This article is about why and how I look for the common ground between the Wheel lore of my European and British ancestors and the observable seasons of the NSW Central Coast (just above Sydney).
Southern Wheel - European/British-based Wheel of the Year
Wuruma Wheel - natural seasons of the NSW Central Coast
Why
For myself and some other white Australian Neo-pagans, the European-based Wheel of the Year is not enough. It sits above the Australian landscape not in it, relevant in many ways but, for some of us, not really connecting. There are similarities of course but a lot of the symbols just don't fit in this time and place.
We humans are all the same species. We have the same psychology, the same basic needs and wants, and we all live on the same planet and are all affected by the fertility of the land and sea and the seasons of the earth's turning.
It’s easy to see the differences white and black Australians and between the European-based Wheel and the Wheel of the local natural seasons.
I am more interested in the similarities.
How
I looked again at the very basics of the Southern Wheel and the Wuruma Wheel, at the festivals as marking the change of seasons only, stripped of both European and Aboriginal lore, and so far I have found plenty of similarities.
Some of those similarities are:
(Some festivals fit more than one category.)
Re-birth festivals
Winter Solstice/Yule (Southern Wheel)
Wuruma Spring (Wuruma Wheel)
Fertility festivals
Bride’s Day/Imbolc (Southern Wheel)
Vernal Equinox/Ostara (Southern Wheel)
Beltane (Southern Wheel)
Wuruma Spring (Wuruma Wheel)
Wuruma Beltane (Wuruma Wheel)
Harvest festivals
Summer Solstice/Litha (Southern Wheel)
Lughnasadh (Southern Wheel)
Autumnal Equinox/Mabon (Southern Wheel)
Samhain (Southern Wheel)
Wuruma Lughnasadh (Wuruma Wheel)
Autumnal Equinox (Wuruma Wheel)
Wuruma Samhain (Wuruma Wheel)
Death festivals
Summer Solstice/Litha (Southern Wheel)
Samhain (Southern Wheel)
Wuruma Samhain (Wuruma Wheel)
With those similarities in mind, I am looking for local native (indigenous) species of plants and animals that fit the lore of both Wheels.
In the Northern Hemisphere the seasons are much clearer. In winter there are many bare trees, in spring those trees put out new leaves and in autumn those leaves fall again. This is a very noticeable cycle. You do not have to be a Pagan or Neo-pagan or a keen observer of the natural seasons to notice it.
The same does not apply to Australia. The majority of our native trees are evergreen. They lose and replace leaves all year round. They are not bare in winter. The cycle of life, death and re-birth is not as obvious.
Aboriginal lore uses natural changes in the behaviour of native plants and animals as seasonal markers. The festival dates are not fixed to a calendar the way, say, Halloween (Samhain) and May Day (Beltane) often are.
I have some accurate lore on local seasonal markers now and I am always looking for more.
So far the picture is pretty confusing. But that’s a product of my own ignorance and will pass. I will find native species that represent the changes in the natural seasons and the festivals of the Southern and Wuruma Wheels.
Wuruma Wheel of the Year
Southern Wheel of the Year
