(I am pronouncing Wuruma as WUH-ruh-muh.)
The Wuruma Wheel applies to the seasons occurring on the NSW Central Coast.
It is not the same as the Southern Wheel. (For Southern Wheel click label at end of article.)
I have no idea what the Wuruma Wheel is called in the local Aboriginal language or languages. My copy of it is simply the local seasons as observed by white people. For convenience I am calling it after the season in which I found it: Wuruma.
There are no names given to the other seasons on the Wuruma Wheel.
Since Wuruma 2008, I celebrate both the Southern Wheel and the Wuruma Wheel.
(Dates are approximate & may be adjusted after first year of observation.)
Wuruma Spring
1st August
Wuruma Ending
30th September
Wuruma season is windy and dry and lasts around 2 months
Wuruma Beltane
15th October
Wuruma Lughnasadh
21st Feb
Wuruma Samhain
31st May
Wuruma Begins
1st August
On the 15th of October 2008 I celebrated my first Beltane on this Wheel, which I am calling Wuruma Beltane for convenience. (Click on Wuruma Beltane at end of article for details.) I made the desired connection with the land, and have begun to understand it a little bit. Greater understanding will take some time.
I have no idea how accurate my copy of the Wuruma Wheel is and I have no idea how the Aboriginal people of the Central Coast celebrated it. The exact timing and nature of the Aboriginal celebrations may be secret business or initiate lore and I have no desire to encroach on such things.
I am sticking to recording the observable seasons and the changes they bring in the native flora and fauna.
You will notice the solstices and equinoxes are not included in the Wuruma Wheel. They are absent because of the difference in what drives the European and Australian climates: the sun and the rain.
Southern Echoes, a Druidry text I read recently, made the climate drivers of Britain and Australia very clear. The sun drives the climate in Britain, that is, the plants remain dormant until the sun warms up the earth in spring and so the climate is sun-driven. In Australia it is warm enough even in winter that there is always something blooming or growing, however, lack of rain holds back growth to some extent and so the Australian climate is rain-driven.
As I take my first turn around the Wuruma Wheel, I will see this in action.
I have also named some of the Wuruma Wheel festivals after their British/European counterparts. Again, merely for convenience.
I have not thrown out the Southern Wheel and have no desire to do so. The Southern Wheel connects me to my British and European ancestors, and to the community standard of Australian Neopaganism.
(If you too are celebrating the Wuruma Wheel and wish to share your information, my email can be found here. Relevant contributions will be posted on this website and acknowledged so include your Pagan name.)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Southern Wheel of the Year
The Southern Wheel applies below the Equator, in the Southern Hemisphere, and is based on the British/European Wheel.
It is not the same as the Wuruma Wheel. (Click Wuruma Wheel label at end of article.)
I celebrate the Southern Wheel because it is the community standard in Neopagan Australia, and because it is similar to that celebrated by my British and European ancestors.
(Dates are approximate, excepting Vernal Equinox.)
(To see a topic or festival, click on its name at the end of the article)
Winter Solstice - 21st June
Bride's Day - 1st August
Vernal Equinox - 23rd September until 2020
Beltane - 31st October
Summer Solstice - 21st December
Lughnasadh - 2nd February
Autumnal Equinox - 21st March
Samhain - 1st May
(To see a topic or festival, click on its name at the bottom of the article)
It is not the same as the Wuruma Wheel. (Click Wuruma Wheel label at end of article.)
I celebrate the Southern Wheel because it is the community standard in Neopagan Australia, and because it is similar to that celebrated by my British and European ancestors.
(Dates are approximate, excepting Vernal Equinox.)
(To see a topic or festival, click on its name at the end of the article)
Winter Solstice - 21st June
Bride's Day - 1st August
Vernal Equinox - 23rd September until 2020
Beltane - 31st October
Summer Solstice - 21st December
Lughnasadh - 2nd February
Autumnal Equinox - 21st March
Samhain - 1st May
(To see a topic or festival, click on its name at the bottom of the article)
Great Southern Land
Australian Climate
Southern Hemisphere
Climate
Australia is a hot dry country. The middle of it is desert. Most people live around the edges of the country where it is less dry. However, drought and crop failure are still an issue even on the edges.
Australian climate map
Drought in Australia
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the bottom half of the earth. It is indicated on a world map by a line called "the Equator". Everything below that line is called the "Southern Hemisphere", everything above it is the "Northern Hemisphere".
Countries in the Southern Hemisphere:
Australia
New Zealand
Much of Indonesia
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Tuvalu
Samoa
Vanuata
Fiji
Tonga
French Polynesia
Antartica (the South Pole)
Peru
Chile
Argentina & Falkland Islands
Bolivia
Paraguay
Uraguay
Rwanda
Tanzania
Angola
Zambia
Malawi
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
Nambia
Botswana
Swaziland
Lesotho
South Africa
Madagascar
Mauritius
Seychelles Islands
and many more small islands and island nations
Southern Hemisphere
Climate
Australia is a hot dry country. The middle of it is desert. Most people live around the edges of the country where it is less dry. However, drought and crop failure are still an issue even on the edges.
Australian climate map
Drought in Australia
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the bottom half of the earth. It is indicated on a world map by a line called "the Equator". Everything below that line is called the "Southern Hemisphere", everything above it is the "Northern Hemisphere".
Countries in the Southern Hemisphere:
Australia
New Zealand
Much of Indonesia
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Tuvalu
Samoa
Vanuata
Fiji
Tonga
French Polynesia
Antartica (the South Pole)
Peru
Chile
Argentina & Falkland Islands
Bolivia
Paraguay
Uraguay
Rwanda
Tanzania
Angola
Zambia
Malawi
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
Nambia
Botswana
Swaziland
Lesotho
South Africa
Madagascar
Mauritius
Seychelles Islands
and many more small islands and island nations
Widdershins and Deosil
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of the Earth that is above the Equator. The Southern Hemisphere is the half of the Earth that is below the Equator. The Equator is an imaginary line around the centre of the Earth, a bit like a belt.
Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the Northern Hemisphere the Sun's apparent motion is clockwise. This is because, as the Sun travels across the sky every day, it does not travel straight overhead but in a slight Southwards curve.
This means that in the Northern Hemisphere Deosil is "sunwise" or "clockwise".
In the Southern Hemisphere, where Australia is, the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West of course. However, its apparent motion is that of a Northwards curve.
Image of the Sun's apparent motion in the Southern & Northern Hempispheres
Deosil is "sunwise". That does not change. However, because the apparent motion of the Sun is anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, Deosil is anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Image of deosil in the Southern Hemisphere
There is a lot of confusion in the Northern Hemisphere, mainly among younger Neopagans, about the seasons and other differences here in the Southern Hemisphere. On message boards there are instances in which a younger Northern Hemisphere Neopagan has been so confused they ask if the Sun comes up in the West in the Southern Hemisphere. (It comes up in the East in every part of the world.)
Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the Northern Hemisphere the Sun's apparent motion is clockwise. This is because, as the Sun travels across the sky every day, it does not travel straight overhead but in a slight Southwards curve.
This means that in the Northern Hemisphere Deosil is "sunwise" or "clockwise".
In the Southern Hemisphere, where Australia is, the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West of course. However, its apparent motion is that of a Northwards curve.
Image of the Sun's apparent motion in the Southern & Northern Hempispheres
Deosil is "sunwise". That does not change. However, because the apparent motion of the Sun is anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, Deosil is anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Image of deosil in the Southern Hemisphere
There is a lot of confusion in the Northern Hemisphere, mainly among younger Neopagans, about the seasons and other differences here in the Southern Hemisphere. On message boards there are instances in which a younger Northern Hemisphere Neopagan has been so confused they ask if the Sun comes up in the West in the Southern Hemisphere. (It comes up in the East in every part of the world.)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
About this website
This website is not yet complete.
To navigate around the site, use the tags at the bottom of each post and in the side-bar.
My name is Gytha Weatherwax.
I live on the NSW Central Coast, Australia (just above Sydney).
I am a white Neo-Pagan. I acknowledge the Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of Australia.
This website has been established to document my travels around the Southern Wheel and the Wuruma Wheel.
The Southern Wheel is the Neopagan Wheel of the Year. It is of European origin. My ancestors were European and so this Wheel is relevant to me. However, its seasons and lore are not a good fit for the Australian climate and natural world.
(To read more on the Southern Wheel, click on the label at the end of this post.)
The Wuruma Wheel is the observed seasons for the NSW Central Coast. In late 2008 I received a copy of this Wheel and have begun to celebrate and explore it as it turns.
My celebrations and explorations have their starting point in white Neopagan celebration and lore. Only time will tell where the Wuruma Wheel takes me.
(To read more on the Wuruma Wheel, click on the label at the end of this post.)
To navigate around the site, use the tags at the bottom of each post and in the side-bar.
My name is Gytha Weatherwax.
I live on the NSW Central Coast, Australia (just above Sydney).
I am a white Neo-Pagan. I acknowledge the Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of Australia.
This website has been established to document my travels around the Southern Wheel and the Wuruma Wheel.
The Southern Wheel is the Neopagan Wheel of the Year. It is of European origin. My ancestors were European and so this Wheel is relevant to me. However, its seasons and lore are not a good fit for the Australian climate and natural world.
(To read more on the Southern Wheel, click on the label at the end of this post.)
The Wuruma Wheel is the observed seasons for the NSW Central Coast. In late 2008 I received a copy of this Wheel and have begun to celebrate and explore it as it turns.
My celebrations and explorations have their starting point in white Neopagan celebration and lore. Only time will tell where the Wuruma Wheel takes me.
(To read more on the Wuruma Wheel, click on the label at the end of this post.)
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