2023 Calendar

I make one of these every year and send it out to coven members and all the High Priests and High Priestesses in our coven's lineage to pass on to others.

Email Coven Rochester if you would like a PDF copy to print.

You will note that most older traditions simply called the solstice and equinoxes by their seasonal names, and we preserve that in our calendar. The Book of Shadows inherited by Gardener did not use names like Litha, Mabon, Ostara, etc. My old Witch Mother in England also did not use those names, but used Spring, Summer, etc., and she did not even consider them Sabbats to be celebrated. In fact, my old Witch Mother probably didn't know those names at all (she learned from old Witches, not from books). I am also unaware of any old village traditions in England or Italy using such names or their equivalents.

It appears that the names were first used by Aidan Kelly in 1974, and then popularized through Timothy Zell in the pagan Green Egg Magazine. When Doreen Valiente published Witchcraft for Tomorrow in 1978, she did not use Kelly's new names, but stuck to the seasonal names.

I would, too. The terms Spring, Summer, Autumn/Fall, and Winter have their own important etymologies in English and, if you discard them, you will lose knowledge. WINTER, for instance, shares linguistic roots with our words WET and WATER. For more than 2000 years, physicians have associated Winter with Water and the Phlegmatic temperament.

Meh. It was the 1970s. People were experimenting and doing whatever they wanted. These days, however, people want more traditional training and knowledge of the older lore.

Also: Seekers interested in visiting the Coven should know that we will be meeting on the first Saturday of every calendar month.