The Sixteen Point Year

Developed by Sig Lonegren

This article is for people who are already tuned in to the eight major points of the Year - the Quarter Days, the Solstices, Equinoxes, and the Celtic Cross Quarter Days. The extra eight days that I am calling the Sixteenth Days will give the reader more times to celebrate and to be aware of this ever-repeating annual cycle. If you are not clear on the eight major points of the yearly cycle, perhaps you might want to read about them first, beginning at Samhain, the Celtic New Year. Please also note: I have used Celtic names and meanings for the Cross Quarter Days as these are the ones I work with, but many cultures noted the days that were half way between the Quarter Days (see evidence found in Vermont's stone chambers ).

Also, please understand that I have found no evidence that the Celts observed the Sixteenth Days that I am writing about here; therefore, please do not assume that they were Celtic holidays. They are offered for today's use as part of what I would call the New Magic. The names for these Sixteenth Days I used are obviously combinations of the Quarter/Cross-Quarter Day before and the Quarter/Cross-Quarter Day after. I chose these names because to anyone who is familiar with the days of the eight point year, I thought that it would make these sixteenth days easier to remember exactly what time of year they are.

The Quarter and Cross-Quarters divide the year into eight parts, the Sixteenth Days divide the year into sixteen parts - roughly equal in days. The sixteenth dates given are to be seen as roughly in the middle between a Quarter and Cross Quarter Day or vice versa. The actual day can be chosen based on a number of varying criteria. For example, in 2004, the 3rd Sixteenth Day is on 25th of February, Ash Wednesday. This can colour the meaning of that day.

These are moveable feasts that add more awareness, more touch points, along the yearly cycle, and with the cycles of growth that are taking place within yourself. The Quarter Days are Solar Days, marking the four major turning points of the Sun in the sky throughout the year. The Cross Quarter Days are more connected with the Earth. The Sixteenth Days are half way between the Earth and the Sky. The Spring Equinox is equal light and darkness, but with the momentum moving towards the Light, and the Autumn Equinox is also equal light and darkness, but with the momentum moving towards the Darkness. This aspect of momentum is true with the Sixteenth Days as well. Like a sine wave moving from Earth to Heaven and then Back again, in half of the Sixteenth Days, the momentum is moving toward the Earth, and in the other half, toward the Sun. This is a basic colouring for these days.

Calculations of Dates

The Quarter Days can be calculated with extreme accuracy - down to the nearest nanosecond. These are called fixed holy/holidays. Unfortunately, these dates do vary a day or two from year to year, so I have used the average dates - 21 December, March and June for the Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, and Summer Solstice respectively, and 22 September for the Autumn Equinox (most Autumn Equinoxes in the next ten years are on the 22nd of September). These Quarter days divide the year up into four.

There are a number of different ways to determine when the Cross Quarter Days occur. See my discussion of this at Lughnasad/Timing of the Cross Quarter Days. Because there can be different factors that determine when these days occur each year (for example, the blossoming of the May Flower determines Beltane here in Glastonbury), unlike the Quarter Days, Cross-Quarter Days are moveable feasts. For the sake of convenience and convention, I have decided to set them at roughly half the number of days between the Quarter Days, so I have put them at 1 November, 1 February, 1 May and 1 August.

These Quarter and Cross-Quarter Days then divide the year into eight parts. I have set the arbitrary dates of the Sixteenth Days as half the number of days between the eight Quarter and Cross Quarter Days. They are even more moveable than the Cross Quarter Days, and so I would urge you to see them as having a rather large orb of at least three to five days on either side of the dates I have suggested below based on a number of different factors, for example, the phase of the Moon, relevant Holy Days of different religions, when certain plants blossom, etc.

The Sixteenth Days then divide the year into sixteenths, and in addition to the Quarter and Cross Quarter days and the phases of the Moon, they give us eight more days to celebrate and remind us more frequently of this annual cycle. This is the real reason for having these Sixteenth Days. They help you tune more finely and consistantly to the cycle of the year. The individual names I have given the Sixteenth Days are a combination of the Quarter/Cross Quarter Days coming directly before and after them. I have done this so those of you who are familiar with these names will immediately gnow roughly when a specific Sixteenth Day comes. So here is the year divided into sixteen parts. I have given key words for eight major days, and have developed possible meanings for the other eight. I trust that they will help you celebrate the cycle of the year more fully. You can find much longer definitions and discussions of the Quarter and Cross-Quarter Days by visiting the various links to the specific days below.

At the end of each of the sixteen points in the year, I have also added the azimuths at which the Sun rises and sets at the 51st Latitude (Glastonbury and Stonehenge) to see if there is any possible evidence that prehistoric sites - like stone rings, passage graves, etc. - might be aligned to the sixteenth Days. You can check them out for your latitude by using the Sunfinder. I have no idea whether this will lead anywhere, but if it does, it might provide evidence that prehistoric people were actually in to these Sixteenth Days. Please note that these calculations assume a level horizon. You can correct for elevated horizons using the Sunfinder as well. Notice the rough symmetry of the azimuths on mirror days of the year (i.e. Solbolc & Samstice, Samhain & Imbolc, Imbox & Authain, the Equinoxes, Equitane & Lamnox, Beltane and Lughnasad, Belstice & Solmas.)

The Sixteen Days of the Yearly Cycle

1 November - Samhain /Halloween - (The Days ARE getting Darker) The death of the old AND Conception - The seed is planted. The Celtic New Year. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 115.58 degrees. Sun set 244.42 degrees)

26 November - Samstice - 1st Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Sky) - Half way between conception and dormancy / silent sleep - near Thanksgiving Day in the US - Just after the seed is planted, in its dormancy, its intent is focused on the sky. Give thanks for what has just begun. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 125.74 degrees. Sun set 234.26 degrees)

21 December +/- – Winter Solstice - (Maximal Darkness) - Dormancy - The seed sleeps. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 129.21 degrees. Sun set 230.79 degrees)

10 January - Solbolc - 2nd Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Earth) - Half way between Dormancy and the Quickening - Epiphany is on January 5th. (1.The manifestation of a Divine Being (you/your idea). 2. a sudden intuitive leap of understanding especially through an ordinary, but striking experience. The Ah Haa! Experience) - That first awareness. Perhaps you can have an epiphany in terms of what you are working with on this 2nd Sixteenth Day! (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 126.27 degrees. Sun set 233.73 degrees)

1 February - Imbolc/Candlemass - The Quickening - The seed moves on its own for the first time. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 117.98 degrees. Sun set 242.02 degrees)

25 February - Imbox - 3rd Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Sky) - Half way between the Quickening and Birth - Ash Wednesday is around this time. Matthew, apostle [celebrated on Leap Day (February 29th) in a leap year]. Matthew wrote his Testament for the Jews. He wanted to bring them along into the new. The seed / idea, planted at Samhain is now moving upwards toward the surface of the Earth / the point of physical manifestation - and then to the sky. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 104.91 degrees. Sun set 255.09 degrees)

21 March +/- – Spring Equinox - Birth / balance (Momentum toward the light) - The seed sprouts above the surface of the Earth. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 89.68 degrees. Sun set 270.32 degrees)

10 April - Equitane - 4th Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Earth) - Half way between Birth and Fertilization / Nurturing - Near Easter. What is rising in you? (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 77.06 degrees. Sun set 282.94 degrees)

1 May - Beltane - Fertilization / Nurturing - The seed is nurtured and fertilized. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 65.12 degrees. Sun set 294.88 degrees)

26 May – Belstice - 5th Sixteenth Day – (Momentum toward the Sky) – Half Way between Fertilization / Nurturing and Wild Growth. Warming up; growing up. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 54.66 degrees. Sun set 305.34 degrees)
21 June +/- - Summer Solstice - (Maximal Light.) - Wild Growth - The seed grows rapidly. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 50.79 degrees. Sun set 309.21 degrees)

10 July - Solmas - 6th Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Earth ) - Half Way between Wild Growth and First Harvest. High Summer. The water in lakes is about as warm as it's going to get. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 53.38 degrees. Sun set 306.62 degrees)

1 August - Lughnasad/Lammas - (First notice that the Days are getting shorter) - First Harvest - The first crop is harvested. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 61.38 degrees. Sun set 298.62 degrees)

26 August - Lamnox - 7th Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Sky) - Halfway between First Harvest and Mid Harvest. The first round of crops should be in. In south central England, fields with Crop Circles in them are actively being harvested. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 74.87 degrees. Sun set 285.13 degrees)

22 September +/- – Autumn Equinox - Balance (Momentum toward the Darkness) - Mid Harvest.(At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 91.84 degrees. Sun set 268.16 degrees)

11 October - Authain - 8th Sixteenth Day - (Momentum toward the Earth) - Maturity and awareness that the end of the cycle is near. Death/ End of the cycle - Columbus Day in the US. What new important thing have you discovered about yourself as this cycle grinds to and end? Provide, provide - for the next cycle to begin at Samhain. (At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 103.77 degrees. Sun set 256.23 degrees)

1 November - Samhain - The cycle ends and begins again. Death / Completion and Conception, the planting of the seeds of the new cycle.(At 51 degrees latitude, Sun rise az 115.58 degrees. Sun set 244.42 degrees)

Sat Chit Ananda is a Hindu concept that means "conscious eternal bliss." The implication is that if we want that, we need to develop ways to think of our Maker more and more frequently until it happens all of the time. If one is using the Eight Point Year to hang at least part of one's spirituality on, the Sixteenth Days give us eight more times each year when we can tune in to our Deity of Choice.

Blessed Be!