Planning the theme

Glennie Kindred's _Sacred Celebrations_

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Celebrations-Sourcebook-Glennie-Kindred/dp/0906362482/ref=sr_1_1/026-0713019-9862038?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176195439&sr=8-1

is an excellent introduction to Celtic earth-based spirituality.

from the INTRODUCTION

[Celtic solar-year] festivals fall at eight points during the solar year, and include fixed points of Winter and Summer Solstices; the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes; and the four seasonal peaks of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Celebrating these points is a means by which we can connect to the Earth's passing seasons and acknowledge the way this resonates within ourselves, as part of the natural world.

Interwoven in the Sun's cycles are the monthly cycles of the Moon whose influence affects all of life on Earth from the tides of the world's oceans, to the fluids within our bodies, our emotions, our unconscious, the fertility of women and their menstrual cycles.

Celebrating the solar cycle of the year and the monthly Moon cycles is a way of re-connecting to the native traditions of the land. When we are freed from superstition, fear and suppression, we are once again potent and alive, and moving forward to embrace a new spiritual understanding.


And so:

One side of the quilt will show representations of the solar year festivals, the seasons, the four directions [north, east, south, west] and related elements [earth, air, fire and water].

The other side will show the eight Moon phases:
dark/new moon, crescent moon, first quarter, gibbous, full moon, disseminating, last quarter, balsamic.

Preliminary sketch of the moon-phase side: