(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.)
