Many Pagan systems divide the year into two halves. Some call it Light and Dark, or Winter and Summer. Some use the story of the Oak and Holly Kings, others say one half is for Goddess and the other for God. Sorgae also divides the year, into the Spiritual and Material.
The first four Sabeot/ds (
B/Pelatin,
Ardunakh,
Lamasu, and Vestraven) make up the Spiritual half. From my understanding, this can be compared to the "planning stage" of a project, from the first inkling of an idea to a fully formed and detailed plan. If I plot them with the
Directions, this is what I see:
B/Pelatin -
Northeast - potential, anything is possible
Ardunahk -
East - pure knowledge, the idea, transition into energy
Lamasu -
Southeast - decision, the moment things come together
Vestraven -
South - Will, commitment to the plan and path before us
The next four Sabeot/ds (Soven, Salanakh, Vol'ka, and
Ostraven), make up the Material side of the year, when the plan is put into effect. So my
Directional interpretation continues:
Soven -
Southwest - risk, taking that first step, intial action
Salanakh -
West - daring to act, making it happen, trasition to physical
Vol'ka -
Northwest - quickening, actions breathing life into the idea
Ostraven -
North - solidification, manifestation, completion, results
Unlike Wicca and other Pagan paths, the Sorgae year is not centered around a Deity's life journey. Instead it focuses on renewal of the Wasteland*, our term for the state of the spiritual landscape at the turning point of each year. In my mind I compare it to farmland; just after the snow melts, the land seems barren, dead, an expanse of nothingness. But beneath the surface, there are nutrients, bacteria, enzymes, evem insects. There is life. So it is the duty, responsibility, and privilege of the farmer to prepare the land, seed it, tend it, and harvest the crops.
As Sorgae Witches, I feel we share that duty, responsibility, and privilege, but our preparation, seeding, tending, and harvest occurs through our ritual work. Each year, our Coven performs divination to determine our role, our goal, what "crops" we will raise that year, both for the individual members and the Coven as a whole.
[*Note: However, this does still reflect the idea of the Sacred King myth, that the King must die for the sake of the Land, for He
IS the Land. In Sorgae, we seem to "cut out the middle man," in a sense, and work with the Land directly, instead of with a surrogate.]