“Winter, spring, summer or fall,
all you’ve got to do is call,
and I’ll be there.”
CAROLE KING

“How many things by season, seasoned are to their right praise and true perfection.”
(William Shakespeare / The Merchant of Venice)

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”
(William Blake)

“Spring, summer, autumn, winter -- birth, growth, fading, death -- the cycles of life turn, and we turn with them. Ideas are born, projects are consummated, plans prove impractical and die. We fall in love, we suffer loss; we give birth, we grow old. We are renewed, we are reborn, even as we decay and die. Our psychic energies are renewed in their deepest sources by this participation in the cycles of change within the natural world.”
(Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon)

"Live each season as it passes; breath the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of the earth"
(Henry David Thoreau)

“I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”
(Leviticus 26:4)

Seasons and Sabbats

Auld Lang Syne

Seasonal Traditions

Months and Weeks

Astronomical Perspective

Rabbit Rabbit

Different Types of Pagan Deities
 

“To be of the Earth is to know the restlessness of being a seed, the darkness of being planted, the struggle toward the light, the pain of growth into the light, the joy of bursting and bearing fruit, the love of being food for someone, the scattering of your seeds, the decay of the seasons, the mystery of death, and the miracle of birth.”
(John Soos)

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the sun: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and time to dance, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to lose and time to seek, a time to rend and a time to sew, a time to speak and a time to keep silent, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Seasons: Meteorological & Astronomical
Wikipedia: Seasons Explained

Autumn Winter Spring Summer

Live Science: What Causes the Seasons
Seasons of Life
National Geographic: The Seasons
Earth & Sky: Summer Solstice
 

SEASONAL CYCLE

“Spring passes and one remembers

one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers

one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers

one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers

one's perseverance.”
(Yoko Ono)

“Time will pass and seasons will come and go.”
(Roy Bean)

“Forecast for spring: giddy and warm.
Forecast for summer: happy and hot.
Forecast for autumn: serene and chilly.
Forecast for winter: blessed and freezing.”
(Terri Guillemets)

“There is no season such delight can bring,
As summer, autumn, winter, and the spring.”
(William Browne)

“Praise be to thee, my Lord, with all thy creatures, especially Brother Sun, who is our day and lights us therewith. Beautiful is he and radiant with great splendor; of thee he bears expression. Praise be to thee, my Lord, for Sister Moon and for the stars in the heavens which thou has formed bright, precious and fair. Praise be to thee, my Lord, for Brother Wind and for the air and the cloud of fair and all weather through which thou gives sustenance to thy creatures. Praise be, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is most useful, humble, precious and chaste. Praise be, my Lord, for Brother Fire, by whom thou lights up the night; he is beautiful, merry, robust and strong. Praise be, my Lord, for Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us and brings forth diverse fruits with many hued flowers and grass.”
(St. Francis)

Seasons and Sabbats

Auld Lang Syne

Seasonal Traditions

Months and Weeks

Astronomical Perspective

Rabbit Rabbit

Different Types of Pagan Deities

“The seasons are authentic; there is no mistake about them, they are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in intimate harmony with one another.”
(Arthur Rubinstein / My Young Years)

“We live by the sun, We feel by the moon, we move by the stars. We live in all things; All things live in us. We eat from the earth, We drink from the rain, We breathe of the air. We live in all things; All things live in us. We call to each other, We listen to each other, Our hearts deepen with love and compassion. We live in all things; All things live in us.”
(Stephanie Kaza / Green Gulch Farm)

Beautiful Nature: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Autumnal Equinox
Seasons of Change: Transition Map
Wikipedia: Solstice Explained
Circle Sanctuary: Celebrating the Seasons
Animation: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Winter Solstice

IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

“I need the seasons to live to the rhythm of rain and sun.”
(Sophie Marceau)

“The sun shines different ways in winter and summer. We shine different ways in the seasons of our lives.”
(Terri Guillemets)

“Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.”
(Oscar Wilde)

“Spring, the low prelude of a lordlier song:
Summer, a music without hint of death:
Autumn, a cadence lingeringly long:
Winter, a pause; the minstrel year takes breath.”
(William Watson, The Year's Minstrelsy, Epigrams of Art, Life, and Nature)

“The coming and going of the seasons give us more than the springtimes, summers, autumns, and winters of our lives. It reflects the coming and going of the circumstances of our lives like the glassy surface of a pond that shows our faces radiant with joy or contorted with pain.”
(Gary Zukav)

“Every season hath its pleasures:
Spring may boast her flowery prime,
Yet the vineyard's ruby treasures
Brighten Autumn's soberer time.
So life's year begins and closes;
Days, though shortening, still can shine;
What, though youth gave loves and roses,
Age still leaves us friends and wine.”
(Thomas Moore, Spring & Autumn)

“Spring, if it lingers more than a week beyond its span, starts to hunger for summer to end the days of perpetual promise. Summer in its turn soon begins to sweat for something to quench its heat, and the mellowest of autumns will tire of gentility at last, and ache for a quick sharp frost to kill its fruitfulness. Even winter — the hardest season, the most implacable — dreams, as February creeps on, of the flame that will presently melt it away. Everything tires with time, and starts to seek some opposition, to save it from itself. So August gave way to September and there were few complaints.”
(Clive Barker, The Hellbound Heart)

Seasons and Sabbats

Auld Lang Syne

Seasonal Traditions

Months and Weeks

Astronomical Perspective

Rabbit Rabbit

Different Types of Pagan Deities

“We say that flowers return every spring, but that is a lie. It is true that the world is renewed. It is also true that that renewal comes at a price, for even if the flower grows from an ancient vine, the flowers of spring are themselves new to the world, untried and untested. The flower that wilted last year is gone. Petals once fallen are fallen forever. Flowers do not return in the spring, rather they are replaced. It is in this difference between returned and replaced that the price of renewal is paid. And as it is for spring flowers, so it is for us.”
(Daniel Abraham, The Price of Spring)

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice

NATURAL YEAR

“I place the sun with its brightness, the snow with its whiteness, the fire with all the strength it hath, lightning with its rapid wrath, the winds with their swiftness along the path, the sea with its deepness, the rocks with their steepness, and the earth with its starkness, between myself and the powers of darkness.”
(Traditional Celtic Rune)

“Sowing the seed, my hand is one with the earth. Wanting the seed to grow, my mind is one with the light. Hoeing the crop, my hands are one with the rain. Having cared for the plants, my mind is one with the air. Hungry and trusting, my mind is one with the earth. Eating the fruit, my body is one with the earth.”
(Wendell Berry)
 

Seasons and Sabbats

Auld Lang Syne

Seasonal Traditions

Months and Weeks

Astronomical Perspective

Rabbit Rabbit

Different Types of Pagan Deities

“May peace on earth fill up your time and brotherhood surround you, that you may know the warmth of love and wrap it all around you.”
(John Denver)

“Earth mother, star mother, You who are called by a thousand names, May all remember we are cells in your body and dance together. You are the grain and the loaf that sustains us each day, And as you are patient with our struggles to learn, So shall we be patient with ourselves and each other. We are radiant light and sacred dark -- the balance. You are the embrace that heartens And the freedom beyond fear. Within you we are born, we grow, live, and die -- You bring us around the circle to rebirth, Within us you dance forever.”
(Starhawk)

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
(Genesis 8:22)

“Four seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring's honey'd cud of youthful thought he loves To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness—to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.”
(John Keats)

Farmer's Almanac: Seasons Dates & Times
A Year on Planet Earth: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Vernal Equinox
Seasons: Transformation & Change
One Year in Nature
Wikipedia: Equinox Explained
Celebrating the Seasons of the Year
 

RHYTHMS OF NATURE

“A long time I have lived with you And now we must be going Separately to be together. Perhaps I shall be the wind To blur your smooth waters So that you do not see your face too much. Perhaps I shall be the star To guide your uncertain wings So that you have direction in the night. Perhaps I shall be the fire To separate your thoughts So that you do not give up. Perhaps I shall be the rain To open up the earth So that your seed may fall. Perhaps I shall be the snow To let your blossoms sleep So that you may bloom in the spring. Perhaps I shall be the stream To play a song on the rock So that you are not alone. Perhaps I shall be a new mountain So that you will always have a home.”
(Nancy Wood)

“I believe in process. I believe in four seasons. I believe that winter's tough, but spring's coming. I believe that there's a growing season. And I think that you realize that in life, you grow. You get better.”
(Steve Southerland)

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
(Hal Borland)

Seasons and Sabbats

Auld Lang Syne

Seasonal Traditions

Months and Weeks

Astronomical Perspective

Rabbit Rabbit

Different Types of Pagan Deities

“Summer leaks into autumn. Autumn leafs into winter. Winter leans into spring. Spring leaps into summer.”
(Terri Guillemets)

“When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised change, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness? Whatever it is, it's welcome.”
(Kristin Armstrong)

“In the springtime, leaves unfolding,
Growing, growing one by one,
In the summer, always giving
Cool, green shade to every one;
In the autumn, tall and stately,
Dressed in yellow, red and brown,
In the winter, sleeping, sleeping,
While the snow comes softly down.”
(Charlotte Lay Dewey, A Song of the Trees)

“When all the world appears to be in a tumult, and nature itself is feeling the assault of climate change, the seasons retain their essential rhythm. Yes, fall gives us a premonition of winter, but then, winter, will be forced to relent, once again, to the new beginnings of soft greens, longer light, and the sweet air of spring.”
(Madeleine M. Kunin)

“Everything has seasons, and we have to be able to recognize when something's time has passed and be able to move into the next season. Everything that is alive requires pruning as well, which is a great metaphor for endings.”
(Henry Cloud)

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice

SOLACE OF THE SEASONS

“Yet sunshine brightens after rain,
The darkness comes and goes again,
So solace follows bitter pain,
As seasons wax and wane.”
(Elizabeth Chase Akers Allen)

“How times and seasons are in concert! Spring is suggestive of morning, summer of noon, autumn of evening, and winter of night.”
(Henry James Slack, The Ministry of the Beautiful)

“Autumn, wheezy, sneezy, freezy.
Winter, slippy, drippy, nippy.
Spring, showery, flowery, bowery.
Summer, hoppy, croppy, poppy."
(John Brady, Clavis Calendaria: A Compendious Analysis of the Calendar)

“You say the winter will be short, the summer long,
The autumn amber-hued, sunny and hot,
Tasting of cider and of scuppernong;
All seasons sweet, but autumn best of all....
Peaches grow wild, and pigs can live in clover...
The spring begins before the winter's over....
The months between the cherries and the peaches
Are brimming cornucopias which spill
Fruits red and purple, somber-bloomed and black....
Down to the Puritan marrow of my bones
There's something in this richness that I hate.
I love the look, austere, immaculate,
Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones.
There's something in my very blood that owns
Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate....
Spring, briefer than apple-blossom's breath,
Summer, so much too beautiful to stay,
Swift autumn, like a bonfire of leaves,
And sleepy winter, like the sleep of death.”
(Elinor Wylie, Wild Peaches, Nets to Catch the Wind)

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice

A WEATHERED LIFE

January, take my cold but warm me by the fire;
Let me hibernate my love to build my hearts desire.

February, guide my hope, show light that's shining through; Let me start to question in the coldness of your hue.

March, my flowers dare to peak above the ground they hide, Allowing hope to nudge the pain of winter to one side.

April, send me cleansing rain to wet and soak my soul; Let the waters wash away and guide me more to whole.

May, you have permission to take me to full bloom,  Now watered from the april, I'm ready for the new.

June, your sun so healing, let it shine on me; Let it guide me to the warmth that I have yet to see.

July, I have been waiting, to dance beneath your sun; Take me to the warmth of love, my dream has now begun.

August, sweep me off my feet and clear me of the old; Let me tidy messy threads that keep me in the cold.

September, guide me to embrace the challenges ahead; Help we work towards the dreams still floating in my head.

October, give me time and grace to live with no regret; As sorrowful each leaf does fall, take too each petty fret.

November, show my night to me explode in all its glory; Light the sky with all my dreams when you ignite my story.

December, gift me full of love and let me hold it tight, So it can come to warm me if I lose my hope in night.

Each calendar of life we live, each season has his glory; Each month within can guide us to the truth in our own story. Touch the snowflake`s coldness but embrace your sun so warm, For a seasoned life of love can weather any storm.

(Heather Lea)