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The Celts divided the year into eight main high days or Sabbats. Four of these are associated directly with the two equinoxes and the two solstices. The other four fall at dates in between these points and are called the Sacred Fire festivals. The year begins at SAMHAIN (sow-en by the Irish), on Oct 31-Nov 2, or as it is known by most other countries, Halloween. Samhain is the New Year to the Celts and is also considered the beginning of the reign of the GOD or the dark time of the Year when the Sun goes lower each day and begins to weaken.
The Celts viewed each month from full moon to full moon, this encompassing two of our months at a time. So January is sometimes called the Wolf Moon, the Cold Moon, the Storm Moon, the Quiet Moon etc & is actually all of these because although the Wolf Moon actually begins on the 30th of Dec, it is a full moon that is considered lasting until the following full moon. Likewise the Storm Moon which begins on January 28th lasts until the full moon in February. So all of these names may apply. And so it goes with each moon & each month corresponding. These moons also have Gaelic names corresponding to the Celtic Tree Calendar & Goddesses/Gods given to them by the Druids.
Trying to understand the different moons and months can be very confusing, but this is because we really don't have all of the information, and with no written records, we must go on what little we do have.
The Druids, as you will see on another page, viewed the years quite differently than we do. One of their years was 5 of ours & this was called a Lustre. Six lustres or 30 years was one druidic era. So when you begin to see all the multitude of names for each MOON MONTH, don't let it concern you as far as your spellcrafting or rituals go. These are most likely all correct, as far as we know.
One last thing here: The Esbats or times of the full moons, has long been seen by The Craft as the best time for rituals and magick, although we are not actually bound by any time limitations, other than whether we are prepared to do the magick ourselves or not. The Celts believed that the impact of the full moon's energy and influence was felt for three days before and three days after each full moon. Their year was divided by it's full moons into thirteen months, one for each moon occuring during the solar year. They aligned themselves with the energy of each full moon when possible in their rituals & spellcrafting. You will learn much more about this as we go along, or at least as much as I can tell you. There is little evidence left behind of these proud people since most of their history was done by word of mouth.
