Since Ariadne's Tribe is a living spiritual tradition, it has taken us a number of years to complete our sacred calendar. This post and the next one will be the last additions for the foreseeable future. This has been a long-term community effort in the Tribe, and I'm grateful to everyone who has participated in this process.

So where are we in the calendar right now? We've just passed the Blessing of the Ships and are now in the season that leads up to Summer Solstice.

This season now has a name in our calendar: Summer Weaving.

This name reminds us that the Summer Solstice isn't just about the height of Therasia's power or Ariadne and Dionysus's Confluence. It's also about the relationship between this world and the Underworld, the living and the dead, spirit and material.

We are all - humans, deities, ancestors, the inspirited world - woven into the same tapestry. We are the weavers of each other's cloth.

Summer Weaving is a time to contemplate these connections and celebrate them, acknowledging our part in the greater tapestry and recognizing that our actions have repercussions on all the others, living and dead.

As the fate goddess whose thread Ariadne unwinds within the Labyrinth, Arachne is a prominent deity during this season.

Summer Weaving is celebrated every fourth day leading up to Summer Solstice. Assuming Solstice falls on 21 June, which is its most typical date, the days of Summer Weaving are as follows:

24 May

28 May

1 June

5 June

9 June

13 June

17 June

then Summer Weaving ends and we reach 21 June, Summer Solstice.

This year, Summer Solstice falls on 20 June, so you would move all these dates back by one.

The activities for the marked days should focus on connection and balance. Whatever you choose to do need not take long, just a brief time out of your day to remember the ways in which everyone and everything - dead, alive, or otherwise - is connected.

This could mean making an offering to your ancestors, reading up on ecology and the web of life, noticing what wild plants are growing in your area at this time of year or what local produce is available, or meditating to listen to the deities.

This is also an excellent time to walk a labyrinth, remembering that the thread Ariadne offers is not the desperate tool of a person who's lost in a maze... but the sacred golden thread that connects us all, weaving us together as we dance through this existence.

Together we are joy!