Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Samhain to Ostara by Ashleen O’Gaea

Reviewed by Mike Gleason

Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Samhain to Ostara by Ashleen O’Gaea © 2004
New Page Books 190 pages + Appendices
Paperback ISBN 1-56414-731-2
$14.99 (U.S.) $22.50 (Canada)

I read Ashleen’s first book (Raising Witches) years ago, and was impressed by her common-sense approach to conveying information, so I was looking forward to seeing this first half of her work on the Sabbats (the second half, Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon is due out this fall).

By dividing the year into two parts, as did our ancient Celtic ancestors, Ashleen accomplishes several different things: she gives herself more space to discuss each Sabbat; she restricts the space she can devote to each Sabbat; she reinforces the ancient perception of the division of the year into Winter and Summer; and she can make it easier to compare rituals, symbolism, and activities among the Sabbats. Doing it this way also makes it more convenient for the reader – at a bit more than 200 pages each book is a more convenient size. If some of these accomplishments (especially the first two) seem to be contradictory, that is simply an illustration of life itself. No one ever claimed that life had to make sense.

Dedicating 40 to 50 pages to each Sabbat – its lore, rituals, activities and symbols, allows for an adequate development of a feeling for the Sabbat while still leaving a thirst for more. It is that thirst which impels the personal development of Witches and Wiccans. Too little information frustrates and too much stifles individual creativity. Ashleen seems to have found a happy medium in this book. While there are no startling revelations, it is not a lot of rehashing of other authors. What you have here is Ashleen’s personal take on the topic. Whether you agree with her or not, you have to respect her desire to share her own experiences and knowledge, as well as her ability to convey that knowledge clearly.

She wants to plant ideas in your mind and allow them to grow within you. I think she does this very well. Her suggested activities for each Sabbat are fun (and that is, after all, an important connection to the gods) and easy to do. They can involve all ages.

This is not the final word on Sabbats. As Ashleen says in the conclusion “By this time next year, you and I both will be able to say more about the Sabbats, and how we celebrate them, than we can right now.” It is, however, a good start. If the second book is as good as this, and I have no reason to doubt that, they will form a good basis for learning about the relationships among the Sabbats.

She includes suggestions for casting a circle (for the newbies among her readers) and suggestions for conveying age-appropriate information to children about the Sabbats, as well as a short list of correspondences in the appendices. All of these, as she reminds us, are simply suggestions, and need to be viewed through our own experiences.