The Living Wheel

The Night the Gates Opened On the first of the Wild Nights, when the sun sinks like an ember behind the world, the gate beneath the roots unhooks. Snow does not fall then — it rises, lifted from the underworld on the slow breath of Mother Holle. She walks the boundary

Why the Year Doesn’t Start When the Earth Is Sleeping For most of human history, the year wasn’t something printed on paper or dictated by politicians. It lived in the land. People didn’t flip a calendar page to know where they were in the cycle — they looked

The Twelve Wild Nights are the nights “between the years,” a time when the world softens, the veil thins, and the new cycle begins to stir. Traditionally, these nights started at the Winter Solstice, when the sun is reborn and the wheel pauses in stillness. Later, with Christianization, many regions

Black Lucia Ascending Long before she learned to glow, Lucia belonged to the dark. Not the darkness of fear, but the darkness of origins — the fertile void, the womb-night, the place where thirteen moons keep their secrets. They said her eyes could see straight through a human lie, so the

Why Winter Demands a Closing “For years I froze in winter. I withdrew, shut down, disappeared inside myself. This winter, I stay open. I feel. I speak. I let it move through me — with him.” (Cynthia) Winter doesn’t wait for the calendar. For many of us, the

1. When Winter Reveals Itself Energetically, winter doesn’t arrive on the solstice. It slowly weaves in during the days of November — quietly, subtly, in a way you feel before you name. There’s a moment, usually near the end of the month, when the air sharpens and something in

Most people know October 31 as Halloween—a night of candy, costumes, and plastic skeletons. But before pumpkins lined porches and horror movies took over the dark, there was a night older than the churches, older than borders, older even than the word “witch.” This night is Samhain (pronounced SOW-in)

Behind the Myth: Descent & Return Samhain is the moment the year flows back to its roots. Trees lose their leaves, plants draw their power underground and Persephone finds her way back to the arms of the underworld—reminding us that life and death are not enemies, but lovers caught in