The names given to the seasons of the year, or rather to the holidays which cut it into eight parts, are taken from the Celtic tradition. The implications ascribed to them are those of BarleySinger's Tradition, as created in conjunction with his wife, Willow Firesong.
Yule marks the first return of the light; when the Sun is reborn after the darkest time of the year. The renewal of the light is celebrated by lighting fires of welcome to strengthen and encourage the newly re-born Sun King. This card represents the cycle of bright new beginnings, or the return of light lost.
The holiday of Imbolc celebrates the first signs of Spring, when the land is still locked in the depths of Winter's snow and ice. The first frail buds of Spring are mirrored in the ritual candles whose faint flames promise the greater fires of summer to come. The forces represented by this card are those of promised renewal that has not yet arrived.
This card represents the time of new growth, and new births. The last year's expectant waiting has culminated in the burgeoning fertility of new shoots, new buds, new births, and new life in general. The promise of Imbolc is coming to fruition. This is a card of balance, of the culmination of prior efforts in new life and beginnings.
This card represents the rising forces of creation through passion, and joining; the rising sap, the spring rut that engenders the new life of the next year; creative force, and energies in full spate. The tide of life has risen, and is surging to its full cresting height, sweeping all life before it in the passion of mating and creative renewal.
This card represents the time of burgeoning life, when the fertile goddess has become pregnant with the child of the god who will be reborn, and is revelling in the swelling of new life within her. It is a time of fertility at its height, made fully manifest; yet implicit in the fertility is the harvest to come. The Sun is cresting, and hangs at his peak, ruling the sky through the longest day of the year, making time seem to come to a stop in a perpetual haze of green, gold, and blue.
This card represents the time of First Harvest. The Sun has crested at his height, and has begun the long slow slide into the dark time of the year; he makes up for it by burning all the more hotly, spending his substance on the land and bringing the crops to ripeness. The first fruits of the harvest that has been the focus of many months long work have arrived, and the table is once more heaped with the products of our labor. This card represents the first returns on our efforts, with the largest part of the harvest yet to come.
This card represents the time of Harvest, and the sacrifice of the Grain God and the God of Wine. The Sun has spent his substance on the crops, which now hang heavy in the fields; the grains and grapes that are his offering of himself must be sacrificed to make the cakes and wine that will sustain us for the next year. This card represents the cyclic sacrifice of our efforts to reap the great harvests necessary to sustain our lives.
Samhain marks the descent into the dark time of Winter's cold, and the culling of the herds, both to store food for the Winter, and reduce the number of mouths to feed through the lean time of the year. The Sun King is no more, and the year's ending has come. Now we enter the dark time before Yule, while we wait for the rebirth of the Sun, from the womb of the Mother Goddess, where he has lain since his conception at Beltaine. It is a time to reflect on what has passed, and those who have gone from us. This card represents the cycle of endings, and a release of what has gone before.
Please feel free to use, share and distribute this system, as long as the creators are credited by either their legal names or their chosen pseudonyms "BarleySinger" and "Willow Firesong".