sky & cycles · 5 minute lesson
Turn the Wheel of the Year
Read the eight seasonal markers and connect them with what is happening outdoors.
Try the tool →Three small steps
Find the current season
Read the highlighted seasonal marker and the next date. This wheel follows a Northern Hemisphere calendar.
Compare the two kinds of date
Equinoxes and solstices are calculated astronomical events. The four other festival markers use the conventional calendar dates shown here.
Make a local observation
Choose a theme and compare it with the weather, plants, or daylight around you. Seasons differ by region; adapt your reflection rather than forcing the landscape to fit the wheel.
Words to recognize
- Equinox
- A seasonal marker when the Sun crosses the celestial equator.
- Solstice
- One of the Sun’s two annual extremes of declination.
- Cross-quarter festival
- A festival placed between the major solar markers; its customary date need not be the exact midpoint.
try what you learned
Are all eight dates calculated from the Sun in the same way?
Take it into practice
- Which sign of seasonal change is visible near you?
- How might this theme differ in the other hemisphere?
Art, sources & approach
This is a modern eight-festival Pagan wheel, with Northern Hemisphere dates. Solar events use Astronomy Engine; the remaining markers use the site’s stated conventional dates. Illustrations are symbolic seasonal maps.
Lesson diagrams and interface illustrations: Brews and Bloom. Diagrams simplify the idea being taught; they are not historical artifacts.
Updated