When does your year start?
Creating a personal wheel of the year
This week I finally finished my personal wheel of the year which I’m going to hang on my wall. It shows me where my year starts and ends and I created labels for each quarter of my year - Abundance, Release, Ground, Heal - based on past years experiences. This is a concept I channeled while writing my guidebook The Body is an Oracle and in this article I want to explain how you can do the same thing because your year is not the same as anyone else’s, it starts and ends at a different time, and it can offer clarity to understand yourself and what you’re going through much better.
First, you’ll want to look up the houses in your birth chart. This is a shortened video from one of my longer videos on how to look them up, so you can start here.
Now look to the sign in House 1. Whenever the Sun enters that sign, that is when your year will start. The Sun is the planet that represents the Self. For convenience here are the upcoming dates for when the Sun enters all the zodiac signs through to next year:
August 22 - Virgo
September 22 - Libra
October 23 - Scorpio
November 22 - Sagittarius
January 14 - Capricorn
February 13 - Aquarius
March 15 - Pisces
April 19 - Aries
May 19 - Taurus
June 21 - Gemini
July 23 - Cancer
August 23 - Leo
My rising sign is in Virgo so as you can see on my wheel, I put September at the top because even though the Sun will enter Virgo on August 22, the majority of Virgo season will be in September. So my year is going to start very soon in about a month. The start of my year lines up with me and who I am because I feel the most energized during the Fall. I feel so connected to Fall and the spirituality involved as well as the sabbats that occur at this time (Mabon and Samhain). I love going to Spirit Halloween, I love connecting with my ancestors - truly the world turns into a goth heaven and reflects what my life is all about during this time of year so it really fills me up. Your start of the year will likely feel the same for you, where you will feel the most you.
There are four seasons of your life
You can think of your birth chart as having 4 quarters because it is made up of 12 houses. So this can be interpreted as you having 4 seasons of your life (a beginning, two middles, and an end), and when the Sun passes through each, it triggers different life areas so you are dealing with different things. That’s how I figured out the themes and names of each of my seasons, which you will see below.
First quarter - House 1, 2, 3 (your year starts)
All about you, your identity, your talents, your value
Second quarter - House 4, 5, 6
All about your family of origin, emotional foundations from childhood, dating, creativity/inner child, how you take care of things, service
Third quarter - House 7, 8, 9
All about relationships of all kinds, transformation on a deep, deep level, belief systems, how you philosophize life
Fourth quarter - House 10, 11, 12 (your year ends)
All about your life purpose, groups/how you socialize/any cause you feel the most connected to, closure, introspection, self-compassion, intuition
The first quarter will always be about you, your identity, your talents, your value because your first three houses represent these life areas. So the beginning of your year is when all of that really shines!
I wanted to make an extra note here, it’s not out of the ordinary to be going through a hard time during your first quarter, what’s meant to shine when you’re struggling is that you are worth it, you’re powerful and at your strongest during this time so you can overcome whatever you are going through. I had to edit this because I’ve been through this and some years the first quarter will be about holding onto yourself and who you really are and not compromising that.
This morning the Sun entered Leo so if you’re a Leo rising, your year starts today. This is really exciting because that means that the next three months will more than likely be filled with new beginnings and abundance for you after the last few months which were considered the ending of your cycle. Again, this could alternatively mean it’s time to stand in your power if you are making big decisions or going through life changes.
Creating labels/themes + using allies
I labeled each season with a theme and a name according to how things have played out in the past as well as added in some allies for support. You can create your own 4 themes/names, it’s quite interesting to look back on your life and do this. You will likely find a pattern, that in each quarter things happened in the same realm year after year, and you will have always needed certain things to carry you through.
Abundance - Darkness Thriving
The first quarter is Abundance season. Everything I went through the rest of the year was worth it because it all comes back to the beginning where I am brand new, learned a lot, came out stronger and can see myself clearer than before. Historically my creativity is unleashed during this time or new projects take off. The support systems I used as allies are Hecate, mugwort, Wolf and fire to help me ignite and initiate. The pentacle symbol - which can be found in the center near my teardrop sigil - also represents my spirit.
Release - Endeavors of Horror
The second quarter is Release season and since those three months - Dec/Jan/Feb - encompass winter for where I live, it’s the darkest time of the year meaning it’s time for me to go deep within and work on my endeavors like limiting beliefs I have, unresolved emotions, and any trauma that comes up during this time of year for me personally. I’ll call upon Persephone, pomegranate and Dung Beetle to be my allies at this time, as well as water to help me cry and cleanse. The balsamic moon phase symbol reminds me to get a lot of rest.
Ground - Enlightenment through Hellfire
The third quarter is usually a doozy lol. Because of my personal family history within the zodiac signs that encompass this time and the houses activated, this can be a time of enlightenment and harsh learning. More than any other time of the year grounding is important which is why I named this season that. Lilith, rose, and Bear are my allies, they help the most with slowing me down and taking a closer look at what’s going on around me to see the lesson. Earth/dirt is to help stability. The spiral symbol advises me to spiral into my spiritual center, and not to spiral down into depression.
Heal - Healing with the Occult
The last quarter (which I’m in right now) is for deep healing. These are the last three months of my cycle and there’s a lot of self-reflection involved, a lot of the unseen comes to the surface to show me what I am working through at this time. Baphomet, yarrow and owl are my allies. Baphomet offers gentle protection as a father figure - even if I am afraid, it is safe to feel, deal and heal. Owl flies high to give me a higher perspective of any situation I am faced with, owl is also a seer with a potent third eye and can see the future. Air brings openness to healing and clarity. The triple knot symbol also allows for protection because it confuses the negative thoughtforms as they cannot follow the complexity of the knot.
The eight sabbats naturally support me during the whole year because they are just a part of the universe and nature’s cycles so they occur simultaneously throughout the seasons of my life so it’s beautiful to have them back you up too if you so wish.
Recap
Here are the steps again:
Watch the video to look up your houses and note House 1’s zodiac sign
Check the list I provided above to see the date your year will start according to that sign
Split your year into 4 quarters
Look back on your life every year and notice the patterns in order to come up with the labels or themes for the 4 quarters
Assign some allies for extra emotional support - incorporate animals/plants/herbs/the elements/deities/symbols - anything that feels comfortable and good for you
Create a wheel if you want to memorialize it
The image above is a wooden cutout from the dollar store that I painted black, then I used paint markers to write/draw everything on, it was very easy but took a long time because I kept messing up what I wanted it to look like. If this happens to you just remember whatever color you use to paint the base of the wooden cutout, if you have a paint marker that’s the same color you can just scribble out the mistake. For me I did this with a black paint marker over the black paint and it perfectly erased my mistakes.
Again this is from my guidebook The Body is an Oracle, which you can find here. This art actually helps me in my life so it means a lot. If you create something similar I hope it helps you too.
I’m also doing free The Body is an Oracle readings this week to celebrate the Leo new moon. In addition to helping you understand the houses and planets in your birth chart, which is what the reading is all about, I can answer any questions you may have about the above. If you’d like to sign up for a spot, you can see the schedule here.
Jennifer Diane is a writer, artist and intuitive based out of New Jersey. Healing with the Occult is a guide that shares hidden, transformative knowledge to assist with self-mastery.
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