Cosmopolitan Witchcraft: Reinventing the Wheel of the Year in Australian Paganism

Abstract

Ezzy examines the reinvention of the Pagan ritual calendar—the Wheel of the Year—in Australia, and the elemental directions used in circle casting. Early Australian Pagans celebrated the seasonal cycle of the northern hemisphere, resulting in Beltane (Spring) celebrations during autumn in Australia. They also invoked fire in the south, as the sun blazed in the northern sky. Subsequently, the ritual calendar and elemental directions were “inverted” to reflect the local seasons and location of the sun. Many Pagans embrace a pluralistic practice whereby individualized and localized practices sit alongside more global and shared communal practices. These cosmopolitan adaptations engage the voices of the local Australian landscape, European mythological traditions and the substantial literature on Pagan ritual practice.