How to Harness the Magick of the Dance: A Wiccan Guide for the Wheel of Life
The Wheel. The Circle. The Pentagram… What do these magical symbols have in common? They are but a few of the ancient representations of the greatest mystery of the universe: the never-ending cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
As Wiccans, we call this the Dance of Life, and it’s our reverence for the Dance that binds us together. Our eyes behold the majestic union between spirit and matter. Our souls feel the ebb and flow of energy washing over us like the waves of the ocean. And when we know the cosmic energies, when we understand the turning Wheel, then we can tap into the universe and take our spiritual walk- and our magick- to a new level.
The Wheel of Life is a symbolic representation of the movement of the physical, material world through time and space. This circular, ebb and flow motion creates energy waves that radiate throughout the universe. This is what we call the cosmic tides. Wiccans already use the tides of the moon to our advantage and we can do the same with the energies of the Wheel.
The Wheel (as well as the waves it creates) is divided into dark and light energy. The four seasons are divided by dark (fall/winter) and light (spring/summer). The moon cycles between dark (waning) and light (waxing). Our 24 hour day is divided between dark and light. And while the dark and light energies are always in harmony, and always in motion, rarely are they equal.
The concept of the cosmic tides and the Wheel of Life are easy to grasp. We see evidence of it in the physical world every day. However, the Dance of Life isn’t so concrete; it is the spiritual meaning behind why the Wheel turns.
The best way to understand the Dance is by reading allegorical stories of creation, and one of the most detailed accounts of the Wiccan story comes from the Vangelo delle Streghe (Aradia, the Gospel of the Witches; 1899). The Vangelo is a collection of oral legends preserved by the Aradian Witches of Italy. In the 1880s, these legends were written down and passed along to famed American folklorist Charles Godfry Leland. Maddalena Talenti, the hereditary witch who provided Leland with the written gospel, understood that the stories would be published, and it is speculated that she altered some of the information within. Regardless, the Vangelo is considered to be one of the most sacred writings of Wiccan literature.
According to the Vangelo, the first of all creation was Diana, the first Darkness. She was Primordial Chaos, and within Her was the existence of all things. Unaware for eons, the Primordial Goddess slumbered and slept in the stillness, perfectly content and complete within Herself… until a slight shift took place. Stillness became motion, and the first Darkness began to ebb and flow… and Diana began to dream.
Gradually, the Primordial Goddess woke from Her slumber- and Diana began to think, to wonder, and to imagine. No longer content to be alone within Herself, Diana longed for experience, she longed for life. Her desire to know grew so powerful that it created a shock wave of fire and light.
“Out of herself, the first Darkness, she divided herself. Into Darkness and Light she was divided. The God, Her brother and son, herself and Her other Self… was the Light… And when Diana saw that the light was so beautiful, the light which was Her other half… she trembled with desire. And this trembling was the first dawn.”
In a tale eerily similar to the Big Band, the Vangelo describes a massive explosion that formed the cosmos. By the power of thought and the emotion of desire, Diana called the God into existence, and the primordial chaos separated into Dark and Light matter. Dark matter consisted of all the spiritual, ethereal, immortal energies. Light matter consisted of all the tangible, physical, life energies.
The Goddess was entranced by the beauty of Her creation. According to the Vangelo, Diana wanted to “… swallow it up in rapture, in delight,” but She faced a new dilemma. Every time She tried to approach the Light, He fled from her like “the mouse that flees before the cat.”
The division of matter had created a veil between the planes of existence. Although the Goddess could see the God, She couldn’t interact with Him, and She couldn’t experience the life that she yearned for. So Diana sought the answer to this dilemma by consulting the Primordial Goddess within… The answer was astounding:
“To rise, you must fall. To become the greatest of all Goddesses, you must first become a mortal.”
So once again Diana divided herself, this time into millions of soul seeds, each implanted with the experiences the Goddess yearned for. She scattered the souls across the universe, and immortal spirits descended through the veil.
The Vangelo describes the descent of spirit into matter as the Goddess coming through the veil in the form of a cat. Cautiously, she approaches the God, and once His curiosity is peaked, Diana returns to Her original form. The Goddess and God unite through the sacred act of sex. To bind the union, Diana casts a spell.
“… She sang a charm, and her voice was as the buzzing of bees. And then Diana sat at Her spinning wheel and began to spin the thread of life, and the God turned the wheel.”
Every year, the changing seasons retell the story of the Dance. The seasons in the dark half of the year represent the time of the Goddess sleeping, dreaming and contemplating. It represents the involution of spirit. When the tide of dark energy is at its peak, the veil is easier to penetrate. It is the optimal time to enhance your psychic skills, to practice divination, to communicate with ancestors, and to walk the underworld. It is the time to delve into your unconscious, search your emotions, and release all that no longer serves you.
The seasons during the light half of the year represent the time of the God being created, of the physical being made manifest, of virility, and of growth. It represents the evolution of spirit. When the tide of light energy is at its peak, the physical world takes dominance. It is the optimal time for conscious manifestation, to nurture the environment, to learn and to grow. It is a time to take action and experience living.
Dawn is the time of creative inspiration, of renewal and fertility, and of infinite possibilities. Dusk is the time of gratitude, an opportunity to give thanks for all that the material world has provided. It’s a time of contemplation and review, for the end of the day has arrived and night will soon fall.
The ebb and flow of magical energy surrounds us, and the more we recognize it in the external- the more we recognize it within ourselves. As we observe the turning Wheel, we can align ourselves with its energy and live in peace and harmony with nature… When we invoke the power of the Goddess within; we, too… become conscious creators as we revel in the Dance of Life.
– The Goddess Kingdom©2022
