Midsummer — FWM Wheel of the Year Open Ritual
Details
The Wheel of the Year is the cycle of eight seasonal festivals kept across the Western Mystery Traditions — eight turnings of the year that echo the seasonal rites of our ancestors.
This turning of the Wheel is MIDSUMMER.
Midsummer is the height. The sun stands at its furthest point, the evening light seems to go on indefinitely, and everything that was planted in spring is at full growth. It is the shortest night of the year and, by long tradition, a night to stay up through.
There is a turn hidden inside the celebration, and it is what gives the festival its particular flavour. From this evening onward the days begin to shorten again. The year is at its most generous at precisely the moment it starts to give itself away. Midsummer fires were lit on high ground across Europe for exactly this reason — not to hold the light, which cannot be held, but to mark the moment it was at its fullest.
Our Midsummer rite is a rite of that fullness and that turn: fire at the height of the year, the acknowledgement of what has come to ripeness in each of us, and the taking on of what comes with it. It is a bright, open, generous evening, and one of the best of the year to bring a friend to.
TICKETS
€15 plus Eventbrite booking fee online in advance (non-refundable), or €20 cash at the door. No cards — the door is cash only.
Book online here
The event and the ritual will be held in English unless otherwise noted. We sometimes have other groups host rituals, and sometimes they work in other languages. If that is the case it will be noted here.
Doors open at 19:30. The ritual talk-through begins around 20:00 and the ritual follows shortly after. Ritual length varies, but the ritual itself should be over between 21:30 and 22:00. Afterwards there is time to stay and talk, so plan to stay longer if you are feeling social and you can — and of course leave whenever you wish. There is a bar on site.
Attire: Street clothes are perfectly fine, but if you can, try to come dressed as much as possible in a single colour — black and white are best. If you have ritual dress (robes and so on) and would like to wear it, please do.
You do not need to have done anything like this before. Everything is explained beforehand — what will happen, what it means, what your part is, and what to do if you would rather simply stand and watch. Newcomers are guided through the ritual as it unfolds, so there is no problem at all coming with no idea what to expect.
Beginners, experienced practitioners and the merely curious are equally welcome. The environment is friendly and unpressured.
The Fellowship of the Western Mysteries is a Vienna community for the Western Mystery Traditions — Wicca, Paganism, Druidry, Ásatrú, Hermeticism and related paths.