Structure of a Celtic Year Begins on the first quarter moon following the Northern Spring Equinox: the Northern Summer commences the year. The Southern Year's lunations may be named for the month of the corresponding season in the North.

Lun GIAMMON Deas

Mids: May 1 - May 15, 2009 Atenoux: May 16 - May 30, 2009

Lun SEMIVISONNA Deas

Mids: May 31 - June 14, 2009 Atenoux: June 15 - June 28, 2009

Lun EQVOS Deas

Mids: June 29 - July 13, 2009 Atenoux: July 14 - July 28, 2009

Lun ELEMBIVOS Deas

Mids: July 29 - Aug 12, 2009 Atenoux: Aug 13 - Aug 26, 2009

Lun AEDRINI Deas

Mids: Aug 27 - Sept 10, 2009 Atenoux: Sept 11 - Sept 25, 2009

Lun CANTLOS Deas

Mids: Sept 26 - Oct 10, 2009 Atenoux: Oct 11 - Oct 25, 2009

Mids CIALLOS Mat

Mids: Oct 26 - Nov 9, 2009 Atenoux: Nov 10 - Nov 24, 2009

Lun SAMON Deas

Mids: Nov 25 - Dec 9, 2009 Atenoux: Dec 10 - Dec 23, 2009

Lun DVMAN Deas

Mids: Dec 24 - Jan 7, 2010 Atenoux: Jan 8 - Jan 22, 2010

Lun RIVROS Deas

Mids: Jan 23 - Feb 6, 2010 Atenoux: Feb 7 - Feb 20, 2010

Lun ANAGANTIOS Deas

Mids: Feb 21 - Mar 7, 2010 Atenoux: Mar 8 - Mar 21, 2010

Lun OGRONNOS Deas

Mids: Mar 22 - Apr 5, 2010 Atenoux: Apr 6 - Apr 20, 2010

Lun CVTIOS Deas

Mids: Apr 21 - May 5, 2010 Atenoux: May 6 - May 19, 2010

The Southern Celtic Year 2009

The Celtic Year 2009:
May 1, 2009 - May 19, 2010

Australia and the Southern Lands experience the passage of the seasons in an off-set manner compared to the Celtic homelands of Europe and the Northern Lands. For Celts and those who mark the Celtic passage of time, the marking of the Fire feasts and the progress of the Celtic calendar presents a dilemma. For at the time of Beltaine and Calan Mai on the eve of May, the southern seasons are turning to the winter; at Samhain and Calan Gaeaf on the eve of November, the southern seasons are at the time of rebirth at the start of summer.

The offset seasons have presented their dilemma for all of the time of European settlement in the Southern lands, and the seasonal affinities of great Christian celebrations such as Easter and Christmas have continued to be marked with springtime and snowflake imagery in deference to their place of origin. Some development of seasonality has seen Santa adapting quite well to the warm summer nights around Christmas where takes his tea from the billy with the stockman and inquisitive kangaroos.

The Celtic calendar and the four Celtic fire feasts are deliberately associated with the seasons and are celebrations of life and the world about us as well as ourselves and our aspirations. As such, the southern seasons present their dilemma more profoundly: It is simply not appropriate in May to feast for the summer, at the start of the southern winter; Nor does it make any sense to reflect in assembly in November when the land has just come alive. In the Southern lands, November is the lucky time, the fortunate time, the summertime; The flourish of red bottle-brushes is at full bloom, oak trees have placed on their green mantles and migratory birds have returned from the north.

This transformation is clearly manifest in the direction of the Sun's path through the Southern skies, rising to the north and traversing a counter-clockwise course - deosil in the Southern hemisphere is a leftward motion and so the natural action in describing a circle. From the east the path travels to the north and warmth, setting from that direction to the west and returning under the earth through a southerly poleward motion back to dawn in the east.

The Wheel of the Year followed by Wicca, neo-Druids and similar groups is similarly offset by the seasonal progression in the southern hemisphere. The Wheel of the Year symbolises a cycle of life, death and rebirth and derives eight key turning points called Sabbats and Esabats from Celtic, Germanic, Egyptian and Latin mythology. The Wheel is generally held to begin at the start of the winter half of the year, coinciding with Halloween, or less often the winter solstice around Christmas. While the Wheel differs to the Celtic tradition of a summer start to the year attested to by the ancient sources and Celtic myth and legend, the seasonal dilemma met in the southern hemisphere is just as great.

At first glance, there appears to be a simple solution. Seasonally, the European feasts are able to be transposed by six months and successfully celebrated in complementary fashion. November eve marks the Southern year's first weather-movement of summer, its cét-Soman, its Samon month, its opening of Samhradh. As such the Celtic Fire Feast of Beltaine is on this basis able to be marked with great satisfaction at November eve - 'Southern Beltaine'. May eve marks the Southern year's repose, its Giammon month, its opening of Geimhreadh. So the Celtic Fire Feast of Samhain is able to be celebrated in like manner, as a May assembly at summer's end. High summer and the Lughnasadh are seasonally matched at February eve; and Springtime's feast of Oimelc/Imbolg and Brigid's fiery inspiration are attendant at the eve of August. Seasonally these all may be marked under their traditional Celtic names.

On the Wheel of the Year, this offseting solution has been followed, and consequently southern Samhain is marked on May eve, southern Yule at the winter solstice in June, southern Imbolg on August eve, southern Ostara at the vernal equinox of September, southern Beltane on November eve, southern Litha at the summer solstice in December, southern Lughnasa on February eve, and southern Mabon at the autumnal equinox in March.

The ancient sources and events in Celtic myth tell us that in addition to the waxing and waning of the seasons, the Celtic year was also clearly linked to the stars: The start of the Celtic year is associated with the rise of the Pleaides just as strongly as it is with the start of the season of summer, so astronomically and astrologically there are greater considerations. Both North and South, the Celestial Sphere remains constant, the stars rising in their order throughout the turn of the year. In this aspect the Southern Hemisphere dilemma comes to the fore, for while the seasons may anticipate the Fire Feasts by simple transformation of date, the Stars do not.

The Celtic calendar, the original masterpiece of the La Tène Celtic culture (from c.500BC), upon which or from which the Fire Feasts have survived into modern times, is set by both the seasons and the stars. The Celtic calendar began at the first quarter phase of the lunation of summer, with the first month, Samon equivalent to the modern month of May the start of Samhradh. In this month the rise of the Pleiades, followed by the red star Aldebaran, staged the setting for the Trinox Samoni, the three night feast of Summer, now the feast of Beltaine. Six months later and midway through the year at the lunation opening winter, the seventh month Giammon, modern November, marked the start of Geimhreadh. In this month the rise of Antares staged the prophetic setting of Samhain.

The Celtic calendar feasts are therefore not translocatable, and are set in their European context. In no different a way than that of January modernly marking the start of the Gregorian calendar throughout the world, the Celtic calendar has a single world-wide beginning, namely the lunation of May, or in its Gregorian form May 1st. And just as January 1st occurs in the days following the summer solstice in the Southern lands, so too does Samon and its feast of Beltaine occur in the first days of winter in the Southern lands.

This arrangement remains unsatisfactory, however, because the Celtic calendar's celebrations are overtly seasonal and devoted to life responding to light. And so the dilemma. Recognising that it is the Celtic tradition and its celebrations rather than indigenous traditions whose developments were moulded by the southern seasons and the southern skies, a solution is offerred here that may provide a satisfactory Southern Celtic response.

Caer Australis proffers the names Teine Samhradh Deas, Teine Grian Deas, Teine Geimhreadh Deas and Teine Earrach Deas for the Southern Fires of Summer (November, at Samhain), High Summer (February, at Oimelc), Winter (May, at Beltaine) and Springtime (August, at Lughnasa) respectively, which recognise that each season's celestial arrangements in the South run opposite to those of the Celtic homelands and the Northern lands. These are celebrated on a related page on Caer Australis, the Southern Seasons Celtic Fire Feasts, and here on the Southern Celtic Year are shown the months of the year in their order beginning in May at Samon, but with the annotation that these months are known as the Southern Lunations of their complementary calendar months. Thus the Month of Samon is shown as the Southern Giammon Lunation, and so on throughout the calendar year. This arrangement of Southern Fires and Lunations express the southern seasons in Celtic terms, while recognising the Celtic year and the Fire Feasts are European in origin and design.

Understanding that the Celtic year commenced at Beltaine across the Celtic world, knowing the day of the moon when the months began, and pin-pointing the start of the 30 year age allows the provision of the calendar of correspondences to the current Gregorian year, from menu at right. The combination of seasonal and celestial signals that anciently defined the Celtic year and the seasonality inherent in the names of its months is described comprehensively. An outline of the Celtic month names are given by comparing the Gaulish language to Irish and Welsh, etymology and myth in the Introduction - 2009.

Celtic 2009 (May 1, 2009 - May 19, 2010) is the third year of the second five year cycle of the 30 year age that opened in May 2002 at the return of Saturn to the constellation of Taurus. In the presentations of the individual months of 2009, we also follow the dawn skies of Europe in 503 BC which opened with a spectacular planetary display in what is now May - that year co-incides with the opening of the archaelogical La Tène Period.

After the expansion of Rome, the Celtic calendar was supplanted by the calendar of the Empire and Christianity. In Ireland, Patrick usurped Beltaine for Easter in AD433, and four centuries later in AD831 All Saints day was moved to November, so co-incident with Samhain. However, the Celts maintained their important days of their culture and so even today, marking the Celtic fire feasts keeps Celtic calendar alive.

The exploration and expression of the Southern Celtic Seasons is widespread and well developed across Australia. Here are some links to further interpretations and views from the Southern perspective that will stimulate further thought:

Temple of the Dark Moon - Sabbats Down Under
Shadows of Oz - Wheel of the Year
Temple of the Silver Oak - A Green Witch's Calendar
Blackthorns Wicca Pages - The wheel of the year
Kids.Net.Au - The Wheel of the Year
Spritual.com.au - Wiccan Sabbats
Spiral Dance - 'The Quickening' Music CD

Links to wheel of the year sites - south and north
links to herb and urban ecology sites

Reaching to Celtic roots and myth is one way of finding meaning, understanding and fulfilment in life. Presented here are Spiritualistic, Wiccan and Pagan sites that also endevour on the same journey of discovery. Some of the people behind the links have been supportive of Caer Australis over the years, others are excellent starting points as they provide links to network within Australia. If you believe there is a Link that should be included, please submit via our Contact Form.

The following links on this page are to sites providing information about the rich storehouse of edible and meicinal herbs and practical advice for their growth. The principle of growing and using whole plant parts include the simple pleasure of tending to the garden, good for the mind and the soul, the inclusion of variety and flavour in the diet, and, for the medicinal aspect, low doses of principal active agents and the inclusion of additional secondary agents.

The following links are to sites each in their own way concerned with sustainable ecological solutions where participation by people takes place. The principle of re-earthing is that of living in a way where we identify with the earth - recognising, realising and acting. We live in a way as if we were separate from the earth, and each of us can redirect our manners toward re-earthing.