The 8 Sacred Solar & Fire Festivals

The Celtic Wheel of the Year

From the midwinter beam illuminating the stone chamber at Newgrange to the sacred fire lit on the Hill of Uisneach at Bealtaine.
Explore the living celestial rhythm of prehistoric Ireland and the seasonal landscape paintings born from each threshold.

Current Celtic Season
Harvest Twilight (Autumn Equinox → Samhain) 58 days until Samhain (Oct 31)
SOL

Click any solar spoke or festival node to rotate the celestial wheel

Major Fire Festival (Cross-Quarter) Celtic New Year

Samhain · The Veil Between Worlds

October 31 – November 1 · The Dark Half of the Year

“The threshold of winter when the hearth fires were extinguished, the ancestral dead welcomed home, and the sacred flame rekindled at Tlachtga.”

Sacred Megalithic Alignment Hill of Ward & Mound of the Hostages
Seasonal Earth Pigment Peat Carbon & Marsh Phosphor
Sacred Plant / Herb Lore Elder, Yew, Heather & Hazelnuts
Element & Direction Water & North-West (Twilight)

Astronomical Alignment & Ritual Folklore

Samhain marks the transition into the dark half of the year. In prehistoric Ireland, herds were brought down from the summer pastures, and the veil between this world and the Otherworld grew translucent. The rising of the Pleiades at sunset heralded the great gathering of the tribes.

Seasonal Fine Art Exhibition Pairing Ghost Lights Collection
Seasonal Elaine Leigh Painting

Ghost Lights over the Allen Bog

Marsh phosphor, bone black & beeswax on linen

Painted in the deep autumn twilight of Samhain, capturing luminous will-o’-the-wisps at the edge of the bog.

Explore Collection

The Complete Celtic Solar Cycle

The 8 Sacred Festivals of Ireland

The 4 Great Fire Festivals (Cross-Quarters) and the 4 Solar Alignments (Solstices & Equinoxes). Click any festival to inspect its megalithic alignment and artwork.