I speak to so many people who experience a cognitive dissonance with a lot of the Celtic Wheel. No matter how they try, the names and celebrations of the Celtic Wheel just don't fit what's actually happening where they live. And, they aren't relevant to their actual lives. If your magic isn't relevant to real life, let's face it, it's LARPing.

If your Ancestors were Celts, it makes sense to carry over some of there ritual celebrations as a way to honor them.  If they weren't, it makes sense to find out what they were doing.  And, if your climate doesn't match Ireland's, why --aside from Ancestor Reverence--mimic their seasonal celebrations?  

Globally, indigenous, tribal, agrarian people had wildly varying observances, rituals, and magics for the same eight points on the Wheel! It's important to question why you might feel compelled to participate in uniformity when so little of it exists across longitudinal lines.

Many celebrations ritualized in our time, harken back to activities most of us no longer participate in--like milking sheep, harvesting grain, or slaughtering animals for meat.

In contrast, we live in a highly industrialized, automated, computerized, and very fast paced world. As we endure late-stage capitalism, our time is dictated by our jobs, our children's school schedules, and consumer-marketing.

The Wheel of the Year offers us opportunities to really examine who and where we are, what's important now, and what we hope for the future.

Yes, it's easier, and more comfortable, to follow along with what “big paganism” is selling us. It's certainly easier for marketers to sell you a unified Wheel. But, paganism has always been about connection to land and survival of community. And the Craft has always been about magic and power.