Ryn Gargulinski

Creativity on Fire

photos

Lion Country Safari: African Adventure in Florida (slideshow)

Drive-thru wild animal exhibit in Florida’s West Palm Beach area features loads of exotic animals, cool wildlife souvenirs, and incredibly fast-melting ice cream. The place originally opened in 1967, and has since grown into a safari that doubles as a mini amusement park.

Wheel of the Year: Celtic Calendar with Pagan Holidays

wheel of year

Dang Celtic catalog.

As with most folks, I end up on a bazillion mailing lists and receive about 46 pounds of printed catalogs every week. Some I recycle without thinking, but something made me look through the Celtic catalog of goodies.

And now I’m hooked.

While I have yet to actually buy anything from the specific company that sent the catalog, I feel in love with several items — like the crystal ball, a delicious leather carrying pouch, and the Wheel of the Year.

Wheel of the Year Explained

The Wheel of the Year is a calendar that depicts the four Celtic fire festivals/holidays, with the two solstices and equinoxes.

  • Samhain: Oct. 31
  • YULE: Dec. 21, Winter solstice
  • Imbolc: Feb. 1 (or 2)
  • OSTARA: March 21, Spring equinox
  • Beltane: May 1
  • LITHA: June 21, Summer solstice
  • Lughnasad: Aug. 1
  • MABON: Sept. 21, Fall equinox

You can clearly see the link to holidays like Halloween, Easter, May Day and even Groundhog Day, especially if you like Imbolc being on Feb. 2 instead of Feb. 1.

A variety of Wheel of the Year versions are all for sale all over the web, but none had the exact je ne sais quoi for which I was searching. So I made my own.
wheelyr2-sm

wheelyr3-sm

Materials:

  • Antique steel wagon wheel found on eBay
  • Sheet metal
  • Wire and glue
  • Paint, paint and more paint: Matte black, hammered black, hammered copper, aluminum and hammered silver, and paint markers in black, white, metallic gold and silver.

wheelyr5-sm

Love the style? Check out more rynski artski on Etsy.