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Author Topic: Season-tides  (Read 7494 times)

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Season-tides
« on: October 09, 2018, 11:34:04 am »
Wasn't sure what to call this, but Season-tides seemed to me to fit - this is inspired by Morag's suggestion of 29 September in this thread:

https://ecauldron.com/forum/holidays-and-festivals/when-you're-solitary-how-to-you-schedule-observancescelebrations/

If the idea of season-tides is either something you're already doing, or something that appeals to you, when would you see each of the seasons falling in your year?
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2018, 10:35:26 pm »
Wasn't sure what to call this, but Season-tides seemed to me to fit - this is inspired by Morag's suggestion of 29 September in this thread:

https://ecauldron.com/forum/holidays-and-festivals/when-you're-solitary-how-to-you-schedule-observancescelebrations/

If the idea of season-tides is either something you're already doing, or something that appeals to you, when would you see each of the seasons falling in your year?

So, that thread was a lovely read, and this is a marvelous idea, and I'd like to thank Morag for sharing that with us! 

I have a few sabbats I celebrate very easily and on the day, the number one being my birthday... errr, Winter Solstice ;) I mean, candles, a new year beginning, light coming back from days growing longer. 

Samhain gets easily celebrated as well, although my primary self-discovered deity has a very touchy relationship with the holiday, so there ends up being a lot of refreshing warding, hunkering down, taking inventory of loved ones to make sure everyone is doing well... it's a very cautionary day.  I'm not fond of being out late, and this year will be interesting, as it falls on a trivia night, so I... will be out late.  Nrrgh.

Others are harder to pin down, particularly Lammas, and I can think of plenty of good things that fall around all the major sabbats which I could easily use as part of the season-tides for celebrating...

It's late, and I'm tired, so I apologize this isn't super eloquent.  I mostly just wanted to comment "I love this and will be thinking about it!"
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PerditaPickle

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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2018, 07:11:36 pm »
I'd like to thank Morag for sharing that with us!

Yes indeed.

Samhain gets easily celebrated as well, although my primary self-discovered deity has a very touchy relationship with the holiday, so there ends up being a lot of refreshing warding, hunkering down, taking inventory of loved ones to make sure everyone is doing well... it's a very cautionary day.

That's interesting to hear - I'd be fascinated to hear a bit more, but obviously only if you're comfortable sharing.

As for me, see below:

Yuletide is the one that springs to mind easiest, and this would be the month of December, up to about the 26th.  I do celebrate Christmas, but I'm trying to incorporate more and more of my Paganism each year.

And then there's Halloween-tide, which is the month of October.  I've a childlike love of Halloween, I can't help myself.

I can justify the above (though it arguably overshadows Samhaim), because...

I have my season of remembrance, which is approximately the first half of the month of November.

Beltainetide would be the month of May, I think.

And the rest require a little more thinking about, at the moment.
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2018, 06:12:30 am »

This whole season-tide thing really seems to fit how I've always viewed the seasons. I think of Fall as the season for honoring the dead, because that's when All Saints Day traditionally falls, and because it's the time of year when nature goes into slumber. I generally think of it as ranging from around mid-September until late November. I guess I would call it Autumn-tide or something like that. 

Once the first snow falls, it's time to move on to Yule-tide. I think of the winter as a time for gratitude, thanks, and remembrance. A season for happiness and nostalgia, for family and friends, and for happy old memories.

For me, this sort of "Long Christmas" lasts from the first snowfall, usually in mid or late November, until early January. If there's no snow, I generally make the mental switch around the date of American Thanksgiving. I usually cut it off way before winter actually ends, around the time when people normally go back to school after winter break, a couple of weeks into January. It's hard to focus on family when everyone's busy with work and school (I'm in college, working on my graduate degree, my brother's a minor, my mother teaches).

For me spring is the season of rebirth, and more importantly, of healing. Spring is when I try to set my life straight and fix my long term problems. It's when I'm most health conscious, and when I try to plan my long term goals and think about the future. I generally start spring when the first flowers bloom, which does mean there's a certain time of year, some years, between Yule-tide and Spring-tide when I'm not really in any particular spiritual mindset. It's actually usually a pretty weird and unsettling time;l everyone's busy, nobody has time for family, nature is cold and dead, (we tend to get bad winter storms in late January and early Feb), and I often catch illness. I wouldn't put this time of year into a season. It's a liminal time for me.

Summer for me is a mixed season, and I don't know what name I would give the season-tides I experience there. There are two of them, generally splitting summer down the middle. The first one is a good time, when I try to make new friends, do new things, and get out into the world. The second one is a rather somber time for me, when the heat and mosquitoes start to get stale, when I get cabin fever and restlessness (I'm typically out of money by the start of July), and when I begin to think about the coming Fall with both dread and longing.




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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2019, 08:30:30 am »


So I wanted to revive this old thread of mine with some further thoughts.

In 2020 I think I shall celebrate as follows:-

~ Imbolc-tide the first half of February.  I've yet to decide what form the celebration will take, besides hanging the decoration which I made this year.

~ Spring-tide the last half of March.  Again, I've yet to decide exactly what form the celebration will take, though it's likely involve potting some houseplants at some stage.

Beltane-tide will probably be just the first half of May, as more realistic than the entire of the month.  Celebration would ideally involve a bonfire, obviously, but if logistical issues preclude this (once again) this year then I hope to source a suitable candle as a symbolic stand-in.

Midsummer I tend to celebrate fairly reliably on or very near the solstice, but I could have the option to extend the celebration through the end of June.

Lammas/Lughnasadh I've yet to connect with in a significant way - to date I've tended to harvest some blackberries when they become ready and that's about it. Suggestions?  I'd be interested to hear them.

Mabon-tide I already celebrate with some autumn themed decoration which I put up around the equinox and they stay out through October.

Halloween-tide, my season of remembrance and Yuletide remain the same as my last post, with the small exception that I've been wearing my poppy since the beginning of this month as I found myself such a nice enamel one.

Thoughts, anyone?
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2019, 06:06:28 pm »
Halloween-tide, my season of remembrance and Yuletide remain the same as my last post.

Hanging this here … just because.

I came across this blog post, and wondered whether others have come across this blog from Peter Gainsford before?

http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/12/concerning-yule.html

Full disclosure, I've not done the legwork (as the blogger himself says in the comments, "To be confident in the claims an article makes, you simply have to be prepared to follow up the sources and query whether they're actually good sources.") but to outward appearances at least this appears well-referenced and read as though a possibly good source.

Be interested to hear what others think.
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2019, 06:44:23 pm »
I came across this blog post, and wondered whether others have come across this blog from Peter Gainsford before?

http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/12/concerning-yule.html

Full disclosure, I've not done the legwork (as the blogger himself says in the comments, "To be confident in the claims an article makes, you simply have to be prepared to follow up the sources and query whether they're actually good sources.") but to outward appearances at least this appears well-referenced and read as though a possibly good source.

Be interested to hear what others think.

That's fascinating, and definitely has the earmarks of sound scholarship, though it's outside of his specialist field - he's a Hellenist in the sense of 'academic classicist specializing in Classical Greece', not in the sense of 'reconstructing and practicing ancient Greek religion'.

The blog as a whole looks like my cup of tea; thank you for linking it!

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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2019, 04:06:39 am »
The blog as a whole looks like my cup of tea; thank you for linking it!

Sunflower

You're most welcome, I'm glad it sounds interesting.

Perdita  :)
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2020, 09:28:53 am »
So I wanted to revive this old thread of mine with some further thoughts.

In 2020 I think I shall celebrate as follows:-

~ Imbolc-tide the first half of February.  I've yet to decide what form the celebration will take, besides hanging the decoration which I made this year.

~ Spring-tide the last half of March.  Again, I've yet to decide exactly what form the celebration will take, though it's likely involve potting some houseplants at some stage.

Beltane-tide will probably be just the first half of May, as more realistic than the entire of the month.  Celebration would ideally involve a bonfire, obviously, but if logistical issues preclude this (once again) this year then I hope to source a suitable candle as a symbolic stand-in.

Midsummer I tend to celebrate fairly reliably on or very near the solstice, but I could have the option to extend the celebration through the end of June.

Lammas/Lughnasadh I've yet to connect with in a significant way - to date I've tended to harvest some blackberries when they become ready and that's about it. Suggestions?  I'd be interested to hear them.

Mabon-tide I already celebrate with some autumn themed decoration which I put up around the equinox and they stay out through October.

Halloween-tide, my season of remembrance and Yuletide remain the same as my last post, with the small exception that I've been wearing my poppy since the beginning of this month as I found myself such a nice enamel one.

Thoughts, anyone?
It's funny how I was thinking of how I've fallen behind on my personal season-tides, and found this thread!

Looking at your calendar of tides, it seems similar to mine, in that the -tide is named after the starting holiday, as I've explained in this post.:
  • Mabon-Tide: Autumn Equinox to October 30/31.
  • Samhain-tide (or Halloween-Tide): October 30/31 to Yule/Winter Solstice (around December 21)
  • Yule-Tide (Christmas-Tide): December 21 to February 2
  • Imbolc-Tide: Feb 2 to Spring Equinox
My current issues are twofold. The first is that I have NO idea what to do for the in between time of Imbolc-tide and Mabon-Tide. There are several key dates that are important - such as Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Autumn Solstice - but each of those have characteristics that I'm trying to separate from my personal life. For example, while the Spring Equinox should be a day of celebrating the return of Persephone to this world, it usually is at the same time as when the kiddos get read for State tests... and that's not a good association. The summer solstice, on the other hand, is always around the end of the school year (THANK THE GODS), so for that I try to celebrate as much as possible (which I usually do with drinking and partying on the last day of the school year).

The second issue I'm having is I'd like to incorporate the festivals of Ancient Greece into my practice as well, however, I'm finding that with their lunar calendar, it's really effin hard to combine with my solar calendar. One issue is that their calendar begins after a new moon -- if I recall correctly -- and goes until the next new moon, and the new year begins... well, I forget. That said though, there's also the issue of when certain Hellenic months occur and to be honest: I ain't got time for that. (Though I will say, it'll probably be a project for me this upcoming summer to do).

I should note as well, that the other holidays usually present in the Year of the Wheel - meaning, Beltane, Midsummer, Lammas/Lughnasadh - I don't really celebrate given my practice has more Hellenistic customs in it. At the same time though, the other half of the year has those holidays, mostly because I honestly don't know what to call them, and those names have just stuck with me since I've started researching paganism, Wicca, witchcraft, etc.

For your calendar Perdita, I wonder if:
  • For Beltane why the necessity for a bonfire? Wouldn't a celebration be more than enough?
  • for Lammas, you keep doign that tradition of harvesting the black berries and have an offering for your Deities? Are there other plants that you can harvest at that time of year and have a celebration or feast?
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2020, 11:29:27 am »
So I wanted to revive this old thread of mine with some further thoughts.


Got to say, as a disclaimer, I don't go big on season celebrations.
That said the season tide idea works with me as I usually 'feel' the season changes and they can sometimes vary wildly from convention.
I'd have to say I visualise it more like a colour wheel ( quick tag to online image - https://image.shutterstock.com/image-vector/twelve-part-ryb-red-yellow-260nw-717505357.jpg ) in that one fades into the other rather than there being hard borders.

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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2020, 11:40:33 am »
So I wanted to revive this old thread of mine with some further thoughts.

Thoughts, anyone?

You could always do something that ties each season together -
Top of head here... Prepare a pot and soil in Yule
Dedicate or sow seeds in Imbolc with a choice so that the flowers would be relevant and flower to match the spring and summer seasons
Collect seed heads in the first harvest season ( Lammas ) then dry ready for use in the second ( Mabon )
Clear and rededicate at Samhain

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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2020, 03:34:48 pm »
You could always do something that ties each season together -
Top of head here... Prepare a pot and soil in Yule
Dedicate or sow seeds in Imbolc with a choice so that the flowers would be relevant and flower to match the spring and summer seasons
Collect seed heads in the first harvest season ( Lammas ) then dry ready for use in the second ( Mabon )
Clear and rededicate at Samhain

I've seen several versions of this idea, where you have activities from one Sabbat (or season, or full moon or whatever you are celebrating) and it ties into the next.  I did one year with a Sabbat blessing tree (think wire wrap tree), and as the year progressed, things were added and taken off of the tree (to mimic the seasons outside).  I've seen other ones where you might set a goal, bless some seeds, plant, nourish the plant (over the course of several celebrations).

I think you could really run with this concept.  If you think about what each part of the year you are celebrating means or represents to you, come up with a symbolic action that works with that, and then tie all the actions together.  I want to do this with a collage/vision board kind of thing, where you start with the blank slate at the start of the year, and each time you add to your board (or change it in some way), so at the end of the year you have an art representation of that year and what you were working on.
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2020, 02:48:00 am »
Samhain-tide (or Halloween-Tide)

For this, at least, there is an existing term: Allhallowtide. Since Halloween derives from All Hallows Eve(ning). Though in Catholic tradition, it refers to just the three days of Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls Day.

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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #13 on: February 11, 2020, 05:01:14 am »
I did one year with a Sabbat blessing tree (think wire wrap tree), and as the year progressed, things were added and taken off of the tree (to mimic the seasons outside).

I've read about this somewhere, did you blog about this?
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Re: Season-tides
« Reply #14 on: February 11, 2020, 11:48:14 am »
I've read about this somewhere, did you blog about this?

I've mentioned it a couple of times in blogs...I really do need to make a dedicated post to it though!
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