Winter: Rituals to Thrive in the Dark Cycle of the Saeculum

Graham (The Great Wheel), a pagan practitioner and cofounder of the spiritual organization Cult of Isis, explores in this evocative work what she sees as the effects of a cyclical system called the Saeculum. Just as a year cycles through four seasons, Graham suggests, so do generations and societies. Graham believes these larger changes occur every 20 or so years, with spring a time for new beginnings and rebirth, summer for growth and exploration, autumn for conflict and the seasonal descent into darkness, and winter for crisis. This in-depth guide examines the recent past “winter seasons” in American society, such as the 1930s through the end of WWII, and how people navigated the crises it presented. Society, Graham posits, is going to enter the most challenging period of the current 80-year-cycle in 2020, and conditions will be right for conflict to boil over. She presents exercises and rituals one can use to help weather the storms, such as candle lighting, meant to dispel “Discordia,” and journaling exercises to help determine one’s “pagan values.” Readers with an interest in pagan traditions will enjoy this accessible guide for understanding the cyclical movement of time. (May)