INTRODUCTION

 

 

The Rhythm of the Year 

 

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Text by Jenny O'Hare

Wheel by Siobhán O'Callaghan

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The Wheel of the Year has been marked by human civilisations for as long as records began.  The flow of the seasons have ever held us in their rhythm, and have been our survival, our guidance and our inspiration.

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Phenology is Nature’s calendar, it is the study of seasonal change and timing - a delicate interplay of what happens when - the whys and hows of which we can often only marvel at!

 

 

The closer we get to this seasonal flow, this interplay, the greater resonance we have with the rhythm of life on Earth. All of life is held in rhythms, in waves and cycles - life is in constant motion! When we take our annual timescale of one year, and observe the patterns that play themselves out over time again and again in different ways, we can begin to know life in a more intimate way. We can see flow and connection. We can begin to remember how it is that we too are held by these rhythms, and we can broaden and deepen our relationship to our own lifeline of cycles and flow, and even expand our concept of time itself! 

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In our PrimitivKollektiv Wheel of the Year, we will explore each of the four seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

 

 

You will receive curated guidance to explore each season's individual gifts, to link each together, to uncover your own innate connection to and within them, and gradually create your own Wheel of the Year - your own unique perspective of the seasons and your place within them. You will be offered the tools of Phenology (the what happens when) but also much more - deeper reflections on the qualities, characteristics, and alignments that you notice within and without, as well as a supportive community of nature explorers.

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By the time we have flowed through the four seasons together, we will have our own personal story of the Wheel of the Year, and a community of Wheels to share around and learn from. 

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It might inspire you to know that this ancient practice has been used by naturalists, sages, mystics and scientists alike!  Phenology, and the Wheel of the Year model, has been used to observe and record lunar cycles, to map migration of species, to predict growing patterns and in myriad more ways to learn about and reflect upon the living world. The Wheel of the Year can also be used to mark and honour the flow of the seasons, to give special attention to marker days such as the Equinoxes (when day and night are of equal length) or the Solstices (the shortest and longest days of the year). Indeed, the Wheel of the year can lead us into celebration of the fact that we are held by such intricate patterns of Nature, and to live these cycles to their fullest.