhaps millennia. Many have viewed this as portending
the end of the world as we know it. The Mayas saw this as the close
of one cycle, a single cog in a vast wheel of interlocking cycles.
In our modern world
mechanical clocks and printed calendars have replaced the sky as
the way we track time and navigate our way through the cycles of
our lives. We have artificial light and "twenty-four/seven" convenience
stores and telemarketing. We no longer move in harmony with natural
cycles. Our lack of balance with the Earth and sky has brought us
to a dangerous place.
An ancient maxim
states, "Equilibration is the secret of the Great Work." Perhaps
by taking a larger view and accepting responsibility for some of
our far-reaching behavior, we can make a difference.
Since the great
cycle of the ages is also a repeating pattern, perhaps we can learn
about our present and future from a better understanding of the
past. As Winston Churchill said, "Those who do not learn the lessons
of history are doomed to repeat them." Our lesson may be learning
to walk in balance and harmony with the ebbing and flowing cycles.
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