At this time of year people start putting wreaths on their doors. Scandinavians began this tradition to commemorate their New Year at Yule (the word means "wheel"), symbolizing the Wheel of the Year, a circle illustrating that time revolves back to its point of origin and that every ending is a new beginning in the cycle of life.
The Tarot card Wheel of Fortune depicts this concept, that "what comes up, must come down, spinnin' wheel got to go 'round" (as the song goes), so this is a good day to contemplate the symbolism and meaning of that card. Pictured here is the Wheel of Fortune card from the Tarot of the Saints by Robert M. Place, published by Llewellyn (from the Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery, copyright Robert M. Place, used with permission. See more @ Alchemical Egg). It depicts St. Catherine, whose feast day is November 25.
Her legend is pretty gruesome, as are many stories about martyred saints. For refusing to marry an emperor, she was condemned to be placed on a contraption of wheels designed to tear her apart and because of this, Catherine is matron saint of all who use a wheel, spinners (and spinsters!), potters and so forth. She is considered to be the christian version of many goddesses of the wheel, including:
- Arianrhod (Celtic) starr goddess whose name means 'silver wheel'
- Fortuna (Roman) goddess associated with the Wheel of Fortune in most tarot decks
- Kali (Hindu), whose emblem is, like St. Catherine's, the fiery wheel
- Nemesis (Italian) goddess of the Wheel of Fortune and divine retribution
- Persephone (Greek) goddess of the underworld, not specifically the wheel, but shares the feast day November 23, which is aka "Womens Merrymaking Day"
- also the Roman fire goddess Feronia, whose feast day is November 13, a time when the Stregherian season of Shadowfest is ending and the tide of the Winter Solstice begins
- and even another saint, St. Lucia, or St Lucy, who wears a fiery crown of candles at Yuletide
Waverly Fitzgerald* writes that in England, women went about during the day, often dressed in men's clothes, singing working songs and visiting their neighbors who offered them wiggs [spicy ginger muffins that look like wigs] and a drink made of warm beer, beaten eggs and rum. After dark, they set off fireworks, particularly Catherine wheels.
The Catherine wheel is a giant spoked wheel with an effigy of a person bound to it, covered with tar, set aflame, and rolled down a hill. This was done at this time of year in medieval rural Germany, but more often this occurred at Lammas, another time of year when St. Catherine has a feast day. The wheel was set aflame as both a symbol of sacrifice and a petition to bring some warmth into the cold winter.
* I love Waverly's blog Living in Season, which can be accessed via my Lynx (at left). She also has much more info about St. Catherine's feast day at http://schooloftheseasons.com/novdays2.html#cath
