Singing the Wheel of the Year
A song and ritual-based exploration of the Wheel of the Year to Build & strengthen your repertoire for the pagan holidays.
For those of us who identify as pagan or as earth worshippers, we know that singing together in ritual can be transformative, powerful and fun! Many of us want to discover and connect with songs that can help us celebrate the earth and pagan traditions. Others of us just want to liven up our repertoires. And many of us just want to have a pagan community, period.
What is the Wheel of the Year?
The pagan Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals and rituals inspired by historic folk practices and modern folk traditions. The holidays of the Wheel are made up of the solstices and equinoxes, as well as the mid-points between them (known as “cross-quarter” days): Winter Solstice/Yule (Dec 21), Imbolc (Feb 2), Spring Equinox/Ostara (Mar 19), Beltaine (May 1), Summer Solstice/Midsummer (Jun 20), Lughnasadh (Aug 1), Fall Equinox/Mabon (Sept 23), and Samhain (Oct 31). Observing the Wheel of the Year can be a way to connect with the wisdom of the seasons, paganism and ancestral folkways.
Learn acapella songs that you can incorporate into your practice and bring back to your communities! In this year-long class, we will celebrate the Wheel through a mix of traditional and contemporary songs and chants that resonate with the spirit of the eight holidays. We’ll learn our music through an engaging and accessible sing-and-repeat method while touching on old and new folk traditions to help us appreciate the messages of the songs. Then, we’ll apply these songs in ritual to honor the gifts of the seasons, sacred forces, and our personal work and growth on this planet.
How the Course works
From November 2023 through October 2024, we will gather in small, intimate cohorts to learn traditional and contemporary songs that celebrate the pagan Wheel of the Year, and then apply those songs in ritual. Students have the choice of either participating virtually through an online cohort or in person through a cohort based in Asheville, NC, USA. A subscription option is also available for students who don’t want to attend live sessions, but want access to the ritual songs.
Learn more and register by selecting a button below.
In addition to participating in monthly singing and ritual sessions, you will also receive:
- Recordings of 4 to 6 songs (chants, layered songs, rounds and more) for 9 months out of the year. These include the practice tracks for each song and “karaoke” tracks so that you can hear your voice alongside other parts.
- A PDF of lyrics and liner notes on each song.
- Access to a private Facebook discussion group where you can share resources and discuss your experiences in the class.
- A list of resources to help you connect further with historic pagan folk practices.
- Bonus materials, including special guest interviews with pagan practitioners, ritualists and singers.
What the course will sound like
The songs in this class will offer a fun, eclectic menu that blends old and new traditions to create a fresh, but storied sound. Drawing from a wide range of historical and contemporary songs, we will explore rounds, chants and layered songs created by Saro Lynch-Thomason and other lauded song leaders as well as Scottish ballads, Irish folk songs, and middle-English rounds and poetry.
The themes of our songs will be primarily animist (focusing on the forces of nature), with pagan deities and traditions as a secondary focus. Our songs will focus on the seasons and elements (the fall and harvest, water etc.), folk traditions with pagan roots, emotional growth (grief, hope, letting go), and praising deities related to Wheel of the Year traditions.
Listen and view samples below!
Above: “Enter the Summer”
Above: “Three Fold Invocation” Sample
Above: “Sacred Space Song” Sample
Above: “John Barleycorn” Sample
What traditions the course draws from
The Wheel of the Year is syncretic: it’s a blending of old and new traditions. Some parts of the Wheel are very ancient (think Imbolc or Beltaine), while other holidays and rituals (like Mabon/the Fall Equinox) have become more recently observed during pagan revivals in the 20th century. Our songs and rituals will reflect both the historic and contemporary ways that these holidays have been appreciated, while often taking inspiration from authentic historic folk practices from English, Scottish and Irish traditions. We will always explore the origins of the songs in class and in PDF notes.
This course will equip you with:
- A robust variety of songs for you to use in your pagan practice and in your local pagan or earth-focused community
- Powerful ritual experiences
- Vocal practices to help you ground into your body and connect with the living world
- A pagan community with whom you can share your voice and spirituality
- A greater understanding of some of the folk traditions surrounding these holidays
Who Should Take this Class?
- You want to learn songs to bring to your local earth-focused or pagan communities
- You want a community with whom you can celebrate the Wheel of the Year
- You want more singing in your life and you want to connect with earth-based spiritualities
- You enjoy using sing-and-repeat methods of learning songs
- You respect gender fluidity and trans rights and you believe in the importance of supporting Indigenous and other people of the global majority/BIPOC folks in accessing their traditional lands and practices
This class is for you if…
- You need sheet music to learn songs. We will be learning by ear using live teaching, recordings and printed lyrics
- You don’t have respect for earth-focused or pagan belief systems
- You use your pagan practice to support ideologies of white supremacy or fascism
- For online students: You don’t like learning over zoom
This class is not for you if…
about the instructor
Hi, my name is Saro Lynch-Thomason (she/her). I’m a song leader, folklorist, documentarian, and illustrator living on the occupied lands of the Cherokee in what is now called Asheville, traditionally known as ᏙᎩᏯᏍᏗ (Togiyasdi: “The place where they raced”). I’ve studied and taught folk songs from Appalachia, Scotland, England, the American South and beyond for over 15 years. I lead community sings and Wassailing choruses, teach at music camps, perform internationally, and have produced several albums. My song “More Waters Rising” has become an international anthem in the movement to end climate change, and was even praised in the Huffington Post!
I was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in the Unitarian Universalist faith. As a teenager, I began to explore Wicca and other pagan practices. I designed solitary rituals for myself and got to participate in group rituals through my church and peer groups. Throughout my adult life, I’ve led and co-facilitated rituals for the Wheel of the Year, while creating and leading new songs for earth-based and pagan practice along the way. I believe in the power of song to transform our bodies and minds, create communion with the past, and evoke the sacred for our work in the present!
I hold a Masters in Appalachian Studies from ETSU and a Certificate in Documentary Studies from Duke University.
What pagan & folk practitioners are saying:
“’Singing the Wheel of the Year’ is a vital and missing piece of an embodied modern pagan practice. Saro is a masterful and gentle holder of space and immense musical tradition that feels so refreshing to see. Her commitment to historical authenticity while also holding space for intentional intuitive spiritual creation is remarkable and noteworthy. She is truly an irreplaceable member of the magical community and the traditional song community hand in hand.”
— Rebecca Beyer, founder of Blood and Spicebush School of Old Craft and author of Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies
“Saro holds the banner high for teaching, performing, scholarship, career commitment, and living a life of music as activism and spiritual practice. There are notable voices in every generation, and the moment I first heard Saro I recognized a tradition bearer in the making. Saro has something to say and the gift to speak it, and to bring forth truth in others through her keen, intelligent listening. It’s been an honor and a privilege to pass on traditions I’ve learned into her strong and capable hands. Wassail, Saro!”
—Lynn Noel, heritage singer and community organizer, Digital Heritage Consulting
Learn more and register by selecting a button below.
Do you have more questions? Email Saro at sarosingssongs@gmail.com
What Students are Saying About Learning From Saro’s Past Courses:
“Saro’s course reintroduced the power of singing with people again to my life. I have used songs Saro taught me for times of deep community healing and connection, in both informal and performance contexts. I will be growing from the one course I took with Saro for a long time to come. If you’re reading this and you feel even slightly called to sign up for one of Saro’s classes/workshops, totally do it!”
–Jeri Katherine Howell
“Saro has a beautiful voice, strong and clear like a bell. She is an excellent teacher, musician, and folk music scholar. She creates a warm and inclusive space for all. I am grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you Saro!”
–Cathy Haines
“Saro’s course was money and time well spent. I prefer to enrich my life with experiences rather than things. [The course] brought me opportunities to sing, to learn the history and culture behind the songs, and to exchange ideas with folks from various backgrounds. Saro’s voice is gorgeous and powerful; she is a focused and patient teacher who brings great kindness, empathy and expertise to her lessons.”
–Denise Mills
Do you have more questions? Email Saro at sarosingssongs@gmail.com