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Paganism North VS South

There are three important differences between the Northern and Southern hemispheres that affect how we, as pagans, practise. find out what they are here!

Introduction

When I began practising Paganism nearly 2 decades ago, there were no books based on the Southern Hemisphere’s cycles. I was very lucky to find a coven in my area, and our High Priestess was teaching a Correllian Wicca course. I remember our HP instructing us to make notes in our course material to switch this and adjust that… Most people learned to follow the Northern Hemisphere’s cycle and directions, adopting them based on what they read. 

Today there’s more literature available for us in the Southern Hemisphere. But most of the information on the internet is still Northern Hemisphere-shaped, and unless you know to look for the right information, you might miss it. 

There are three important differences that affect how we practise. Here’s what they are, and why:

1. The Wheel Of The Year

The Northern and Southern Hemispheres celebrate opposite waypoints on the calendar. This is because when it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The Wheel of the Year is not a set calendar in the way our Western Roman calendar is. It’s tied to the seasons and the solar year, so North and South are different. 

When people in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate Yule, the Winter Solstice, we in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate Litha, the Summer Solstice. It would make no sense for us in the heat of summer to celebrate Yule! This is what it looks like on the calendar:

DATESOUTHERN HEMISPHERENORTHERN HEMISPHERE
1 MaySamhain (New Year)Beltaine
20-23 JuneYule – Winter SolsticeLitha – Summer Solstice
1 AugustImbolc Lughnasadh / Lammas
20-23 SeptemberOstara – Spring EquinoxMabon – Autumn Equinox
31 OctoberBeltaineSamhain (New Year)
20-23 DecemberLitha – Summer SolsticeYule – Winter Solstice
1 FebruaryLughnasadh / LammasImbolc 
20-23 MarchMabon – Autumn EquinoxOstara – Spring Equinox

2. The Directions and Elements

In the Northern Hemisphere, if you watch the sun move from East to West in the sky, it moves in a southerly arc. In the Southern Hemisphere, it moves in a northerly arc. 

The element Fire is thus associated with South in the Northern Hemisphere (because the fiery sun arcs southwards) and with North in the Southern Hemisphere (because it arcs northwards).

So in the Northern Hemisphere, the directional elements are East – Air, North – Earth, West – Water, South – Fire.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the elements are East – Air, North – Fire, West – Water, South – Earth.

The sun path
DirectionSouthern HemisphereNorthern Hemisphere
EastAirAir
NorthFireEarth
WestWaterWater
SouthEarthFire

3. Casting A Circle

When we cast a circle, we move deosil. Deosil means ‘sunwise’. So you walk around the circle in the path the sun takes. In the Northern Hemisphere it’s East, South, West, North and in the Southern Hemisphere it’s East, North, West, South. So you will walk in a circle going around in that order.

To open the circle and exit, we move widdershins, the opposite direction. Widdershins means ‘anti-sunwise’ or ‘opposite to sunwise’.

Wild goose grove

Many people say deosil means ‘clockwise’ and widdershins ‘anticlockwise’, but this only holds true in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s not the original definition. The terms deosil and widdershins predate the use of clocks.

Note that where you enter the circle can differ depending on your particular religion. For example, in Wicca, you most commonly enter at or near the East, as the East represents the dawn and beginnings. In Druidry, you enter from the West, so that your eyes can face East.

Left: A photo taken from the West of our stone circle, facing the dawn