In a divination I received from Amy Tanzman Palmer, I was tasked with creating and carrying out eight rituals for the Pagan Wheel of the Year emphasizing my Italian roots. Once completed, I would be initiated into “The Order of the Moon.”
The Pagan Wheel of the Year is made up of four days that mark the seasonal cycle of the annual orbit of the Earth around the sun, and four other days that honor an ancient lunar calendar. Quarter days are the solstices and equinoxes. Solstices are when the Earth tilts toward or away from the sun, creating the longest and shortest days; and equinoxes are when day and night are equal because there is no tilt in the axis on those days. Cross-quarter days fall approximately 40 days after an equinox or solstice.
There are varying names for these eight holy days but the basic idea is the demarcation and ritual honoring of solstices and equinoxes, and the forty-day point in between. Some believe the cross-quarter days were considered the beginning of a season rather than the solstices and equinoxes.
Observing these days by carrying out ritual, alone or with others, helps keep one in synch with the cycles of the cosmos and remember that we are so much more than our small selves, part of something so much bigger than our day-to-day lives.
Raven Grimassi teaches that in Italy, the Wheel of the Year is called the Treguenda (tray-gwen-dah) meaning quarterly or every three months. He also re- ports that the cross-quarter days were spiritual days, and the equinoxes and solstices were Earth rites.
Here are the rituals I created for my book, Guided by the Moon, Wheel of the Year: Pagan Holy Days the Italian American Way with the more commonly known pagan titles after them .
The dates listed below are where they roughly fall every year. The Southern Hemisphere is reversed for seasons.
Pagan Wheel of the Year
February 2-5: Feast of Sant’Agata (Imbolc/Candlemas/Groundhog Day)
March 20/21: Celebration of the Goddess Proserpina (Spring Equinox/Easter/Passover)
May 1: Celebration of the Italian Snake Goddess Angitia (Beltane/May Day)
June 20-24: Celebration of the Feast of San Giovanni (Summer Solstice)
August 2: Festival of Ops (Lammas/Lughnasadh)
September 21/22: Celebration of the Goddess Ceres (Autumnal Equinox)
October 31/November 1: All Souls Day (Samhain/Halloween)
December 21/22: Manifesting with the Goddess Diana and the Mirror of the Moon (Winter Solstice/Christmas/Hanukah)
I am not Italian. I am Italian American. This makes me different from my ancestors. I have an American consciousness that is post-modern. I am also a feminist. Following my ancestors’ ability to integrate and syncretize, I tend to run information through my own belief system and ethical understanding to make it my own. For example, I understand that most of the Catholic saints were once Roman goddesses and gods, and that most Roman goddesses and gods were taken from the Greek. So, if I see the story of a saint being honored, I am inclined to search for the Roman or pre-Roman goddess it was merged with and try to understand the deeper roots of at the pagan tradition beneath.
All of this is included in the book in the rituals and chapters in between.
Guided by the Moon introduces Italian Goddesses Proserpina, Ops, Angitia, Diana, Rumina and Ceres. It teaches about numina, the god Terminus and the sweeper fairy Deverra. And much more.
Perhaps you will want to make a new years resolution to nurture yourself and your community by celebrating the Wheel of the Year in 2026 by carrying out the rituals described in Guided by the Moon.
©Theresa C. Dintino 2025
